Butterfly Dance
for clarinet, violin, viola, violoncello and piano
This is work is based on an American Hopi Indian tune of the same name (recorded in the 1950s on Canyon Records CR-7053), and consists of two parts: the first as a preparation although aesthetically removed but motivically based on the second part, a more straightforward rendition of the tune itself. The idea was to suggest an experience, as a non-native American, witnessing an Indian dance, outside, in a semi-circle, at dusk. For only with time and patience does one find they enter into the dynamic and rhythmic pacing of the celebratory dance.
The composition was premiered in Moscow on 24 April 2001 in Rachmaninoff Hall at the Moscow Conservatory of Music by the ensemble Studio New Music, Vladimir Tarnopolski, director.
Performances
-Chicago Cultural Center, March 16, 2008 (Contempo Series)
-Moscow Conservatory, April 22, 2006
-Kerrytown Concert House (Ann Arbor, MI), October 29, 2004
-Tufts University, Brave New Works, May 26, 2004
-University of Iowa, Maggistera, June 2, 2001
-Moscow Conservatory of Music, April 24, 2001
