A Merry Suite
Marc Lavry (Conductor)
Kol Israel Symphony Orchestra (The Broadcasting Service Orchestra)
Movements:
- Marcia (March)
- Waltz
- Hava Nargila (Oriental)
- Scherzo
- Mediterranean Romanca
- Rondo Atonalico
Manuscripts: Located at the National Library of Israel Music Department, the Marc Lavry Archive, System Number(s) 990035289460205171
Synopsis:
Marc Lavry was known as quite the joker and also as a wizard in writing light music. He wrote many compositions for radio entertainment programs (Israeli television started broadcasting a year after his death). Those are not necessarily his most important compositions but are fun to listen to. Besides, they helped him pay the bills…
In the composition “Merry Suite” he wrote 6 movements. Some of the movements are written in a more modern style. In the third movement Lavry dressed the well-known song Hava Nagila as an Arabic tune, and titled it Hava Nargila (Let’s Hookah).
The last movement, Rondo Atonalico, is Lavry’s response to some of his critics that maintained that his music was naive as it was melodic and not “modern” enough. Here he demonstrated his ability to write atonal music, which is in complete contrast to his convictions that such music is merely a fad. At the end, Lavry could not resist and jokingly ended with a surprise quote from a famous children’s song.
