Friday Afternoons
(1935, arr. 1963/2012) 7Thackeray, Jane Taylor, Nicholas Udall, Izaak Walton, Eleanor Farjeon, Irene R McLeod, anon (E)
3(III=picc).2.3(III-bcl).2-4.2.3.1-timp.perc(3):glsp/xyl/t.bells/tgl/tamb/ratchet/wooden washboard or gourd(lg)/2cowbells/SD/BD/cyms/susp.cym/tam-t-harp(optional)-strings
Nos 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11 & 12 are adaptations of arrangements by Heuwell Tircuit
Nos 6, 8, 9 & 13 are arrangements by Hywel Davies
Tree-climbing monkeys, a howling, pandemonious jazz-man, a fox and his wife who ‘never eat mustard in all their whole life’, and a wise man from Newington whose eyes are scratched out, and then back in, by a quick-set hedge, populate Britten’s charming songs Friday Afternoons, originally scored for children’s voices and piano. With remarkably different moods and sounds, Britten creates a fantasy-nonsense world, in which children are joyful, willing participants. The orchestration of nine of these songs by Heuwell Tircuit was made with the composer’s approval.
