Prelude In G

Prelude In G Major For Organ

Dedicated To Mr. Dennis McCracken, Organist, First Baptist Church, Salt Lake City

I just listened to this nice baroque/neobaroque prelude. It is very nicely written, with a fair bit of imitation. The MIDI doesn't do it justice; a piece like this would benefit much from the slight rhythmic variations a live performance gives and the clear timbre of a light registration. For my own personal taste, the piece is longer than necessary for the amount of thematic material... but the melodic material : length ratio is much like Bach's, so the fault probably lies in my inattentiveness. Your contrapuntal abilities are the best I've seen on this site, at least with traditional harmony.

Coincidentally, I began a fugue on your b-minor subject but ran out of ideas before the end. I posted what I have so far in the Writer's Block section. I believe you stated in the fugue challenge thread that you already had fugues written with all those subjects. I'd really appreciate any advice you might have.

Keep up the fantastic abilities

Thank you for your kind words.

I will go and listen to your fugue in B Minor. To answer your question, I have set the C Major, C Minor and D Minor subjects, with a setting of the B Minor under way.

I am now posting a more polished version of this piece. It is also at a faster tempo in this rendition.

Heheh! This reminds of 'Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring' to an almost annoying extent. Casting that aside, it sounds very good to me.

Zetetic, given your invariably sneering and nonchalant comments and the pedestrian, unrealized quality of your compositions, I devalue this and all other opinions you have had toward my efforts, and would encourage others to view you similarly.

I have attempted to write for the organ on numerous occasions and have failed at each attempt. For me it is the hardest instrument to write for. You have done a fine job, but I will attack one aspect of this. IMO there are to many 8th notes in a row in many places. For example from m45 - m55 there is nothing but 8th notes and it becomes painful. I will say that I enjoyed the second rendition much better than the first.

Kissing boys in Salt Lake must not make you very popular. Or is the city more open than its reputation?

Kissing boys in Salt Lake must not make you very popular. Or is the city more open than its reputation?

Salt Lake City itself is quite progressive. Mayor Anderson is admirably liberal, and the gay population is actually the highest per capita only after San Francisco, so it is quite gay-friendly (and much more affordable than San Francisco). The outlying suburbs (Provo, Orem, et al) are the ultra-conservative Mormon areas (about 99% Mormon as opposed to Salt Lake City's approximate 35%) where you will find those who do not approve of homosexuality, but honestly I have never come across anyone in the city who was overtly intolerant or disrespectful of me, and the Mormons I have met have generally been highly polite and don't seem to have any problem with turning a blind eye to varying beliefs in public. Hypothetically one would expect a lot of societal dissonance, but peoples' actions don't tend to illustrate that scenario, with the exception of the Mormon Church excommunicating its own members. I grew up in Washington, DC metropolitan area, and I find the people who live in Salt Lake City to be more liberated than the majority of Washingtonians in some respects, particularly those Salt Lakers around my age, who are impressively open-minded. Ironically, I have found many of the [immature] gay people here to be the most difficult and intolerant of peoples' diverse differences (possibly as a result of not being accepted by their families who are active in the church) and who are very openly and demonstratively intolerant of Mormonism. I have learned that being a liberal includes being open-minded about conservatives.

Just a few weeks ago, we had our annual gay pride parade in which I marched as a member of the Salt Lake Men's Choir. Along the route, there were about 50,000 people (rough estimate) cheering and showing their support. Mind you, there were also the token two or three septuagenarians near Brigham Young's Mansion waving signs of hateful anti-gay propaganda who screamed to us all that we were going to hell as we marched by. Why would I focus on those three adversarial people instead of the tens of thousands of supporters there to cheer us on? It felt great.

So, admittedly, living "Behind the Zion Curtain" does have its quirks, but for the most part, I have grown to enjoy my life here. I do not feel oppressed in any way and tend to dismiss suggestions that I am oppressed merely by an esoteric abstract ideal.

Also, Thank you for your constructive remarks. I do have the tendency to have too many notes on occasion, it's just a question of eventually eliminating the unnecessary ones, I think.

It is not that there are too many notes, just not enough variation.

I will never understand those with homophobia. I am hetero myself and wish there were more gay men. More gay men leaves more women for me.

I didn't realize Salt Lake was that way. I've been there many a time but mainly just passing thru.

I am though from Md. About 30 minutes from the DC beltway.

Well, it has enough variation for my personal taste. Anything more would be tacky, and childishly over-zealous, a hallmark of many composers on here. I'm actually quite happy with it now, and am very excited for the premi

Brandon, I apologise for my brashness. I enjoyed your composition, but I honestly kept wanting it to morph into 'Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring.' This almost certainly reflects more badly upon me than on you. I've been awestruck by your fugues . . . you know I have. They're ridiculous. My favourite section of this prelude is easily the section around 1:00, where there's a really well-deployed sequence. I think perhaps the 'Jesu' thing comes out of the slight lilt that the both pieces have to them.

My compositions aren't fully realised; I'm here to improve them. I don't expect a stream of praise, nor do I wish it. I can learn from critism, and in light of your admonition I'll be nicer. I also hope that my next compositional offerings will prove less pedestrian.

I'm sorry.

P.S: Are you likely to be able to get a recording of the premiere? My MIDI card is horrendous. It seems to be simulating some sort of organ mutation by adding seemingly random overtones. I hope the performance goes well.

I'm sorry as well, and spoke out of anger this morning. I am aware that there are similarities to the first four notes to that of Jesu, and the meter, and I really don't need someone to point that out to me (knowing fully that someone on here would annoyingly jump at the chance to make me look oblivious), yet that didn't cause me to abandon the new theme by which I was inspired. Most people know by now that I only post complete works, not works in progress, so I'm not looking to change anything, and I take criticism as an insult when it is not very specifically constructive and/or polite, not to mention the fact that I am outrageously sensitive and always have been.

I try to be as encouraging as I can to other composers on here, but it is very difficult with those people who can only focus on the negative, which has historically been the first thing you point out in your comments. As for your compositions, I do think they have potential and much room for improvement through careful consideration and reworking of countermelodies, but this takes years of practice, and I should have been more considerate to you in that regard.

Thanks.

I don't believe you've actually commented directly upon anything I've posted, so you have nothing for which to apologise. Bach himself wrote fugues upon the same subjects multiple times, and often reuses material in its entirety in different works altogether. It's not necessarily a bad thing that you've come up with an opening that's perceptibly similar.

Being overly sensitive is perhaps a trait you should seek to abandon. Perfectionism is a trait I've been seeking to overthrow. . . maybe if I were Bach I could afford to hang onto it, but being me, it just results in slow progress and little to show for hours of effort. I've discovered it's far easier to improve to brilliance something mediocre than expect to produce something brilliant from nowhere.

Really? I was born in Takoma Park, MD and grew up in Damascus, MD most of my life (Damascus is a million times more homophobic than Salt Lake City, for the record, and I dread having to visit my father and brother there [they plan to visit me here now]). Where are you located?

I live in Annapolis. Years ago I did some work in Damascas, so I know where it is.

This is a fine piece. I assume part of the compositional aim was to have a steady flow, almost a processional. The high school I went to had a fine organ in the auditorium which was often played - I have never found that speakers do anything like an adequate job of reproducing the sound of the organ music that I remember. You are fortunate to have your pieces performed.

Thank you, Euler. The organ on which the organist in this piece's dedication plays is quite amazing and I am very grateful to have the opportunity to write for both the musician and the instrument. I'll try and arrange a recording to share here.

Very nice work, Brandon. Your works never cease to impress me. I would have liked to have the score to look it over as I listened though.

Anyways, I think it's a fine composition and hope you'll write a fugue for it.

It didn't at all remind me of Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. Seriously, I don't see how it could remind someone of it that much, if at all.

Jer :P

nice composition! the rhythm is lovely and engaging, and the atmosphere is light and refreshing, with fine counterpoint and structure. although i don't see any fault in it, for me the overall impression is slightly unchallenging. maybe one or two unpredicted twists in the melodies or some gracious adornments in critical places could add even more appeal to it. regards!

Staying on topic... some clownish people don't have anything useful, in any sense, to say... ignore them... ithis is a maturely written organ prelude... i havent listened in detail but i will probably have nicer things to say once i do... ncie work

Thanks for yours kind words. I have decided to post the score of the final copy of this prelude (pdf) on the first post. Thanks.