Also known as Pictures from the Insects’ Life this play, written by Karel and Josef Čapek, was presented here with music by Maddelena Fagandini. Although it was not a great production overall this was apparently a major commission for the Workshop.
“Great fleas have little fleas Upon their backs to bite ’em.
Radio Times
And little fleas have lesser fleas
And so ad infinitum.”
The RWS tapes1 are titled ‘Butterflies’, ‘Ants’, and ‘Marauders, Crickets and Parasites’.
A retrospective review is linked below and whilst disdaining the production has some more positive inclinations about the score.
Similarly notable is the underscoring almost throughout with a modernist soundtrack created by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (each insect type is accorded its own electronic leitmotif).
John Wyver ⋅ 14 June 2011
- Eight reels in all including a recording of the finished programme – TRW 2053 ↩︎
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