Ardee Dances
Duration c. 17 minutes
For solo fiddle, solo baroque violin and baroque strings
The five movements of Ardee Dances follow the flow of the Ardee landscape through the never-ending cycle of ice-age, thaw and re-growth. Drawing on the languages of two contrasting styles of fiddling, each with its own sense of time and place, the music moves from moments of stillness to wild dances. Its flow, like that of the landscape, is part of a larger dance which continues, unheard, long after the last note has sounded. The solo violin opens the work in a still prologue with hushed interjections from the ensemble and a tentative response from the fiddle at the close. The fiddle then leads the ensemble in the second and third movements, before the solo violin takes charge once again in the fourth. A meditative epilogue for fiddle and violin brings the work to a close.
Ardee Dances was commissioned by Louth County Council under the Dept. of Environment, Heritage & Local Government's Percent for Art Scheme to be performed by Gerry O Connor (fiddle) and the Irish Baroque Orchestra with director Elizabeth Wallfisch (violin) during Ardee Baroque 2005.
Duration c. 17 minutes
For solo fiddle, solo baroque violin and baroque strings
The five movements of Ardee Dances follow the flow of the Ardee landscape through the never-ending cycle of ice-age, thaw and re-growth. Drawing on the languages of two contrasting styles of fiddling, each with its own sense of time and place, the music moves from moments of stillness to wild dances. Its flow, like that of the landscape, is part of a larger dance which continues, unheard, long after the last note has sounded. The solo violin opens the work in a still prologue with hushed interjections from the ensemble and a tentative response from the fiddle at the close. The fiddle then leads the ensemble in the second and third movements, before the solo violin takes charge once again in the fourth. A meditative epilogue for fiddle and violin brings the work to a close.
Ardee Dances was commissioned by Louth County Council under the Dept. of Environment, Heritage & Local Government's Percent for Art Scheme to be performed by Gerry O Connor (fiddle) and the Irish Baroque Orchestra with director Elizabeth Wallfisch (violin) during Ardee Baroque 2005.
