Phantasy on 3 Ancient Christmas Carols

Phantasy on 3 Ancient Christmas Carols  sample sheet music page  

mp3 sample coming SOON!~

NOTES:

This fantasy for solo violin in three movements is based on 3 old English folk carols including the beloved Greensleeves (which, explaining its immediate Tudor popularity, may indeed have been written by Henry VIII after all!).  The character of the piece calls to mind to the modal sounds, harmonies, and variation style of the Tudor-Elizabethan Renaissance. The final movement is a fugue revolving around the first phrase of the Coventry Carol, with other phrases being interpolated episodically.  A fugue for solo stringed instrument has always presented a magnificent challenge to composers who must grapple with such issues as the idiomatic capabilities inherent in the instrument, intelligently crafted motifs and in final result, musicality.  Richard chooses to approach his 4-part fugue for violin with a definite bow to both Bach, the Master of the genre, and the “English Nightengale”, William Byrd.