Dancing Helix Rituals (2007)
For violin, clarinet and piano
Premiered by The Verdehr Trio, Washington, DC, 21 October 2007
Duration: 9 minutes
Program Note by the Composer
Commissioned by the Verdehr Trio and Michigan State University and dedicated with admiration to the Verdehr Trio, Dancing Helix Rituals, for violin, clarinet, and piano, was composed in 2006.
Although I feel this music stands fully on its own as art music, this composition should be performed along with dancers if possible. The early Stravinsky ballets are works I hold in great reverence, have studied, love, follow, etc. — and as a result, I tend to hear and feel all of my music, in particular my orchestral works, as music suitable for dance. As I compose, I sing, dance, move, and conduct at my drafting table. The process is visceral. My ears and mind are both analytical as well as intuitive — and I "feel" and "hear" every note and rhythm and color clearly. (I hope you can perceive that meticulousness and precision.)
This is music composed with the whole ear and whole body. There is a highly refined logic to every nuance which stems from the sound, in context, on its own terms. The sounds are varied, colorful, crosscut, unexpected, and yet hopefully sound inevitable in the way that a jazz improvisation sounds both spontaneous and unpreventable.
This 10-minute trio was inspired by the generosity of spirit, energy, and dedication of the Verdehr Trio. The score is marked with words including: passionate, bright, driving, with flair and ritualistic energy, clock-like and mechanical, scurrying and playful, majestic and stately, funky, syncopated, jazzy, colorful, fanfare-like, romp-like, light and bouncy. It required a great deal of energy to compose this piece because it is basically 10 minutes of fast music. (Lots of notes! No "LARGO" chorales.) And it requires the same force of the virtuoso players today, to which I offer my heartfelt gratitude.
Augusta Read Thomas
Selected reviews
Stephen Brookes, The Washington Post (October 24, 2007)
"The standout piece was Augusta Read Thomas's Dancing Helix Rituals from 2006. It's a dance, certainly — but a wild, driving, exhilarating dance that hurtled out of the gate and built into a riot of jazzy rhythms and colorful gestures. Like all good rituals, it was intoxicating — and the trio brought it off with a fine, eloquent frenzy."
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