Tanz der Sonne (tr. Dance of the Sun) is a carousel of idiosyncratic characters evolving from its peculiar uses of microtonality on specific notes to exemplify an interplay of traditional counterpoint and subtle modern expression via controlled intonation. The work is inspired by the concept of Sayr in Arabic, Turkish, and Iranian makam music that involves an interplay of different musical ajnas placed in culturally topicked pathways, each with their own defined characteristics, placed melodically in modular fashion against each other as shown in the scale below. The work is a cross-cultural reflection on the Turkish longa, a traditional form reminiscent of the Western Rondo defined by its rhythmic meter, and aims to personify a celebration of cross-cultural exchange between Europe and the world of the Middle East by fusing the various melodic, and rhythmic modes of the orient with some of the contrapuntal timbres that so clearly define the Western style. While such levels of counterpoint in Makam are exceedingly rare, by negotiating cultural expectations of these pathways with an understanding of the physical and therefore universal concepts of harmony via modern xenharmonic discoveries, the work envisions a new soundworld, hidden from the audience as it first appears to be a folk-inspired rondo.
The work has originally been premiered by Trio Immersio at ICEBERG Summer New Music Institute in Vienna, Austria.