Joel Veitch (1974 -- ) has his own Wikipedia page, so it is perhaps needless
to mention here that he is a tremendously underrated British composer,
humorist, performance artist, and publicist. His extraordinary gifts as a
composer are best showcased in his songs for his band, Seven Seconds of Love,
notably the unforgettable "One More or Ten".
The "theme" (if so calling it does not stretch the word past recognition) for
this set of Variations is derived from this
short video. For all I know, it may not even be an original work. It may be
a nursery rhyme (it bears a suspicious resemblance to the American tune "Skip
To My Lou"). But I need someone to blame for it and Joel has placed himself
squarely in the line of fire.
Regardless of its provenance, the tune is motivically protean and lends itself
to almost infinite unpacking. I chose the medium of the classical string
quartet for this purpose as creating maximal cognitive dissonance with the
anarchic original setting. Regrettably as well as inexcusably, my audio
rendering toolchain does not contain samples for exploding spongs.
There are some number of variations; the exact number is subject to some
dispute, as there is no Var. XIII and Var. X does no more than namecheck the
theme of Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, another example of multum ex parvo
(Latin: pulling nine pounds of sh1t out of a two-pound sack).
Obligatory fugue is obligatory.
Copyright © 2015 -- 2022 Frank Wilhoit