FRANK MORANA
AmerOrganist 34/10

pour Orgue, op. 5. Leduc 29 213. This work is one in a trilogy

of pieces (the others being for voices and orchestra) on

Marian subject matter. The subtitle refers to the liturgical

"Office of Matins" as observed by Roman Catholics in

Ethiopia, where the composer has undertaken extensive

field research. The work merits much more than a cursory

discussion, and the following remarks are intended to convey

an immediate, general impression only. For a more

thoroughgoing treatment, the reader may refer to the

Contemporary Music Review, Vol. 8, Part 1 (1993). In the

first piece, a haunting monody is interspersed with repeated

chords in which a single sonority (inverted triad with the

minor third on the bottom and the major third at the top)

ultimately prevails. The second piece is entirely monodic,

with an exotic modality centered around the respective roots

G and C. In the third piece, the outer parts in the

right-hand and pedal play a duet against a supple pentatonic

accompaniment from which they are far removed both in

tonality and tessitura. The Ethiopian Magnificat (also

pentatonic) is then introduced, first against a free

accompaniment, and then with ostinati in the outer parts. A

recitative-like passage over a long-sustained pair of chords

then leads to a suggestion of a resumption of the initial

section, but with the accompaniment now consisting of chords

in open fourths. For a coda, fragments of the earlier

accompaniment appear against mysterious clusters. The

fourth piece is of a single affect, with a brooding melodic

part in double-pedal set off against tremolandi in both

hands. The registration, however, calls for full pedal (32,

16, 8, Mutations) against a single Flute stop in the right

hand, and Nazard and Tierce only, in the lower register, in

the left hand, and the effect of this will vary widely from

instrument to instrument. It is remarkable how this piece,

with all its major sevenths and other "harsh" combinations,

loses nearly all its strangeness when viewed along the lines

of natural sound-phenomena, rather than along the lines of

Western art-music. The fifth piece is epigrammatic in

character with two short-breathed ideas juxtaposed in the

outer sections, and a somewhat contrasting, dense, and

polyphonic middle section. The sixth piece recalls the

Matins from Vierne's op. 56 with its simple ostinato, and

the 8' registration is "romantic" in and of itself. This

opening is never fully reiterated, however, and an ensuing

section features freely styled passagework in parallel

chords over a long-held cluster. The seventh and final

piece is rhapsodic, containing within itself at least

half-a-dozen distinct sections. There is no attempt to

achieve a formal motivic, rhythmic, textural, or structural

unity here, and yet there is a definite organic flow from

one section to the next. The same could perhaps be

said for the entire work as a whole, and if the composer

will forgive us for failing to observe an obvious or

necessary connection between these pieces, the very fact

that the work is designated as "seven pieces" rather

than as a single entity in seven movements suggests that,

liturgical connotations aside, the individual numbers might

well be taken separately in performance. They are entitled

"Dis-moi ton nom," "Priere pour d‚lier les charmes," Harpe de

Marie," "Chant des fleurs," "Pleurs de la Vierge," "Rempart

de la croix," and "Seigneur des lumieres," respectively.