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Marimba Dances (1982)
for marimba solo
Ross Edwards
This light-hearted (though highly virtuosic) piece consists of two radiant
dances framing an introspective, recitative-like interlude. The musical
idiom is that of my Piano Concerto, composed in the same year, which conservative
critics found so threatening in the 1980s. In such pieces as these it was
my intention to reintroduce levity, joy and exuberance into 'serious' music,
which at the time seemed in danger of ossification. The marimba writing
is influenced by a transcription I made of music for African harp in my
reconstruction of a Madegascan folksong. This folksong, became part of my
instrumental sextet Laikan, composed in 1979 for the British ensemble The
Fires of London and its conductor, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, with whom I
studied in the 1960s. The marimba part was first performed by Greg Knowles,
to whom Marimba Dances is dedicated.
Marimba Dances was first performed by Michael Askill at a concert in the
Wollongong City Art Gallery in 1983. Today it is one of my most widely performed
and recorded works throughout the world.
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