H104 Organ Book 4 (2024)

Programme note:

Firstly a word about the meaning of the word tiento. A tiento is a musical genre akin to the ricercare in Italy or the fantasia in England and Germany.  Tiento is the Spanish equivalent which slowly evolved from the mid-15th century to become a purely keyboard genre, especially for the organ, by the late 16th century. There are many great tientos by the likes of Antonino de Cabezon, Francisco Correa de Arauxo and Juan Cabanilles. I use the idea of the tiento very loosely, but I feel quite at home with two of the many variants, namely the tiento de lleno, where the music is played on one sound; usually full organ, or the tiento de falsas, where there is a frequent use of dissonance. I have decidedly stretched the point in the following four pieces.

1] Tiento esquelético (skeletal tiento). Duration: c. 4ʼ

2] Tiento raído (threadbare tiento). Duration: c. 4ʼ

3] Tiento desatado (unleashed tiento). Duration: c. 2ʼ

4] Tiento de luto (tiento of mourning). Duration: c. 6ʼ30”

I see the whole set as being all of a piece, but I would not be against the idea of someone taking individual pieces out of the set if that would suit their purpose. If all the pieces from this book are played together then they should be played in sequence and without pause between (attacca).

Organ Book 4 should last about 16'30" in all.

S.H.
30 January 2026