Over the years of Reinhardt’s recording life the tune changed, becoming stripped of much of its chromatic interest. Leo Brouwer’s variations (Variations on Django Reinhardt’s Nuages) are based on the later, less chromatic, form in which they were published as sheet music; mine employ the tune in its original, more colourful, form. The variations exploit fragments of the melody and are not based on the original harmonic progression, nor do they make conscious use of the jazz idiom. A spacious, rather than virtuosic ending, was deemed to be more in keeping with the character of the theme.
The work was commissioned by the Norwegian State Concerts Agency ‘Rikskonsertene’.
John W. Duarte
