Commissioned by The International Organ Festival Haarlem 2016
Premiered by Organist Laurens de Man with Müller Organ The Grote of St.-Bavokerk, Haarlem
Premiered by Pianist Jackie Jaekyung Yoo in Orléans, France
"Toccata" (aka. toccata - casino) for keyboard instrument gives the performer maximum creativity to participate in. The player must play improvisation with their own techniques throughout the entire piece based on the basic form and the rules given.
In summer 2016, I made a short trip to Hannover(Ger.) to visit my friend. One day, I said “It’s too hot. I want to have a coffee in a calm and quiet place.” and then, he said “There is a great place which has an air conditioner system and serves you unlimited free coffee”. I said, “That’s amazing! Do I have to pay the entrance fee, then? How much is it?”. He said, “No entrance fee, On the contrary, sometimes they gives you some money!”. Well, to be honest, I thought the place is some kind of organization for supporting students. But actually, it turned out the place was a Casino. It was a small local casino called “Spielhalle” with a few slot machines. The unexpected situation made me so confused. Even if it was my first time in Casino, I didn’t want to lose my money. So I just watched people losing their money for almost an hour. At that moment, the idea of this piece “Toccata” occurred to me. All of the slot machines make similar sounds when spinning the reels. A simple rhythmic melody which consists of major triad. Those machines constantly play similar melodies with slightly different pitches from machine to machine. It was a musical moment. After I took some notes about the idea, I played on a machine with 20 euros to celebrate the new piece. As a result, I won 50 euros, I drank free coffee, I got a new idea for the piece, so I must say, it was a great trip. After I came back to Den Haag, I finished the piece in July 2016.
“Toccata” for Keyboard instrument premiered by organist Laurens de Man with Müller Organ in The Grote of St.-Bavokerk Haarlem during The International Organ Festival Haarlem in 2016.
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