Jean Langlais (1907-1991) "7 voix" from "Eight Preludes"

Each prelude is entitled with a number--each successive piece obtaining a hire number. This prelude being "7 voix," it is the fourth prelude in the section. Each prelude generally graduates a little in complexity and voicing. I chose this one, because at this point, there are enough voices to create a very thick vertical texture. The voices all speak in rhythmic unison, though they do not follow any real tonal structure. There are a lot of dotted rhythms and changes in rhythmic motives (predominant is a dotted triplet pattern) At about 2:32 there is a plagal cadence and suddenly the texture becomes fugal and climaxes in a thick dissonance which returns to the original rhythmic motive which then halts and returns for one big, long luscious chord. The final and following "8 voix" actually begins with a monophonic melody. In the overall work, there is a mix of monophony, odd homophony and polyphony. It reminds me of Baroque transcribed to the post-modern. He also exhibits a few qualities of Neo-classicists in a relative economy of material, but still remains a bit more extravagant.