He was our greatest cricketer, known by all Australians, but few realised that Sir Donald Bradman (1908-2001) was also a keen musician. In a world first, ABC Classics have joined forces with the Bradman family to release a 2 CD set of tracks drawn largely from the great icon’s private collection and sheet music.
In what are illuminating and deeply personal liner notes, his son John Bradman has said “We had many musical evenings … One I recall well was with Larry Adler, the great harmonica player. This quicksilver little man and his music were mesmerising. At dinner, Larry produced a fine little harmonica for each of us and intermittently during the meal and afterwards, serenaded us.”
Not only a personal insight into this cricketing legend, the CD set also showcases him as a composer with his song Every Day is a Rainbow Day for Me (with words by Jack Lumsdaine), here sung by his grand-daughter Greta.
There are fine orchestral recordings of masterworks such as Brahms’ Symphony No 3 (3rd movement), Mendelssohn’s Octet (Scherzo), Elgar’s Violin Concerto in B minor (2nd movement), Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5 (Valse), Ravel’s Trio in A minor (Pantoum) and Dvorak’s Symphony No 9 (Largo).
His great love was the piano and the music of Chopin, of which we hear Piano Sonata No 3 (Largo) and Nocturne in B flat minor, along with other major piano works, such as Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C, KV 467 (Andante), Beethoven’s Piano Sonata “Pathetique” (Adagio cantabile), Schubert’s Impromptu in G flat, Franck’s Symphonic Variations, Debussy’s Claire de lune and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no 2 (1st movement). Clearly, Bradman had a sophisticated knowledge of pianists and repertoire, as seen by his collection which included recordings by Artur Schnabel, Roger Woodward, Eileen Joyce, Dinu Lipatti and Wilhelm Kempff. As well as being a more than competent pianist himself, Sir Donald could also sight-read many works at the piano.
The second disc is predominantly lighter music (mostly songs): Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Ol’ Man River, When You were Sweet Sixteen, If I Ruled the World, Golden Days, The Last Rose of Summer and The Holy City. There are also some fine gems in the more serious vocal repertoire too: An die Musik (Schubert), Come scoglio (Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte) and Troppo mi spiace and Non mi dir (Mozart’s Don Giovanni).
So when looking for something for the cricket-lover who has everything, surprise him or her with this wonderful anthology of the Don’s favourite music.