I'm proud to annonuce a new CD of dance music! "Waltz Night" features me, mostly; playing piano and accordion. I'm joined on three tracks by fiddle player Sandra Wong, on two by clarinetist Ed Secor, on one by singer Susan Rogers, and on five by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. All pieces are played with musicality, taste, and are particularly aimed at "danceablility."
TRACK NAME |
Tempo | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Will You Go to France? by Rodney Sauer | 144 |
3:34 |
| 2. Chiquilin de Bachin, by Astor Piazzolla and H. Ferrer (with Sandra Wong) | 124 |
3:57 |
| 3. Valse Celeste, by Edward Wittstein (with Mont Alto) | 160 |
4:59 |
| 4. April Waltz, by Selma Kaplan | 108 |
4:39 |
| 5. Bare Branches, by Rodney Sauer (with Ed Secor) | 136 |
3:47 |
| 6. The Temple Dancer, by Norman Leigh (with Mont Alto) | 127–158 |
4:50 |
| 7. The Rock Wren, by Rodney Sauer | 140 |
3:08 |
| 8. Tjonneblomen (The Water Lily), by Gjermund Haugen (with Sandra Wong) | 116 |
4:18 |
| 9. Emma, traditional Finnish | 111 |
3:40 |
| 10. Terrace Rose, by Molly Sauer | 130 |
3:17 |
| 11. The Faun, by Minnie T. Wright (with Mont Alto) | 166 |
4:18 |
| 12. Solanaceae, by Philip Norman | 132 |
3:10 |
| 13. Ramona, by Mabel Wayne (with Mont Alto) | 118 |
3:26 |
| 14. Midnight Rain, by Ed Secor (with Ed Secor) | 126 |
4:35 |
| 15. Solo piano medley: Dacie’s House by Tom Moore, Holly’s Waltz by Rodney Sauer, Cottonwood Grove by Rodney Sauer | 136 |
5:50 |
| 16. Hotel Trianon, by Rodney Sauer | 158 |
3:15 |
| 17. Hector the Hero, by J. Scott Skinner | 112 |
5:26 |
| 18. Padam, Padam, by H. Contet and N. Glanzberg (with Mont Alto and Susan Rogers) | 182 |
3:45 |
| 19. Evergreen, by Keith Murphy (with Sandra Wong) | 120 |
5:08 |
All performances © and ℗ Rodney Sauer, 2020.
How to purchase the album
You can purchase Waltz Night from me below, for $17.99 plus shipping.
You can also purchase a digital copy from the iTunes store (search for Rodney Sauer Waltz Night), or from Amazon.com.
If you want to order a copy from me, use this button to add it to your "cart," and then click on the "View Cart" button lower down the page. That will take you to Paypal, where you can finish the purchase either with a Paypal account or with a credit or debit card. It's secure, and I'll never see your card number.
Once you've selected the CD, click below to finish the purchase! I'll get your order in the mail in the next day or two.
If you are interested in my silent film music CDs, Entreaty: Music of the Silent Cinema or Love, Betrayal, & Redemption: Music of the Silent Cinema, those can be added to your cart at the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra's Recording page. These two web sites share a "cart."
FROM THE ALBUM NOTES
A waltz night can have as many as thirty dances.
To keep the evening interesting for the dancers and the musicians, I play waltzes in many different styles, varying the tempo and mood from one to the next, so that each waltz is a different experience.
While I have listed tempos on the CD jacket, these waltzes were not played to a strict metronome. There are often tempo variations for musicality, just as you would hear at my waltz nights. Some (like The Temple Dancer) change tempo from section to section, but most are pretty strict—I am a dance musician, after all.
Several of these waltzes are my own compositions, and sheet music can be found in Rodney’s Tunes, available from www.rodneysauer.com.
Bare Branches, Holly’s Waltz, and Cottonwood Grove were inspired by Colorado people and landscapes. I adapted The Rock Wren from a traditional Breton an dro called The Wren by playing it in 3/4 time and creating a new third section.
Will You Go to France? is a tune I wrote for Nancy Keogel before asking her to marry me. Terrace Rose was written by our daughter Molly in honor of our 25th anniversary.
Hotel Trianon was in Paris—Nancy and I had the room under the stairs.
I learned Dacie’s House in 1983 from hand-written music left on a piano at Carleton College, and it has stuck with me all this time.
Solanaceae was composed by cellist Phil Norman; and Midnight Rain by clarinetist Ed Secor, who plays it here.
Emma is a traditional Finnish tune, but I play it here in a sparse jazz style. Hector the Hero is a 1903 lament by J. Scott Skinner for his friend Major-General Hector MacDonald. April Waltz is a long-time favorite of mine for its lovely mid-measure chord changes.
Chiquilin de Bachin is by the tango composer Astor Piazzolla. Tjonneblomen (The Water Lily) is a Swedish waltz, played here from a transcription by Eric Levine. Sandra Wong and I usually play Evergreen as a last waltz.
Padam, Padam was originally performed by Edith Piaf, and is a popular encore at Mont Alto’s tea dance series at Boulder’s Avalon Ballroom.
The waltzes played by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra come from the libraries of silent movie theater orchestras: The Faun, The Temple Dancer, and Valse Celeste were written for salon music, film scoring, or dancing. Ramona was written for the 1928 silent film starring Dolores Del Rio.
THE MUSICIANS
Rodney Sauer, piano, also multi-tracked on accordion and sampled bass. Rodney brings jazz and classical improvisation techniques to his dance music.
Sandra Wong, violin, on tracks 2, 8, and 19. Sandra and I enjoy improvising complex waltz performances from a simple lead sheet. www.sandrawongmusic.com.
Ed Secor, clarinet, on tracks 5 and 14. Ed and I play in several bands, and he writes great dance tunes.
Susan Rogers, chanteuse on track 18. Susan was one of my first friends in Colorado, and has sung with the Mont Alto Orchestra since its inception in 1989.
The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra on tracks 3, 6, 11, 13, and 18. The best musicians I play with. Britt Swenson on violin, Brian Collins on clarinet, Dawn Kramer on trumpet, David Short on cello. www.mont-alto.com.
-- Rodney Sauer
