Description
This is the waltz from the larger work, "Three Dances for Halloween". The solo piano version was selected, through international competition for performance at the ppIANISSIMO New Music Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria in 1999.
I first started this piece as a sketch for full orchestra. Generally I will sketch a full orchestra piece in short score, however, I started this with only one grand staff (I don't remember why). The waltz started to take shape and I realized that this seemed to be working rather fine as a piece for piano. Although I finished it as a piano piece, I subsequently re-worked it to the fully orchestrated piece that I originally had in mind. That orchestrated version is currently part of a set of Halloween dances for orchestra.
One of the techniques I used in the writing of this waltz was tone centricity. Although the waltz has a tonal center, I wanted to create a mood that moved between the real world and the world of the spirits. I frequently moved in and out of the tonal center, without transposition, but rather using tone centricity giving the piece a slightly unsettled feel. I was liberal with the use of Oboe, Bassoon, Marimba and Vibraphone in the orchestration to enhance the feel I was looking for in this piece. The score and a full set of parts in included.