Variations on "Besançon"

Another fine set of variations, composed by Benjamin Cornelius-Bates. This one is on the traditional French carol "Besançon", also known as "People, Look East".

The composer himself about these variations:

Variation 1: I have always found this tune to have a playful quality to it and this first variation is trying to express that playfulness.

Variation 2: In this somewhat imitative bicinium, I was flipping the rhythms of the opening notes of the tune. Meaning, rather than D-D-D-A, it is D-A-A-A. The rest of the tune is hidden within the right hand or at least the general shape of the melody.

Variation 3: I thought it would be interesting to strip down the melody to its simplest points and then reharmonize those moments. I didn't use all of the melody as it probably would have gone on too long.

Variation 4: The melody is back and accompanied by a toccata figure! As I am always interested in writing music that is playable but exciting, this could be done with just the hands or with the melody in the pedals.