A Little Concert Suite - HL00007218 | Musica

This piece was commissioned for the Northern Manitoba Concert Band Festival, and first performed by the Festival Band under the direction of the composer, on November 26th 1983, at the concluding concert of this annual meeting.

The suite is one of the oldest instrumental form stemming from the practice of bringing together several independent and contrasting smaller pieces for listening pleasure purely as music.

The music of "A Little Concert Suite" is in four movements, corresponding rougly to the usual division of this classic format, each with its own generally descriptive title.
The opening "Intrada" is a stately introduction, depicting a regal procession such as at a court festival, with the assembly of honored guests.
The "Siciliana" is a constrasting movement, with trumpets and trombones silent. It sings a hushed serenade in quiet, almost melancholy tones, in the characteristic 6/8 rhythm of this Italian dance form.
The "Scherzo" has a light, bubbling texture with distinctly modern touches in its melodic an rhythmic figures. Again it is in striking contrast to what has come immediately before, but with the same general instrumentation as in the second movement...though with muted brass added.
The concluding "Gigue" is an adaptation of a much used French and English dance form as adapted for court use in the 17th and 18th centuries, and which subsequently found its way into the purely instrumental suites of composers such as Bach and Handel.

Includes:
  I. Intrada
 II. Siciliana
III. Scherzo
IV. Gigue