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Rzewski's The People United Variations
Orchestral/Jazz Arrangement These are MIDI files created from my orchestral/jazz arrangement of a piano piece by Frederic Rzewski, which is a set of 36 variations on El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido by Sergio Ortega and Quilapayun. I used Finale composer software to compose the arrangement. The work contains a wide range of instruments. I want you to listen to it, and I want you to let me know what you think of it. I hope to one day produce a performance and possibly a recording of my arrangement. Sergio Ortega wrote the original folk song during Allende's rule of Chile, after he heard a chant at a people’s rally. Unfortunately, Allende was overthrown by the military in a CIA-backed coup led by General Pinochet. Tens of thousands were murdered under Pinochet’s fascist rule that followed. I decided to do a jazz arrangement of the theme. I think the harmonies in the sax parts (soprano, alto, and tenor) sound really good together. The clarinet slides while playing the melody in the second part of the theme, and when I heard that part with the playback tool of Finale, I personally felt like snapping along. At the end of the theme, all the instruments come in. I’m looking for a clarinet, soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones, two guitars, bass, and drums. I would want to play the piano part. I wrote a string quartet for this variation. In the MIDI, it plays each part as a single instrument. I would like it performed the same way. Same instruments as the last variation, only this time, a xylophone appears with the string quartet. Some of the pizzicato in it might be a bit tricky, but with a lot of the fast pizzicato, you can pull at the strings with one finger. For this variation I wrote a duet for flute and harp. When I heard the playback, it sounded like some kind of music for a science fiction movie. This variation is for clarinet, xylophone, piano, three horns, and string orchestra. Now the MIDI actually plays each part of the string orchestra as a group of instruments. This is how I want it performed. I try to make the piano part different from the original, and it plays arpeggios on the general harmony in each measure. The music suddenly stops (the idea is that each variation leads into the next). It becomes a series of chords that are played very suddenly. In the original, you play the chords loudly staccato then catch the resonance with the pedal after you have already taken your hands off the keys. I use the xylophone and the handbells to achieve this effect. I also use the harp in this variation. This is a combination of the first five variations, and the end of the first set. This time, when the entire string orchestra plays parts of the first two variations in the MIDI, I would like an entire string orchestra to play that. At the end of this variation, I try to use all the instruments from the first five variations. I was halfway through arranging this variation when I realized it would sound good as a hip-hop variation. Finale plays this more rhythmically than what I thought it would sound like, and I liked the way it sounded, so I added a drum part and made it a hip-hop variation. There are also lyrics to this variation: The people united will never be defeated (Keep saying throughout) (Sung) Don’t be afraid of that government (Keep singing throughout) They reading our mail, they tapping our
phone This variation features two guitar parts, and a bass part. This variation features string orchestra and two trumpets. The trumpets have a very short part—only two measures—but I plan to use the trumpets more in the future. I’m thinking that when the trumpets come in, a group of people could be chanting “The people united will never be defeated” or “El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido,” quieter and quieter, until the fermata four measures before the end. The variation has a sense of coming and going, much like a people’s march, when you hear them coming up the street, and you hear the music, or the chanting, or whatever they’re doing, and then they pass. In this variation, the two electric guitars and the bass seem to be competing with the three horns for sound. When I heard the playback, the horns were much louder than the electric instruments, even though they were both pianissimo. This affected my choice of dynamics for the rest of the piece, trying to make the syncopation in the guitars and bass heard. The music suddenly becomes chaotic, perhaps symbolic of the struggle for change. This variation has a very wide range of instruments: piccolo, flute, clarinet, soprano, alto, and tenor sax, two trumpets, trombone, xylophone, piano, drum set, bassoon, three horns, timpani, triangle, and wood blocks. In contrast to the chaos of Variation 10, Variation 11 is very quiet. The original piano piece also features elements like slamming the piano lid (the timpani handles that), vocals, and whistling. In this arrangement, the piccolo plays the whistling part. The other instruments in this variation are bassoon, three horns, timpani, and string orchestra. This is a recap of Variations 7-11. The instruments in here are piccolo, flute, clarinet, trombone, two guitars, xylophone, piano, bass, drums, string orchestra, three horns, timpani, and bassoon. In the first four measures, the elements of the hip-hop variation come back. I also have lyrics for this part: (Along with other chants of “The people united will never
be defeated” and “Don’t be afraid of that government) I added a piano cadenza before the recap of Variation 11, and the pedal is held throughout these four measures. Finally, all the instruments come in and play the conclusion to this variation. This is the first of a set of variations that all have a jazz element in them. In this one, I include soprano, alto, and tenor saxes, piano, bass (it could be either electric or standup, I used electric for the MIDI), drums, and handbells. At the end of this variation, the handbells quote an Italian folk song called Bandiera Rossa. The lyrics of this song can be found at this site. This variation is a little faster than Variation 13. In the second part of this variation, the clarinet plays the refrain from Bandiera Rossa. The instruments in this variation are clarinet, soprano, alto, and tenor sax, piano, bass (electric or standup), drums, string orchestra, and bassoon. The instruments in this variation are clarinet, bass (electric or standup), drums, bassoon, triangle, and string orchestra. Though these are mostly classical instruments, a lot of it sounds like improvisation. The music gets more intense. Instruments in this variation are flute, harp, and string orchestra, which plays parts of the song Bandiera Rossa at the climax of the variation. In contrast to the last variation, in this one the surface motion is a lot slower. The instruments in this variation are piccolo, flute, xylophone, and bass. This variation is a combination of Variations 13-17. The instruments in this one are piccolo, flute, clarinet, soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone, xylophone, piano, bass (electric or standup), drums, bassoon, timpani, and string orchestra. Since all of these variations (except 16) include bass, it is the bass that ends this variation and the third set of variations, and it also establishes the halfway point of the entire work. The silence that follows Variation 18 is interrupted by a bass and a guitar. Variation 19 is a jazz fusion variation on the original theme. It has two electric guitars, electric bass, and drums. The opening of this variation is a xylophone solo. After the first four measures, the string orchestra comes in with the drums. You can hear the melody from the original theme in the middle. After that, the music gets more intense, leading into Variation 21. This variation is for string orchestra, with some bass at the beginning. The variation is intense from the very beginning to where it leads into Variation 22. In the climax of this variation, the entire string orchestra comes in and plays what has been played in the first two measures. After that, the violins play the rest of the piece. This is kind of like a reprise of Variation 19. The rhythm gets faster and more syncopated. The instruments in this one are two electric guitars, xylophone, electric bass, and drums. It builds to a climax, and leads into Variation 23. This is the shortest variation in the entire work. Variation 23 is mostly for xylophone, but it has some parts for string orchestra and bass. This is a combination of Variations 19-23. The instruments in this variation are guitars, xylophone, electric bass, drums, bassoon, horns, string orchestra, and handbells. During the bass solo, an octave fuzz divide pedal can be used until the violins come in. The tremolo in Guitar 2 should be played very quickly, like an alarm. After that, the horns and the bassoon come in, like a hint of what is to come. This variation is the first of the fifth section. The variations in this section are generally longer than the other variations. The instruments in this section are piccolo, flute, clarinet, two trumpets, piano, drums, bassoon, three horns, timpani, and string orchestra. The short staccato notes at the beginning should be played loud enough for the sound to resonate in a large room. This variation includes not only the main theme, but also quotes a German song called Solidaritatslied. This variation is for piccolo, flute, clarinet, two trumpets, drums, bassoon, three horns, and string orchestra. This is one of the longest variations, over five minutes long. This is for two trumpets, two guitars, piano, bass, drums, three horns, and string orchestra. There are four parts to it. First is the piano with the string orchestra. This section is very slow. In contrast, it is followed by cadenza-like material, including two guitars, bass, drums, and a lot of time signature changes. It ends with all the instruments in this variation. Then the slow section returns. After that, all the instruments join in in the fourth section, with a 22/8 meter. This variation, in contrast to the building intensity of the conclusion of Variation 27, is pianissimo throughout. I would want this variation to be played by string quartet rather than a string orchestra. The other instruments are flute and harp. The string quartet plays very quietly at the end, during the duet between the flute and harp. This variation includes all the instruments from the previous variations: piccolo, flute, clarinet, soprano, alto, and tenor sax, two trumpets, trombone, two electric guitars, xylophone, piano, bass, drums, bassoon, three horns, timpani, triangle, wood blocks, bongos, harp, string orchestra, and handbells. The original variation is about thirty seconds long, but I extended it to two and a half minutes. The harp starts playing something from Variation 5, but with lots of glissandos. This is a combination of Variations 25-29. In between the reappearance of Variation 28 and Variation 29 is fugue-like material played by string orchestra. Then the melody from Variation 29 is quoted briefly before the thunderous ending to the fifth section. This is a combination of Variations 1, 7, 13, 19, and 25. This is the first variation of the sixth group, which is a combination of the other variations. In the repetition of Variation 7, there is another verse, to be consistent with the other appearances of this material: (Along with other chants of “The people
united will never be defeated” and “Don’t be afraid of that government”) The instruments in this variation are soprano, alto and tenor sax, two trumpets, two electric guitars, piano, bass, drums, three horns, string orchestra, timpani, and bassoon. This is a combination of Variations 2, 8, 14, 20, and 26. The instruments in it are clarinet, soprano, alto, and tenor sax, xylophone, piano, bass, drums, and string orchestra. The string orchestra alone plays the repetition of Variation 26. This is a combination of Variations 3, 9, 15, 21, and 27. The instruments in it are flute, clarinet, two guitars, piano, bass, harp, three horns, string orchestra, and bassoon. In this variation, except for the repetition of the "cadenza" in Variation 27, I put the exact tempos from the variations into the playback. It makes this variation sound kind of dreamy. The pianissimo marking at the end will segue into Variation 34. This is a combination of Variations 4, 10, 16, 22, and 28. It starts out quietly, as Variation 33 ended, but then it immediately becomes fortissimo almost throughout the entire variation. This variation finds a chaotic quality in each of the variations that it recapitulates, even Variation 28, with the flute and harp duet at the end. The instruments in this variation are piccolo, flute, clarinet, two trumpets, two guitars, xylophone, piano, electric bass, drums, bassoon, three horns, timpani, bongos, and string orchestra. This is a combination of Variations 5, 11, 17, 23, and 29. The instruments in this one are piccolo, flute, clarinet, two trumpets, two guitars, xylophone, piano, electric bass, drums, bassoon, horns, timpani, bongos, harp, string orchestra, and handbells. Towards the end of the variation, where Guitar 1 does the slides, the slides should be done with the pick. In the midi for this variation, some of the tracks have the wrong instruments playing the parts, but the sheet music has the right parts. This is a combination of all the variations. The tempo of this is supposed to be close to the average tempo of all the variations. It involves piccolo, flute, clarinet, soprano, alto and tenor sax, two trumpets, two electric guitars, xylophone, piano, electric bass, drums, bassoon, three horns, timpani, wood blocks, bongos, harp, string orchestra, and handbells. The tracks for this one are also messed up. Keep in mind that the MIDI is as played by the software and not real musicians - the drums especially sound a little tinny. It will sound much better when we perform it on real instruments. Please let me know what you think and especially if you would like to perform it with me. I can give you the sheet music. If you want to let me know what you think or are interested in performing this piece with me, contact me in any of these ways: write to piano_playuh@yahoo.com , call 908-881-5275, aol sn thepianoplayuh or MyS e-mail to http://MySpace.com/njperformingartsyouth The following are some related links:
Rzewski's Wikipedia Page
People United Sheet Music Published |
