Tango Variations
Originally written for violin and piano in 2003, Tango Variations became a small violin concerto during Great Noise Ensemble's first season in 2006. The piece is a set of variations on an original “tango” tune from my early song cycle, Silly Ditties (a tune that also exists in a version for clarinet quintet in Kid Stuff). It begins with a series of increasingly simple variations leading to the statement of the theme in the middle of the piece. A series of slow, increasingly more complex variations follow until we arrive at a raucous finale.