A Dance Rhapsody

A Dance Rhapsody is the first extended work by Chris Dumigan which I have had an opportunity to study. The work is most definitely for experienced players who can cope with both the technical and musical demands of the piece. Written in three movements, the work focuses on a central Interlude which acts as a keystone to the whole. The effect of this slow movement, marked very freely, is to allow the not inconsiderable energy of the first movement to dissipate whilst offering a moment of peace before the last movement is allowed to have its way! The music is composed in the truest sense of the word, using short musical ideas, which are built and ordered into a tight composition. The structure wholly relies on the way the ideas are shaped. The techniques involved include sequences, both chromatic and modal harmonies, often beautifully juxtaposed and all set within ever changing time signatures. However whilst the written time signature has many changes, the pulse of the music is consistent and feels natural. Nowhere is there a sense of the material being forced, the writing is at all times both logical and coherent. The edition is really well annotated with dynamic and tempo markings, which allow you to read the composer's intentions, whilst he has left the fingerings to the individual player. This is a piece which should attract the attention of anyone who is interested in looking at what guitarist-composers are writing today, it follows in a long tradition of musicians. I strongly recommend it both as a musical journey in its own right and as a reference point as to the point reached by the guitar at the end of the 20th century.
John Arran (Classical Guitar Magazine)