Uneasy Dances
Cadence L.
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“Uneasy Dances” depicts the confused nostalgia of reviving European dance forms of the common practice period in today’s far more disillusioned world. The first movement, “Pavanne from a Dream”, features a doleful modal melody that came to me some unremembered day years before I wrote the piece. Throughout the movement, the melody, countermelody, and sparse pedal accompaniment shift between the flute, cello, and piano. After a slightly more turbulent middle section, the opening material returns and then fades away through an unexpected modal shift, leaving the impression of a frustratingly half-remembered dream. The second movement, “Scherzo”, is a brisk rondo. The recurring theme emerges from an ostinato of repeated ‘a’s which become a crutch of tonal stability, provoking subtle uneasiness when they are removed. The episodes include a yearning motive that struggles to break free from the rigid ostinato, followed by an off-kilter waltz. Having done away with the ostinato, the last statement of the principal theme rhythmically morphs to become cautiously exploratory. Lastly, the piece slinks into a tidy staccato ending which while superficially satisfying, leaves the listener with the unsettling sense of deja-vous which is characteristic of our modern world.
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Once in a blue moon, my creativity tumbles out of the sky squawking like a pigeon hit by a lightning bolt. My presumptions at composition are really just to pass the time during the eternal advent of that bizarre, precious bird.
