Dukas - The Sorcerer's Apprentice (arranged for Reed Quintet)

After only a moderate success as a composer, Paul Dukas’ premiere of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice in 1897 immediately launched him into stardom and the piece continued to enjoy tremendous popularity for the next several decades. Based on a ballad by Goethe (that was itself based on much older folk material) Dukas’ tone poem hardly requires a description today. Thanks to Walt Disney’s 1940 concert film Fantasia, the music is known to generations of film goers as the music that accompanies Mickey Mouse as a hapless apprentice, whose misadventures with a sorcerer’s hat and hundreds of broomsticks causes the magicians house to overflow with water until the sorcerer returns and, with a wave of his hand, restores calm. The “story” is told today by the music alone, already a nearly visual experience due to its dramatic exactness and perfectly balanced comic timing. Originally scored for a massive romantic orchestra, Driftwood Quintet’s arrangement still evokes a fanciful and supernatural atmosphere and strikes sonic nostalgia for many different audiences. (Benjamin Paley)

Sheet music is available on the Driftwood Quintet website, driftwoodquintet.com/store

Driftwood Quintet is:
Olivia Erwin - oboe
Melissa Malork -clarinet
Daniel Meadows - alto saxophone
Benjamin Paley - bassoon
Dominique Holley - bass clarinet

Credits:
Producers: Glendale Arts Commission, Dominique Holley, Melissa Malork, Ben Paley; Editors: Robert V. Springer, Dominique Holley; Audio Engineer: Robert V. Springer; Videographer: Robert V. Springer;