Here are some realizations of works I’ve put together with my synth studio over the years. There is not much rhyme or reason to the playlist – they are just works that I like and that I thought would be fun and interesting to render electronically. As with my other music pages here, this is a rebuild of works I served on my former site, Flagmusic, from 2006 through 2020 until the demise of Flash. Some of the works below have direct YouTube links, while others needed enough commentary to require their own page. In the latter cases, I provide a link back to this main page.
Here is a textbook example of the theme and variations genre, rendered with the brilliance of a genius like Handel. It is the final movement from a keyboard suite, but like many popular works of classical music, it has acquired a (probably apocryphal) nickname. There are different versions of the story, but one holds that Handel was strolling through the streets one day and heard a blacksmith whistling the first notes of the melody. Maybe, maybe not, but in any event it’s a delightful work. Variations I and II form a pair, Variations III and IV a more energetic pair, and the final variation is the most virtuosic of all.
This is deservedly one of Rameau’s better known works, a fine example of the theme and variations genre (“double” being another term of the day for “variation”). Beginning with the stately gavotte, the work proceeds through six variations of generally increasing intensity. By the final variation, the theme has been transformed from its somewhat wispy initial character to a triumphant proclamation. To underscore this in this realization, I’ve steadily added an orchestration to the harpsichord as the variations proceed.
