Fantasia f-moll KV 594

This extraordinary work of late Mozart, KV 594, was composed to fulfill a commission for a memorial exhibit in Vienna, to be played in a “mechanical clock organ.”
The term “fantasy” or “fantasia” came to be affixed to this works later, and is more descriptive and less cumbersome than the term Mozart listed in his own catalogue, “Ein Stüke für ein Orgelwerk in ein Uhr.”

KV 594, composed between the monumental String Quintet in D and the Piano Concerto in Bb KV 595, is an A-B-A form, comprised of an f minor Adagio opening and closing, with a contrapuntal Allegro at its heart.

Despite the frustration that Mozart expressed (in a letter to Constanze) with the sound world of these mechanical devices, KV 594 is a remarkable work which stand at an intersection, incorporating what he learned about counterpoint studying at the foot of Bach, while looking ahead to the emotional and harmonic poignancy of Schubert.

On some of the performances I heard the organist played this piece on a subdued registration, coupling the pedal to the manuals without stops of its own, presumably to preserve the mechanical clock character.

I chose to use a grand registration because imho this is a grand work, in length and in perception and ill suited to be played on the small flutes of a mechanical clock or just a few stops on a large organ.

This brought me to play it on Hereford, discard all historical accuracies and just play it to show the grandeur of the music and the range of sounds of this fine cathedral organ.

O f the repeats in the B-section of the work I only repeated the first section of the two.