Philipp Matthias Kaufmann (*1970) Santa Claus Machine
A musical „Pettersson and Findus“-Story for Narrator and Orchestra [sp,orch] 2014 duration: 60' Text: Sven Nordqvist
narrator – 3(picc).2.2.2. – 4.2.3.1. – timp.perc(3) – hp – str
The Santa Claus Machine is the musical rendition of the well-known children’s book “Findus at Christmas” by Sven Nordqvist, and featuring his beloved heroes Pettersson and Findus.
Christmas Concert with Pettersson and Findus
In this story, old Pettersson has told his cat all about Santa Claus and awakened in Findus the wish that Santa Claus might also stop by and see him, too. Not wanting to disappoint him, Pettersson builds a Santa Claus machine. But when he pulls the lever on his structure on Christmas Eve, something magical and unexpected occurs...
Philipp Matthias Kaufmann wrote and arranged this Christmas piece using well-known works from Mozart to Grieg, for orchestra and narrator, whose text integrates itself harmoniously into the storylines. Compared with other pieces by Kaufmann, this work – a commission of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne (world premiere on 7 December 2014) – requires a larger orchestral scoring.