Printed set (Score & Parts)
[Part 1] Flute, Eb Clarinet
[Part 2] Flute, Oboe, Eb Clarinet, Bb Clarinet, Bb Soprano Saxophone
[Part 3] Bb Clarinet, Eb Alto Saxophone
[Part 4] Bb Clarinet, Eb Alto Clarinet, Eb Alto Saxophone, Bb Tenor Saxophone
[Part 5 (optional)] Bb Tenor Saxophone, F Horn, Trombone, Euphonium
[Part 6] Bassoon, Bb Bass Clarinet, Bb Tenor Saxophone, Eb Baritone Saxophone, Euphonium
[Part 7] Bassoon, Bb Bass Clarinet, Eb Baritone Saxophone, Tuba, String Bass
[Percussion (optional)] Tambourine, Triangle, Glockenspiel
"Mazurka" won the 23rd Asahi Composition Award in 2012 and was selected as one of the five test pieces for the 2013 All Japan Wind Band Competition. I had been hoping to rework this one day as a chamber piece for woodwinds, and was given the opportunity to publish a flexible version.
Mazurka is a Polish folk dance, originally derived from peasant dances. Musically, it has a three-beat rhythm, but unlike the waltz, centered on the first beat, the mazurka is characterized by strong accents on the second or third beat, as if the ground is being stomped.
In the classical world, Chopin is famous for his series of more than 50 works, but this is not music for folk dances, of course, but a piano work that uses the musical characteristics of the mazurka and sublimates it into art music. Other well-known mazurkas include those in ballet such as Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" and Dreib's "Coppelia," and in orchestral music, the "Mazurka" from Khachaturian's suite "Masked Ball." Both of these pieces, like Chopin's piano music, use folkloric musical characteristics that evolved into art music.
I became familiar with these orchestral mazurkas as a trumpet player. The experience led me to compose "Mazurka," which is of course not a Polish folk dance in its original form, but rather a piece of music containing those rhythmic characteristics.
This piece, whose main key is F minor, is not simply classified as "major = bright, minor = dark," as is generally the case, but rather, due to the intensity of its music and rhythm, it should be played with a sense of "the strength to face difficulties" in the minor key. This is precisely the reason why the title of this piece is "Mazurka." In the middle section, the music turns away from the mazurka rhythm and changes to Db major. The aim of the music is to create a romantic development of phrases and harmonies in a soft and sweet sound with a unique veil over it.
We hope that the precise sounds and rhythms unique to chamber music (small band) and ensembles will give the work a different charm from that of a full ensemble performance.
(Kei Misawa)
