Suite for Organ

Suite for Organ

written for the Hinsz organ in the Bovenkerk, Kampen, Netherlands for the Hinsz Composition Concours 2009

Suite for Organ

it look a piece of music but it is not my cup of tea ,

however i will try to detailly talk about some improvements

the next post i will detailly trying to talk about this subject

dark

I like many things about this piece - especially the unity you achieve with diverse material.

The Prelude is quite strong - though I disagree with the pedal registration during the augmented, piano section with the manuals before you recap the opening material. The pedal just sounds too obnoxiously loud.

Sarabande - nice contrast of registrations and the neo-baroque feel of the melody is good. Main weakness to me is you get too stuck on the Sarabande rhythmn - I want to hear some hemiolas and other rhythmic displacements - even a tiny bit of recitative! Okay, I am stepping more into form and my own proclivities but I think you know what i mean

Minuet - Some nice things about it - the harmonies are great and I like how you relate the Trio line to the Sarabande with the embellishments. Main problems are the Minuet gets a little dull due to the rhythmic regularity. Another issue is the transition to the Trio - seems either too short or too forced - possibly because I find the augmentation of note values a bit unprepared - but I love the idea. The Trio has a great idea with the repeated notes and whole tone like harmony -- but you don't take it too far - I was imagining the repated notes getting faster and then slowing down as a device to create a dramatic peak and tranisition top the Minuet.

The Gavotte struck me as just too short and a little bland harmonically - whatever harmonic alterations you did seemed more for color and didn't grab me. I propose two ideas - the canonic treatment of A and B material (handled quite well by the way - bravo!) should be expanded with the pedal taking the A or B material and at one point joining the two. This can lead to the opening A section melody arising from the canons and a restatement of the opening, slightly elaborated and expanded (maybe alternate sections of it among the manuals like an Echo) before th big ritard. Option two - take the A materials and use it for a set of variations.

The Gigue is well done - love how the pedal line offers a contrasting line with great economy of notes. The harmonies, melodies and registration are the most successful (Prelude too except for the tiny complaint about the registration in the pedal for a few notes).

General - You write idiomatically for the organ and your registration choices are very good. Only complaint is you relegate the pedal line mostly to provide harmony. The lines are very good though but why not some solo pedal work or melodic material featured in the pedal? As for the piece itself the Prelude and Gigue are the strongest. The Trio quite interesting but underdeveloped. Sarabande and Minuet suffers from too much adherence to the dance pattern. By the way I find it very difficult to write very interesting soft organ music - so bravo on taking that challenge.

Your registrations certainly do suggest one of the fine old organs in the Netherlands - have you ever heard the playing of an organist named harald Vogel? You'd love his registrations for Buxtehude.

I don't have the words to say how happy this piece made me!! I loved it! I am a BIG fan or Organ works, and the fact that this is more modern as opposed to OLD organ shtuff makes me happy that people are still bringing fresh organ material to the table.

Thank you!

This was extremely enjoyable. Echoing Morivou to say I like that it's a contemporary organ piece. Good to see new, good music for an instrument that is fading into history.

I really enjoyed listening to this, everything has been mentioned and more in previous posts so I won't recap what they've said.

I enjoyed the prelude most :)

Hi everybody. Tnx for the mainly positive feedback. My reaction is so late because I was on a little holyday :D

Special thanks to composerorganist for the extended review of my work. I will respond on some of the remarks (the others i'll take in consideration, maybe ;) )

First of all. It is written for an Dutch organ indeed. The Hinszorgan in Kampen. The registration of the MP3 was made with help of an Soundfont that rather different (french romantic organ) I have tried my best to let it sound like a neo-baroque organ. The pedal that might be too loud is an real defect of the real Hinsz organ here in my hometown. There are too many manuals and stops and wind, compared to the more moderate pedal. I tried these registrations on that particular organ and was quite satiesfied...

Sarabande - ... Main weakness to me is you get too stuck on the Sarabande rhythmn - I want to hear some hemiolas and other rhythmic displacements - even a tiny bit of recitative!

To break the Sarabande rhythm I did use hemioles. 3x 5/4 (ms 17-21 and 37-41) So funny you say so, but I anticipated your problem, but it looks ike I failed. Did you see these hemioles, or where they not obvious enough?

Minuet - ...

Another issue is the transition to the Trio - seems either too short or too forced - possibly because I find the augmentation of note values a bit unprepared - but I love the idea. The Trio has a great idea with the repeated notes and whole tone like harmony -- but you don't take it too far - I was imagining the repated notes getting faster and then slowing down as a device to create a dramatic peak and tranisition top the Minuet.

Its not clear which transitions you meant. From Minuet to Trio or from Trio to Minuet? The Idea was that Minuet 1 is an separate piece. The Minuet Da Capo is like the same (usauly not written in notes, just Minuet da Capo) And Usualy without repetitions. I wrote it down all in notes, because the each repetitions has a little harmonic change.

The Idea of the transition from Trio to Minuet da Capo was to make an Key measure in the entire piece. The Minuet is the middlest movement, the trio is the middlest piece of the Minuet, thus ms 62 (transition for Trio to daCapo) is meant as the centre of the entire work. The Chord progression is an important theme, build from the keys of each movement: A minor, C minor, D minor, Eb major, F# minor. This theme occurs here, and in Prelude ms 43 and Gigue ms 25.

The Gavotte struck me as just too short and a little bland harmonically - whatever harmonic alterations you did seemed more for color and didn't grab me. I propose two ideas - the canonic treatment of A and B material (handled quite well by the way - bravo!) should be expanded with the pedal taking the A or B material and at one point joining the two. This can lead to the opening A section melody arising from the canons and a restatement of the opening, slightly elaborated and expanded (maybe alternate sections of it among the manuals like an Echo) before th big ritard. Option two - take the A materials and use it for a set of variations.

Interesting. And quite fun you feel this way. The Gavotte was meant as an short and easy movement. Happy, in contrast to the other, more serious parts. Simple, like an inversion of a greek tragedy, that has its climax in the 4th scene. Here a kind of anticlimax. The second time the B material appears I toyed with the idea of a tiny fugue (your bravo on your canonic idea;) ) emerging, but for the sake of simpleness it didn't come through.

I give your suggestions a thought. But to me honest I'm not yet convinced to expand the Gavotte.

Now I have to eat, I hope to come back on your other remarks.

Again, thanks to you all for the fine critiques!

Well cramer for the Sarabande, I think you could have done more extended hemiolas or even just recitative like runs - eg like the Sarabande from the 6th bach Partita.

The transition TO the Trio. I found the melodic harmonic motion fine and the rhythm etc fine too - it is just that it could have used some metrical modulation - or inclusion of a few whole notes to ancipate - those transitory measures. Not much really.

Well the Gavotte is more a case of my own tastes. yet i do feel You cut short the fugato too soon - just another 6 - 12 measures would have been enough for contrast and given it an even more good-natured quality because you would be cutting short any "seriousness" encroaching on the piece and underlining more the fun quality of the piece in my view.

Also, my comments should be taken for the next work you write. I don't think you should revise what you have. It is good. I just offer suggestions to do the next Suite better.

This was very enjoyable to listen to even on MIDI - and starting a suite with a Bulgarian dance was a highly original touch. OK, so the style wasn't 'cutting-edge modern' but that's a matter of taste, and you write appealingly in your own idiom - I notice you list Durufle and Prokofiev as influences and I could hear a bit of them. (Quite similar to my own musical style in fact). Good use of material and musically sensitive registration helped as well. I'm writing an organ piece of substantial length of my own at the moment and feel it's a bit of a neglected instrument too.

Re: the sarabande. I've read during my research into the Bach cello suites that a sarabande does not necessarily have the accented beat on beat 2 all the time. It was apparently expected that the performer would move it to beat 1 where appropriate. Thus, your hemiolas are 'historically accurate'!

I enjoyed practically every minute of listening to this. If you don't win this contest, the judges need to think again. I adore this piece.

Movement 1: I'd have to say this was definitely my favorite movement. It was a strange rhythm typical to Bulgarian dances, but it flowed very nicely and was interesting without ever feeling busy.

Movement 2: I love the contrast used in this movement: it was warm and relaxing, a perfect compliment to the energy and motion of the first movement.

Movement 3: I like the strange cuteness of it. It was jolly yet spooky at the same time. While I especially enjoyed the trio, I don't think this was the strongest movement, and by the end I was definitely ready for the next movement.

Movement 4: I thought it was too short and, while musically interesting, just isn't my "cup of tea."

Movement 5: A great way to end the piece! I loved the softer section in the middle, but I didn't like the transition back into the heavy ostinato, nor did I like the transition back into 12/8 in measure 30-31. I also felt you were just a tad short of a fantastic blow-your-mind ending.

All that to say, I definitely think you have excellent composition skills. Job well done.

Oh, I like it, very cool :) The contrast is nice between movements.

Keep writing!

Thanks all for the responses, after a long time. On the third movement I want to remark on what colling is calling "strange cuteness". I like that expression :) The Idea was that I could add percussion. I did not want to but considered the add a triangle in the rests in the third movement, to add to the cuteness ;) So, well heard Collin.

Someone is thinking on playing this piece.

It says you can't use the messenging system. I merged the two threads together for you. Work sounds really good.

This some great work! If this gets performed, I'd love to hear a recording!

The second movement is my favorite. Sort of relaxing, but with a bit of underlying creepiness. I also love the registrations you used. This would really be something to hear performed.

Ha, nice to see Jason merged the thread even if I didn't ask. Thats nice

IceWind thanks for the kind words. The sarabande is sweet. I hope it gets preformed one day. For now I am the only one who plays some of it, in my own church, on crappy organ, not worth recording

You may be interested in an organist critics ;)

1. Not enjoyable to play definitively too far from Vierne or Jongen that used this kind of perpetuum of the hands. As soon as i looked at it i thought to those composers and they don't suffer comparison with yours. The main problem is cell of interest too short (1 measure with a lot of variations). However, there are some truly good things in it: Harmony, 11/8 (2+2+3+2+2) is original (but maybe too symetric or not fully exploited), particularly like mes 42to47.

2. Good Sarabande, but again too monorhythmic, or too close to the form. Look at Louis Couperin Sarabandes that can be played for Organ, how you can make some good use of the movement.

3. The minuet is very interesting mixing full part of traditional harmony and surprising (but not too much, which is good to me) with more modern harmony and chromaticism. And good sense of driving the melody, unless the previous movement

4. The gavotte has finally some counterpoint, that was missing from the beginning, well done... on the overall very similar to the minuet. One thing is the cadence which is original with these sixteenths but a very bad taste (In French we say "une faute de gout")

5. I found the Gigue boring probably due to the pedal that is breaking the gigue movement.

But on the overall and very original, I would say very promising and gave me enough to look out for your next organ work.

I loved the prelude, though I would rather you end it differently, it is a great piece.

It was taking me a awhile to find a good reason to stay in YC and you sir have become my new musical YC hero, and I am very thankful to have found you.

This piece clearely proves to me that there are good composers out there dedicating real time in their craft. Thank you! and all the best for you...