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Each of the four movements of the work concentrates on a tiny amount of highly-characterised musical material derived from the scales, gestures and performing practices of different American folk idioms.
American Rounds was commissioned by the Schubert Ensemble with funds provided by South West Arts, The David Cohen Charitable Trust and the Schubert Ensemble Trust. It was completed in May, 1998.
Scored for piano quintet with double bass, it is the latest in a series of pieces to explore the qualities and characteristics of different genres of folk music. Its most obvious ancestors are Down Hollow Winds and Hootenanny; but two of its movements are actually re-composed and expanded versions of two of the Three Little Folk Games (1995) for piano. Each of the four movements of the work concentrates itself on a tiny amount of highly characterised musical material derived from the scales, gestures and performing practices of different American folk idioms. The four movements are headed:
1) Vigoroso
2) Grazioso, semplice
3) Andante
4) Pesante, vivace
