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1. Oh Susanna
2. Red River Valley
3. Shenandoah
4. Cindy
PROGRAM NOTES
One evening at the 2014 NFA convention, I was having dinner with flutists Cynthia Rugolo and Cindy Anne Broz when they began plotting an all-Dorff concert to propose for the following year's Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention. They each would play a full-length work with piano, and intersperse the program with shorter and lighter duets. Cindy Rugolo then looked up at Cindy Broz and added with a twinkle, "we've got to get him to make a duet arrangement of the folk song Cindy, so we can play it as Cindy and Cindy." Although I don't remember, I've been reminded (several times) that I quickly said no, adding that I had other deadlines, and it wasn't likely to sound good as a flute duet. Then within a week I wrote a duet arrangement of Cindy that I liked quite a lot.
Cindy and Cindy premiered the duet at Mid-Atlantic in February 2015, and I quickly decided to eventually turn it into a suite of folk songs. Sometimes I like to write short pieces for fun before getting a new lengthy commission started, and in January 2017 I was gestating on a suite for unaccompanied timpani - definitely a good time to write a folk song suite for two flutes!
I added three other favorites that fit well with Cindy, and built a 4-movement suite in a sort of symphonic order with big rollicking outer movements surrounding a scherzo and slow movement in the middle.
Turning the original duet for Cindy and Cindy into a collection of four songs, I chose to dedicate one movement each to four flutists who've all performed my other duets a lot:
1. Oh Susanna - dedicated to Ruth Washington Mayhew
2. Red River Valley - dedicated to Cindy Anne Broz
3. Shenandoah - dedicated to Ellen Fisher Deerberg
4. Cindy - dedicated to Cynthia Rugolo
REVIEWS
"The two parts are equally interesting and include new material interspersed with the familiar tunes. Page turns work fine for performance. These duos will be an excellent addition to the duo recital repertoire. Highly recommended."
– Flute Talk, November 2017
"Daniel Dorff's Folk Song Suite for Two Flutes is a fun, light-hearted work that is also challenging enough to keep a more advanced flutist interested. Each of its four movements is presented with a playful sense of cheekiness that comes through clearly. Throughout the work, Dorff's use of grace notes and a sort of swung pseudo-syncopation bring in something a little bit rough and wild, rendering even the simplest aspects of the arrangements anything but plain.
"The 1st movement, "Oh Susanna," is dedicated to Ruth Washington Mayhew. It is lively and folksy, pairing the well-known melody with a running off-beat accompaniemnt. The 2nd movement is a setting of "Red River Valley" written for Cindy Anne Broz. This arrangement begins with one voice alone, playing the melody simply and at a sedate pace. As the range climbs, the tempo rises, and several modulations culminate in a fast final section labeled "subito hot bluegrass."
"Shenandoah," dedicated to Ellen Fisher Deerberg, delivers a tender, calm, and flowing melody that contrasts the music that came before. The final movement, "Cindy," was written for Cynthia Rugolo. Like the first movement, this one is fast and rollicking, providing a wonderful ending to the suite. Folk Song Suite is well-written and full of humor in its lovely settings of familiar tunes."
– The Flutist Quarterly (Jessica Dunnavant), Winter 2018
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