Wonderland: The Alice Sound

Featuring

Lee Reynolds
Emily Dickens
Joanna Harries
Richard Pinkstone
Neil Balfour
Paul Rissmann

London Symphony Orchestra

Did you know?

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Composition History

Paul Rissmann's Wonderland Suite was partly based on eight bars of a manuscript by Arthur Cleveland, the only piece of Victorian music specifically labelled "Alice" that the composer found.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Both the Wonderland Suite and Through the Looking-Glass were designed to be performed by young people alongside the London Symphony Orchestra, with vocal parts adaptable for untrained voices.

Composition History

Paul Rissmann's Through the Looking-Glass was created exactly 150 years after the publication of Lewis Carroll's sequel, and its narrative is woven through the music like "Peter and the Wolf."

Composition History

The Wonderland Suite by Paul Rissmann was inspired by Professor Kiera Vaclavik's research into the "Alice look" and her subsequent interest in the "Alice sound."

Composer's Artistic Vision

Paul Rissmann's Wonderland Suite uses character dialogue from Lewis Carroll's book for its libretto, rather than song lyrics, which are abundant in the original Alice books.

Performer Biography

Paul Rissmann, the composer and narrator, is an award-winning composer and music educationalist who frequently transforms children's literature into symphonic scores.

Compositional Technique

The melody from William Boyd's song "To the Looking-Glass World," found in the British Library archives, influenced every movement of Paul Rissmann's Through the Looking-Glass.