Arpad Balazs

Promenade

At the turn of the 19th-20th century every town in Europe and overseas with any pretensions to style created in its centre a promenade, a street or square where people could stroll and meet. At a prominent spot on each promenade a music pavilion was erected, and nowadays nostalgia is causing these to be found again in more and more communities. There in the afternoons military, firemen's and student bands played music by Lehár, Fu ik and Sousa. Waltzes, marches and pleasant, bittersweet melodies reminiscent of what are seen as the happy, peaceful days before the First World War and the worldwide Great Depression. Árpád Balázs's work entitled Promenade evokes that period withundeniable sympathy and pays tribute to it, but in such a way that it becomes clear to everyone that this series of variations represents a 21st-century composer's reminiscences... The instrumentation itself shows that the composer is very familiar with the period he is referring to, and the possibilities of that time: in the relatively small pavilions there was room only for 'double brass'. The essentially complete woodwind section reveals that similarly to the works for wind band by the above-mentioned composers, this composition by Balázs is open-air music to be played sitting down. Music intended not for marching to, but for a promenade pavilion or rather a concert hall. Wherever Promenade is performed, its great wealth of melodies and extremely colourful instrumentation will ensure its success.