Jan van der Roost

Rikudim

“Rikud” means “dance” in Hebrew. The plural ending “-im” tells us that the title means “Dances”. Thus, Rikudim is a suite in four movements based on Jewish dances, bearing in mind, that these are not arrangements of existing folk music, but originally composed dances “in the style of”. Through using oriental-style tonal intervals, irregular tempi and a typical instrumentation, the composer succeeds both in adding a touch of melancholy and a characteristically Jewish flavour to the music. The clearly marked themes and the sometimes surprising, but on the other hand very natural harmonies, make these “stylized folk dances” into music with a direct and gripping appeal.