Paul Creston’s Fantasy, for Accordion and Orchestra

The third of four commissioned compositions Paul Creston fulfilled for the AAA over a span of eleven years was the one-movement Fantasy, for accordion and orchestra (with the composer’s permission printed in the score that it may also be performed as a solo, if so desired, and thus often has been). The contract between Elsie Bennett and the composer is dated July 17, 1964. It was preceded by the solo Prelude and Dance (1957, the very first and groundbreaking AAA commissioned work) and the Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra (1958) and followed after a lacuna of ten years by a second solo, Embryo Suite (1968).

Creston’s usual jazzy syncopated rhythms, extended tertian harmonic structures, bordering on Debussyan impressionism at times, and prominent melodic lines often built on modal and whole-tone scales rather than the full complement of twelve tones are all present in this enjoyable work as they are in his other three accordion offerings. It, like the composer’s accordion concerto, deserves to be as frequently heard in symphonic lineups as are his similar works for saxophone and marimba.

The html rendering of this, my extensive expansion of the original article on the Fantasy that appeared in the 2012 issue of the AAA Festival Journal, is on the AAA website at https://www.ameraccord.com/aaacommissions23.php

One can also hear a solo performance by Carmen Carrozza and view a video of Mary Tokarski and the 2013 AAA Festival Orchestra conducted by Joan C. Sommers on the AAA Commissioned Works home page at https://www.ameraccord.com/aaacommissions.php.