for solo violin (2012)
duration: 3’
GRT • 168
YouTube
CD available
From Earth to Sky
Marianne Rothschild
Salisbury Records, SR 171119, 2020
score available from
Australian Music Centre
program note
These variations for violin solo are taken from a larger work, Dance Music for Concert Halls. There is a form of ‘dance music’ in the classical tradition whose purpose does not require any dancing. And I often wonder what it means, therefore, to listen to dance music while sitting still. Of course, there’s an inner dance that lifts and moves the spirit and I have always been attracted to music of any age or genre that does that. The variations theme is Balkan–influenced, in deference to Serbian violinist, Nemanja Radulovic, who gave the premiere performance at the Melbourne Recital Centre on 20 September 2012. The full work was commissioned by Andrew Johnston to celebrate the 80th birthday of his mother, Stephanie Lillian Johnston.
reviews
“From Earth to Sky is a well-produced recording that showcases some of the best works for solo violin written by Melbourne composers over the last 20 years. Stuart Greenbaum’s cheerful and bright Variations begin the CD. Written, recorded and played in Melbourne, on a Melbourne-made instrument, the recording will delight a wider audience.”
Susan Pierotti, Stringendo, April 2021
“Variations by Stuart Greenbaum, a composer who featured on Rothschild’s previous album, is the first cab off the musical rank. It is an attractive, bouncy, syncopated tune that appears to be part of a larger suite, Dance Music for Concert Halls. The violin tone is sure and full, and the playing rhythmic and catching.”
Philip Pogson, Music Trust, March 2022