Aria and Fanfare (from Contrastes) - Denis Bédard | Secrets of Organ Playing Contest Week 40

avatar
(Edited)

This is my entry for the Secrets of Organ Playing Contest Week 40.

I'm playing the first two movements of Denis Bédard's Contrastes (Aria and Fanfare), which was commissioned by Carson Cooman. You may remember that I've performed a couple of Carson's organ works within the last month for the contest. You can also hear Carson performing Bédard's work here.

What is an Aria?

An Aria is a piece of music that features a solo voice. Whilst Bédard doesn't specify a solo registration for this piece, the tune is still prominent above the accompaniment. You will also notice that the melody is developed and decorated each time we hear it. This is very much the character of an Aria! The use of parallel 5ths in the accompaniment give it a medieval feel even though it breaks the 'rules of harmony'. They do say rules are made to be broken don't they?

What is a Fanfare?

We immediately think of trumpets and brass when we see the word 'Fanfare'. Historically, brass instruments (loud!) were used in ceremonial occasions—hence the importance of the event and/or people/person being welcomed. Fanfares are generally short, but majestic pieces. A Fanfare isn't a Fanfare without the reeds on the organ, so you will hear this Létourneau's full Swell reed chorus with mutations. I really enjoy playing this movement—I only wish it was longer so I could enjoy it more!

There's still four movements left in this collection, so I will aim to share them on Steem later (even if not specifically for the contest). You will notice that the video and sound quality are different on this occasion. I forgot to pack my audio recorder and only realised when I got to the church (I was pretty annoyed about this). Anyway, I used my iPhone for the video and Zoom Q2N camera to record audio down in the nave. Hoping that the quality is still up to your viewing standards 😃:)

Yours truly,
@contrabourdon

Consider using one of your witness votes on untersatz!


Run by myself and organduo—supporting the community with regular contests: Easy SBI Contest, Pinky and Spiky Drawing Contest and Secrets of Organ Playing Contest. Also powering the popular giphy bot and donating STEEM for deemarshall's creative contests.

You can also support me using Steem Basic Income


Classical_Music_smaller.png

The classical music community at #classical-music and Discord.
Follow our community accounts @classical-music and @classical-radio.
Follow our curation trail (classical-radio) at SteemAuto
Community Logo by ivan.atman


secretsoforganplaying sonicgroove creativecoin palnet neoxian upfundme classical-music teamaustralia marlians oc
0
0
0.000
8 comments
avatar

!organduo 500 How many hours did it take for your to play flawlessly like this these two movements?

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

I wouldn't say flawless! But thank you, my friend :)

I think I made a post about receiving the music in an Actifit report. I think that was over a month ago now.

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Youtube sometmes plays really softly for whatever reason so I had my volume up for the first part even though I'd read what you wrote and know what a fanfare is.

I then wandered off into other tabs with this playing in the background.

And then the loud bit attempted to slaughter my eardrums making me volume down in a hurry as the kids are in bed.

Totally worth it XD

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Haha! Thanks so much for listening. I actually considered pulling a face or doing something silly between movements to see if anyone would listen that far!

Posted using Partiko iOS

0
0
0.000
Reply