Category: Organ

I am pleased to present the second set of Chorale Preludes.  This being November (or as conceived, October), I figured a set of Advent Prelude and Postludes would be most appropriate.  As mentioned in a previous post, I really haven’t tackled many chorales as an organist/composer because it has never really interested me.  Not that I dislike them by any means, because I improvise on them all the time.  Composition and improvisation are such different things to me that I feel it’s worth mentioning and exploring.

This particular set of Chorales includes three very well known Advent hymn tunes. The first is perhaps the most connected to how I look at improvising a set of chorale variations: chorale, bicinium, celeste, and toccata.  The only missing improvisational element is a trio, which is what happens in the next chorale prelude.  I love BESANÇON as a hymn and it is a treat to share these brief variations on them.  Click the following link for a copy of the score:

Comprehensive exams are over, most things that fell behind are caught up, and things are looking pretty good moving forward.  I have some recordings nearly ready for the blog, but time is always an issue.  That being said, Luca Massaglia recently was in touch with me expressing interest in the Ostinato from the Organbook.  After he received the music, he promptly posted the following video.  And it is great!  I really love how the same work can offer two different interpretations, even when there are slight differences.  It is of course, an honor when performers are interested in one’s own compositions.

As of this coming Monday, I begin the first part of my DMA comprehensive exams.  That being said, I will be taking a short hiatus.  Do enjoy this small update that I will get around to recording: three chorale preludes.  I never have been particularly interested in writing chorale preludes until recently.  You can look at my oeuvre and other than the What Wondrous Love variations, I haven’t done it.  And then recently I got a piece in the AGO Bayoubuchlein and thought that I should explore it further.  Click on the link or head over to the free works and enjoy!

The piece I present today comes from a competition that the American Guild of Organists held.  The National Convention in Houston organized a competition of preludes and postludes based on modern tunes.  As an improviser, I often treat modern tunes in old fashions.  This work is simply an ornamented chorale prelude after the style of Bach.  There are some moments that I particularly like in the work, little moments of my interests interspersed in my impression of Bach.  But the best moment happens at the very end when the B-A-C-H(Bb) appears in the final cadence.  I do not regularly try to be clever, but this one I find enjoyable.

At the beginning of the year, I revisited several older works that I have always found attractive here and here.  Both pieces are fairly simple and do not take much time in the way of expertise, skill, or practice for that matter.  Which is fine!  Complication does not equal quality or success.  That is a fine introduction to an earlier work that is not so easy – Trio, II. Adagio.  I LOVE the Bach trios, the Rheinberger trios, and Hugo Distler’s trio.  They all contain amazing implicated harmony and clear counterpoint.  But that does not make them easy to learn or play even when one is the composer of the work itself.  The outer movements are pretty good but I absolutely adore this inner movement.  I did at one point arrange this for ensemble with two violins, cello, and organ comping.  Someday I may resurrect the arrangement!

Here is another sight reading for fun: this time the rejected version.  As I like to plan ahead, I wrote this a couple of months ago in order to make sure that it would work for an actual jury.  This one is fairly abstract and difficult, particularly for sight reading.  Like the other sight reading, it is written for the instrument at Duqnesne’s music school in room 314.  I did not record it there, rather, I recorded it at the Monastery where I work. I did write these for a practical purpose, but also to make me laugh.  I’m not sure anyone else would think it’s funny though.

 

For fun: this current end of term, I wrote the sight reading for our students at Duquesne.  Because of my dear colleague, I tried to write it in a somewhat, vaguely Langlais fashion.  The middle is definitely reminiscent of him.  Other than that, there are some twists and turns that made it enjoyable for me.  Get it here.

 

A quick note and a new piece today!  First the piece: I felt that the Lenten Improvisations ended right where they needed to end.  But upon further reflection, I decided to add an addendum piece, namely a Toccata.  A Resurrection Toccata!  It is straight forward (or rather up) as a French style toccata should be.

And the quick note: I am migrating all the free works to IMSLP.  It will take a little time to get all the links from previous posts, but it will happen.

Happy Holy Week!  I had hoped to get this posted before this evening, but as composition goes, these things are never timely.  I sometimes get caught in some small details and these last two pieces were no exception.  There were parts of each that didn’t satisfy me after an initial play-through.  But, as all things must come to a completion, the Lenten Improvisations are complete with the completion of the last improvisation, the Palm Sunday Improvisation.  I also wanted to round the collection with toccata for Easter.  It is a pretty straight forward work, much like the Miniatures and the Lenten Improvisations, but is a much more joyous work. Enjoy the works and Happy Holy Week!

There are some days, as a composer, and more specifically an organist composer, when I relish in good chorale writing.  On those days when I play the chorale harmonizations of Bach or Vaughan Williams, they are so perfect and I never feel the need to do something to make them more exciting.  That being said, keeping one’s voice-leading and chorale writing skills in good shape can lead to a piece like today’s Lenten Improvisation.  It’s a chorale.  Simple as that.