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Sheet Music: ScoreRomanza y Danza de los Muertos : for Piano 4 Hands and Symphony Orchestra / Daniel Rojas.by Daniel Rojas (2003)
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Product details
Romanza y Danza de los Muertos (Romance and Dance of the Dead) is a concertante for piano four hands and symphony orchestra. It imagines a liminal afterlife where legendary lovers in musical history-Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice, Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, and Bernstein's Tony and Maria-are finally free from the sorrows and constraints of mortal life. After the curtain falls on their earthly tragedies, their souls meet again to embrace and to dance, unbound by time, gravity, or physical boundaries.
Musically and extra‑musically, the work resonates with the lineage of Liszt's Totentanz, Saint‑Saëns' Danse Macabre, Mozart's Requiem, and Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain. Its harmonic language occasionally evokes the chromatic world of Tristan and Isolde, while its rhythmic drive and coloristic flair nod toward Piazzolla's tangos, the dramatic vibrancy of Leonard Bernstein, and the hauntingly visceral liminality of Silvestre Revueltas.
In essence, the piece asks: what happens after love and tragedy
have played their final scene? Perhaps, as the story of
Shakespeare's Romeo and
Juliet seems to whisper across the centuries, love
transcends the mortal stage, lingering luminously beyond time and
death.
Romanza y Danza de los Muertos is the first Australian
full‑length concertante work for one piano four hands and
symphony orchestra, and among the very few works of its kind
internationally. This rare format highlights the expressive and
virtuosic potential of two pianists sharing a single instrument
in dialogue with a full orchestra, making the work a unique
contribution to both the Australian and global concert
repertoire. In his Classikon.com review, Tony Burke titled his
article "Yerim Lee and Daniel Rojas leave WSO audience
spellbound", capturing the impact of the world premiere of
Romanza y Danza de los Muertos (15 October 2023, The Concourse,
Chatswood). He described the performance as a privilege to
witness, highlighting the pianists' virtuosic interplay-moving
from a driving ground bass to a reflective middle section and a
riveting tango finale-supported by the orchestra's colorful
percussion, including ratchets, whips, and cowbells. The
premiere, he wrote, left the audience thoroughly enthralled and
eager for future performances.
Published by: Australian Music Centre — 1 facsimile score (71p. -- A3 (portrait))
Difficulty: Advanced — Requires pianistic virtuosity on the part of both soloists; orchestral writing accessible to competent symphony orchestras; demands rhythmic precision, ensemble coordination, and confident handling of syncopated passages
Duration: 16 mins
Commissioned by Willoughby Symphony Orchestra.
First performance by Willoughby Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Rojas, Yerim Lee — 14 Oct 23.
Includes composer's notes.
The composer notes the following styles, genres, influences, etc in relation to this work:
Styles, Genres, and Influences: Concertante, symphonic work, piano four hands (soloists), Latin American classical fusion, traditional and nuevo tango (Pugliese, Piazzolla), Afro‑Cuban and Afro‑Caribbean dance rhythms (salsa, cha‑cha, mambo, merengue, cumbia), romantic chromaticism (e.g., Liszt), 20th‑century modernism (Revueltas, Bernstein, Herrmann), programmatic and narrative music, dance and death traditions (Danse Macabre, Totentanz), classical‑contemporary hybrid Related Concepts: Liminal and afterlife themes, love and tragedy in musical storytelling, night and twilight imagery, Día de los Muertos cultural evocation, Orpheus and Eurydice, Pelléas et Mélisande, Romeo and Juliet, tone poem and symphonic fantasy
Typeset edition.
This edition produced 2023.
ISMN: 979-0-67316-801-5
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This work is also available in the following products:
Parts: Romanza y Danza de los Muertos : for Piano 4 Hands and Symphony Orchestra / Daniel Rojas.
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