(Updated) Keyboard Suite in F major

This is the updated, final version of my Baroque keyboard suite, in the style of Bach.

1. Overture
2. Allemande
3. Courante
4. Air
5. Scherzo and Trio
6. Sarabande
7. Bourrées
8. Gigue

Duration: 35:10

For details on the suite as a whole (including its architecture), and of the individual movements, please refer to commentary.pdf.

Gen III is the best gen (and yes I know it has more to do with which year I was born, but anyway)

Fun but a little long for me. It's interesting to find romanticism in this style I suppose. A bit like the wave of composers going back style (P&Fs with Mendelssohn, Clara, Hindemith, Shostakovich, Suites with Britten, etc.)

I might have a few places I find weird in terms of harmony, but I won't be going through them to cherry pick.

Does this suite have personal meaning to you?

sidetrack, I hate how everyone is supposed to "bring out the subject" in Piano fugue playing, it was never intended that way on the harpsichord (after all it was impossible to do that). Maybe the subject is the background sometimes. But I digress, I'm not a professional.

Wow, I'm impressed.

The introduction runs a bit choppy, for my taste, due to an excess of trills (although I know it's idiomatic), but the fugue that follows is fantastic.
The Allemande sounds very nice and "clean", with all voices super-clear. The sound of the instrument, by the way, is very nice.
The truth is that no part is wasted, the aria is beautiful.
What happens is that they are too many parts and extensive for a single thread,....
It's strange to hear that theme in the Giga, but I see that it develops spectacularly right away.
The notes, moreover, are phenomenal, they provide very good information.
 

Hey @PCC, sorry about the late reply!

On 7/6/2023 at 1:48 PM, PCC said:

Does this suite have personal meaning to you?

I suppose so - it's my fulfilment of a childhood dream: to compose something substantial (e.g. a full sonata) that I am extremely proud of. Composing has always been only a hobby of mine, and I've made countless ambitious plans in the past to make this happen. What has always happened is either me losing interest or lacking inspiration, leaving a few movement sketches as a result. That is, until now!

The inclusion of Littleroot Town and Row Your Boat are indeed both references to my childhood. I grew up with Pokémon Emerald, and in high school I've enjoyed composing fugues using well-known nursery rhymes (e.g. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) or other ridiculous themes (e.g. the Mii Channel Theme), sharing them with friends. Row Your Boat especially has been an extremely obvious choice to me. It fits the specification of being gigue-like, and I managed to weave lots of rich fugal techniques and architecture into something that is ultimately just some light-hearted fun.

On 7/6/2023 at 1:48 PM, PCC said:

Gen III is the best gen (and yes I know it has more to do with which year I was born, but anyway)

Absolutely! Waves of nostalgia especially hit every time I hear the brass-laden tunes of gen 3.

On 7/6/2023 at 1:48 PM, PCC said:

It's interesting to find romanticism in this style I suppose.

Interesting observation! What do you find Romantic? The augmented sixths or the borrowed chords perhaps?

On 7/28/2023 at 6:22 PM, Luis Hernández said:

Wow, I'm impressed.

The introduction runs a bit choppy, for my taste, due to an excess of trills (although I know it's idiomatic), but the fugue that follows is fantastic.
The Allemande sounds very nice and "clean", with all voices super-clear. The sound of the instrument, by the way, is very nice.
The truth is that no part is wasted, the aria is beautiful.
What happens is that they are too many parts and extensive for a single thread,....
It's strange to hear that theme in the Giga, but I see that it develops spectacularly right away.
The notes, moreover, are phenomenal, they provide very good information.

Thank you so much!

Don't mind me, honestly I forgot

i vaguely remember seeing this on discord, or perhaps i’m misremembering. i listened to the overture and the gigue and i think both are really good.  The overture seems to be inspired by Bach’s overture from his “French Overture” keyboard suite, albeit in the furthest away key possible.  i really like the appogiaturas in the gigue, which i found to be overall pretty impressive and im surprised you’re not a more avid composer to have written something this substantial.

Hi @gaspard

Thank you! The Overture was inspired by two separate sources. The "prelude" from the first section of BWV 552a ("St Anne" Prelude), and the "fugue" from the first movement of BWV 1066 (Orchestral Suite No. 1). I had Bach's French Overture heavily in mind though when I architected the whole suite. Just like it, I wanted eight movements, extremely strong and characterful opening, closing statements and a central movement, and above all: contrast between the movements.

Composing is only a hobby of mine and unfortunately I do it very very slowly and carefully - it's why I don't (or rather, can't!) write stuff more often.

Wow sir, this is something else, i really love it. the gigue you took from an already existing melody but you didn't pass the 11 notes rule. i loved that,

I think the overture was too long but that's irrelevant, I think its the best harpsichord suite I ever heard.