Songs and Dances

Songs and Dances
$50.00
: 0
Time: 12:00Year: 2013
  • Description

Instrumentation

Fl, Ob, Cl, Bsn, 2Hn, 2Tpt, 2Perc, Pno, Strings

Program Notes

Stravinsky said all music is either a song or a dance. As I thought about this, I though “Why try to prove him wrong?” So I wrote a suite of songs and dances to prove him right.

After a quick introduction, a 12-tone waltz starts. I had asked a friend to order the numbers 1-12 in any way and used his row. I am not strict, however, with true 12-tone rules and do repeat tones as embellishments and in harmonies.

Canticle uses octatonic and whole tone scales, serialized chords, notes, rhythms, and dynamics, retrogrades, and inversions to create a sound world. The idea is that the music always exists, we simply interrupt it and engage with it for a few minutes before moving on to the next idea.

Pastoral is a “palate cleanser” movement depicts a pastoral scene in which a Shepherd daydreams about love. He plays a song on his pipes while the wind blows around him.

The final movement is a march, and what is a march but a dance? This is a rondo-style march that utilizes whole-tone scales and several instrument colors to create a Stravinsky-like finale proving Igor right – all music is either a song, or a dance.

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