REVIEWS
ORGAN MUSIC FOR CHRISTMAS AND EPIPHANY
JAMES BIERY: Nowell, Nowell: Six Carol Settings for Organ with Minimal Pedal. MorningStar MSM-10-173. $16. James Biery has crafted a set of accessible and very ap- propriate pieces for the Christmas season. He economizes on pedal technique, requiring only a few notes per piece. For instance, in the opening number, “I Am So Glad Each Christmas Eve,” there are only two pedal notes, a G and a D, played alternately. Mean- while, the required manual technique is more complex. In “Now the Holly Bears a Berry,” the right hand must play steady, per- cussive eighth-note chords against a left- hand melody. In “Carol of the Birds” (“El cant dels ocells”), Biery aptly uses what is called “feathered” beaming: short passages of eighth notes displaying a fanlike unfold- ing of beams, indicating increasing speed ad libitum. This piece offers a satisfying chal- lenge to players with a good piano back- ground who also want to improve their organ technique. Throughout the collection, one finds solid craftsmanship and a wide diver- sity of styles expressed in more accessible technique and solid good taste.
MATTHEW H. CORL: Good Christian Friends, Rejoice. MorningStar MSM-10-184. $16. Matthew Corl’s new collection offers four substantial pieces, of at least intermedi- ate technical difficulty. The first piece, on “In dulci jubilo,” includes an active pedal part and builds up to an effective carillon fi- nale. The second piece, an updating of “El desembre congelat,” keeps the playful flavor of the French/Catalan carol while adding rhythmic features and intriguing chromati- cism. There is then a very nice and techni- cally accessible trio on “I Wonder as I Wan- der.” The collection closes with an inter- esting piece—I want to call it a “poem”—on “We Three Kings,” starting piano and ending fortisissmo. Any of these pieces could find a place in a worship service, or at a Lessons and Carols, or at a holiday-themed organ recital.
ROBERT J. POWELL: From Heaven Above: Three Pieces for Christmas. MorningStar MSM-10-180. $10. Robert J. Powell’s compo- sitional technique is so assured, so mature, that these pieces breathe a spirit of both sim- plicity and profound craft. None of them re- quires more than a lower-intermediate tech- nique, but all three are worthy and engaging. The first piece is a welcome addition in par- ticular: an organ prelude making use of Jüngst’s old favorite “While By My Sheep” (also called “Echo Carol”). Powell adeptly melds this with “Vom Himmel hoch,” creat- ing a simple, idiomatic piece that will find ready use. A lyrical, slow treatment of “Su- sanni” follows; this is not a well-known carol, but perhaps it ought to be. Powell con- tinues the theme of the less-familiar (to Americans) with a closing “cuckoo” piece on “Die Weihnachtsnachtigall” (“The Christ-
68 THE AMERICAN ORGANIST
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