Some time off from my half-century review to spotlight my present crop of compositions. Four works have emerged from my pen (an expression that, for many of us, has become a metaphor for computer-related labors) since I finished the opera.
Op. 92, my completion of Sebastian Bach’s Pedalexercitium. Online I happened upon a scrolling video that featured a fine performance of the unfinished work. The scroll was of the young Emanuel Bach’s hasty transcription of his father’s work. I had never seen this MS before and was astonished to see a bold chord progression after the last note of the pedal solo. I posited that this had been dictated to the composer’s son and pupil with instructions to complete the work incorporating either the chords themselves or perhaps a passage built upon their harmony. I took up the challenge under the former scheme. Since that meant using the organ manuals, I substituted the title Capriccio for my completion. (The Pedalexercitium title had been imposed on the manuscript only decades later by an editor, by the way.) The notes in my completion are of reduced size.
Op. 93, (Four) Two-part Inventions, for piano left hand. Written when my right hand was healing from a gardening accident. A bourrée, tango, passamezzo (a stylized Renaissance dance similar to the pavane), and finally a quadrille. Thanks to the piano pedal, one often hears more than the two primary voices sounding. Each piece also includes optional notes at the very end which serve to fill out the final chord. Also, throughout the passamezzo I employ grace notes which confer the illusion of thickening the number’s texture, while adhering nonetheless to strict two-part writing.
Opp. 94 and 95 will be the subject of the next interlude.
