Incitation to Desire (Tango)
Chester Biscardi
About this work:
Incitation to Desire (Tango), for marimba (1984/2006)
Range: E1 - c4
Published: C. F. Peters: Score: Edition Peters No. P67596c
Incitation to Desire (Tango) was written for pianist Yvar Mikhashoff who first performed it at the North American New Music Festival in Buffalo on April 14, 1985, and whose 1992 recording of it appears on New Albion NA073CD. It is also recorded by Anthony de Mare on CRI CD 565 and CRI CD 721, Louise Bessette on Sept Jardins Records SJCD-1910, and Bennett Lerner on Albany Records TROY695-96. It was originally part of the International Tango Collection which included 88 composers as varied as John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Virgil Thomson. It is in one short movement starting with a brief, flashy introduction, then the tango itself entitled “In the style of a tango-canción” (originally a vocal form with instrumental accompaniment and strong sentimental character) with abstracted characteristic habanera rhythmic patterns in 2/4 meter and sentimental melody, and then a brief, driving coda. The title comes from H. C. Colles's “Tango” entry in the Fifth Volume of the 1944 Third Edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians: “The movements of the dance are less presentable to a polite audience than those of the Habanera, and as now performed in the cafés chantants of Madrid and other cities of Spain the Tango has become nothing but an incitation to desire.” This version was written for and with the help of marimbist Mokoto Nakura. There is also a version for clarinet, horn (viola), violin, violoncello, percussion and piano written for The Skaneateles Festival and dedicated to pianist Robert Weirich and 'cellist Lindsay Groves.
Videocassette: 88 Tangos, March 1, 1986, (Yvar Mikhashoff, piano; Jeff Fontaine, lighting), Dance Theater Workshop and Composers’ Forum; Nominated in the Best Instrumental Performance Category, 2nd Annual Gay/Lesbian American Music Awards (GLAMA), 1998, for Incitation to Desire (Tango), for piano (1984), performed by Anthony de Mare on Gay American Composers (CRI CD 721).
Version: Marimba
Year composed: 1984
Duration: 00:03:00
Ensemble type: Solo instrument, non-keyboard:Marimba
Instrumentation:
Instrumentation notes: Marimba range: Range: E1 - c4