The recent discussion about modernizing fugues inspired me to write something completely outside of my usual comfort zone: a borderline atonal piece that uses cluster chords as part of the fugue subject and disregards any vertical intervals between voices. (It's not actually atonal, though; there are definitely consistent tonal centers throughout and some pitches are definitely more frequent than others; this is not serialism. But there's no diatonic harmony in the traditional sense.) I probably also wrote something unplayable in some parts. Can this really be called a fugue? Let the discussion, criticisms, and flames flow! ;-)
EAR RATING WARNING: this is not a diatonic piece and contains cluster chords (lots of 'em). Your ears may bleed as a result. Listen at your own risk! (Though if you're OK with Khatchaturian this piece is probably peanuts for you.)
Replies
Very interesting and fun.
Thanks for listening, Saul! Glad it didn't make your ears bleed. ;-)
Crikey, you'd have to be a pretty zippy pianist to play that - Earl WIld's, Liszt's or Billy Mayerl's fingers!
Interesting though but the speed of execution blurs its fugacity - both fuginess and fleeting as the word properly means! I like the build up to the ending - presumably substitutes for a stretto, Bars 55 al fine.
Oh, hold on. What's that red stuff dripping from my ears?
:D
I'm with Saul and Dane here H.S.; very interesting indeed! Just curious though as to the extreme tempo and dynamics; and it sounds like some reverb as well, what does it sound like without all that?
It's too short to cause bleeding I think :)
OK OK, so the tempo was probably unrealistically fast. Here's a version dialed back to 150bpm, without reverb for better clarity of notes:
[Audio .mp3 (slowed down to 150bpm, no reverb)]
Is this more playable? :-P
(The ear rating may have worsened, though, since the dissonance now lasts longer per note, haha.)
It's a hit!
On second thoughts, 150bpm is too slow, it's lost a lot of the intended feeling of aggressive forward momentum. Here's a version at 160bpm, which is closer to what was intended but not so fast as to be impractical to play:
[Audio .mp3 (160bpm)]