Toccata tertia oder drittes musicalisches Blumen-Feld

The third toccata in Speth's collection of 10 begins with a dramatic announcement of the a-minor via large, sustained chords. By the fourth measure, 16th notes have been introduced, and the rest of the first section is the combination of chords, suspensions, and pulsing 16th notes that drive us to the cadence on the dominant.

Part two of this toccata is in 6/8, and it contains multiple measures with parallel thirds in one or the other of the hands. This 17-measure part is probably the most technically challenging portion in the entire collection. To close out part two, the 6/8 parallel thirds merge into a chordal section in common time. I kept the main pulse the same, so it's not all that jarring when the character changes. The final cadence here is quite dramatic in the voicing--a super wide open E major lacking the fifth.

That is followed by the codetta flourish over an E pedalpoint, where I went big with the registration and utilized stylus phantasticus, adding more and more ornamentation during the eight measures to close.

I played on the modern version of this organ with full chromatic keyboards and pedalboard, but with the wind on unstable to really make the most of the natural character of the organ as it fits this piece. I also placed the organ in Hauptwerk's church no. 3 for better reverberation and a more dramatic performance. The native church acoustics just did not do Speth justice in this movement. I tried different tempos and articulations, but I wasn't really happy with anything. After placing it in a more reverberant space, suddenly the whole piece breathed and was airy and sang.