Hesketh World Premiere

Kenneth Hesketh

Kenneth Hesketh

Birmingham Symphonic Winds, conducted by Keith Allen, will premiere the new set of dances, Danceries (Set 11), by Kenneth Hesketh, at the CBSO Centre, Birmingham B1 2LF on Saturday 9th April. Tickets are £10.00.

The complete programme will be:

  • Martin EllerbyThe Canticle of the Sun
  • Gustav HolstThe Planets - Jupiter
  • Kenneth HeskethDanceries 11
  • Sousa/GershwinHumoresque on Swanee
  • Nigel HessShakespeare Pictures
  • Eric WhitacreLux Aurumque
  • Philip SparkeSecond City Ceremony
  • Guy WoolfendenDivertimento for Band

Kenneth Hesketh writes:

"This second set of Danceries continues the format established in Danceries (Set 1) , namely in using material taken from Playford's Dancing Master, a collection of folk and popular tunes published in the seventeenth century, to form the basis of an extended dance suite. In this set, the melodies have been more abstracted and project only a distant echo of their original forms, but as before, each movement is self-contained, colourful and direct, with its own distinct mood."

"The outer movements - Jennie's Bawbee and Peascod's Galliarda - share a use of driving percussion writing with a military air. Tom Tinker's Toye and Heart's Ease (movements two and three) are both settings of original melodies. All movements are more extended than in the first set, with a freer use and approach to the material; melodies now occur in various keys and are supported by a greater variety of harmonic colouring. The result is a richer, even more exhilarating set of dances. Danceries has come of age!"