Your mention of "Klee Pictures" by PM Davies brought to mind the
orchestral piece by Gunther Schuller, "Seven Studies on Themes of Paul
Klee".  It is a very enjoyable set of pieces which deserve wider hearing.
Its "Arab Village" is very atmospheric and sounds extremely authentic:  the
solo oboe part contains fingering instructions for the performer to achieve
the non-diatonic, very flat note needed to reproduce the Arabic melody.
"The Twittering Machine" is an amusing piece depicting a machine that emits
seemingly random notes in every direction, runs down, gets wound up again,
and accomplishes nothing whatever.

The piece was recorded by Mercury in 1960, played by Antal Dorati and
the Minneapolis Symphony.  This recording was reissued on CD as Mercury
(Philips?) 434 329; the CD also contains four extracts from Rodeo by
Copland, Bloch's Sinfonia Breve, and Gershwin's An American in Paris.

Melvyn Halbert    [log in to unmask]