Russian Sketches

Russian Sketches ​was written in response to a request from the Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota (WARM)-International for a piece to celebrate the opening of a show by their Russian sister organization, ART-MISSIA, at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Its three movements are short fantasies, each based on a Russian folk song. The first tune, “Up the Hill I Climb,” is elusive; it doesn’t appear intact until the very end of the movement. The second, “Where Have You Been,” is heard immediately after a short introduction. The brief melody of “The Rustic Castle” is first heard in the bass some sixty measures into the last movement.