
Berners the Humourist
Donald Macleod concentrates on a Berners work for puppet theatre, an exuberant essay in Spanish colour and a trio of waltzes, which contain a passage described as 'impudent'.
Gerald Tyrwhitt-Wilson, the 14th Lord Berners, was a painter, novelist, writer of poetry and nonsense verse, and a composer of brilliant and whimsical music. He was famous for his wit and and outlandish behaviour. His eccentricities marked him out as a very English Englishman, but his music was a different matter entirely. Unlike many of his contemporaries on the British musical scene, he developed a distinctly European slant to his compositions, and came to be regarded as one of the truly original composers of the early 20th century.
Donald Macleod explores Berners's colourful life and music, starting with a work for puppet theatre, an exuberant essay in Spanish colour and a trio of waltzes which contain a passage Stravinsky described as "one of the most impudent in modern music".
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Broadcasts
- Mon 15 Sep 2008 12:00
- Mon 15 Sep 2008 22:00
- Mon 1 Dec 2014 12:00
- Mon 1 Dec 2014 18:30