Half Suite

I. Courante (viola, clarinet, bassoon, double bass) - in progress
II. Sarabande (viola and clarinet)
III. Loure (solo viola)

viola, clarinet, bassoon and double bass
(2012)
10 minutes

the complete piece will be premiered by:
Con Vivo on May 20th, 2012

listen to mvt. 2: Sarabande

live recording:
Ryan Yuré, clarinet and Pei-Ling Lin, viola

About the piece:

For the couple of years I have been writing contemporary versions of baroque dances. There is something about the order and dignity contained in the meter and forms of these dances that attracts me and seems to work as a good foil for my musical instincts. Each of these dances includes some sort of twist on baroque traditions.

The timing is not quite right in this Sarabande - it is as if someone is alternately pressing slow motion and fast forward, so the piece becomes a caricature of a dance. Yet I think both the courtly European dance and its wild Spanish ancestor are strongly present underneath the surface.

The Loure begins more or less in the manner of a Baroque Loure - slow and stately with adistinctive short-long figure that acts as a pickup. But there is an energy bubbling up beneath the surface of this loure that I could not suppress. In my piece, the dignified feel of the loure is gradually replaced with something much more wild. However, this wildness can not sustain itself either and the piece ends mostly as it began.

The suite is still in progress: the Courante is yet to be finished.