John Burge

Premiere: Christopher Dawes, organist, Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa, ON, on March 14, 1999

Duration: 35 minutes

Movements:

1. Prelude (9 minutes)
2. Fugal Fantasia (9 minutes)
3. Passacaglia (17 minutes)

Program Note: The three pieces that make up Departure Point are all based on fragments that have been borrowed from other composers.  In all cases these fragments were left incomplete or unused at the time of the composer's death.  The first piece, "Prelude" is based on and unharmonized base line that is found in the Klavierbüchlein that J.S. Bach wrote for his son, Wilhelm Friedmann Bach.  Movement Two, "Fugal Fantasia," works through a fugal subject that Wolfgang Amadeaus Mozaart chose not to use in his String Quartet in D minor, K.421.  The fantasy elements of Burge's treatment of this fugue subject are most notable in the large-scale sequential passages that alternate with the statements of Mozart's theme.  The final piece of the set is a "Passacaglia" that is build upon a base line composed by Alban Berg.  Berg himself had constructed this passage with an orchestral passacaglia treatment of it in mind and even left behind a fairly extensive preliminary pencil sketch of the work he hoped to write.  The Burge "Passacaglia" begins with a loud introductory section that places richly coloured chords above two statements of the Berg bass line (the second of which is actually played in reverse).  This introduction gradually fades into the first of 24 variations.  The piece's overall focus is of constantly increasing intensity that is directed towards the two returns of the chordal introduction's material that occurs at variation 13 and 24. [The actual themes borrowed from Bach, Mozart and Berg are written at the beginning of the pdf excerpt for the first movement.]

The score to Departure Point is available from the Canadian Music Centre for purchase (printable pdf or mail order), library loan or non-printable pdf for review purposes: Departure Point-CMC

Calgary organist, James Picken, made a wonderful recording of Departure Point on a two-CD set for the Arktos label (200795/96) that is also available from the Gregorian.com: In the Pipes