Nursery Rhyme Overture

1984 op. 335 Children & Family, Overture

A children's concert work for orchestra (and guessing game)

Published by: Highbridge Music Ltd
Duration: 8mins
Instrumentation: 2 flutes-both doubling piccs, 1 oboe, 2 clarinets-2nd doubling bass clarinet, 1 bassoon. , (Alternative woodwind scoring: 2 flutes-both doubling piccs, 1 oboe, 1 clarinet in B flat, 2 bassoons), - 2 horns in F, 1 trumpet in B flat, 1 trombone - 2 percussion players playing: timps/tgl/tamb/SD/BD/glsp/bird warbler/susp.cym/song bells/sleigh bells/tpl.bl/guiro/chimes/cyms - harp - strings

First Performance: CPO conducted by the composer, Corn Exchange Cambridge, 7 January 2007.

The ‘Nursery Rhyme Overture’ contains 18 well-known tunes;one appears in 2 different places and 2 others are played simultaneously.

A jumbled list is given to the audience and a prize awarded to the first person to place them in the correct order. It is ‘a childrens’ guessing game for orchestra’ and was suggested by Raymond Gubbay and originally created to be performed in his concerts.