A Country Fair

A Musical Story with Narrator for Young Audiences

Dedicated to Mari Kodama and Kent Nagano, who suggested creating a story from "Whims," and for Forest Hill Musical Days, San Francisco, which produced the first performance with piano, narrated by the composer.

The narrator begins the story with ”Once upon a time, in a far-away country, there lived a very kind King. Every summer he gave a magnificent fair — free to every child. There were tents with flags, dancers, monkeys, clowns and many surprises. The royal orchestra will play the music for this story, and if you listen carefully, you will hear in the music all the things that happen in the stories.”

Press

"I love the music in A Country Fair.  It's like an amiable set of postcards, many of them from the composer's past. The brand new orchestration sparkles and reminded me just how warm, witty, and lyrical Mechem's music is."
— Eric Kujawsky, conductor of the premiere

“A Country Fair” is a suite of [fifteen] movements, most of them dances, often whirling around until the dancers are said to have run out of breath. There are also some slow movements, a fanfare and a concluding march. The music is lively and attractive. The orchestration is extremely imaginative….In [one] movement, an organ-grinder is played by a solo double bass. A funhouse-mirror scene is played by flute and clarinet in inversion, moving in opposite directions up or down the scale. Redwood Symphony’s instrumentalists handled these complexities with ease.”
—  San Mateo Daily Journal