Organ cromatic-fugue 6'

A recent fugue, written for organ

Organ cromatic-fugue 6'

Thank you in advance for your opinions.

Frank

Hi there isn't much to say from me about the composition except for the fact that this is a nice solid fugue. I have noticed that your recording has a very rich bass sound when the third voice comes in. No pedal is used there, right? What I have noticed on a number of organs that the bass on the manuals on many stops isn't as great (unless you are using a 16' Bourdon in the great; Newry cathedral has that combination) I would make more out of the pedal line to make it a true organ fugue but these are just my suggestions.

Hi there isn't much to say from me about the composition except for the fact that this is a nice solid fugue. I have noticed that your recording has a very rich bass sound when the third voice comes in. No pedal is used there, right? What I have noticed on a number of organs that the bass on the manuals on many stops isn't as great (unless you are using a 16' Bourdon in the great; Newry cathedral has that combination) I would make more out of the pedal line to make it a true organ fugue but these are just my suggestions. <img src="http://network.youngcomposers.com/elgg/ipb/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif" alt=":)" />

Thanks for the comment Baarrtek

The pipe organ is interesting because it opens different possibilities of orchestration, this is why my score contains an indication of the pedal where it is needed.

Referring to the playback, I used only manuals and in my interpretation I prefer change registry to highlight the different parts of the fugue, what would I do with a real pipe organ ... my idea was the German model.

The pedal is used only where indicated but I preferred to emphasize the first canon anticipate its use;)

I hope I was clear,

Frank

Within the baroque idiom this is a quite nice fugue. The downside of chromatic fugues allways is, imho, that you loose a certain feel of key. That is a cool feature I think, but also gives the pieces a feeling of directionlessness. The endless transposing gets tiresome for me...

I love the mp3 rendering. I am guessing it is no real recording, but a very good rendering. Am I right, and if so, how did you do this? I did not really like the sound of the plenum voices in the beginning. It sounded like you are holding back. The full plenum in the end sounded more properly plenum, with the cool and massive sound of some reeds; pedal points also adds to that effect :)

Love to see someone writing for the organ!

Within the baroque idiom this is a quite nice fugue. The downside of chromatic fugues allways is, imho, that you loose a certain feel of key. That is a cool feature I think, but also gives the pieces a feeling of directionlessness. The endless transposing gets tiresome for me...

I love the mp3 rendering. I am guessing it is no real recording, but a very good rendering. Am I right, and if so, how did you do this? I did not really like the sound of the plenum voices in the beginning. It sounded like you are holding back. The full plenum in the end sounded more properly plenum, with the cool and massive sound of some reeds; pedal points also adds to that effect :)

Love to see someone writing for the organ!

Thanks for the comment jrcramer,

In the first instance I say that not all pipe organs have a pedal wide, including the pipe organ of "my" church ;),

but then you basically say that the pedal is often used as an effect, unfortunately I did not invent this thing (the register is full of examples) :(

In practice, this technique of using the pedal was then inherited by the piano in the case of a double octave ... an effect to add tension.

In my piece the pedal, as well as to "turn off" a voice, serves to increase tension because it increases the harmonic richness and the number of entries.

Prohibits anyone to think this song as if it were a trio (and where necessary to use double pedal), depends on which organ we have at hand

As for the playbak, a friend lent me the sounds from the library EWQL Platinum ProXp

> Love to see someone writing for the organ!

If this instrument had never existed I would not be a musician. I am indebted ;)

This is a very solid piece of counterpoint. Most good points have already been mentioned by the others here. However, I have some issues I would like to draw to your attention:

1. At no point after the third voice enters in the first exposition does the music revert to a two- or one-part texture. All three voices play continuously for five minutes. I feel it would create a needed contrast in texture if one or more voices were to rest from time to time.

2. A related point is that it would be of structural benefit to this piece if there was a clear second exposition towards the end, with the voices entering one by one. Note that this does not mean you have to repeat the opening of the piece - the voices can enter in a different order or in stretto, but it would make the return of the semiquaver note value more of a novelty when it occurs.

3. The pedal is underused. Now I know that there were baroque organs with no pedal board, so some composers only used the pedals on long notes to re-enforce what was already implied in the harmony. However there are several passages in your piece where you write for the right hand in parallel tenths which is difficult to achieve a legato given the speed of the notes. In these places a stave will have to be divided between the hands, which means the feet have to play the lowest part. As this is the case, why not use a four-part texture in places?

On a personal note, I think your subject could have more rhythmic features, but it works as it is.

This is a very solid piece of counterpoint. Most good points have already been mentioned by the others here. However, I have some issues I would like to draw to your attention:

1. At no point after the third voice enters in the first exposition does the music revert to a two- or one-part texture. All three voices play continuously for five minutes. I feel it would create a needed contrast in texture if one or more voices were to rest from time to time.

2. A related point is that it would be of structural benefit to this piece if there was a clear second exposition towards the end, with the voices entering one by one. Note that this does not mean you have to repeat the opening of the piece - the voices can enter in a different order or in stretto, but it would make the return of the semiquaver note value more of a novelty when it occurs.

3. The pedal is underused. Now I know that there were baroque organs with no pedal board, so some composers only used the pedals on long notes to re-enforce what was already implied in the harmony. However there are several passages in your piece where you write for the right hand in parallel tenths which is difficult to achieve a legato given the speed of the notes. In these places a stave will have to be divided between the hands, which means the feet have to play the lowest part. As this is the case, why not use a four-part texture in places?

On a personal note, I think your subject could have more rhythmic features, but it works as it is.

I also thank Siwi ,only for the fact that it has the avatar that represents Bach ...I like him.

I try to give my reasons point to point;):

1. The idea was to give the song as a trio, in 6 'of music, there's your reasoning

2. Maybe I misunderstood this point, but the stretti are just as you describe, including canon

3. Divide the parts between the hands is not a problem, having said that I am organist,

the song is executable except a point where I left a note by 2/4 (not executable in my kind of record) but it comes just when you turn off one of the parties. Bar 51;)

As I said the first point, is a trio ... so 3 parts and no 4.

Actually I also have a version with 4 parts per baroque orchestra ... but that's a whole other "story";)

> On a personal note, I think your subject could have more rhythmic features, but it works as it is.

The subject is not mine, I wanted to enhance it in this way, this is only one version

Thank you very much for your attention and time that you gave me, I will treasure from your suggestions that have been moments of reflection.