Møller - Forvandlinger

It's pouring rain outside today. For whatever reason I find music much more satisfying to listen to in the rain. Maybe it's just the calming sound of the rain I don't know. Anyway, for some reason the Dies Irae chant is stuck in my head. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, here it is:

This reminded me of a piece that I haven't looked at in a while, but plan to learn sometime soon. There are many, many pieces of music that use this motive, but there was one in particular of mine that came to mind. It's called Forvandlinger (Metamorphoses). It was written by Peter Møller a Danish organist, pianist, and composer (Not the soccer player!). It was published by the Danish music publisher Edition Egtved in 1980 and is still in print today. It's an organ solo in three movements. Each one based off of a verse from the Bible, specifically Corinthians. I'll talk about all three, but it's the third movement that is based off the Dies Irae chant that I mentioned.

There are no titles to the movements, but if I were to put a name to them I would say 1) Toccata 2) A weird piece with no form as far as I can tell and 3) Meditation. That's the order they are printed in, but it didn't seem right to put the toccata in the beginning if you plan to perform all three consecutively. As it turns out I am right. I first heard this piece performed by a friend of my old organ teacher. His name is Sven-Ingvart Mikkelsen and he is currently organist at Fredericksborg Castle in Denmark. I have had the pleasure of meeting him several times and he's given me many valuable insights and also some really great music! He has recorded these three meditations, but I don't know if I can upload audio files so unfortunately this blog will have no recording. Anyway, back to what I was saying. He came here to the States to do a recital and played these piece. He also showed me where to obtain a copy and told me that upon speaking with Mr. Møller about the piece (they were good friends before Møller died) he agreed that the first and last movement should be switched! So I'll talk about them in the correct order.


We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpetcall.
1. Corinthians, XV, 2


The first movement is a meditation on Dies Irae. It's hard to notice it at first because the chant is played in long whole notes in the pedal on quiet 32' and 16' pitches. The chords that build up above it completely draws attention away from the pedal line. However, on the second page the Dies Irae chant dominates on top. Møller takes the theme, though distorting it rhythmically and builds it up to a huge climax that ends the first movement with the chant played in octaves in the pedal and ending the first movement. 

What is sown in the earth as a perishable is raised imperishable.
1. Corinthians XV, 42


Plain and simple, the second movement is just weird, yet beautiful and mysterious. There is a constant "rising" motion that resolves on dissonant chords followed by three short staccato pedal notes. This happens three times, followed by a "falling" passage. After this section ends, there is a long solo passage. There is no harmony, just single melody notes played on 4', 2 2/3', and 1 3/5' stops or cornet alone. The entire passage has an air of mystery surrounding it. Once it dies out, the toccata comes out of nowhere.

But the truth is, Christ was raised to life - the firstfruits of the harvest of the dead. For since it was a man who brought death into the world a man also brought resurrection of the dead.
1. Corinthians XV, 20-21


The toccata begins with a stream of single sixteenth notes. (Also, quick side note, the toccata is manuals only. Though in the end there is an ad lib pedal part.) Following these are some descending dissonant chords and it is with these that the toccata takes on a very jazzy rhythm. After that and some climaxing chords everything stops and then we have a chorale that is nothing like what comes before it. I feel like this is the "Christ was raised to life." Maybe? This movement is based off of the chorales "Christ ist erstanden" and "Christ lag in Todesbanden." However, once the chorale is finished, the toccata repeats back to the beginning and ends on a powerful D major chord.

Anyway, that's Metamorphoses in a nutshell. I don't have too much to say on the piece since I haven't studied it yet myself and there seems to be no info out there on it. Unfortunately there are no YouTube recordings for me to post this time. However, Sven whom I mentioned earlier has recorded the work. Below is a link the the CD on Amazon. Unfortunately they are sold out. (Sorry, I actually bought the last copy) However, maybe it's possible to track it down elsewhere.

Metamorphoses Recording

Also, here is the website you can order the score from if you are interested enough. 115 Danish Krone comes out to about $21.

Metemorphoses Score

I hope somebody takes the time to look at this work. It seems very few know about it and it's a great piece of music!

Yours in Music,

Jim

Dupré - Deux Esquisses Op. 41

Dupré's Deux Esquisses (Two Sketches). Now THESE are some serious organ works. I discovered them last year when my teacher played them in a recital and I immediately fell in love with them. Actually, obsessed is probably a better word. Originally there were three sketches. The two that I'm referring to are the sketches in E minor and B-flat minor. However, there was a sketch that was supposed to come before those two and that one was in C. Mr. Dupré however was very critical and very specific about what was published and what was not and he never published the third (technically the first) sketch to make it Trois Esquisses, he only published the two. In 1975 however, four years after Dupré's death, the manuscript for the first sketch was found and published posthumously under the supervision of Rolande Falcinelli. In Graham Steed's book The Organ Works of Marcel Dupré he calls this act "inexcusably wicked."

Here's the first page of the "first" sketch:

Another interesting fact about the sketches was that they were originally to be part of Dupré's twelve transcendental studies for which he wrote for Jeanne Demessieux, but after finishing those he still had some material left over and made them into the sketches.

Shortly after hearing these sketches I bought John Scott's two-disk set of Dupré organ works on which he recorded all three sketches! (Which, btw I highly recommend!) Honestly though, I can see why Dupré never published them as a trilogy. Though I do enjoy the first sketch it doesn't feel as coherent as the E minor and the B-flat minor and therefore doesn't quite work as a trilogy like Dupré must have originally intended. But still, it's a good piece of music.

Link for John Scott's recording: John Scott - Dupré Organ Works

EDIT: My organ teacher just recently released a new CD from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC and the sketches are on there. Link below:

Ken Cowan - Deux Esquisses

The E minor sketch is first and is sometimes referred to as the "repeated notes" sketch. I've done my best at sight reading through it a few times and I must say that the manual parts fit very comfortably under the hand for the most part. So props to Dupré on that one! There are some very tricky sixteenth note pedal passages though. I think the biggest issue with the sketch would be bringing it up to speed because even at a moderate tempo it doesn't seem all too bad, but then again it's Dupré and I'm sure if I really started working on it other difficulties would arise. But it's in a simple ABABA pattern so once you learn part of it you've learned a nice chunk of the rest of it.

Below is the first page from the score (published by Alphonse Leduc).

The second sketch, often referred to as the "octaves" sketch, is the complete opposite from the first. While the e minor is quiet and rather mysterious the b-flat minor incorporates the full organ and is very bold. Dupré himself referred to the sketch as "tumultuous" when he gave it to Demessieux. In Steed's book he also says Dupré may have also added "See what you can do with this pedal part in your high heels."

Something interesting to be noted about this piece is it's absence of a time signature. This is unusual for Dupré. It seems to go back and forth between 9/8 or 6/8 and 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4. Steed also notes that for a piece that lasts less the five minutes it has all the ingredients for a symphonic finale in sonata-rondo form and shows that Dupré was writing for the future and didn't bother with technicalities of form.

Here's the first page.

Once again I will quote Mr. Steed in his book because he says it better than I could. "Difficulties abound in the second sketch and become greater as the development proceeds: nothing more diabolical has been invented than the octave trills and octaves for the pedal on pages 17 and 18. As if that were not enough, the three pages of coda are still harder, and faster as well. It is almost impossible to conceive how such a mild-mannered person as Marcel Dupré could work up such a towering rage at the keyboard." I think that sums up this sketch pretty well because there is no better word than diabolical to describe this beast of a piece.

Dupré himself said "This is very hard music." That just makes me want to cry...

As of right now these piece have held the position of my absolute favorite organ pieces of all time. Without a doubt. It is my only wish now that someday I will play them myself....

Below is a video of my organ teacher playing the Sketches. He's the one who introduced them to me so it's fitting I post his recording. =)

Yours in Music,

Jim

Bach - Prelude and Fugue in F Minor BWV 534

This Prelude and Fugue has a special place in my heart. Before I had started organ lessons (which was about 6 or 7 years ago) I was singing in a church choir at my local church and had been for a few years. My choir director, who was also organist at the church and later became my teacher, had just finished recording a CD. The last piece on the CD was this Prelude and Fugue. I got a copy from him and would listen to the disk over and over, but I was particularly fond of this Bach piece. It was my first real exposure to Bach in the organ world and I became obsessed with it. I asked if he would make me a photocopy of the score and when I got it my first thought was "I'll never be able to play this." But I would still mess around with it every now and then. I was determined to play it one day anyway.

A few years later I asked if I could learn it and my teacher said "I really don't think you're ready yet. That piece is a lot harder than it sounds." I didn't completely believe him, but I went with it.

This past May however, my current organ teacher and I were discussing new rep for this year and I asked if I could do this piece. He thought it was a good idea and I started working on it! Needless to say after about 6 years of wanting to do it, I was very excited. Previously, I had only done the Prelude and Fugue in E Minor BWV 533 and the Prelude and Fugue in C Minor BWV 549, but being that they are probably the easiest of all Bach's P&Fs (except the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues) I was excited to start my first "real" one.


Once I started, I realized my first teacher was right. It's harder than it looks. Though the first line (possibly my favorite part of the prelude) starts out easy enough.

However, I've been having a lot of fun learning it! I spent all of my summer working on it. The prelude was more difficult for me than the fugue was. That's odd for me, being that usually the fugues are what kill me. There were some particularly tricky passages to finger in the prelude. Especially near the end when the pedal line drops out for a bit. I think over all though, my biggest challenge was the pedaling. There are numerous passages where I have to jump a fifth with one foot (or do some really fast substitution!) and others where I have consecutive scale passages that I found difficult at first to keep smooth. The absolute hardest couple of measures for me are below and you can see for yourself why!

Finally, after many many many hours I finished the prelude! Then it was on to the fugue...


The fugue subject is my favorite of any Bach fugue.

Surprisingly, like I already said, I didn't find the fugue nearly as difficult as the prelude. I learned it in probably half the time. Obviously it wasn't easy or anything (it is Bach after all), but not as bad as I thought it would be. The biggest overall challenge for me was again, fingering. Thankfully all of the pedaling was pretty straightforward. Oh and trying to figure out which hand plays which voice was a pain too. I'm using the Barenreiter edition and usually they are pretty good about this, but with this fugue I was constantly having to take notes from the treble clef in the left hand and vice versa. Those were my two main issues with the piece. Then again, I think those are the two issues with any Bach piece...

Today was a wonderful day though. For the first time I was able to play straight through the entire prelude and fugue. It was so satisfying being able to complete a goal that I had set for myself 7 years ago!! Of all the Bach Preludes and Fugues for organ, the two that I always wanted to learn most was the F minor and the B minor. Now I'm halfway there! I think I'll wait a few more years though until I tackle the B minor....

Anyway, that's about all I want to say on that. If I had my own recording on YouTube of the piece I would post that, but for now I'll have to settle for someone else's. =) This is definitely a piece worth listening to!

Yours in music,

Jim

Escaich - Vers l'espérance

I recently discovered a fantastic new piece of music by the living French composer Thierry Escaich. The piece is from his book of Poèmes pour orgue. There are three pieces in the collection and all are based off of the work Le pays perdu (The Lost Country) by Alain Suied. The third piece in the set is the one I'm going to talk about though, Vers l'espérance (Towards Hope) and it's based off of the following excerpt:

Qu'est-ce qui nous traque
et nous tord
et se joue de nous
derrière nos masques?
Qu'est-ce qui souffre
et se révolte
au fond de nous malgré nos rêves?
Qui es-tu, triste
matière silencieuse?
De quel parage du ciel
es-tu messagère
oublieuse, de quelle détresse
es-tu le gouffre indéchiffrable?
Qu-est-ce qui nous porte
et nous appelle
et nous élève au-dessus de nous
dans l'espérance?

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to come across a good translation of the poem. 

As for the piece itself it seems to be a hit or miss sort of thing with different people. Some love it and others hate it. I've been working on it for about a month now and it's nearly there. Though very technically challenging I've found it extremely rewarding and very satisfying to play. Having listened to a number of Escaich's improvisations on YouTube I feel like this piece sounds very much like his improvisations.

Almost the entire piece is series of fast, dissonant chords with odd but satisfying rhythms, mostly 3+3+2. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants an interesting and modern piece to close a program with. I'll be using it myself as the final piece in a recital I am playing in October. I must finish it first though! The section that is giving me the most trouble is about halfway through where I have to play a fast triplet figure in the right hand against duplet chords in the left hand. It would be fine at a slower tempo, but the tempo marking is a dotted quarter = 132! Between that and figuring out some of the pedaling has been the biggest challenge for me because some pedal passages span the entire length of the pedalboard in about two measures. So it's been quite the experience learning this piece.


Here is just the first page, click on it to enlarge it. And trust me, this first page may be easy, but it gets worse as the piece goes on.

The only downside to the piece (apart from being very difficult) is that it's a fairly expensive score, which is typical for any French publisher anymore. It's only published by Gérard Billaudot and at 32 pages of music goes for approximately $30. However, if you are into modern music and enjoy the piece, like myself, it's a well spent $30. Also just as a heads up, Vers l'espérance is probably the easiest in the collection. So don't expect to be able to get anything you can sightread through!

Below is my recording of the piece, though there is a much better one by Olivier Latry on CD. Enjoy!

Yours in Music,
Jim

Introductions are in order!

I never know how to start these things other that just saying: my name is Jim and I'm an organist. I'm currently a student at Westminster Choir College and I am studying for my undergrad degree in Organ Performance/Sacred music. I come across so much great music during my time here and I the first thing I always want to do is share it and talk about it with others. So this is me attempting that in a different way in hopes of reaching a wider audience. Now I've never blogged before and so I have not the slightest idea of what I am doing, but I figure I'll give it a shot and see how it goes. What's the worst that could happen? I'll probably mostly talk about organ and piano music, but hey I am at a CHOIR college so I'm sure I'll slip some choral stuff in here too. Plus, I figure even if nobody reads any of this it will be a fun waste of time for me when and if I have time to be bored. I also think it will be cool to be able to look back later on at all the music I get to experience. Anyway, that's about all I want to say for now. Even if just one person takes the time to read any of this with interest I will be very happy!

Musically yours,
Jim