Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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Six Five Flat Fugues - (2014)
for piano
Chatting about numbers of accidentals in standard key signatures, the confluence of numbers amused. One counts movements in a work, accidentals in a signature, and uses numbers in some various forms of harmonic analysis to identify musical concepts which are, of course, not wholly represented in those numbers. The odd confluence of a number of works alongside a number of accidentals in a key signature was enough to spark some invention, in the joy of dreaming music out of....
The first fugue of six, all related by signature, opens with its adagio, and then sings along in a bright tempo arpeggios above a single line beneath. A bright airy D flat major in duple meter drifts into other domains as well.
The second is a short motive with an counterpoint to accompany, moving from the minor tonic to minor dominant.
The third returns to the major in a 9/8, with a whimsical addition of "Three Blind Mice" definitely not in 9/8 added to the mix.
The fourth opens with a long-lined cantabile in the minor, leading to the related fugue subject's first statement at measure 14.
The fifth in 5/4 is structured via a palindrome, the five black notes of the keyboard limiting its "row." The answer is at the dominant with a lyrical counterpoint above.
The last also limits the fugue subject to the five black notes of the keyboard, but opens unusually, in the subdominant region. Canonic imitation and stretto devices thicken the texture as the fugue progresses.
12 pages, circa 17' 15" - an MP3 demo is here:
The score is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano score.
