SKU: HL.14008939
ISBN 9780853609551. 8.25x11.75x0.178 inches.
The Blue Rose Variations is one of several works in which the composer has drawn on ragtime and blues. The organ work is based on two transformations of the popular piano piece To A Wild Rose (Woodland Sketches, Op.51 No.1) by the American composer, Edward MacDowell (1860-1908). During the course of the Variations, To A Wild Rose appears as a blues and also as a classical rag, often as both together. The sections are Theme: a quiet blues; Variation I: a pedal solo in varied metres based on the blues in fast tempo; Variation II: the first appearance of the rag as a background to the blues as a 2' pedal solo; Variation III: a version of Variation I now involving manuals too; Variation IV: another blues solo against the rag; Variation V: another version of Variation I with the pedal solo almost entirely transferred to the manuals; Variation VI: a final confrontation between the blues and the rag, now much decorated. First performed in New York in April 1986. Duration c.15 mins.
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: CA.1820200
ISBN 9790007141714.
The first volume of our new series with music to the hymnal Gotteslob assembles 30 pieces for Advent and Christmas, previously unknown pieces between baroque and present times, particularly convenient for liturgical use. About a third of the pieces was composed specifically for this edition. Most of the songs are suitable for ecumenical use.
SKU: FG.55011-448-7
ISBN 9790550114487.
Uuno Klami (1900-1961) was born in Virolahti and studied in Helsinki, Paris and Vienna. While living in the capital city Helsinki, he always spent his summers in the original homestead in Virolahti. Klami is most known for his colourful orchestral works, but works for piano frame the different times of the composer's life nicely. The piano works are so joyous that transcribing from for organ is firmly based. Surumarssi (Trauermarsch) Op. 8 was composed when Klami was 16 years old, most likely in memory of his late mother. Pastoral A-flat major was composed in December 1919; I find it contains the feeling of Christmas. Barcarole Op. 5 is a French-influenced work. I often find myself thinking of a boat bobbing on waves, while I play this work. I believe these organ transcriptions bring many joyful moments in concerts as well as in other congregational use. And not only that: they can be used as pedagogic material as well.