1(=alto fl, picc)-1(=cor ang)-1(=bs clar)-1(=contrabsn) / 1-1-1-1 / 2 perc / pno / hp / 1-1-1-1-1
Commissioned by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble with the support of the Music Board of the Australia Council.
First performance by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble conducted by the composer, Rodef Shalom, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 20 January 1997
Reviews
Encountering Dance Maze by Andrew Ford was certainly a highlight of the concert . . . His music is compelling on its own terms. Using some easily recalled melodic motifs, Ford creates a wonderful variety of vibrant music, brilliantly colored. Ford's conducting of his own music was a reminder that composers are underrated as performers.
Mark Kanny, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Dance Maze for an ensemble of 17 players, represents part of a larger enterprise in Ford's work - the use of folk music and dance as the basis for abstract structure. What emerges clearly is Ford's own delight in a motley variety of sources: during the piece's trajectory from quite spare, and occasionally lugubrious, textures to the energetic conclusion, the overwhelming sense is of a generous good humour. Ford, like T.S. Eliot, lovingly evokes the 'sound of heavy feet in clumsy shoes'.
Gordon Kerry, Sydney Morning Herald