World premiere: 2024 Festival of American Music, London, UK, Lontano, Odaline de la Martinez, conductor, November, 14, 2024
Shortly after the original version of Incantations and Dances was premiered by New York's Da Capo Chamber Players, conductor Odaline de la Martinez asked me to create a version without percussion for her UK-based ensemble, Lontano. For this new arrangement, I interwove the percussion part among the remaining five instruments. The composition itself is a series of dance episodes buffeted by several “calls to the dance” or “incantations.” The dance forms have been used by composers over centuries but are flavored here with contemporary accents. The trajectory of the piece is: Incantations I and II (separated by a brief episode); Dance 1: fast and lively; Incantation III; Dance 2: in the style of a classical minuet; Dance 3: a hoedown; Dance 4: in the style of a Renaissance pavane with an extended middle section and reprise; and Dance 5: fast and lively, and recapping elements of Dances 1 and 3 while moving briskly towards the work’s finish.