I found another video with no blog post! In fact, this video has an early piece that I am really proud of. A quick story: I was nearing the end my (first) master’s degree at Duquesne and I had been working on the biggest piece I had ever composed at the time: the Seven Last Words (part 1, part 2). About two weeks before my recital, the organist I had originally asked dropped out. A friend of mine, Jaehee Kim stepped in and learned the organ part quickly and I believe the recital went very well.
In thanks to her, I wrote a piece for her with her name in it. The Seven Last Words is a very ponderous piece fitting Lent, Palm Sunday, and Good Friday very well. I wanted to write something in contrast, something as an expression of pure joy. This piece is that work and I love it. The two pieces together represent a high point of my early life as a composer. When I get around to revising the Seven Last Words (soon!), I’ll write more about my hindsight on these pieces.
The performance you hear in the recording is Jaehee’s Master’s recital premier at St. Paul Cathedral on the fabulous Beckerath organ there. Due to it’s German neo-Baroque design, I wrote a Prelude in the stylus fantasticus and a Fugue after J.S. Bach. The fugue contains Jaehee Kim’s name as the opening of the subject and ends with a quote similar to BWV 543. I am so happy to have Jaehee as a friend and am proud of this premier.
PS: The photo in the video is of the Monastery I work at, not St. Paul Cathedral.