FRANK MORANA
AmerOrganist 33/2

Doblinger (18.582). This work was originally written for an

organ dedication in Salzburg in 1989. It is loosely based upon a

melody by the 16th-century Meistersinger, Hans Sachs. Though

technically in two movements, these movements are not

sharply delineated from one another, and conclude almost

identically. The character of the work derives mainly from

the lilting 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8 rhythms that are

"metamorphosised" from the underlying tune, but the

remaining metamorphosis proceeds very slowly indeed, and

such workaday passages as theme in imitation with

repeated-note chords, or extended sixteenth-note filigree in

the right hand can become tedious when carried on for pages

at a time. The second movement begins promisingly, in

fugue, but the fugal texture is summarily abandoned after

ten measures. Similarly, a promising syncopated figure that

is the one-and-only departure from the ongoing triple rhythm

is, perhaps, too little too late, and is also abandoned.

The harmonic idiom is neo-classic in its cubicle-like

approach to diatonic harmony, and a selfsame sonority

prevails throughout.