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. Francois 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.
