Catalogue
Dance, MacAber! (2009)
Programme Note available | View performance history...
Commissioned by Alison Mitchell on behalf of the Scottish Chamber Soloists.
First performance: Scottish Chamber Soloists, Strathclyde Suite, GRCH, Glasgow, 01 Dec 2009
Work Details
Category: chamber mixed quartet
Duration: 11
Instrumentation: Fl / Picc Cl Bsn Pf
SMC Holdings
Programme Note
This piece was commissioned by the flautist Alison Mitchell on behalf of the Scottish Chamber Soloists who gave the first performance in the Strathclyde Suite of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in December 2009. The players wanted something that felt Scottish but without any obvious
pastiche and, for some reason, I started to think about the title "Danse macabre" and how I might use it to draw together a suite of movements inspired by Scottish Dances which seemed to me to be the best way of meeting the players' request. The word"macabre" can also be spelt "macaber" so it seemed reasonable to invent the Scots sounding surname "MacAber", change the noun to a verb and add an exclamation mark to satisfy what I had in mind. The work falls into 3 sections played without a break, which are: Gigue, Interlude with Sarabande and Strathspey, and Reel. I have tried to capture the spirit of the Scottish dances in the music as well as hinting at the macabre element although, hopefully, a sense of slightly manic fun pervades the whole work.
