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- Robert Saxton
Processions and Dances (1981)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
- 1(pic,afl)1(ca)10/perc/hp/vn.va.vc
- 12 min
Programme Note
I wrote this work to a commission from the Lontano ensemble who gave the first performance in July 1981 at the Wigmore Hall. The same group also broadcast the piece later on Radio 3. The initial idea was given to me by a poster of a snow-bound funeral in an East-European village entitled ‘The Last Jews of Radauti’. This idea became submerged during composition and the concept of a series of Processions and Dances grew out of this. The piece has a strict overall harmonic structure; the Processions (which are all durational canons) become gradually shorter, while the Dances become progressively longer. At the end, after the final procession featuring solo cor anglais, a dance attempts to re-enter but the entire ensemble is quickly silenced by a single gong stroke.
© Robert Saxton
© Robert Saxton
Media
Processions and Dances
