A few years ago I wrote a set of piano duets for a publisher who has now gone out of business – so I reclaimed the copyright and published them myself as Six Dances for Four Hands: and they proved quite popular both in the piano duet version and also in an orchestral arrangement, Six Dances for Small Orchestra, that I also made.
Earlier in the year I got the opportunity to play the piano duet version myself for the first time, at a lunchtime concert in Aldeburgh with Nadia Lasserson, which was a lot of fun.
They are short, light-hearted, accessible pieces and I thought that other players might enjoy them, so when my son Sam, a professional saxophonist, asked me to accompany him for a recital he was giving at our church in Colchester, I decided to arrange them for saxophone (and for clarinet as well, while I was at it). These versions are all now published in Colne Edition.
The six movements of Six Dances for Saxophone and Piano cover a range of moods and styles. The first movement ‘Three-quarter time’ is a fast waltz with a sense of interplay between soloist and accompanist, and this contrasts with the second movement, ‘Serenade’: also in three-four time, this movement is otherwise very different, with a sensitive and expressive flowing melody which is later presented as a canon between the two players. The mood wakes up for the third movement, ‘Energy’, which is in a kind of upbeat mambo style. From there, the next movement takes us, perhaps, to France – ‘Valse melancolique’ suggests the piano-accordion and Parisian street scenes. Then in the fifth movement, ‘Smooth and Silky’, we move a little bit further south, the music suggesting the Spanish habanera dance – and finally, ‘Celebration’ brings the set to a joyful close.
Here are videos of two movements from the concert: Three-Quarter Time, and Energy, and here’s the complete performance with a scrolling score.
As well as the Alto Sax version, there’s also a version for Tenor Sax – details of both are here.
For the Clarinet and Piano version, please go here.
Orchestral version here
Piano Duet version here
Hope you enjoy them! All versions are published by Colne Edition and are available as digital downloads from Sheet Music Direct or Sheet Music Plus (printed copies are available to special order from me)