9 Rondo alla Marcia - RH?NE

Tonal centre G minor (C?te R?tie, Ch?teau Grillet, Hermitage, Chateuneuf du P?pe, Gigondas, Muscat de Beaumes de Venise) There are a bewildering number of grape varieties used in the Rh?ne (Chateuneuf du P?pe can be a blend of as many as thirteen different grapes) so I have selected only the principal varieties and cast the movement in a sonata rondo form. The Syrah grape, used in both north and south red wines, forms the rondo theme which is sturdy and robust. The second subject theme, the Grenache grape, is the principal variety used in Ch?teauneuf du P?pe. In its first appearance it is unresolved and inharmonious, but it blossoms out towards the end of the movement. The episodes are formed by themes associated with the Marsanne grape (used to make white Hermitage), the Viognier grape (used to make Condrieu and Ch?teau Grillet - elegant and flowery white wines from the very north of the region), and the Muscat grape (used to make Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, a sunny dessert wine, honeyed and almost overripe). In the coda, amidst a welter of counterpoint the trombones play an old French drinking song in which a drunken wine taster asks to be buried with his head under the tap of the large barrel in his cellar, and the symphony comes to a noisy and extrovert close.