Zarabanda Solitaria

for string quartet
2009
Duration 4’30”
Written for the Smith Quartet
Recording: The Smith Quartet: Dance (Signum, SIGCD 236, January 2010)

“In an abandoned ballroom in a small town somewhere in the heart of Spain, a lone man, far advanced in his years, but still proud of bearing, walks slowly onto the dusty dance floor.
He stands for a while, gazing into his past.
Then, with only a slight hesitation, he begins to dance.
As he grows more sure, he dances in memory of long ago and far away, and of loves won and lost.
The dance ends, and with a wistful smile and a stiff bow to the ghosts, he walks out into the night.”