Danny Boy Variations
for violin duo (1998 / 2008)
duration: 3’
GRT • 134
audio sample
CD available
The Metallic
Violins
James Cuddeford and Natsuko Yoshimoto,
violins
Tall
Poppies
score available from
Australian Music
Centre
program
note
Danny Boy
Variations, is not
strictly in 'theme and variations' form as such. It is
essentially a free rumination on sections of the theme,
which ultimately leads to a canonic presentation of the
theme in pan–pipe tones – intended to create an unworldly
atmosphere in memory of Frank O'Brien. The Danny Boy theme
is one that I am fond of, particularly Grainger's version
for brass band. The theme here is treated playfully but
also taps into a strong sense of nostalgia, which is
inherent in the tune. While written in 1998, this duo was
revised for and premiered by James Cuddeford and Natsuko
Yoshimoto at the Adelaide Festival Centre in December,
2007. The piece also exists in a slightly expanded form for
string quartet.
reviews
“Complementing the opening
work of the program (Bunch’s hymn settings) was Stuart
Greenbaum’s Danny
Boy Variations.
Unlike the traditional ‘variation’ form, Greenbaum used
only selected fragments of this well–known melody
throughout this work. Alongside fleeting glimpses of
familiar chords, melodies would emerge as if rising through
a mist. A canonic conclusion to the work saw Cuddeford and
Yoshimoto turn from each other and slowly walk away as they
played the closing pitches, as if retreating to their own
world of reminiscences.”
Janet McKay, Resonate, May 2008
“Stuart Greenbaum's
Danny Boy
Variations is an
edgy take on the tune.”
Patricia Kelly, The Courier–Mail, April 2010
“Melbourne composer Stuart
Greenbaum weaves in phrases from Danny Boy in his folky set
of variations.”
Steve Moffatt, Penrith Press, April 2010
“Stuart Greenbaum's
Danny Boy
Variations develops fragments of the popular Irish
song, progressing from strong and pulsing to quiet and
ethereal - perhaps mapping the transition of the song's
singer across the veil of Death.”
Anthony Linden Jones, Music Forum, November 2010
“Echoes of folk music appear
in Stuart Greenbaum's Danny Boy
Variations”
Julian Day, Limelight, June 2011