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Each of the seven short pieces in Ignoble Dances draw musical influence from a variety of sources. Written in 2020, its music reflects upon that disconsolate year. The title of the first movement, Antemasque, refers to a “buffoonish dance” that precedes a masque, a courtly entertainment of the 16th century. Of course, “anti-mask” gained another meaning in 2020. Denial, Duplicity, Dog Whistles: all played a role during the turbulent year 2020, and all make appearances in the seven pieces that make up Ignoble Dances. The set concludes with a pavan: a slow, stately Renaissance dance. In 1648, composer Thomas Tomkins wrote a lament in memory of King Charles I, entitled “Sad Pavan for These Distracted Tymes.” In Al-Zand’s pavan, which draws on the Tomkins, it is the music that is distracted and the times that are sad.
1. Antemasque
![](https://musiqa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/thumbnail_1.Antemasque001.jpg)
![](https://musiqa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Triumph_of_Bacchus_-_Sousse_details_of_Maenad_playing_tympanum.jpg)
2. Dance of Duplicity
3. Dance of Denial
– the first mention of the Tarantella, from the 15th century
![](https://musiqa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/thumbnail_tarantella.jpg)
4. Distanced Dance
![](https://musiqa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/thumbnail_4.Distanced_scale_example.jpg)
5. J.B. Dances a Jig in the Gloom
6. Dog Whistle Dance
7. Distracted Pavan for These Sad Times