Todd Tarantino

The ‘Cancionero Anónimo’ is a collection of works and artifacts in varying states of specification. Found among it is this: titled ‘Winter’, setting an anonymous text. The original instrumentation is unknown. Over the next several weeks, I'll be sharing some fragments that I've found.

This Thursday we hear an improvisation on the Easter Introit Resurrexi in which a voice (whose?) emerges to announce ‘I Have Risen.’ In improvising on Easter morning I tried to reflect the combination of horror, awe, and majesty through heartbeat figures, chord sequences that utilized all twelve pitches, and disjunct pedal. I had fun, maybe you will too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn5ehnW5u94

This Thursday we conclude our Lenten interlude with an improvisation on the introit for the Fifth Sunday of Lent: Judica Me. It's a bit dark and introspective. I dwelled almost totemically on the opening phrase and then it only gets darker. Judica me indeed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8khKFzMF798

The fourth Sunday of Lent is known as Laetare Sunday - it's a brief moment of happiness within an otherwise reflective season. Technically, you're not supposed to use the organ at all during Lent, except for this Sunday. My improvisation, on the chant 'Laetare Jersualem', took the form of a processional. It's not perfect, but there's possibilities. https://youtu.be/uNh2_muvSh4

After a year-and-a-half of starts and stops, not to mention double and triple stops, I’m happy to put a final bar on ‘Standing Before Thorns,’ an 18-minute monster for two violins and piano. The title comes from William Carlos Williams: "as the nature of briars is to tear flesh, I have proceeded through them..... imagination lifts us to make roses stand before thorns." Adventurous performers are encouraged to apply.

This Thursday we remain in Lent, with a fun little improvisation on the chant Oculi Mei. It was a nice, oddly spring-like, morning and the birds were singing; one had the sense that there was a spirit of renewal in the air. I opted for a pandiatonic E-mixolydian with ecstatic quasi-birdsong. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKnhI68aqb4