Rhapsody

My intention in composing my Rhapsody was to show off all the soloists of the orchestra. I constructed this short work in three parts, and designed it symmetrically.

In the first part, the soloists introduce themselves by playing brief solo passages one after another - with the exception of the double-bass. The second part is a very fast and vigorous tutti resembling a Polish folk dance but written mainly in a rhythm 2+2+3/4 which is my own invented hybrid combining the binary meter of krakowiak with the ternary meter of mazurek. The third part is based on the same thematic material as the first, starting with the whole orchestra in fortissimo - going into an extended diminuendo partly brought about by the gradual reduction of instruments until the very end of the piece, when the still silent double-bassist discovers that he/she after all was not forgotten, indeed has the final word.

Andrzej Panufnik

For the diagram describing the construction of this work, see the programme note section on www.panufnik.com

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