Product Description
"Passacaglia"
(2000-2012) duet 6 minutes
This piece
also exists in versions for organ (my original version in 2000) and orchestra
(performed by Bristol University Symphony Orchestra under the baton of John
Pickard in 2001). The piano duet version was finally completed in
2012.
The theme is
based on the ground bass from Bachs stonking Passacaglia in C minor
for organ. However, the implied harmonies of Bachs original ground bass are
treated to some "twisted harmonies" where each chord is altered
using a system of harmonic substitution - swapping each chord implication
for a newly chosen one (Cm=C, Fm=F#, G=A, Dm=A¨, Eb=F and on it goes around the 12
chromatic notes).
Each key
therefore has a dominant and subdominant that are not the actual chords V
and IV in that key, so the traditional cadences and chord relationships are
supplanted by 12 individual 3-chord relationships one set of three chords for
each of the 12 (now almost exclusively major) keys. In an attempt to
recreate the pulls of the traditional tonic-dominant-subdominant relationships,
each key then also has a particular mode/scale with particular added notes that
are designed to recreate the sense of moving away from and back towards the
home chord of that key. This results in a lot of rich added harmonies and
some idiomatic voice-leading.
Bachs original theme in Cm is:
C G - E¨ F - G A¨ - F
G - D E¨ - B C - F G - C,
and in the opening statement of the ground bass this has become:
C A - E F#
- A B¨ - F# A - D# E - C# C - F# A - C.
There are then 21 variations which modulate through a range of keys, during
which the ground bass is constantly re-adjusted to fit the new harmonic
areas. It starts in C major, then goes through closely related keys (eg
A major and A¨ major), and then back to C in variations 6, 9 and 11. This kind
of arch then happens again but going through more distant keys before returning
to C in variations 18, 19 and the final climactic variation 21.
Leaving aside the structural and tonal nuts and bolts, my aim was to compose a
piece that attempts to recapture some of the nobility and beauty of Bach's Passacaglia, with rich added note
harmonies, and exuding an exuberant joy.
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