Happy Thanksgiving! Almost that is. And if you’re in the US (hi Canadian and non-US friends!). I have sat on a few improvisations that I was not too crazy about from a recording session at Duquesne’s Chapel with the new organ. I decided this week that I would head back in and try again. To explain: my goal with the Evening Improvisations was twelve total recordings. Six from the Monastery, and six elsewhere, Rice and Duquesne. That plan was built as I was making recordings and in my mind, make a nice cycle. It happens though, that I become unhappy with a product and feel the need to go back and start over.
In this case, over the weekend, I played for the Retreat Center side of the Monastery as my counterpart was out ill. Part of their format includes two evening prayers where I get to improvise a long prelude to the service. This improvisation was born out of one of those evenings. It starts, as I often like to do, with a collection of harmonic inspired pitches and builds from there. Unlike the electronic Rogers, the chapel organ has much more timbre to explore. And unlike the service, I let it get a bit more dissonant.