Roald Dahl’s ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ (1994)

Scored for Narrator(s) with Full or Chamber Orchestra

Date of composition: 1994; Duration: 35’00; Commissioning body: The Dahl Foundation; Premiere performance: 1 December 1994, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK; Premiere performers: Franz Welser-Möst/London Philharmonic Orchestra; Publisher: Eleanor Alberga

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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was premiered in London in 1994. It is adapted from Roald Dahl’s subversive version of the well-known fairy tale from his collection of comic verse, Revolting Rhymes. It was first performed by the London Philharmonic in a semi-staged version conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, and a cast including Griff Rhys Jones and Geraldine James. It has been revived in concert versions many times since then and recorded by the Taliesin Orchestra conducted by Peter Ash, with a cast of Danny DeVito, Joanna Lumley and Griff Rhys Jones. The music is full of drama and magic.

"...exciting and magical score whose rich, colourful and atmospheric mixture of symphonic and Caribbean music captured the imagination of all the children in the audience.” The Independent

“Danny DeVito's narration is charming, endearingly warm and welcoming without condescending to its target audience of young listeners. Joanna Lumley and Griff Rhys Jones voice the character parts with brio...Peter Ash conducts a vigorous performance which is fully alive to the score's angularity and bold colourings...I can imagine this CD being thoroughly relished by young families listening together, and it was certainly worth releasing.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2012 ****

Instrumentation (Full Orchestra version):

2(picc).2.3(bcl)1.cbn/4.3.3.1/ timp.4perc/hp.pf/3nar/str

Percussion (Full Orchestra version):

Xylophone, vibraphone, glockenspiel, crotales, metal wind chimes, cowbells, snare drum, rototoms, bass drum, cymbals, suspended cymbal, hi-hat, triangle, wood blocks, temple blocks, tam-tam, vibra slap, slap-stick, cabasa, shakers

Instrumentation (Chamber Orchestra version):

1(picc)1.2(bcl).1.cbn/2.1.1.0/ timp.2perc/pf/3nar/str

Percussion (Chamber Orchestra version):

Bass drum, xylophone, tam-tam, glockenspiel, metal wind chimes, triangle, cabasa, vibra slap, 3 woodblocks, 2 hi-hats, clash cymbals, snare drums, 5 temple blocks, cowbells, suspended cymbal, 3 roto-toms