Suite No. 2 for harpsichord

by Ivar Lunde, Jr.

Suite No. 2 was written for and dedicated to harpsichordist Nanette Gomory Lunde. The Suite received Second Prize in the first Alienor Harpsichord Composition Contest in Tallahassee, Florida.

In a Performer's Critique published in The Courant (volume 1, no. 1) following the contest Edward Parmentier writes:

From the standpoint of large-scale organization the most successful designs are in the Suite. The first movement ends with an unexpected, eerie and vacant-sounding sub-section using only the 4'. It puts a haunting question mark at the end of the first movement's sentence. The second movement, which bursts into radiance with a jolly bi-modal Norwegian fiddle tune, closes with a resonant, confirming passage in the tenor, more tonal than the first part of the movement. In the third movement we do find a rounded form, but the consonant and restful opening heterophony is transformed, by small changes, into a dissonant warped image of itself. The last movement's ending - - - scales in contrary motion shooting out to both ends of the keyboard is so different from anything else in the entire Suite.

The composer urges the performer to use as much freedom as deemed appropriate when playing the unmeasured sections of the first movement. Should the tonal relationships seem too ambiguous, one's imagination must come to the rescue. The accelerando at the end of the last movement must be taken literally so as to heighten the restlessness presented by earlier parts of the movement. Besides - it looks impressive from the gallery!

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