Abstract
This study is dedicated to musician Liviu Dănceanu, a complex and multi-faceted personality, a master of the art of sounds and words, who would have turned 70 this year had he not left this world seven years ago. His name is associated with various musical and musicological works, all reflecting his enduring passion for knowledge across multiple fields, including music history, hermeneutics, and epistemology. One of his significant achievements is the “Archaeus” Contemporary Music Workshop, established in 1985, which is one of the longest-lasting ensembles in Romania. This study focuses on one of Liviu Dănceanu’s early works from the Quasi cycle, which holds a significant place in the composer’s overall body of work. We are discussing the Quasi-Concerto Op. 12 for Clarinet or Saxophone and Orchestra, which is representative of both this Quasi cycle of works and the composer’s early style. Our focus on a work composed 41 years ago by Liviu Dănceanu aims to highlight the stylistic elements that define the composer’s personality and also manifest in various forms throughout his later works. The Quasi-Concerto is also a significant work in the history of the “Archaeus” Ensemble, as it was one of Liviu Dănceanu’s first works performed by it. Through this work, a close and long-lasting collaboration was established between this contemporary music ensemble and the renowned French saxophonist Daniel Kientzy, one of the leading enthusiasts of new Romanian music and the first soloist invited by Liviu Dănceanu to perform with the newly founded ensemble, the “Archaeus” Contemporary Music Workshop.

Keywords: Dănceanu, Quasi-Concerto, concerto, instrumental theatre, clarinet, saxophone, Archaeus.

About the author
Camelia-Anca Sârbu, PhD (b. 1981, musicologist, researcher) graduated from Musicology and Musicological Synthesis Master’s course at the National Music University of Bucharest. In 2011, she obtained the doctor’s degree in music, with the doctoral dissertation Founding Composers of Instrumental Ensembles – Bucharest Bands, manifesting an important interest for the music of the 20th century. She is also an Expert accredited by the Ministry of Culture in archaeological and historical documentary goods – musical manuscripts (since 2019). She collaborated with Romanian Cultural Radio, taught Music Theory at the School No. 2 of Music and Visual Arts in Bucharest. She worked as a museographer at the “George Enescu” National Museum and for the last 16 years she has been a scientific researcher with the same institution.
She authored studies, musicological articles and chronicles and compiled, edited and wrote notes for the series of 8 volumes Documents of the M. N. G. E. Archive – Press Articles on George Enescu (Musical Publishing House, Bucharest, 2009-2017) and the series of 5 volumes George Enescu in Romanian Press (Musical Publishing House, Bucharest, 2018-2023).
She is a member of the Romanian Union of Composers and Musicologists and of the National Romanian Section of the International Society of Contemporary Music.

DOI: 10.47809/MP.2024.39.02.04

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