Incitation to Desire (Tango) [Mixed Instruments - Miscellaneous Ensemble]

Incitation to Desire (Tango), for clarinet, horn (or viola), violin, violoncello, percussion and  piano (1984/1993), was originally written as a solo piano work (Edition Peters No. EP67596b) for Yvar Mikhashoff who first·performed it at the North American New Music Festival in Buffalo on April 14, 1985 and whose recording of it appears on a New Albion release in 1995.  It was originally published by Quadrivium Music Press as part of the International  Tango Collection which included 88 composers as varied as John Cage, Karlheinz Stqckhausen and Virgil Thomson.  The Skaneateles Festival. commisioned this version which was premiered on September 3, 1993 and is dedicated to pianist Robert Weirich and 'cellist Lindsay Groves. It is in one short movement starting with a brief, flashy introduction, then the tango itself entitled "In the style of a tango-canci6n" (originally a vocal form with instrumental accompaniment and strong sentimental character) with  abstracted characteristic habanera rhythmic patterns in 2/ 4 meter and sentimental melody, and then a brief, driving coda.

This chamber version explores the possibilities of the sensuousness of timbre especially in the combination of violin, 'cello, clarinet and horn and the resulting dialogues between them--like the"duets'' between violin and clarinet, horn and 'cello, the interweaving an exchange of "partners," and so on. The percussion and piano give depth to the harmony, heighten the rhythmic drive, and articulate particular colors. The title comes from H. C. Colles' "Tango" entry in the Fifth Volume of the 1944 Third Edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians: "The movements of the dance are less presentable to a polite audience than those of the Habanera, and as now performed in the cafes chantants of Madrid and other cities of Spain the Tango has become nothing but an incitation to desire."

Chester Biscardi

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