Three Dances for clarinet choir was commissioned by the British
Federation of Music Festivals for the clarinet course at its summer
school in 1985. It is dedicated to John Reynolds, who conducted the
first performance in Harrogate in July 1985, with grateful thanks for
his encouragement and advice.
The first dance, with its many changes of metre and infectious rhythms, is based on a dance originally sketched for the masque in an abandoned production of Troilus and Cressida. The second and third movements are extended reworkings of two dances from The Winter’s Tale: the gentle dance of the lovers, Perdita and Florizel, is followed without a break by the rumbustious Dance of the Satyrs. |
