Hommage a

Instrumentation: organ
Composed: 2004
Duration: ca. 5 min.
Pages: 11 pp.
Website: library.newmusicusa.org/allenbrings

The title of Hommage à was left incomplete in order to invite the listener to imagine which of the many composers who have written for the organ the music might suggest. Hommage à was written, however, not in imitation of the work of any particular composer(s) but rather in admiration of it. Beginning with one of my earliest major works, the Passacaglia, Interlude and Fugue and continuing with my Six Praeludia, I have always regarded writing for the organ with the utmost seriousness. Having heard the organ works of Bach as a boy, how else could I regard composing for this instrument? But it was hearing the Hungarian organist Gábor Lehotka in Budapest several years ago give a memorable recital of two of Franz Liszt’s most important works for the organ together with two of my most beloved works of Bach that encouraged me to compose this modest homage to both of these masters. Despite its brevity — or perhaps even because of it — I hope that I have succeeded in producing something that is both skillful and expressive in the spirit of these two masters.

Website:	http://amc.net/allenbrings
Email:	miramusic@aol.com