Christopher Steel

[Peter Clark]

All good things come to an end, including my periodic silences, so here I go with another volley of, as it were, folly.

 

I bought the score of Steel's Changing Moods recently (for which Banks are to be congratulated; I made my order by phone on Friday afternoon and it was in my hands the next day), mainly for the final movement, Dancing Toccat, an excellent romp. However I am unsure of what to make of the other four movements. They strike me as being very much in the tradition of British organ music of the 60s to 80s in a sub-Matthias kind of way, angular and not always possessing much sense of direction. What does occur to me though is that the harmonic language of the first four movements is at odds with that of the Dancing Toccata. I wonder therefore if the Toccata was written first and the other pieces later in order to make it a sellable "value for money" volume?

 

Thoughts, anyone?

 

Peter

[AJJ]

All good things come to an end, including my periodic silences.........

 

Good to see you back!

 

A

[ajsphead]

I've managed to find a liturgical use use for 4 of the 5 movements. Only "The chase" defeated me. Keep the tempi up and there's a nice bounce to the first movement, and a good melodic line to the second and fourth. If it helps, there's a years old recording from St David's Hall which I found very helpful.