Morton Gould: Dance Variations, for two pianos and orchestra Arthur Whittemore and Jack Lowe, pianos San Francisco Symphony conducted by Leopold Stokowski Recorded November 22, 1953, in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, California. Issued in April 1955 as Side 1 of RCA Victor Red Seal LM-1858 (coupled with Menotti's "Sebastian" - Ballet Suite, with Stokowski conducting the NBC Symphony), and as a set of two "Extended Play" 45-rpm records, RCA Victor Red Seal ERB-55. Two different cover designs were used for LM-1858 - the original, of 1955, gives the Gould work top billing, and the reissue cover, from 1958, gives top billing to the Menotti instead. Both are reproduced in this video. My copy of LM-1858 has the revised cover; my thanks to Buster, at Big 10-Inch Record (big10inchrecord.blogspot.com), for providing me with a scan of the original design. Gould's "Dance Variations" is a concerto based on dance rhythms, written for Whittemore and Lowe in 1953. It is in four movements: 1. Chaconne (A major, 3/4 time). The theme, initially of five bars, contracts to four and finally three bars as the movement increases in intensity, returning to its original five-bar form by the end. 2. Arabesques (D major, various time signatures). A chain of dance movements played without pause, with approximate start times as follows: (5:38) Gavotte (6:17) Pavanne (7:19) Polka (7:44) Quadrille (8:24) Minuet (8:50) Waltz (9:28) Can-Can 3 (10:02). Pas de deux - Tango (E-flat major, various time signatures). Begins in 5/4, then changes to 4/4 and 3/4 for a middle section in G major, before returning to 5/4 at the end. This mirrors the changing number of bars for the theme of the Chaconne. 4 (16:04). Tarantella (E minor, 6/8). Perhaps one of Gould's wildest pieces; his biographer Peter Goodman characterized it as "frighteningly angry." The piece is one sustained crescendo, ending in B major.