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Jump to navigationJump to searchMaximus Musicus Visits the Orchestra by Hallfridur Olafsdottir and Porarinn Mar Baldursson (view source)
Revision as of 14:01, 29 January 2013
, 14:01, 29 January 2013no edit summary
Maximus Musicus is a cute little mouse from a music-loving family and the mascot of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. The story can be read or followed on the accompanying CD, where Stella Arman is the narrator.
One day Maxi wanders into a rehearsal of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, where he is entranced to hear Ravel’s Bolero. He encounters most of the orchestral instruments and there’s a lot of whimsical humour as Maxi moves from instrument to instrument. Eventually he falls asleep on the stagewith Beethoven's 5th Symphony playing in the background, tired out by the excitement of his adventures. He wakes to a loud booming noise as the beginning opening drumbeat of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is playedAaron Copland's Fanfare For The Common Man, and he finds that the orchestra is in concert. He scuttles down into a packed auditorium. At the end of the concert, Maximus joins in the standing ovation which precedes the stirring home-grown encore.
The illustrations are lovely, full of humour and tiny details that makes searching the pictures a pleasure to be repeated over again. I liked the touch of orchestral reality as the condensation is nonchalantly shaken from the French horn by its player, drenching poor Maximus. The members of the orchestra are wonderfully individual, including the author, Hallfridur Ólafsdóttir. I imagined Pórarinn Már Baldursson clandestinely sketching them from life during breaks in the music. I eventually found the illustrator himself in the middle of the orchestra (which gave the book a Where’s Wally appeal for me).
