Jonathan Shaw

     The third of my wind quartet fugues, this time with the subject beginning in the treble recorder. You don’t need me to tell you that the influence here was from Schoenb... uh, I mean J.S.Bach, of course – in particular, the fugue from his BWV 564 Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major. I remember struggling to finish this one; I was stuck around bar 70 for a long time. And indeed, the ending is abrupt and comes out of nowhere. I had a severe case of ‘composer’s block’ and couldn’t figure it out. This was probably the reason that I never got around to writing the final woodwind quartet with the subject commencing in the oboe, as I struggled too much to finish this one and it demoralized me from writing any more.

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     Nevertheless, there are parts of it that are pleasant, but I’m afraid I don’t have too much else to say except that it was also written during my time at college, again, during lunch hours and breaks with a pile of French fries by my side.