What if Wagner had written Happy Birthday – or Verdi, Debussy or Tchaikovsky?

26 October 2018, 17:52

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

Some clever re-imaginings of ‘Happy Birthday’, in the style of the great composers. This is excellent.

Kristofer Wåhlander has arranged and conducted seven spectacular new versions of ‘Happy Birthday’, in the style of Wagner, Verdi, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Mozart.

The medley moves from a reimagining of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Brahms’ Symphony No. 4, before morphing into a Debussy Prélude and culminating in a highly enjoyable birthday mash-up of Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’, followed by a glorious Verdi chorus.

This fugue on 'Happy Birthday' is completely ingenious >

Wåhlander’s arrangement was brought to life with the help of the Lundalunds filharmoniska orkester, of which he is managing and artistic director, and principal conductor.

We know what we’re playing next time there’s a birthday in the office…