A Little Dance Suite by Eric Funk is colourful and inventive, offering musical and technical challenges in equal measure and is aimed at the intermediate…
A Little Dance Suite by Eric Funk is colourful and inventive, offering musical and technical challenges in equal measure and is aimed at the intermediate bassist. The accompaniments are independent and supportive, allowing the solo bass to weave legato and cantabile phrases throughout the middle register of the instrument.
1. Česká
Česká, the first movement of my Little Suite (Malá Teceční Svita, Op.174) draws upon Czech music generally as a means to honour the life of František Hertl. Because my principle mentor and dear friend Tomáš Svoboda was Czech my years as his student brought into my awareness the imbedded nationalism of all Czech music.
The phrasing and hemiolas in Czech folk music is very different from western Germanic traditions and stands alone. Each of these short miniatures seeks to capture another refraction of the jewel of Hertl’s life and music.
2. Valčík
This waltz is a good test of creating a very smooth wavelike legato in the accompaniment. The bass sound is rich and clear, capitalising on simple, triple metre over compound duple (3/4 and 6/8) and through hemiolas feeling as if numerous 2/4 bars exist over the 3/4 undulating left hand. It’s a nod to Hertl, Czech folk music, and I hope a pleasure to listen to.
3. Furiant
Furiant translates literally to “loud mouth” but listening to Hertl’s miniature with the same title I took it to mean “pushy, aggressive”. I used complex irregular metre shifts and a more modern dance style music to capture Hertl’s sometimes surprising musical grammar.
4. Taneček
Tanaček means “dance”. I opted to showcase some of Hertl’s “jazz influence” and created this in 12/8, but as if each bar has four 3/8 jazz waltz measures within. I kept the density thin and almost simple two-part counterpoint. And I made a lot of Hertl’s expressive, emotional, and highly intelligent music.
