A twinkle in the eye
I was reminded by Tom Service’s page (No laughing matter?) in your September issue that my first LP, bought with pocket money when I was just eleven years old, had me rolling with laughter. It was Dohnányi’s Variations on a Nursery Tune . The pretentious, prolonged opening in the grandest Rachmaninov style suddenly stops and, after a strange
hiatus, the pianist starts an unsure, hesitant ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ with
one finger, followed by uncertain simple ornamentation before the
orchestra reluctantly joins
in. The Variations proceed
at a rapid and reckless pace until we are back at the height of late Romanticism.
I defy anyone listening to it to keep a straight face. It’s a masterpiece!
Craig Maxwell, Radlett