John Long, Ashley - Dance Miniatures

Dance Miniatures was written for the Syzygy Saxophone Quartet in 2013 and premiered at the Cheltenham Festival. As a composer, Ash has carved a niche as a creator of innovative scores that balance fine detail with freedom and flexibility whilst retaining a strong melodic sense.

"Dance Miniatures was written over the course of a few months in mid 2012. The work explores, in miniature form, various dance forms ranging from traditional Greek dances and Renaissance/early Baroque forms, to modern Bulgarian rhythms in short precise statements. No one movement solely explores one style or dance form as each takes in a multitude of influences to arrive at its final version with references to many styles and cultures along the way. As such, the work utilizes and explores further the polystylist techniques that I have been developing in my composing over the past few years. The work is dedicated with warmest friendship to the Syzygy Saxophone Quartet." AJL