John Joubert: Dance Suite Op.21 For Piano: Piano: Instrumental Work

Dance Suite was written at the Christmas vacation of 1955-56 for the pianist Adolph Hallis. No attempt is made at evoking the stylised courtly dances of the Baroque suite: the dance element here is an once more generalised and less sophisticated, veering from the sinuous and balletic (nos. 2 & 4), to the folk-like and primitive (nos. 3 & 5). All the five pieces are studies in rhythm of various kinds, some slow (nos. 2 & 4), some fast (nos. 1, 3 & 5); some regular in metre (nos. 1, 2 & 4), some irregular (nos. 3 & 5). In no. 3 the basic time signature is 7/8; in no. 5 the time signature changes every bar. ~ John Joubert