Mark Walsen - Two Piano Apple Pie

[Mark W]

Hi MG,

Haydn has a symphony where the orchestra gets up, one by one, and leaves the stage.

That's quite "hip". What "statement" on Haydn's part has been attributed to this?

The abrupt ending doesn't bother me any more; in fact it is a kind of shock that sounds natural because it is expected (if that makes any sense), though to say that it is prepared for seems a bit of a rationalization.

Really, this wasn't a rationalized explanation of what I was doing with the ending. The overall piece moves very slowly harmonically. At about the 80% mark, though, the piece finally turns to harmonic motion to create the feeling of "a lot more is happening now-- we must be getting towards the end." Increasing the harmonic motion, is one of many dimensions of music that one might use-- sometimes several at a time-- to create excitement, especially towards the end of a piece.

After that very brief period of harmonic motion takes place, the harmony comes to a complete stand-still. It stays for measure after measure in D major. It's a complete release of tension in the dimension of harmony. Yet, all the other dimensions-- volume level, texture, rhythm-- keep going on as usual, like there's no end, like we're just in the middle of the piece. The abrupt ending is indeed abrupt. To understand the ending, one must understand that the harmony is over and done-- it has come to a keep halt for the entire last half page of the score, going nowhere. What was to be said has been said and has been completed. We're just coasting to the end at this point. It's a different type of ending. But it has a lot in common with the somewhat dreaded fade-out ending of rock & roll pieces, where nothing changes, except that the DJ (or sound studio producer) keeps turning down the volume level until zero is reached.

I'm not claiming this ending is good or bad. I'm just describing what I was consciously doing when I wrote this ending. Endings with predictable finality are satisfying. Endings with abrupt finality, intentionally or carelessly, leave one wondering; that's so for music, movies, and other types of stories. The listener tends to write out at least few more measures in his head, to compensate for the lack of finality in the ending. It's way of engaging the listener even after the last note... but, admittedly, at the risk of annoying some listeners.

Cheers
-- Mark