Antique Songs For Children's Carousel - from Kerouac to Mozart to Bartok to Brel - The Eclectic Soundworld of Scott Walker

A panoramic view of some of the major influences that informed the Scott Walker aesthetic; going some way perhaps to explaining this most enigmatic and influential of artists. 3CD Box Set with a 36-page booklet.

The mahogany voice of Scott Walker dignified pop in the 1960s and exemplified what Johnny Marr described as “that gothic and beautiful gloom that was as much about England in the 60s as was ‘Day Tripper’.” Both as lead singer in the Walker Brothers, and then as a solo artist, Scott created a succession of unforgettable recordings - including ‘Make It Easy On Yourself', 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More', 'Montague Terrace', 'Copenhagen', 'Boy Child’ - that gave the 60s a deeper, more poetic dimension; but, allergic to fame, he turned his back on it all to devote himself to composition for film and his personal ventures to the outer limits of pop.

In the America of his youth, Scott encountered Mozart and Haydn, West Coast jazz, the cinema of Ingmar Bergman and the "Beats"; while later in Europe, he was captivated by the troubadour style of Jacques Brel and the guile of the French singer-songwriters Charles Aznavour and Léo Ferré. At one point, he even entered a Benedictine monastery to study Gregorian chant.

The dark, brooding soundscapes of 20th-century classical composers; Sibelius, Delius and Mahler encouraged the melancholic arrangements that adorn the eternal Scott's ‘1’ to ‘4’ of 1967-69, while the critically celebrated, fertile, but uncompromising late works evidence the abstractions of Webern, the tone clusters of Ligeti, the sharp contours of Berg, the grave beauty of Schubert lieder.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE

JEAN SIBELIUS Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 105 - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Thomas Beecham
1. Adagio
2. Un pochettino meno adagio - Vivacissimo - Adagio
3. Allegro molto moderato
4. Vivace - Presto - Adagio

DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH - New York Philharmonic / Leonard Bernstein
5. Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47
5. Largo

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Thomas Beecham. Jack Brymer: clarinet
6. Clarinet Concerto In A, K. 622
6. Allegro

IGOR STRAVINSKY Orpheus (ballet) - RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra / Igor Stravinsky
7. Orpheus Weeps for Eurydice - Lento sostenuto
8. Air de danse

JOHANNES BRAHMS - Philharmonia Orchestra / Guido Cantelli
9. Symphony No. 3, Op. 90
9. Poco allegretto

ALEXANDER SCRIABIN - Houston Symphony Orchestra / Leopold Stokowski
10. The Poem of Ecstasy, Op. 54

CHOIR OF THE MONKS OF THE ABBEY OF SAINT-PIERRE DE SOLESMES Christmas Day Mass - Chorus Master: Dom Joseph Gajard
11. Communion: Viderunt Omnes

DISC TWO

ALBAN BERG Concerto for violin and Orchestra - New York Philharmonic / Leonard Bernstein - Issac Stern: violin
1. a. Andante (Prelude) b. Allegretto (Scherzo)

BÉLA BARTÓK - Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra / Ferenc Fricsay - Piano: Géza Anda
2. Piano Concerto No. 2, Sz. 95, BB. 101
2. Allegro

ANTON WEBERN Five Pieces for Orchestra Op. 10 - Orchestra conducted by Robert Craft
3. Urbild (Archetype)
4. Verwandlung (Transformation)
5. Rückkehr (Return)
6. Erinnerung (Memory)
7. Seele (Soul)

GUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No. 6 in A minor - New York Philharmonic / Dimitri Mitropoulos
8. Andante moderato

GYÖRGY LIGETI - Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra / Hans Rosbaud
9. Atmosphères for Large Orchestra from 2001: A Space Odyssey - A Film by Stanley Kubrick

FRANZ SCHUBERT - Hans Hotter: baritone; Gerald Moore: piano
10. Die Winterreise (Winter Journey) D911 Op. 89 - Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man)

FREDERICK DELIUS The Song of the High Hills - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Thomas Beecham
11. With Quiet Easy Movement - Tranquillo
12. Very Slow - The Wide, Far Distance / The Great Solitude
13. In Tempo
14. Very Quietly - Tempo I

MAURICE RAVEL - Samson François: piano
15. Gaspard