Today, I finally got around to recording the second movement of the Boellmann Suite Gothique--the Minuet. The minuet is a dance that has it's origins in the dance suites of the Baroque and earlier. It is a stately triple meter dance that remained popular through the 18th century and was widely used as third movements of symphonies, string quartets, sonatas, and other genres. With this work, I think Boellmann is harkening back to the minuets of Haydn and Mozart with their clear cut three part forms while using the lush harmonies of the Romantic era and the Romantic organ. The work falls into three sections (ABA). The opening A section is a stately dance with almost continuous movement on each beat of the three beat measures--especially in the bass and pedal parts. It falls into two parts, both being played first on the Swell manual before being played on the Great and the Pedals. The B section is full of arpeggiations in the right hand over solid chords arriving on the downbeat of each measure. Periodically in this section, there are references to the A section. After the B section comes to its conclusion there is a scale passage that brings back the opening A section of music all played on the Great this time with no repetition.
I used a fairly large registration in this recording. On the Swell, I used the Quintadon 16'; Flutes 8', 4', and 2', Oboe and Trumpet 8'; and Clarion 4'. On the Great, I had a principal and flute chorus doubled an octave lower, with the swell coupled to the great at 16' and 8'. The pedal used Bourdon 16', Principal 8', Flute 8' Trumpet 8', Contratrumpet 16', and Great and Swell both coupled to the Pedal.