Dance Suite (Delft)

From Wind Repertory Project
Marc van Delft

Marc van Delft


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This work bears the designation Opus 160


General Info

Year: 2015
Duration: c. 22:15
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Piano
Publisher: Marc van Delft
Cost: Score and Parts - Unknown


Movements

1. Dance – 5:50
2. Intermezzo – 5:15
3. Finale and Reel – 11:30


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo (preferably 3)
Flute I-II-III-IV
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone I-II
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Tenor Tuba I-II
Tuba I-II
String Bass
Piano
Harp
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V

(percussion detail desired)

Cello (optional)


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

For a long time, the composer Marc van Delft walked around with the idea to compose a work that would have the character of an exciting folkloric dance -- or ballet music, like for example Petrouchka by Igor Stravinsky, and especially the dance suite Estancia of the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera, one of his favourite works. The Dance Suite is a development / realization of this idea.

The work consists of three parts. The three-part form is not like a suite, but a rapid alternation of short themes such in is Part 1 that does have a suite-like character.

Part 1 – Dance / Dance-ouverture. The exciting Part 1 contains a number of themes / motifs, alternating with each other. Important is a theme focusing on the woodwinds in 6/8 or 12/8, accompanied by alternating tones in parallel fourths in the saxes in eighths movements in 4/4. In addition, there is a number of themes / motifs with emphasis on the brass (especially the horns!) with the main theme: the hemiola-horn theme in 3/4-6/8. There is also an exciting 'counter-theme’ of parallel fourths chords. The different themes change constantly together like in a suite or a rondo.

Part 2 – Intermezzo / Interlude. This part is a further development of the alternating-tone motif, but now in minor seconds instead of major seconds. The character is menacing, threatening, with a repressed tension, but it begins with a cadenza in the solo clarinet, a moment of silence after the frantic roller coaster experience of the exuberant excitement of Part 1. After a brief but intense climax, a more melancholic epilogue follows in the woodwinds, a kind of reflective choral, which has a more lyrical character, closing on an open, questioning, cautious way. The slow movement has the character of an intermezzo / interlude, a menacing, threatening silence before the storm that will break loose in the final part.

Part 3 – Finale & Reel. The dramatic, grim final part is more or less built on material from the first part, but it has a more serious and grim character than the first part. Also, there appear new themes: for example, a dramatic 6/8-ff-tutti passage in parallel fifths in the octotonic scale, with chromatic runs of the woodwind which pass through it, with eighths-drummings in the tom-toms.

After a climax, as a total surprise, there follows a completely different and new section which is not inspired on South American folklore music but which is inspired by Celtic folk music, with an emphasis on the woodwinds: at first a bagpipe imitation by the oboes and the trombone as a pedal tone, and then a cheerful and quick section, an Irish-Scottish folk dance -- called a "reel" -- in a very rapid 16th motion in 4/4, with drums and hand clapping and bourdon-tones in the bass. Then again there follows a reprise of the musical material of the beginning of the final part and memories of subjects from the first part. One moment, it appeared that, just as the first part, this would become the final apotheosis, but suddenly the music collapses and there is a memory of the threatening atmosphere of the interlude, where after a quick coda (with the new theme) leads to the final apotheosis.

- Program Note by composer


Media

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State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

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Works for Winds by This Composer


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