David Solomons

Composer

David W Solomons

Publisher

David W Solomons

Genre

Classical / Instrumental

Instrumentation

Violin, Viola, Cello

Scored for

Quartet

Type of score

Full score, Parts

Key

C major

Difficulty

Medium

Year of composition

1976

Description
Note on the "Jellicles collection"
I would make it clear that this "Jellicle" music is my own work and totally unconnected with the works of any other composers (eg Alan Rawsthorne, Andrew Lloyd-Webber etc etc).

I was attracted to the words and rhythms of the Jellicle Cats poem (from TS Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats) back in the 70s and began with a simple duo for recorder and guitar.

In due course I made a setting of the poem itself for SATB choir, but, when I contacted the estate of TS Eliot, it would not give me permission to use the poem, although it did permit me to use the word

"Jellicle" in my works.

So the SATB choral version of the poem remains unpublished and lingers in my bottom drawer.....

However, the music of that choral setting was then given different words by my friend Jill Mitchell, and it became a lusty drinking song called "Praise to the VIne".

The same music (more or less) was also made into a recorder quartet and also, with rather more variation, into a string quartet - Jellicle Recorders and Jellicle Catgut respectively.

By way of an experiment (which was not recorded) Jill Mitchell and I recited the TS Eliot poem along with a recorder quartet playing Jellicle recorders in one concert, and it worked very well!

All 4 of these variations on my "Jellicle" theme (Praise to the Vine, Jellicle Recorders, Jellicle Catgut and of course the original Jellicle duo for recorder and guitar) are available on this site.

The sound sample for this quartet is a live performance by musicians from Costa Rica

Upload date

12 Jan 2012