Description
The very first Portus Press publication was a suite of pieces from Walton’s Façade which included Polka, Country Dance, Old Sir Faulk, Swiss Jodelling Song, and Popular Song. It was an arrangement I made in the 1980s when I was a student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. So, after almost 40 years, it was high-time I turned my attention to the remaining movements of Walton’s two suites!
The movements arranged for wind quintet here are:
- Fanfare: a sprightly 30 second opener
- Scotch Rhapsody: a lively Highland reel
- Noche Espagnole: following an opening fanfare Spanish flavours abound
- Valse: a delightfully quirky waltz
- Tango-Pasodoblé: a Latin-style parody of I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside
- Tarantella, Sevillana: a brilliant whirlwind of a finale
If your quintet has the original Portus Press Façade suite and you would like to perform the suites in the order they were originally published by Oxford University Press Suite No. 1 comprises: Polka, Valse, Swiss Jodelling Song, Tango-Pasodoblé, and Tarantella, Sevillana. The running order of Suite No. 2 is: Fanfare, Scotch Rhapsody, Country Dance, Noche Espagnole, Popular Song, and Old Sir Faulk. To perform all the movements in a single sitting Walton recommended this order: Fanfare, Scotch Rhapsody, Valse, Tango-Pasodoblé, Swiss Yodelling Song, Country Dance, Polka, Noche Espagnole, Popular Song, Old Sir Faulk, and Tarantella, Sevillana.
