Par HERCHENRODER MARTIN. 'Toccata and Lament” was composed on commission in 2008 to inaugurate the large new organ in the Christ Church Cathedral, Rochester, NY, USA. This instrument is a detailed reconstruction of a late Baroque organ of 1776 from Vilnius in Lithuania. The point of departure - a clash of contrasting eras and musical cultures on two continents - already bodes excitement. Martin Herchenröder, a composer and professor of music theory, has incorporated these contrasts in his roughly eight-minute composition. The result is a musical idiom of rare distinction, universal in its musical resources and alternating between tonal triads and extremely dissonant clusters. The heart of the piece is a dirge which, using the Baroque doctrine of the affections, relates to Eastern European cultural history in and around Vilnius, a history marked by the predations of 20th-Century war./ Répertoire / Orgue

The B.A.C.H. motif has been known and used for centuries but enjoyed a great revival in the late 19th century as composers paid homage to the composer J.S. Bach. It derives from the German nomenclature and is expressed in standard notation as Bb-A-C-B. The Fantasia And Fugue On B.A.C.H. is one of the most famous Organ works of Franz Liszt (1811-1886). The piece was intended for the inauguration of the famous Ladegast Organ at Merseburg Cathedral but sadly it wasn’t finished in time. Liszt then revised the work in 1870 and produced the version that survives today. A well-loved piece no organist’s library iscomplete without it.

Par STAINER. A classic text on Organ technique. Sir John's book, first published in 1877, quickly became the classic for beginners- so popular that publishers Schirmer, Ditson, and Presser each issued its own 'Americanized' edition in the early twentieth century. In addition to the seven Organ pieces of the original edition, including five of Stainer's own works and two pieces by Guilmant, three additional works round of this Dover edition. This edition is a slightly expanded republication of the edition first published by G. Schirmer, New York in 1909, edited by F. Flaxington Harker. Introduction to this Dover edition by Rollin Smith. / Pédagogie / Méthode / Orgue

With more enthusiasts than ever since its heyday the Harp is an instrument which has successfully demonstrated its staying power and its important role both in music and beyond! John Marson’s Book of the Harp is a uniqueand definitive work distilled from a wealth of experience: a lifetime's study and research and an outstanding professional career. He traces the development of the harp from its earliest origins thousands of years B.C. to theinvention of the pedal harp in the eighteenth century and the harps of the twenty first century. He examines the writings of many forgotten exponents of the harp including inventors players and composers and provides a fullycomprehensive view of every model make and modification to the present day!The Book of the Harp is a rich source of information entertainment and anecdote on everything from strings tuning principles offingering and tone production historical influences designs techniques and methods to the harp's literary associations and those with the theatre and cinema its Celtic and religious symbolism virtuoso players and itsappearance in the poetry of Milton and novels of Jane Austen. Both historical and practical The Book of the Harp is an authoritative source of entertainment and a fascinating study for student professionalmusician and interested reader alike. John Marson has enjoyed a glittering career during which he has been principal harpist of the London Symphony Orchestra the BBC Symphony Orchestra Professor of Harp at the Royal College ofMusic and soloist and freelance.

In the Variations on Old Psalm-Tunes for Organ Dyson fully explores the composer’s chosen sources: ‘O God my strength and fortitude’ from Ravencroft’s Psalter (1621) ‘O for a heart to praise’ from Este’s Whole Book of Psalms (1592) ‘O God of Truth’ from the Scottish Psalter (1635) and Orlando Gibbons’s Song 22 ‘Love of the Father’. These works are popular for service voluntaries.Twentieth century composer and educator George Dyson was a writer of ambitious and critically well-received works that due to their unfashionably accessible late Romantic style were allowed to languish and are now in the process of reassessment and renewed performance. However Dyson’s worksfor unison Voice and church music in particular his two settings of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis have remained active in the Anglican repertoire.

This pair of Organ works is clearly in Dyson’s later style when he displayed a leaner more modern aesthetic that is still tuneful and approachable.Twentieth century composer and educator George Dyson was a writer of ambitious and critically well-received works that due to their unfashionably accessible late Romantic style were allowed to languish and are now in the process of reassessment and renewed performance. However Dyson’s works for unison Voice and church music in particular his two settings of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis have remained active in the Anglican repertoire.

In the Variations on Old Psalm-Tunes for Organ Dyson fully explores the composer’s chosen sources: ‘Hard the glad sound’ from Ravencroft’s Psalter (1621) Orlando Gibbons’s Song 24 ‘O word Immortal’ and Song 5 ‘O Prince of Peace ’ and ‘I was glad’ from the Scottish Psalter (1615). These works are popular for service voluntaries.Twentieth century composer and educator George Dyson was a writer of ambitious and critically well-received works that due to their unfashionably accessible late Romantic style were allowed to languish and are now in the process of reassessment and renewed performance. However Dyson’s works for unison Voice and church music in particular histwo settings of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis have remained active in the Anglican repertoire.

Welsh-born William Mathias was an optimistic composer whose music is infused with charisma energy and a distinctive Welsh flavour. He was exceptionally versatile and made a significant contribution to twentieth-century organ music. This collection presents seven of his most popular works.

Intrata No 2 was found in a small manuscript book in the library of the Royal College of Music with a dedicated to Sir Walter Adcock on his 80th birthday 29 December 1941. It is a piece that deserves to be included in Howells’s oeuvre.Dated 1969 Flourish for a Bidding was written for the Royal College of Music Centenary Fund was auctioned and bought by Novello & Company. Flourish has a stylistic characteristics in common with Rhapsody No 4 and the Epilogue 1974. St Louis Comes to Clifton was a private publication entitled ‘A Garland for DGAF’ and given to the late Douglas Fox a distinguished one-armed Organist who was Director of Music at Clifton.Herbert Howells is a giantof 20th century Anglican church music the remainder of whose oeuvre is in the process of gaining new appreciation. He left a body of distinguished Organ music of which these three works are interesting examples.

Nineteenth century composer Samuel Sebastian Wesley's 'Andante In E Minor' arranged for the organ.

Four Short Pieces for Organ was published in 1938 and includes Prelude Reverie Interlude and Scherzetto. Prelude was composed in 1931 at the Leipzig Thomaskirche where J S Bach was Kapellmeister and where his remains are interred.Twentieth century English composer conductor chorister and Organist William H Harris was Organist at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle and was conductor for the coronations of Queen Elizabeth II and her father King George VI. His work was performed at the Three Choirs Festival and the Proms though he was best known as a choir trainer.

Johan Pachelbel’s famous Canon with Gigue for Organ pedals and manuals. Suitable for grade 5 and 6 musicians this graceful and subtle piece has become revered over the course of history and it’s familiar repeated melody is as delightful today as in the 17th century during Pachelbel’s lifetime.

'Mors et vita' - death and life. This antithesis opens a stanza of the ancient 11th-century Easter sequence 'Victimae paschali laudes', where life and death are locked in mutual struggle. Zsigmond Szathmary's 12-minute composition of 2015, commissioned for the Freiburg Minster, interprets this primal human experience with mighty explosions of sound. Here the organ can show what it's capable of: its grandeur and strength are fully exploited, but not at the expense of soft and gentle contrasts. Typical of Szathmary's compositional style is the alternation of seemingly improvised, recitative-like writing and passages in strict rhythm. Time and again the composer takes up elements from the church hymn 'Christ ist erstanden von der Marter alle' (Christ the Lord is risen again). / Orgue

Charles Hubert Hastings Parry with an important composer of the late 19th and early 20th century best known for his hymn Jerusalem but also widely influential in his compositions and as head of the Royal College of Music. The later years of Organist teacher and composer Hubert Parry’s life were a fruitful time of composition and academic output. He published two sets of seven Chorale preludes for Organ mostly in the structural style of the Bach Chorale preludes with contrapuntal phrases alternating with statement of the Chorale theme usually in the upper part.The largest of the preludes Hanover features two statements of the tune paired with sweeping arpeggios and astream of semiquavers in the left hand. There are several instances of thundering finales. The book includes Chorale preludes on the tunes of St Mary Eventide St Cross St Thomas Hanover Martyrdom and Croft’s 136th .