22 February 2011

Ah well

Well, just call me the man who, seeing some eggs, counted them for chickens.

Sometimes my music is not performed because it is too demanding; other times, because it is too simple. Pascha nostrum has been turned down for the latter reason.

This post is not a gripe. I understand the idea well enough. Back when I worked with Mark Engelhardt, whenever I showed him organ music of mine, it had been music written for an organist of more modest abilities (and with limited rehearsal time). The music did not engage Mark, because it was (for him) too simple.

And in fact, that is why I wrote the Toccata, why I wrote it as I wrote it. I thought, This will be an organ piece, and the last thing in the world anyone will say of it, will be that it is too easy.

Of course, that piece is so thunderously difficult, it has only been performed in public once.

And so, I conclude that I shall write music the way I wish. And let whomever perform it who wishes to.

1 comment:

  1. Only make a piece tailor-made when it is a commission by a performer whose abilities are known to you. Otherwise, indeed: write as you please!

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