Modes of Accord (Bach alla Renaissance)

I wrote this a while ago and listened to it again today and remembered how nice it was, its light music.

The work has a fluid form, it's more like a stream or flow of conciousness on a few motivic ideas, so it's both changing and staying the same all the time.

The harmonies are good old triads expanded via non-functional (mostly) non-clashing diatonic extensions. I remember I made up some rules for the counterpoint and that it was relatively straight-forward to compose but not much else. The "Bach alla Renaissance" is because it is polyphonic, rather traditionally, but the scales are (the modern) church modes.

Edited March 8, 20233 yr by Uhor

Hello @Uhor,

8 hours ago, Uhor said:

The work has a fluid form, it's more like a stream or flow of conciousness on a few motivic ideas, so it's both changing and staying the same all the time.

I quite enjoy your through-composed approach here! The music is not too long and combined with the non-functional harmony it creates an archaic and light feeling as you have said!

8 hours ago, Uhor said:

I remember I made up some rules for the counterpoint and that it was relatively straight-forward to compose but not much else.

So this is composed according to some of your self-made rules to create certain sounds or rhythms?

I only find the semiquaver passage introduced by trumpet in b.57 a little bit abrupt, but otherwise the music is enjoyable with your not-too-learned approach of counterpoint. The traditional counterpoint aims at making the music fluent and I think your music here does have its own flow!

The use of the alto clef for cor anglais in its sounded pitch is an old usage or not?

Thanks for sharing!

Henry

29 minutes ago, Henry Ng Tsz Kiu said:

The use of the alto clef for cor anglais in its sounded pitch is an old usage or not?

It was used by Prokofiev who also put the horns below the trumpets. I think that if you are going to do a score in C already, it makes perfect sense.

Also my score of Bach's Christmas Oratorio has the oboe da caccia in alto clef!