Sarabande
George Frideric Handel, arr. Ben Tordoff
Composed:
1706 Arranged:
2019 Grouping:
sSAATTBb Duration:
03:40
The Sarabande was originally a central American dance, but was adopted by Handel, Bach, and others as a regular feature for their orchestral or solo instrument suites. This version from the keyboard suite in D minor (HWV 437) is unusually stately and melancholy and in the form of a theme with two variations. It was largely forgotten and seldom performed until an orchestral arrangement was used in Stanley Kubric's 1975 film "Barry Lyndon". Since then it has been reused in TV adverts and as incidental music on radio and TV to the extent that many will recognize it.
This arrangement is based on the original keyboard version but moves the parts between different combinations of saxes to add additional colour to the variations.
© 2019 Ben Tordoff
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