Work

Programme Note

This music was originally commissioned by Richard Campion for the New Zealand Players’ production of Ring Round the Moon by Jean Ahhouil, translated by Christopher Fry. In the second act there is a ball taking place offstage and demanding a large number of dances which are specified in the text.

The music was first recorded on acetate discs by a ad hoc orchestra led by Alex Lindsay; these small recordings were then played through speakers for the production, sounding very loud to the cast but filtering out more gently to the audience. At the end of the long national tour, the cast knew the music very well and suggested to me that I should do something with it.

The result, some years later, 1957, was a suite of nine dances first performed by the Alex Lindsay Orchestra. This rapidly became my most performed piece and was commercially recorded by the Alex Lindsay Orchestra in the 1960s, a recording still available today from Kiwi Pacific Reords.

Ashley Heenen, through the NZ APRA Committee, commissioned an arrangement for full orchestra for the NZ Youth Orchestra to take on a tour of Europe and China in 1975. This version was shortened to six dances by leaving out the first three numbers. The music has also been used for a ballet, The Wintergarden, choreographed by Arthur Turnbull for the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company – this version included a tenth dance not in the 1957 Suite. Since 1975 two further version have been commissioned: Waltz Suite (1989), for string orchestra (five dances) for the Nova Strings, and an arrangement of the original Dance Suite (1992) for violin and piano (nine dances) for Isador Saslav.

Commissioned:

Arranged for the National Youth Orchestra in 1975 to take on tour to Europe and China. Commissioned by the Australian Performing Rights Association through the APRA Music Committee in New Zealand.

Difficulty:

Advanced

Influences:

• Latin American
• Dance
• Theatre

Related Works

Performance History

	07 Apr 1993	Performed by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by John Hopkins as part of SOUNZ Orchestral 1993
		Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
	01 Nov 2008	Performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pietari Inkinen at the Town Hall, Auckland
		New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
	08 Nov 2008	Performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pietari Inkinen at the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington
		New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
	11 Jul 2009	Performed by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra with conductor Tom Wood at the Douglas Lilburn Auditorium in Christchurch
		Christchurch Symphony
	11 Jul 2009	Performed by the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra with conductor Tom Wood at the Douglas Lilburn Auditorium in Christchurch
		Christchurch Symphony