Composer: Paul Rissmann
Performer: Emily Dickens, Joanna Harries, Richard Pinkstone, Neil Balfour
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Lee Reynolds
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: LSO Live
Catalogue: LSO5129D
Release: 2023
Size: 909 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Wonderland Suite
01. I. The Golden Afternoon
02. II. The White Rabbit
03. III. Down the Rabbit-Hole
04. IV. DRINK ME!
05. V. The Duchess
06. VI. The Cheshire Cat
07. VII. The Hatter’s Tea Party
08. VIII. EAT ME!
09. IX. The Queen of Hearts and Finale
Through the Looking-Glass
10. I. The Looking-Glass House
11. II. The Garden of Live Flowers
12. III. The Red Queen
13. IV. Tweedledum and Tweedledee
14. V. The White Queen
15. VI. Humpty Dumpty
16. VII. An Exam to be Queen
17. VIII. Queen Alice
18. IX. Return Through the Looking-Glass
150 years after the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, LSO Animateur Paul Rissmann began work on a project that would see the musicians of the London Symphony Orchestra collaborating with young, school-aged singers. Together, they bring to life the story of Alice in a truly enchanting way.
Having set out to discover how Victorian composers represented Carroll’s iconic characters, Rissmann began working with Professor Kiera Vaclavik from Queen Mary University of London. During their research they uncovered a host of sheet music that presented Alice as a quiet, saccharine character—a far cry from the feisty heroine in Carroll’s book.
There were, however, a few exceptions to this, including a short piano piece by Arthur Cleveland. Taking just eight bars of music from this early surviving manuscript, Rissmann began work on a new piece — one that would portray Alice as a determined young soul, as someone inspiring and contemporary.
At the culmination of the project, over 1,000 school children came to the Barbican Concert Hall to sing Lewis Carroll’s words accompanied by the full force of the LSO, and supported by four soloists. This recording, captured at LSO St Luke’s, gives children the opportunity to take part from home.
The London Symphony Orchestra and Queen Mary University of London launch collection of learning resources exploring the sound world of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.
Today, the London Symphony Orchestra and Queen Mary University of London launch The Alice Sound – a collection of cross-curricular learning resources for young people, schools and teachers, opening up and exploring the sound world of the iconic books by Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. The resources are compiled on a dedicated website, thealicesound.com.
The music at the heart of this website is the result of a collaboration between composer Paul Rissmann, researcher Kiera Vaclavik from Queen Mary University of London and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Kathryn McDowell, Managing Director of the LSO said; ‘In order to deliver our engagement programme to schools and colleges during the pandemic and to satisfy the demand for educational material from some of our overseas partnerships during this time, we stepped up the development and distribution of our digital learning resources. The success and demand for this work post-pandemic is undiminished and so the LSO is now committed to continuing this valuable addition to our offering for the classroom and beyond. I am delighted that this special project has come to fruition giving users unique access to a multidisciplinary creative process brought together by a peerless team of musicians, singers and creative artists, all leaders in their fields of music, literature, composition and animation.’
Inspired by the Lewis Carroll books and by early musical adaptations of them, composer Paul Rissmann wrote two musical suites which were premiered live at the Barbican by the LSO in 2015 (Alice in Wonderland) and 2022 (Through the Looking Glass) as part of the LSO Family Concert Series. The success of these concerts and enthusiastic response to the material precipitated the extension of the partnership between the LSO and Queen Mary University of London to develop further interactive learning content.
Kiera Vaclavik, Professor of Children’s Literature & Childhood Culture at Queen Mary University of London, and Project Director added, ‘This website makes this wonderful music freely available to more audiences, in fact to anyone, anywhere in the world, and deepens engagement with the music and the books thanks to a range of learning resources and other materials. The range of resources and activities inspired by Lewis Carroll’s books and Paul Rissmann’s music are particularly designed for use in schools by pupils and their teachers. There are music and drama projects, art and design activities, and writing worksheets and prompts which help you to explore the books and get creative!’