Danza Sinfonica - SMC864 | Music

Music in the Spanish Style composed by non-Spaniards is certainly nothing new. One need only consider orchestral works such as Emmanuel Chabrier's Espana Rhapsody, Giuseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore, Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espagnole, Jules Massenet's Le Cid, Richard Strauss' Don Quixote, Claude Debussy's Iberia and Maurice Ravel's Rhapsody Espagnol to grasp the fact that music written in the distinctive Spanish idiom has truly become an international affair in the past 150 years or so. Major works such as Roger Nixon's Fiesta del Pacifico and Clifton William's Symphonic Dance No. 3: Fiesta have made music with a Spanish color a significant part of the rapidly expanding repertoire of the wind band. James Barnes' Danza Sinfonica continues this tradition.
The first fifty measures encapsulate the thematic material employed in Danza Sinfonica. After opening with solo marimba and bassoon, brief flurries introduce the principal motive of the piece, before the timpani fades into silence. An abrupt fanfare by the full band introduces the other principal theme of the work. The remainder of Danza Sinfonica is cast in a broad three-part format. To some extent the piece is rhapsodic and partially a series of variations, but all of it is dance music. Danza Sinfonica is permeated with colorful solistic passages, brilliant outbursts by the full band, surprise modulations and splashes of pure instrumental color, as the music transports the listener on a brief journey to the Iberian penisula for a taste of classic Spanish flamenco.

Danza Sinfonica was commissioned by the Auburn University Symphonic Band. It was premiered on April 17, 2004 in auburn, Alabama, with Dr. Johnnie Vinson conducting. The Osaka Municipal Band premiered the work in Japan in June 2004.