Folk Dances (arr Erickson)

From Wind Repertory Project
Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich (arr. Frank Erickson)


General Info

Year: 1942 / 1979
Duration: c. 4:00
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Alfred Music
Cost: Score and Parts – Out of print.


Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute
Oboe I-II
Bassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion (4 players), including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Snare Drum
  • Triangle
  • Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Shostakovich wrote the suite Op. 63, Native Leningrad, in 1942 as a tribute to the courage of the citizens of Leningrad. This suite was culled from the incidental music for a "concert play spectacle" entitled Native Country or Motherland. It was scored for tenor and bass soloists, choir and orchestra, and was premiered on November 7, 1942, at the Dzerzhinsky Central Club.

The suite has four movements: Overture – October 1917, Song of the Victorious October (Song of the River Neva), Youth Dance (Song of the Sailors), and Song of Leningrad. The Youth Dance is the movement transcribed as Folk Dances. It first received this name when transcribed for piano by Lev Solin. The name stuck when retranscribed for military band by M. Vakhutinsky. While the melodies used in Youth Dance are reminiscent of folk tunes, Shostakovich's work is original. Considering the programmatic nature of the work, it is justifiable to assume Shostakovich wished to evoke an overt Russian sentiment in the same way that Gustav Holst’s First Suite in E-flat and Gordon Jacob’s An Original Suite sound and feel distinctly British.

- Program Note from State University of New York, Potsdam, concert program


This popular wind band work by the Soviet-era composer Dmitri Shostakovich was originally composed in 1942 as the third movement, Dance of Youth, of My Beloved Country, Op. 63. It was first arranged for Russian bands by Mark Vakhutinskii in 1970.

- Program Note from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Wind Orchestra concert program, 23 November 2013


Media

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)


State Ratings

  • Iowa: IV
  • Louisiana: IV
  • Tennessee: V


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Washington University at St. Louis (Mo.) Wind Ensemble (Chris Becker, conductor) - 20 April 2023
  • Allan Hancock College (Santa Maria, Calif.) Concert Band (Greg Stoll, conductor) – 5 November 2016
  • Merion Concert Band (Merion Station, Penn.) 12 February 2012


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

  • Waltz No. 2 (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Brown) (post 1956/2021)


All Wind Works


Resources

  • Girsberger, Russ. Percussion Assignments for Band & Wind Ensemble: Volume 2 L-Z. Galesville, MD: Meredith Music Publications, 2004, 270. Print.
  • Shostakovich, D.; Erickson, F. (1979). Folk Dances [score]. Belwin-Mills: Melville, N.Y.