JANUARY 2022
manuals. Tis technique may be a stumbling block for organists. Given the relentless demands of playing different hymns every week, some organists may produce sounds that are less than supportive of the congregation’s singing. Trapp’s settings offer a solution for the problem: each of 21 titles has an introduction and two settings for singing. Most also have an interlude, and in a few cases this involves a modulation to a new key for the second setting. Every piece does have a pedal part, but more long notes and pedalpoints make it easier to execute. Where one hand plays the melody as a solo, the other will play an accompaniment in longer note values. While useful for many Christian traditions, between Volume 1 and 2, organists will have 42 of the most common hymns sung by Catholics. As a bonus, the pieces are presented in keys that are often found in Catholic hymnals. For example, SINE NOMINE is in F major, NEW BRITAIN in G major. Trapp’s setting of HOUSTON (in Volume 1) is in C major, to the delight of anyone afraid of the original D-flat. Audio clips of the settings of DIADEMATA, NETTLETON, and TRURO, as well as the first page of all 21 titles, are available for preview on the publisher’s website. Additionally, each piece may be purchased and downloaded individually.
African-American Organ Music Anthology, Volume 9. Edited by Mickey Tomas Terry. MSM 10-649, $20.00.
From the Foreword: “Covering the span from mid- to-late 20th century, this series is designed to include music representing African American men and women who wrote for the organ during this period…Contrary to popular belief, the classical music of African Americans not only includes works that are based on the Negro spiritual, but also includes compositions based on or influenced by a variety of sources . . . Te purpose of the series] is to draw attention to organ music produced by a sorely neglected, but substantive school of American composers whose recognition is long overdue.”
Te pieces in Volume 9 are substantial and would be useful for recitals and worship, perhaps on more festive days. Composer Mark Miller opens the collection
with a brilliant “Toccata on Lift Every Voice”. Another toccata is David Hurd’s “Te Acknowledgment from Te Deum Laudamus”. Two pieces by George Walker, “Elevation” and “Invocation,” are excerpted from a Protestant organ mass which was never finished. Te final piece by Undine Smith Moore is “Variations on ‘Tere is a Fountain’: in the Style of Mendelssohn’s Sixth Sonata for Organ”. A selected bibliography is provided for reading about the subject, and the publisher’s website offers a video interview with the series editor.
Blessed Assurance: Five Gospel Hymns for Organ. Matthew H. Corl. MSM 10-442, $16.00.
Here are fresh settings of well-known gospel hymns. “Just As I Am” and “Rock of Ages” are more introspective, while “Blessed Assurance” and “To God Be the Glory” are more festive--in compound triple meter and bigger registrations. “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross” is somewhere in the middle, with a lilting texture and quieter registration. Tese are accessible and enjoyable to play.
Ah, Holy Jesus: A Lenten Collection for Organ. Wayne L. Wold. MSM 10-496, $21.00.
Te tunes set here are perhaps mostly used late in the Lenten season. Te “Fanfare” on ST. THEODULPH, “Fughetta” and “Quodlibet” on ROCKINGHAM and HAMBURG, and “Partita” on HERZLIEBSTER JESU will all be at home in Holy Week. SOJOURNER, ERHALT UNS HERR and WONDROUS LOVE may be useful for Lent and beyond. Tere are some fun techniques used in these pieces--maybe more than we should be allowed for the most solemn time of year! Recommended.
Heather Martin Cooper is Director of Liturgical Music at St. Monica Parish in Creve Coeur, Missouri and Sub-Dean of the St. Louis chapter of Te American Guild of Organists.
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