American Dances

American Dances

for String Quartet or Violin and Piano
(see here for orchestral version, Symphony No. 4: American Dances)

Ananda Quartet, January 21--March 30, 2008; revised, retitled, and orchestrated Sept. 8--Nov. 24, 2024
Violin and Piano, March 7--April 7, 2009; revised Nov. 26--Dec. 1, 2024
Duration: about 24 minutes Photo above: first quartet performance

for Eric Pritchard

String Quartet recordings;
premiere performance of the quartet; Feb. 24, 2013 by Eric Pritchard, Mary Kay Robinson, violins; David Marschall, viola; Virginia Hudson, cello, at Meredith College, Raleigh NC. This score has been revised, and the first movement is now about half new material not in this recording.
video (YouTube) MP3 recording    WAV recording (CD quality)

Violin and Piano recordings;
The recording for violin and piano was done at Duke University by Eric Pritchard and Randall Love, October 2009. (This score is under revision, and the first movement will be about half new material not in this recording.)
MP3 recording    WAV recording (CD quality)

Score, String Quartet PDF    Quartet parts Cover

Score, Violin and Piano PDF Violin part Cover

Introduction by Pat Marriot, from the WHQR broadcast of April 28, 2014 (mp3)

Exit by Pat Marriott, WHQR (mp3)

I. Harris Waltz [6:10]
Kamallegro: Kamadagio: Tempo I

II. Texas Two Step [5:03]

Amarillo ma non troppo

III. Dance for the seriously ill [6:33]

Largo
IV. Wild Gipsy Fling [6:26]
Romayana

In 2008, I wrote this quartet (then titled Ananda Dances) for my friend Eric Pritchard, first violinist of the Ciompi Quartet at Duke University. After the premiere performance of the string quartet in 2013, I was not satisfied with the first movement, and recomposed it in 2024, during the presidential election. This motivated me to give it a new title, Harris Waltz, in honor of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, in their failed attempt to stop Donald Trump from having a second term as president. The second movement, Texas Two Step, pays at least nominal tribute to the state of my birth and home for many years. I can’t claim much authenticity in its two-stepness but at least it’s fairly up-tempo and in 4/4, and appropriate for a formal and rather crazed square dance. The third movement was originally written just before the birth of Aaron Pritchard, son of Eric and Laura; during the revisions of 2024, Aaron was quite sick and undergoing difficult treatments, thus the new title to this movement, Dance for the seriously ill. The last movement stems from the inspired fiddling and great musicianship of the Roma people, as well as barn dances.

At Eric’s request, I have arranged this work for violin and piano (March 7—April 7 2009); during this arrangement I made minor changes to the quartet resulting in a second edition. Later, I adjusted the score format for a third edition; and in 2024, I revised and orchestrated it to make Symphony No. 4: American Dances.

Musician Biographies

Virginia Ewing Hudson teaches cello and related subjects at Meredith College and has taught Music Appreciation at St. Augustine College. She co-directs youth programs for both the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle and is director of Meredith's Live Oak Chamber Music Camp.
Hudson has appeared as soloist with The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, The Raleigh Civic Symphony and The Blue Lake Festival Orchestra. She has performed as a chamber musician with The Mallarme and Meredith Chamber Players and is a member of the Triangle Quartet. Hudson has served as principal cello for The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, The Opera Company of NC, The Greensboro Symphony, The Raleigh Symphony, The Raleigh Civic Symphony, The Blue Lake Festival Orchestra and The International Music Program. She has also performed with the NC Symphony. Hudson has studied cello with such luminaries as Robert Marsh, Lev Aronson, Paul Olefsky and Colin Carr and chamber music with Josef Gingold and Dan Welcher. She has been heard on radio broadcasts, PBS, and various record labels.

Randall Love, pianist, native of Colorado, recently retired from teaching piano and fortepiano at Duke. He has performed at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, the Boston Early Music Festival, and the Schubert Club in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has performed Bill Robinson's music on several occasions.

David Marschall was a member of the North Carolina Symphony beginning in 1987. He was appointed Associate Principal Viola in 2007. Since 1990, he spent his summers playing in the orchestra of the Santa Fe Opera. David was a member of the chamber ensemble Quercus, and he was a member of New Music Raleigh, an ensemble dedicated to the music of living composers. He performed regularly in the Peace College Chamber Music Series and with the Mallarme Chamber Players. He performed on Bill Robinson’s 2012 concert at Duke.
       David has also served as Principal Viola for the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and the Columbus Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra. He was a member of the New Orleans Symphony, the Innsbruck (Austria) Symphony, the Des Moines Metro Opera, and the Colorado Philharmonic.
       A native of Columbus, Ohio, David studied first at Ohio State, and he received his Master's degree from the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with Karen Tuttle. His viola was made in 2009 by Grubaugh and Seifert of California. David's wife, Amy, teaches German and English at Raleigh Charter High School, and they have two sons, Philip and Owen.

Eric Pritchard, violinist, has been a member of Ciompi Quartet since 1995 and was formerly the first violinist of the Alexander and Oxford Quartets. Mr. Pritchard has taught at Miami University, San Francisco State University, City University of New York and the North Carolina School of the Arts. He was winner of the National Federation of Music Clubs Award in Violin as well as the first-prize winner at the Portsmouth (England) International String Quartet Competition and the Coleman and Fischoff national chamber music competitions. He has performed widely as a recitalist and as soloist with the Boston Pops and orchestras in Europe and South America. His major teachers were Eric Rosenblith, Josef Gingold, Ivan Galamian and Isadore Tinkleman and he holds degrees from Indiana University and the Juilliard School. He has performed many works by Bill Robinson since 2006.

Mary Kay Robinson, violinist, is a 1968 graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied with Dorothy DeLay and Ivan Galamian. She studied chamber music with Felix Galimir, Donald Weilerstein, Josef Gingold and members of the Guarneri String Quartet. She furthered her education with studies with Glenn Dicterow, Gregory Fulkerson and Gerald Beal.    Her first job after graduation was as violin instructor at the University of Tennessee, in her hometown of Knoxville, where she filled in for her former teacher, William Starr, who was on sabbatical in Japan. She was a member of the University of Tennessee String Quartet and later held a similar position in the University of Maryland String Quartet.
          She has toured with Solisti New York and spent many summers playing with the OK Mozart Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, and Bellingham Festival of Music. In 2008 she taught at Duke University as well as maintaining a private studio. Also that year, she performed Bill Robinson’s Sonata for Solo Violin #4 at Brevard, NC. She performed on Bill Robinson’s 2012 concert at Duke. Bill has composed two pieces for her to play with her husband oboist Joseph Robinson.