Pastorale (from Babettes Gæstebud / Babettes Feast) - Version for String Orchestra (the original version from 1997 is for string trio). Parts are for hire: hire@ewh.dk Preface / Programme Note My PASTORALE is melodically utterly simple almost 'ear-catching'. The simplicity stems frommy hymn-tune JERUSALEM the theme of which permeates my incidental music for Oscar winning film (Best Foreign Film.1987) BABETTE' S FEAST by Danish director Gabriel Axel. The film is based on a short story by another reknown Dane Karen Blixen; it is the story of two sisters who are members of a very Puritancongregation but deceide to have a big feast of earthly (gastronomic) delights; the PASTORALE is heard during the sumptuous meal. Below the song-like surface of my PASTORALE the metrical implications arerather ambiguous; the changes between marked and un-marked beats forces the ear to perceive a phrase to beo nthe beat at one moment and off the beat at the next moment. In this way the simple lines of lyrical pastoral serenity conjure the listener to be lulled into an artificial Paradise which is exactly the mood ofthe guests at the banquet the feast in the central scene ofthe movie. The original PASTORALE is scored for string trio; the present version for string orchestra came along in 1988 and was premiered in New York City that year. (Per Nørgård 1999)
