SKU: ST.H449

ISBN 9790220221286.

A well-known teacher and compiler of Stainer & Bell's Opera Gala series, John Norris has created Wedding Gala with an ear to giving church organists a mix of favourites and exciting discoveries to brighten the routine of music for the service of holy matrimony.

No album would be complete without the traditional wedding music of Mendelssohn and Wagner, and it can be found here in this collection alongside other classics of the wedding repertoire by Jeremiah Clarke, Bach and Handel. But there's also a thoroughly contemporary leavening, with arrangements of Sydney Carter's One More Step and Lord of the Dance, both firm favourites, plus Musorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Charpentier's Prelude, adding a note of splendour.

But the real bonus is for lovers of English music, with Elgar's Chanson de Matin and 'The Call' from the Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams, seldom found in comparable collections. And there's also a rare new discovery: the ravishing Chosen Tune by Herbert Howells, transcribed from his Three Pieces for violin and piano, Op. 28, and available as an organ piece for the first time.

Each piece is comprehensively registered by the arranger, and the collection as a whole will be welcomed by all organists of intermediate standard as a source of new material not only for liturgical use but also for recitals.

SKU: FG.042-08698-8

ISBN 979-0-042-08698-8.

14 wedding marches for organ including the most beautiful Finnish and foreign marches in a handsome collection (Bach * Purcell * Clarke * Mendelssohn * Wagner * Elgar * Kuula * Melartin * Kokkonen * Rautavaara * Hongisto * Kopisto * Almila).

SKU: CA.3111707

ISBN 9790007091651. Key: G major. Language: German/English. Text: Schutz, Johann Jakob. Text: Johann Jakob Schutz.

The cantata Sei Lob und Ehr dem hochsten Gut (All glory to the Lord of Lords) BWV 117 is one of a small group of Bach's chorale cantatas which use exclusively the text of the chorale, including in the three recitatives and three arias. Only the autograph score of the cantata survives; although this enables an approximate dating to be made (c. 1730), it does not give the occasion for which the cantata was written. The choice of chorale may indicate it was composed for a wedding. Recently it has been suggested that the occasion for its composition was the birthday of the Duke of Weissenfels in 1731; but there is no firm evidence to support either theory. The cantata opens with an extended movement for chorus in which Bach contrasts the concertante orchestra with festive, almost homophonic choral writing. This chorus movement is repeated at the end. A simple chorale movement which comes fourth indicates that the nine-movement cantata was performed in two sections. Score available separately - see item CA.3111700.