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Hi all, Any comments would be greatly appreciated, particularly on the piano part as I'm not a pianist. I wanted to write something that would give the pianist a chance to shine, but also am aware that pay for professional accompanists is low for all that they do, and that it just isn't possible to ask them to spend hours practicing a single three-minute piece for a single concert if they are going to make a living. If thinning down some of the fast chords would be a good idea for the sake of practicality, pianists, let me know. I don't want to go any slower than this tempo; the choir would risk running out of air. There is a lot of beautiful, slow music for choirs, so fun, fast pieces are always in demand to balance out a concert program. The text describes the mating dance of a cloud of solitary wasps, observed by American husband and wife entomology team Phil and Nellie Rau near St. Louis in the early 1900s. "The whole was not a helter-skelter commotion, but a merry whirl to the music of a faint, eerie hum of many wings, with every few moments a rather musical crescendo, which sounded like “zip!”, when a whirling pair would suddenly dash off at triple speed on the wing, in the final fling of joyful abandon..." - from"Wasp Studies Afield," published 1918. Furtak-Sun Dancing.pdf

As always, a wonderful piece. The piano part shouldn't be much trouble for a good pianist.

I see no performance problems with the piano part. An excellent piece of accompaniment. A nice piece altogether. You're accomplishment with vocal writing is fairly obvious (from which I can pick up a couple of tips - example, doubling the voices in bars 33-35. and your note about alternative pitches in bar 72 'just in case'). The sudden but subtle change of harmony around bar 72 was a nice surprise. Nothing else to say. It's an accomplished work. Performed live, should be beautiful.

I see. The Baroque Suite has always been one of those where I’m like: And yet simultaneously I’m like: So, I haven’t written a full Baroque suite yet because of that. Most I’ve written of one is like the Minuet or Gavotte.