Solo organ work from new member - hope you enjoy

Wow! Amazing piece! Keeps me interested from the very first to the very last note!

Thanks for the compliment. The performer was great and he did a fantastic job with his registrations. I hope all of you have had or will have the opportunity to work with such an excellent musician interested in new music.

First of all, thank you for the wonderful feedback on my wind quintet. I will reply on that thread soon, but I have a massive amount of work to do in a very short time (so I really shouldn't be here right now at all...).

Chris, this piece has some amazing writing. I definitely think the first four bars are the best and I would guess that they're the ones you put the most work into. The voice leading is excellent and the verticalities genuinely satisfying.

I recognize the idea of chorale variations here, but I'm having trouble finding bases for the variations in the theme, though I can't imagine they're not there because the piece sounds too unified to have been composed otherwise.

I was going to ask if you admire Hindemith, but on reflection I'm not so sure it's a good hunch.

I appreciate the title because of your description (I think I understand what you're getting at), but really...does it fit? I can definitely believe the idea inspired parts of the piece, but I think it clutters the music.

And I am inclined to agree with some of the others that the piece does not sound self-contained. I think you may have become acclimated to its abrupt ending, but this is just my opinion. Some parts of this scream "organ suite" to me and I think it could function really well as a complete first movement, especially if you were to transform the chorale theme in subsequent movements.

That's all I have time for at the moment, unfortunately. This is really great stuff.

Alex

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. Actually I have gotten more people satisfied with the ending than not but as I have written elsewhere, I do agree it COULD be part of a much larger work -- I liked SSC suggestion that this may be one of a series of movements or Fantasies.

Interesting you said the first four bars I worked hardest on. In a way yes as it took a long time to satisfy my ear. But I worked hard to get the triplet figures to sound over fragments of the chorale theme in the bass which was very difficult due to the density. The easiest part was the middle section with the quintuplets .

As for it being a true chorale variation, you are correct, it isn't. It uses soem of its principles --- eg taking the first portion of the theme and placing it in the bass (played by pedals) over a triplet figure (which is derived from the first few notes of the theme). As this triplet figure serves as a transition to the recitative like sections and then to a recap and codetta, the piece is really ternary.

Eventually I may return to it and write a sequel with some thematic relation to it. But I really need some distance from the work as I spent a few months on it while doing other composition assignments and fulfilling other personal/professional obligations. Plus I have heard it performed twice (the organist loves the piece!) so my ears need a little refreshing before going back.

As for a Hindemith fan not really but more because I haven't explored a lot of his works. What I have heard I have enjoyed but not enthralled to go back to it often. Probably should as the guy's musicianship was astounding. Ever do the exercies from his "Elementary Training for Musicians" - you wonder elementary for whom!