(and Baroque Orchestra) (1981)
Score
Samples Sound
Samples(not yet ready) Circa 1' Mvt. I Mvt. II Mvt. III Published:
MMB
Duration
11' Premiere: May 1981,
Piccolo Spoleto Festival. William. D. Gudger Organist, Sam
Sheffer Conducting the Festival Orchestra. Instrumentation: 2
Oboes, Bassoon, Trumpet in D, Timpani (and a suspended
cymbal), Harpsichord and Strings. There is a organ only,
solo, version of this work: also avilable from
MMB
.
Program
Notes:
Program
Notes:
This work was commissioned jointly by the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul and the office of Cultural Affairs of the City of Charleston and was premiered on the 24th of May, 1981 By organist William D. Gudger and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival Orchestra. It was Dr. Gudger's idea that the scoring of the orchestra be similar to the forces needed for a Handel organ concerto. To these instruments I added a Baroque trumpet and tympani (and small percussion performed by the same player...me.
It was finished a few weeks before the concert at the nervous insistence of Mr. Gudger. The work consists of an almost constant, usually humorous elaboration of a single idea culminating in one of the world's shortest fugues--including a record-breaking 22 second recapitulation. The difficult, soloistic harpsichord "continuo" part was included for another talented keyboard performer, David Lowry. His extended passage also serves to give the organist a respite from an increasingly complicated fugue subject.
The work is replete with pencilled-in references to Gudger's performing powers=="clean scale passage" refers to a series of ascending tone clusters, and the work emphasizes two of his least favorite musical devices: Jazz and 6/8 meter.
This work was a lot of fun to compose, and I kept before me the picture of the two performers staring intently at their respective keyboards as they wend their way through repeated statements of a difficult meandering fugue subject.