The score to John Woolrich’s Stone Dances

Stone Dances (1980) is for chamber ensemble of eight players: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, and double bass. The 8-minute piece makes rapid headway, from a dramatic opening chord, through a set of contrasting sections, by turns lyrical and mechanical. These dances include a Trio, Toccata, Halcyon, Musette, Arietta, Paean, with a concluding coda; a connecting thread across the piece comes from a sinuous falling melodic figure in the double bass, which returns periodically.