Piccola Suite Italiana — (Italian Folk Song Trilogy)

With this new suite for concert band Franco Cesarini draws on the rich repertoire of folk songs from the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of northern Italy. Between the 16th and 17th Century this rural region developed the “furlana”, a brilliant dance in 6/8 time. This catchy dance soon spread throughout Europe and became more cultivated. François Couperin (1668-1733), Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) all composers of the 18th century composed “furlane” and in the 20th Century Maurice Ravel used a“furlana” dance his Tombeau de Couperin. Franco Cesarini follows this great tradition by using the “furlana” as the basis for this major new concert work.