Construct: for organ

for pipe organ
2016
12 minutes

I. Faktura 1-3 / Trio (Mirror Construction)
II. Machine Construction
III. Faktura 4
IV. Berceuse
V. Aria

Construct: for organ is a continuation of my imaginative musical investigation into early-20th century Russian futurism (Violin Concerto, Zaum Box) and an aesthetics of the technological (010 machine states, The Toy Robot’s Mechanical Heart, Jolie Sphinx, Signals Intelligence).

In this work, my second for pipe organ, I took inspiration from the works that I enjoyed playing when I was active as an organist (1985-2000). Trio (Mirror Construction) was inspired by Dieterich Buxtehude’s Mit Fried und Freud, BuxWV 76, an intricate exercise in invertible counterpoint, and by Bach’s Trio Sonatas for organ that feature three equally intricate voices, one in each of the hands and one in the pedal. The melody of the final Aria acts as a theme, heard first in contrapuntal variation and subject to processes of inversion and permutation in the Trio, and once again as accumulating harmonies in the Berceuse. From this melody are also derived the dense harmonic fields presented in the surrounding Faktura passages. The final Aria is reminiscent of the harmonic language of Jehan Alain, for which I have a deep fondness. And the central movement evokes the toccata genre typical of finales of large scale late Romantic and early modern organ works.

Construct: for organ was commissioned by the American Guild of Organists for the Ronald G. Pogorzelski and Lester D. Yankee Organ at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and is designed to showcase the capabilities of this instrument, from the massive, rumbling tutti to the humble 2’ Blockflute that sings in counterpoint the solo voice in the final Aria. The Faktura passages explore the raw materiality of the pipe organ’s mechanically sustaining sound, where shifting configurations of pitch and stop color combine to yield sonorities disposed in manner of a Suprematist visual composition, in which dynamism arises through the juxtaposition of stark geometric forms. In the Berceuse, this approach to color-composition is recast as a chiaroscuro of timbre resulting from constant changes in stop combinations, manual, couplings, and register.

Requires a two-manual organ with one enclosed division.

8.5×11 PDF score
$20

A large-format printed and bound score edition is also available for $30 plus tax and shipping. Contact me to order.

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