THREE TRANSFORMATIONS

Program Notes:

1. Lord Cavendish Strikes the Right Note (Samba)
2. Pedro and Olga learn to Dance (Tango)
3. Rhumbarubio (Rhumba)

I derived each of these three movements from works by J. S. Bach that I have recast and reconstructed in a new form and harmonic structure. I used every piece as the starting point for an homage to the original.

All three of Bach’s compositions are in triple meters. I rebarred each in duple (4/4) meter, thus forcing myself to rethink the harmonic rhythms. The music had to be plausible in the new time signature.

I originally composed the first movement, ‘Lord Cavendish’, for Marimba and Harpsichord. This score is dedicated to William Moersch and Charlotte Mattox for their wedding. The music in ‘Lord Cavendish’ is the closest to Bach’s original composition.

‘Pedro and Olga Learn to Dance’ was the message (in the 1960s) of a second story neon sign on Manhattan’s upper Westside. I have interpolated more of my own music into this work, also changing the original from major to minor.

I dedicate Rhumbarubio to Nancy Zeltsman and Janice Potter. The structure is a kind of mad chorale-prelude with Bach’s music flickering ‘ghost-like’ in and out of a perpetually moving texture.

Here are the sources for the music:
Lord Cavendish: Prelude in E flat Major from Book Two of the WTC.
Pedro and Olga: Fugue in F Major from Book One of the WTC
Rhumbarubio: Gigue from the e minor English Suite.

All three Transformations are dedicated to Madam Rubio, wherever she is. . . .

Andrew Thomas
14 July 1998
Reykjavík

Commissioned & Premiered:2001, Madam Rubio (The Nancy Zeltsman-Janis Potter Marimba Duo)

Recording: 2004 Pedro and Olga Learn to Dance - Jack Van Geem & Nancy Zeltsman, marimba duo

Commissioned Orchestral Transcription Premiered: 2011, Atlantic Music festival Waterville, ME. Jonathan Schiffman-Conducting)