The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #116957   Message #2520285
Posted By: Surreysinger
19-Dec-08 - 08:45 PM
Thread Name: Springtime in Battersea/Schneewaltz (sp)
Subject: RE: Springtime in Battersea/Schneewaltz (sp)
That would be really good. I have to say that having ferreted all that lot out I vastly prefer the two renditions on concertina that I've heard - yours and Ralphie's. It seems well suited to the instrument, and is a pleasing piece, despite the weird renditions it appears to receive elsewhere.

I really did NOT like the oompah band renditions ... not to mention all that swooping ducking and diving with the brass band. Reading some other comments about the piece made by brass band fraternity members, it's quite clear that it's one of those "familiarity breeds contempt" jobs .. a Christmassy oompah thing for snowy weather, and that it incites a yawn ... much like my feelings for the Holst version of "In the Bleak Midwinter" - a carol that choral singers frequently have to perform at Christmas ... I've never liked it much, but I do my duty (as I shall on Sunday at the Festival Hall).

I find it interesting that Schneewalzer is clearly a very well known piece in the brass band world, and yet players of other instruments in a different field have little knowledge of it's treatment elsewhere, or, indeed , of it's true origins!!

Incidentally, I have to say that those videos were by no means the worst ... there was one interesting little item which involved three men wearing raincoats, flashing and doing weird things with what appeared to be cooking utensils ... oh the joys of YouTube. All that aside, I still like the piece and shall continue to do so. What intrigues me is just how much of the Battersea version is actually new, and how much is actually the work of it's original composer, Mr Koschat.