Sarabande HWV 437

The Keyboard suite in D minor (HWV 437) was composed by George Frideric Handel, for solo keyboard (harpsichord), between 1703 and 1706. It is also referred to as Suite de piece Vol. 2 No. 4. It was first published in 1733.The piece was used in an orchestral arrangement for Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. Dutch singer Petra Berger used the Sarabande as the musical setting for her song about Mary, Queen of Scots, "Still a Queen (In My End Is My Beginning)," from her album Eternal Woman (2001). An orchestral version was also used on the first episode of the 2018 television mini-series of Agatha Christie's "A.B.C. Murders", starring John Malkovich as Poirot.This beautiful arrangement for orchestra brings in its variations, an intercalation of orchestral forces and different climaxes. The first part of the theme starts on the strings accompanied by the continuum. The second part includes the metals and the tympani. In the first variation, the theme is played by a group of strings, within a chamber proposal. In the third variation, the strings give way to the woodwinds, where horns, trombones talk to the woodwinds. In the fourth variation, the same group of winds remains, but they are accompanied by the ow strings. Finally, in the last variation, the orchestral force appears with brilliance and intensity.