Could have waited until May 4 but ... here's a fugue for solo guitar on the Darth Vader theme from guitarist Lucas Brar.
The claims made by some fans of classical music that it's not possible to take film music and use it to recalibrate classical music was generally a point I've never taken seriously. It's impossible for a guitarist to take such an idea seriously because virtuoso variations on popular arias from operas have been staples in the literature of the six-stringed modern guitar for centuries. It's also worth noting what Richard Taruskin used to say about how opera was displaced by cinema as the multi-media narrative art of choice for most people. In other words, a fugue based on a popular cinematic theme isn't even close to being strange or an outlier within concert music or guitar music if you know the history of the various strands of styles.
Of course I have to throw in the tag "contrapuntal music and guitar".
There are a few moments in major keys where Brar has a vibe going similar to Rodion Shchedren (whose cycle of 24 preludes and fugues deserves to be better known in the "West". Some fun use of stretto, too, but then anyone who hears the Imperial March knows those major third alternations allow for that.
Anyway, it's a fun fugue and if you haven't heard it yet go give it a listen.
I have a few thoughts incubating for a few different posts but the thoughts aren't collected enough yet. As T. S. Eliot used to say, April is the cruelest month and all that.
