Pavane [Orch.]

Pavane is an introspective piano solo that has been orchestrated for a small orchestra by request. It is predominantly centered in the key of B minor. A sorrowful, melancholic descending melody slowly emerges soaring high in the right hand above the left. As the melody melts and unwinds in a mournful, painfully disparaging character, the static bass line also offers a steady stream of descending sustained tones that offer a turning away from twentieth century biting dissonances and a return to a much and overtly simpler style. Much of the piece is emotionally restrained and uses a series of open and perfect intervals to add an unstable and stark mood, including the introduction and extended coda.

Written as a work for a program for children in a concert in New York City, it was originally titled an “Elegy”. Several members at the Manhattan School of Music expressed their admiration for the piece and it was orchestrated soon after. The piece was later conceived to end in a major key which added an energetic and optimistic quality but was changed back to its original minor ending when a later concert made it more successful when other colleagues preferred the original ending.