VIVES, Amadeo – ‘Fandango (from the Zarzuela ‘Doña Francisqueta’) – 18 CELLOS (with optional harp or piano)

Approximate difficulty:
Why did I arrange this for cellos, and why for so many cellos? Well, it is always a work that absolutely brings the house down in Spain, and is very symphonic in concept, with important moments for virtually all the sections of the orchestra including a wonderful trombone moment in the central bars that always grips me!
Yet, on the whole, the playing register in the orchestration is not so high, so by lowering the writing by a fifth then many parts from the violins, oboes, trumpets etc. are well possible in the cello playing registers without further ado. Some other parts have obviously been carefully ‘rescheduled’ or merged to better effect as a cellist work. I always feel that playing positions can be high but they should always be comfortable to cellists and not cause undue anxiety.
However, this mega-cello music does require a large amount of cellists to do this justice, so my grouping of 18 cellos are divided into three ‘blocks’ which I define as Choir A, Choir B, and Choir C. Each has six players, and they roughly correspond to the string, woodwind and brass sections of a symphony orchestra. ALL 18 cello parts should be covered by a cellist as every part adds something!
A harp/piano (part enclosed in the web) and castanets (just improvise!) are welcomed alongside in performance to add more spice though these additions are totally optional.