Liaisons for Organ

Composer's note: This piece for organ solo was written for a dear friend’s Master of Music in Organ Performance recital at St. Chrysostom Church in Chicago. I took full advantage of the antiphonal pipes and the zimbelstern (small bells ringing at random) on the magnificent organ in this church, which, of course, does make playing this piece on lesser organs difficult.
The music moves through various moods including “Rhapsodic and free” “Lightly whimsical” “Slow, static, motionless” “Pesante” and “Moving, distant chimes,” all somewhat based on dissonant tone clusters. Some of the unusual stops include calliope and zimbelstern as well as chimes in the pedal. (If chimes or zimbelstern are not available on the organ, a separate percussion player may be added.) From page 8, “Slow, Static, Motionless,” to the end contains no bar lines or meters, so rhythm should be freely interpreted. In addition, “Slow, static, motionless” requires a registrant to change timbres slowly, at random, while the organist sustains pitches.

new edition from 2007 original score