US premiere for Kurt Weill’s kiddies’ panto

From South Florida Classical Review:

The U.S. premiere of Kleine Zaubernachtmusik (A Little Magic Night Music) by Kurt Weill, which opened the concert, was an utter delight. Originally conceived as the score for a children’s pantomime in 1922 and considered lost, the instrumental parts were discovered in a safe at Yale University in 2005. Musicologist John Baxindine arranged the eight-movement, 22-minute instrumental suite. The fable paints a scenario in which toys come to life at midnight but return to stillness at dawn as children awake. The score is miles removed from Weill’s early neo-classical works and his Weimar-era theatrical collaborations with Berthold Brecht.

From the atmospheric flute solo as the bells toll in the opening “Midnight” section to the final signaling of “Dawn,” the music is both sophisticated and charming…

Read on here.