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12 Variations
After Nina
Attack
Barren Grounds
Black River
Calling Music
Chorale, Demon..
Christmas Song
Cloud Burning
Collide
Dead Songs
Devil's Music, The
Distant Shore, A
Diver's Lament
Duo Variations
Ekstasis
Endling
Etudes Espace
Falling Man
From Fire Co..
Going Into Sh ..
I Am Black
In Tempore Stellae
Journey to Horse..
Lines Drawn Fr..
little tree
"Mephisto"
Night Flight
Once upon a time
Piano Sonata
Quicksilver Ser ..
Respiro/Simple ..
Sea Call
Sea-Change
Septet No.2
Shadow's Dance
Silk Canons
Silken Weave
Sleepers Wake
Sonata Sopra..
Sonatina
Song of Songs
Southern Ocean
Stick Dance II
Stick Dance III
The meaning of...
Tonic Continent
Wiegenlied
Wild flower
Willow Bend
Winter Ground
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Shadow's Dance
Shadow's Dance was written in London in November,1985 for performance
by myself and friends. The piece draws its title from the Balinese shadow
puppet dance but also calls to mind the shadowy world of back-street North
London sleaze, especially in its use of microtones in the clarinet part.
Whilst the work is based on the structure of a fairy tale (Goldilocks
and the Three Bears) the piece is in no sense programmatic. As Levi-Strauss
has shown, seminal stories and myths may have consistent structures (sequences
of events) that could be called ritual forms. Interestingly, some of these
story-telling shapes are like conventional musical forms; of those, this
piece is most like a ritornello or rondo form but with many small, mosaic-like
bits that keeping coming back but in new adventures (like Goldilocks).
The alternation of lyricism with sudden rhythmic excitement, slow quiet
violin glissanos, the sense of tempo which is fast and slow at the same
time and the muffled, distant quality of the violin part are typical features
of the piece. The use of echoes and sudden outbursts suggest the following
analogy: the music is played and danced on one hilltop whilst it is seen
and heard from another. The effects of wind and cloud make the music sometimes
clear and sharp, sometimes tranquil and distant.
Shadow's Dance has survived a number of reworkings as Stick Dance (for
clarinet, marimba, piano) in 1987 and Stick Dance 2 (clarinet, viola,
piano) in 1989. This sort of process of transformation has its own fascination;
it is almost as though one were taking a photo of a growing plant over
a space of time from different angles. The essence of the thing stays
the same but the parts of the whole change position and take on new importance.
Purchasing Links
Buy, borrow or hire scores, parts and recordings from
the Australian Music Centre
www.amcoz.com.ausales@amcoz.com.au
