Dances from a Mythical Land

Zoltan Kodaly wrote his "Dances from Galanta" honoring the music of Slovakia. Antonin Dvorak composed sixteen Slavonic Dances, celebrating the culture of Bohemia. Brahms was enamored with the Hungarian bands he heard in Vienna, and therefore composed twenty-one Hungarian Dances. The composer of this work, Asher Raboy, also finds himself fascinated by a nation and its people, but these citizens live only in the imagination. The spirit behind the composition is the same as that of the giants who came before him, to capture some of the color and spirit of a nation. And with that in mind, he offers this set of Dances from a Mythical Land.The piece opens with a procession. The opening is romantic in spirit; slow, but flowing in style, as our celebrants enter the hall. Then the dance begins in earnest, with a syncopated melody accompanied by quick fiddle work. The melody and its accompaniment switch instruments quickly and often, as the dance builds in intensity and volume. A new tune then appears, a little more angular, a little more chromatic, but full of energy. The dance gets wilder still. Finally, the first, fast theme returns; this time a little bigger than before, giving the party a satisfying ending. The land represented in this piece is not wholly imaginary. It represents the composer's roots (musical and biological) and his dreams. It is his sincere hope that the audience will enjoy visiting this world as much as he does, and will find themselves frequent travelers to this mythical land.