Subterfuge

Subterfuge takes as its inspiration the 6th work in the Art of Fugue, "in the French style." It was initially quite hard for me to decide on a particular fugue, as I felt that all of them would have provided a valuable creative ignition, but in the end chose the 6th because of what I considered to be its rhythmic vitality. Rhythm, in turn, is one of the main driving forces in my own work, which also draws on much of the thematic material of the Bach. With regard to the latter, this is absorbed into my own style to the extent that the link may seem quite tenuous at first. Indeed, much of my own compositional process here is about covering the original Bach elements in my work- hence the title. The actual opening pitches of the Bach however are used as the backbone of the whole of my own piece, and this is probably more apparent to the listener, serving almost as a remnant, or a reverberation, of the Bach. In addition, these pitches are scattered throughout Subterfuge serving as starting focal points for the various sections. I find the Bach both dense and lucid in a manner that conveys a tremendous amount of energy. In my own humble way, I've tried to reflect this energy in my own work, hopefully gaining the maximum energy from the smallest amount of material.


The work is dedicated to the Brentano String Quartet, whose virtuosity and musicianship is simply phenomenal, and who play my own recently completed piece as if they'd known it forever


David Horne 2002


Reproduction Rights
This programme note can be reproduced free of charge in concert programmes with a credit to the composer