Yiddish Dances (chamber)
General Info
Year: 1997 / 2020
Duration: c. 16:05
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Wind orchestra
Publisher: Maecenas Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - £60.00 | Score Only (print) - £25.00
Movements
1. Khosidl – 3:20
2. Terkishe – 2:15
3. Doina – 2:00
4. Hora – 4:25
5. Freylachs – 4:40
Instrumentation (Flexible)
Full Score
Flute (doubling Piccolo)
Oboe
Bassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet (doubling B-flat Soprano Clarinet)
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F
Trombone (or Euphonium)
Tuba
Percussion I-II, including:
- Bass Drum
- Cowbell
- Crash Cymbals
- Snare Drum
- Tambourine
- Temple Blocks
- Tom-tom (low)
- Wood Block
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Yiddish Dances was commissioned by Timothy Reynish for his 60th birthday. It is very much a party piece and brings together two of my abiding musical passions: the symphonic wind ensemble and klezmer -- the folk music of the Yiddish speaking people. The piece is about fourteen minutes long and is in five movements, all based on set klezmer dances:
I. Khosidl - a medium tempo 2/4 in which the music moves between satire, sentimentality, and pathos.
II. Terkishe - an up-tempo Jewish tango.
III. Doina - a free recitative in which various instruments in the band get a chance to show off.
IV. Hora - slow 3/8 time with a characteristic rocking rhythm.
V. Freylachs - very fast 2/4 time in which themes from the previous movements are recalled, ending in a riotous “booze-up” for all concerned.
Le Chaim! - to Life!
- Program Note by composer
Yiddish Dances has proved to be one of the most popular works written for winds in the last three decades. Originally for wind orchestra, this version for chamber ensemble allows for a socially distanced small ensemble much more akin to the size of a traditional klezmer band.
Yiddish Dances was originally commissioned by Timothy Reynish to celebrate his 60th birthday, and he conducted the first performance with the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Ensemble in March 1998. Since then, the work has found a place in the wind ensemble repertoire with regular performances worldwide and a great number of recordings.
During 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic severely affected the ability and practicality of large music ensembles to rehearse and perform. With this thought in mind, I decided to make a ‘chamber’ version of Yiddish Dances for 14 players as a way of bringing conductors and players together in these very difficult times. I hope I have managed to recapture the colour and party spirit of the work whilst perhaps creating something a little more intimate.
- Program Note by composer
Media
(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of Iowa (Iowa City) Symphony Band (Josh Neuenschwander, conductor) - 4 May 2021
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- A Little Tango Music (Flex instrumentation) (2007/2020)
All Wind Works
- Adrenaline City (2006)
- African Samba (2006)
- Ascent (1996/2004)
- Awayday (1996)
- Awayday (arr. Wintringham) (1999/2015)
- Battle Symphony (1999)
- Bells Across the Atlantic (2013)
- Bermuda Triangle (1994)
- Bohemian Revelry (2013)
- Bohemian Revelry: For Chamber Ensemble (2013/2021)
- Bohemian Revelry (tr. Holland) (2013/2017)
- Bridgewater Breeze (1996)
- Candlelight Procession (2001)
- Concerto for Violin, Viola and Wind Ensemble (2022)
- Dances from Crete (2003)
- Downtown Diversions (2000)
- Eine Kleine Walzermusik (2009)
- Eine Kleine Yiddishe Ragmusik (2003)
- Elements (1998)
- Euphonium Concerto 1997
- Farewell (2008)
- French Dances Revisited (2004)
- A Little Salsa Music
- A Little Tango Music (2007)
- Metropolis (1992)
- Midnight in Buenos Aires (2007)
- Out of the Darkness (2023)
- Parade of the Wooden Warriors (1999)
- Pikes Peak (2017)
- Repercussions (2011)
- Scenes from an English Landscape
- Scenes from Bruegel (1994)
- Suite for Winds (1993)
- Summer Dances (2012)
- Sunrise and Safari (2006)
- Symphony No. 1 in C (2000)
- Three Way Suite
- Towards Nirvana (2002)
- Tranquility (2009)
- Viderunt Omnes (2014)
- Yiddish Dances (1997)
- Yiddish Dances (Chamber) (1997/2020)
Resources
- Adam Gorb lecture: The Art of Scoring – WASBE Journal Volume 9.
- Adam Gorb website
- Miles, Richard B., and Larry Blocher. 2002. Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. Volume 4. Chicago: GIA Publications. pp. 740-748.
- "YIDDISH DANCES (for Chamber Ensemble) by Adam Gorb (Great Britain). " WASBE. Web. (Featured as WASBE’s Composition of the Week, 4 January 2021). Accessed 14 January 2023