Union Square Dance - for 2 identical orchestras

Rijnvos, Richard

Abstract

Union Square Dance is the final part of Uptown|Downtown, an urban panorama in six movements, which is thought of as an evening-long dance production about city life in Manhattan. Union Square Dance is a euphoric dance, incessant and unceasing, as is to be expected from a finale. The form is a sequence of nine segments of equal length. Using letters, the structure can be described as follows: D-a-b-c-d-A-B-C-D. The beginning and end being identical, the work bites its own tail. The parts in between rush by in two complementary appearances (yin-yang): each of the segments indicated with lower case letters has a 'leggiero’ character (yin), whereas those with capitals are their ‘feroce’ counterparts (yang). Union Square has historically been the place where many political demonstrations started or ended. It is a frequent gathering point for radicals of various political convictions. The credo that traditionally calls for solidarity reads: “united we stand, divided we fall”. However, its underlying thought is devaluating rapidly nowadays, not in the least by inappropriate patriotic sentiment. Union Square Dance proposes an alternative motto: “divided we fall, united we dance”. Union Square Dance was commissioned by the ZaterdagMatinee, with financial support from the Performing Art Fund NL. It was written for the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. The first performance by them, James Gaffigan conducting, took place during the ZaterdagMatinee concert series, 11 April 2009, in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. Union Square Dance was also performed by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, conducted by Lucas Vis, on 30 January 2011, as part of the Ultraschall Festival in Berlin. Union Square Dance was studio recorded by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Celso Antunes, on 9 June 2011. Together with the other movements of “Uptown|Downtown” the recording was released on CD in May 2012 by the label Challenge Classics.

Citation

Rijnvos, R. (2008). Union Square Dance - for 2 identical orchestras

• Other Type: Composition
• Online Publication Date: Apr 11, 2009
• Publication Date: 2008
• Deposit Date: Sep 28, 2013
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1698455
• Additional Information: Duration: 11 minutes