Organ
SKU:
UT.HS-335
Edited by
Iain Quinn. Classical.
Score. Ut Orpheus #HS
335. Published by Ut
Orpheus (UT.HS-335).
ISBN 9790215328532. 9
x 12
inches.
Walte
r Battison Haynes
(1859-1900): Sonata
in D minor
Hugh
Blair (1864-1932):
Short Sonata in G
major
The
organ sonatas of Walter
Battison Haynes and Hugh
Blair demonstrate a
notable peak in the
development of the
English organ sonata as a
work that is musically
cohesive. As discussed in
The Genesis and
Development of an English
Organ Sonata (2017), the
portfolio approach
towards compositions
under one title, a
sonata, that included
sometimes significantly
contrasting movements of
varying technical
difficulty was common
during the second half of
the nineteenth century
not least as a published
example of the
compositional skill of
composers. Whereas these
two sonatas join the
tradition of works that
could be convincingly
played on both medium and
large instruments and
allow for creativity in
registration they are
also cohesive pieces that
could serve in a concert
programme. These works
join the legacy of
English organ sonatas
that had an important
pedagogical role jointly
inherited from
Mendelssohn’s very
practical and popular
approach to the
instrument and the
continued European legacy
of the lesson-sonata
tradition whereby in
learning a piece you also
learned the instrument
and vice versa. They are
both idiomatically
written and musically
rewarding pieces that are
imbued with the
undeniably English
harmonic language of the
era that was to remain
popular for several
decades to come.
Royaume-Uni
Battison-Haynes
