About this work:
Program note:
Septet, opus 77 ... "Variations on a Shaker Tune" was commissioned by Mark Ludwig for his educational series in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. When he approached me about writing a "theme and variations" work for the purpose of illustrating musical form, texture and orchestration to a young audience, I thought what better thing to do than to use as a theme a Shaker hymn from nearby Hancock Shaker Village. As it turns out Deborah Leath Rentz, a mezzo-soprano who is Mark's assistant at the Terezin Music Foundation, has been researching and transcribing a Shaker Hymnal, ca. 1850, created and compiled at the Hancock Shaker Village. (Deborah's project is sponsored by the Hancock Shaker Village and the Richmond Performing Series.) So I asked her to put on DAT tape a number of these hymns for me. I immediately fell in love with the very first one on the tape: "Grateful Remembrance." It had a soulful, melancholic core; an almost "bluesy" feeling to it. In this performance, Deborah will sing the hymn a cappella in the beginning. Then, seven variations will follow.
Instrumenatation: flute, clarinet in Bb, Horn in F. violin, viola, cello and double bass.
I. Grateful Remembrance An instrumental version of the hymn.
II. Grateful Chanting Featuring the B-flat clarinet in a pentatonic "chant" setting.
III. Grateful Funk The "bluesiness" of the hymn is transformed into a funk riff.
IV. Tango Remembered A four-note fragment from the hymn is transformed into a sultry tango.
V. Sambinha agradecida The yearning "flat 6th" in the hymn is transformed into a samba Carmen Miranda would've loved.
VI. Canonized Remembrance The hymn is treated to a canonic transfiguration.
VII. Grateful Groove The pentatonic nature of the hymn is spun out in an Afro-cuban razzle dazzle finale!!!