Duncan Faulkner: Two Pieces for Organ - Processional and Recessional. Animus

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These two pieces were originally written in the 1970s, the first as a wedding present and the second for a school carol service. The Processional suffers from a lack of focus and organization of material with little real development of a dotted rhythm motif which is repeated almost ad nauseam in different transpositions. Several different ideas, all with potential, are given out to start with but only really confuse the issue as if the composer found it difficult to know what to do with them until the dotted rhythm takes over in bar 17. This is then hammered away at until a new idea in bar 25 emerges with an implied staccato semiquaver rhythm. Opening up the harmonic vocabulary beyond thirds, fifths and the odd secondary seventh, and simplifying the range of thematic material, would have made life much easier and enabled real development to take place. The same remarks apply broadly speaking to the Recessional although it could sound quite jolly on a festive occasion. Difficult to recommend with so much else on offer.

AH