Interludium for piano and organ – Duet (sheet music, PDF)

Interludium, written in 2016, is the fifth movement of Magle’s Anastasis-Messe, a genre-bending work that takes the trappings of the Mass and creates with them an richly varied and stylistically diverse ten-part structure. The idioms of film music past and present run throughout the Messe, accentuating the latent drama in such a concept as a Resurrection Mass but also allowing gentler moments of respite.

The Interludium, scored for piano and organ, functions as such a moment, coming between the dark electronic landscapes of Tenebrae-Lux Aeterna and the sweeping sonic palette of Opstandelse (the titular ‘anastasis’, or resurrection, of the piece). Like many of the movements from the wider Anastasis-Messe, the Interludium can be extracted and performed as a stand-alone work. However, the more contemplative mood that defines its place in the Messe is not lost by taking it ex situ – its lush neo- impressionistic harmonies and softly undulating rhythms alone imbue the piece with a sense of stillness and reflection.

The movement is in three sections, with the subdued yet richly harmonised outer parts bookending a tenser, more tentative middle. To begin, washes of sustained organ chords underpin spinning cycles of piano, before we segue into a kind of trio section with extended harmonies and more active movement. The two instruments here exchange motifs back and forth, though their forays into dialogue seem to find little resolution. Ultimately, the piano tails off, before a recapitulation of the opening material leads us, however uneasily, to the end of the movement.

by Acorus Calamus, editor

N.B. One of the main practical issues with works for piano and organ can arise when the instruments are out of tune with one another, as is often the case in any given venue. Tuning the piano to the organ may not always prove doable, but the Interludium is written so as to mitigate intonation problems – the instruments rarely intersect in register, minimising the audible effect of any conflicting tuning.