Premiere: 30 April 2001 at Pierce Chapel, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL
Steve Sjobring, violin; Jonathan Blumhofer, viola; Beth-El Montgomery, cello (first version)
19 April 2002 at Pierce Chapel, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL
Rebekah Burgess, violin; Jonathan Blumhofer, viola; Julie MacLean (Tehan), cello (full version)
Duration: 13’
Instrumentation: violin, viola, & cello
Performance Note:
Dance Suite had something of a convoluted compositional history. Its first three movements were written in the spring of 2001, and I added two further sections between November 2001 and February 2002. Those were later removed—and then reinstated. The final version, revised in 2024, proceeds as follows:
I. Tango – For about five years between 1997 and 2002, I was fascinated by the idea of the tango, writing two or three of them, of which this movement was the last. Not being familiar with the proper form of the dance, I basically developed my own (which makes it perhaps more accurate to describe this installment as a sexy minuet and trio). It starts with a bravura cello cadenza, before the violin and viola take up the main tune. The “trio” section features a reworking of part of a piano piece I composed in 1998, before the opening material returns to close the movement.
II. Waltz – This is the first of two waltzes (the first variation of my Variations on THAXTED being the other) which does its best to avoid the traditional triple meter. Beats of five, seven, and even four alternate in a delightfully off-kilter manner, while a snatch of the “Paris Waltz” from Candide makes an appearance at the climax of the piece.
III. Trepak – During the summer of 2000 I came up with the idea for a brilliant overture that, at the time, I couldn’t quite work out (many years later, it emerged as Of Small Cheer and Great Welcome). In an effort to preserve my tunes, then, I transferred them to this movement, where they functioned quite nicely as a little homage to Tchaikovsky.
IV. Pas des trois – The origins of this section are obscurer, though the music gives further evidence of my enthusiasm for waltzes (this time, though, in proper, triple meters).
V. Tarantella – Beats of five and seven reappear, now with a vengeance. When I wrote this, I’d been under the false impression that the finale of Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony is a tarantella (it is, in fact, a saltarello). Nevertheless, the movement falls essentially into a rondo form with a very fast Coda that rounds things out with a jolt of energy.
The movements of Dance Suite are each dedicated to the performers at the premieres of each version as well as my then-3-year-old friend, Claire Johnston, whose toddling ways (at the time) reminded me of the lilt of the “Waltz.”