Contemporary American Organ Works
LIBBY LARSEN (b.1950): On a Day of Bells*, JENNIFER HIGDON (b.1962): Meditation from Ceremonies, MATT DARRIAU (b.1960): Diapason Fall*, DAVID LANG (b.1957): Ordinary*, NICO MUHLY (b.1981): The Revd Mustard his Installation Prelude, MICHAEL DAUGHERTY (b.1954): An Evangelist Drowns/Desert Dance from The Gospel According to Sister Aimee, ROBERTO SIERRA (b.1953): Fantasia Cromática*, ERIC SANTOS (b.1967): Star Rising*, SHULAMIT RAN (b.1949): Hallel*, JONATHAN SCHWABE (b.1957): New and Improved Dances (w/ Randy Grabowski [trumpet])*, JOHN ANTHONY LENNON (b.1950): Misericordia*, AUGUSTA READ THOMAS (b.1964): Angel Tears and Earth Prayers*, TOM JOHNSON (b.1935): 55 Chords*, JOHN LIBERATORE (b.1984): Memetics*, CHRISTIAN WOLFF (b.1934): Celesta*, ALVIN LUCIER (b.1931): Sizzles (w/Matt Andreini [percussion])*, JOHN ZORN (b.1953): là-bas*, GEORGE WALKER (1922-2018): Spires, SAMUEL ADLER (b.1928): From Generation to Generation*, LARRY POLANSKY (b.1954): Sunday Organ Piece for Church*, URSULA MAMLOK (1923-2016): Festive Sounds*, KEN UENO (b.1970): An Idea of Order*, LUKAS FOSS (1922-2009): War and Peace*, JOAN TOWER (b.1938): Ascent*, AARON TRAVERS (b.1975): Exodus*. * - First Recordings.
Catalogue Number: 10W066
Label: Innova
Reference: 959
Format: CD
Price: $14.98
Description: Clocking in at over three hours of music, and running the gamut from Adler to Zorn, it includes 25 works from the past 25 years by 25 celebrated composers – composers not often associated with their organ oeuvre. With 8,565 pipes in 132 ranks available to them, the 1928 E.M. Skinner symphonic organ in Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago is no modest resource for a composer’s imagination (not to mention a player’s active limbs). Compositional approaches range from the sonic tapestries of Thomas and Zorn, to the linear complexity of Adler and Mamlok; from the full-bodied symphonic approaches of Ran and Tower, to the eclectic and unique voices of Lang, Johnson, Lucier and Wolff. The album concludes with the premiere of Aaron Travers’ monumental Barlow Prize work, Exodus. Exploring the extremes of what is possible on the organ, the work offers a way forward for the instrument in contemporary art music, an exit from the common modern associations of the organ with churches and staid liturgical Gebrauchsmusik. 3 CDs. Randall Harlow (Skinner organ of Rockefeller Chapel, University of Chicago).
