Prelude and Fantasia for harpsichord
2006, 7 minutes
Commissioned by Tami Morse
When Tami asked me to write write her a piece, I thought I would base the piece on an expanded version of Bach's two-part Inventions. Early on, I made a somewhat hubristic decision to use six voices instead of two, though the sixth voice only enters just before the climax and disappears immediately thereafter – most of the piece is in a much-more-manageable three or four voices. Also, the harmonies are more 20th (though maybe not exactly 21st) century than 18th century. The subject, the short phrase on which the rest of the piece is based, was crafted to have some tonal implications (that is, there is a hierarchy of pitches – some are more important than others), but not to be too explicit. For example, G is the most important pitch in the subject, but the notes that most clearly pull towards G – F# and D – don't act accordingly. The F# goes the wrong way, away from G, while D is evaded and missing completely.
One of my great concerns throughout the composition of this piece was that it be "harpsichordy" and not just a piano piece played on a harpsichord. Among Tami's suggestions to avoid the piano-piece trap was that I follow Louis Couperin's example of composing an unmeasured prelude. Basically, I tell the player what notes to play and the approximate phrasing, but the player decides how long the notes should last. Harmonically, the Prelude is a microcosm of the Fantasia - motion by thirds dominates both, but the Prelude is much more compact.
The performance heard in the recording above is by Tami Morse.
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Performances
- April 11, 2007: Dutch premiere by Anthony Romaniuk at the Conservatory of The Hague, the Netherlands
- May 4, 2006: performed by Tami Morse on the Emerson String Quartet's Annual Chamber Music Festival at the Staller Center for the Performing Arts, Stony Brook, NY.
- April 2, 2006: world premiere by North Shore Pro Musica (Tami Morse, harpsichord) at the Ward Melville Education and Cultural Center, Stony Brook, NY.