Page 107 - FULL BOOK Isata Kanneh-Mason Childhood Tales

memoir House of Music. While life in suburban Nottingham was not without its
challenges, all seem to have rubbed along quite nicely – Childhood Tales is a largely
uplifting collection of pieces inspired by an idealistic view of early life. At its centre
sits Ernő Dohnányi’s Variations on a Nursery Song, a concertante piece that uses
‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ as its theme. Domingo Hindoyan, Kanneh-Mason and
the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra bring out the humour of this evocative
and charming piece, reminding us why the 1914 work was once so popular.

Pairing Dohnányi with Mozart’s variations on the same theme makes musical sense:
Kanneh-Mason plays beautifully even in the early variations, drawing out the well-
known melody in Nos 3 and 4, having fun with the virtuosic Nos 6 and 7 and injecting
contrast and drama into Nos 8 and 10. The dreamy, playful images conjured by
Debussy’s Children’s Corner are balanced by Schumann’s
introspective Kinderszenen. Kanneh-Mason trots through ‘Ritter vom Steckenpferd’;
tiptoes along ‘Träumerei’ and finds just enough pathos in ‘Fast zu ernst’. The slowly
turning, brooding nostalgia leaves us yearning for uncomplicated innocence.

Claire Jackson