A sampler of music written since 1992, Canadian Organ Music Showcase presents the varied ways in which six composers write for the organ in its rich and colourful persona. Drawing on sources as dissimilar as chant, folk song, renaissance music, childhood memories and radio programs from the 1950s, the composers approach the organ in highly individual, sometimes non-traditional ways.

INTRODUCTION

A sampler of music written since 1992, Canadian Organ Music Showcase presents the varied ways in which six composers write for the organ in its rich and colourful persona. Drawing on sources as dissimilar as chant, folk song, renaissance music, childhood memories and radio programs from the 1950s, the composers approach the organ in highly individual, sometimes non-traditional ways. From the most powerful ensemble the organ is capable of to its softest and most distant, this is music which exploits the wide resources of large modern organ. For most of the composers, these works are their first essays for the organ. Centering on concert repertoire, the pieces are heard for the first time on CD.

Built by Casavant Frères in 1986, the 75-stop Carthy Organ in Jack Singer Hall of the EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts in Calgary, Alberta, is one of the great concert hall organs of the world.

Many of the pieces were commissioned with the support of the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Centre of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, or in one case (Robert Evans), by an individual. All composers are associates of the Canadian Music Centre.

THE COMPOSITIONS

Shadow Variations (2005) - Brent Lee

Shadow Variations is a work for solo organ of approximately ten minutes duration. The title has a double meaning. Firstly, the music that is played on one manual of the organ is “shadowed” on the second manual, creating a fluctuating tremolo of timbre. By using sets of nearly identical registrations for the two manuals, the transient sounds created at the beginning and end of each pitch are emphasized. Near the end of the work, the organist is required to play across manuals with one hand to achieve this effect. Secondly, much of the harmonic and melodic material is derived from transcriptions of early radio shows with organ accompaniment, especially The Shadow. (Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?) The work was commissioned by organist David Palmer with the assistance of the Ontario Arts Council. - Note by the composer

Sarum: Variations on an Advent Chant (1992) - Deirdre Piper

Four verses of the sixth-century Latin hymn Conditur alme siderum , in the English translation of J. M. Neale (1851), form the inspiration for this set of variations on the Sarum plainchant associated with that text. Variation I presents the chant three times (twice in canon) in three keys a third apart against a continuously running accompaniment (itself derived from the chant) in the upper register. The picture of the starry heavens at the time of Christ's birth, the ongoing petitions of the church (all from verse 1), as well as a structural reference to the Trinity, are portrayed . The first two lines of Neale's translation of verse 2 form the motivation of Variation II - a slow, relentless fugue based on a subject that is a melodic compression of the chant. Entries appear in a 12-fold sequence of rising fourths (thus providing for an entry on every degree of the chromatic scale) while the piece articulates a dynamic arch, with the one pedal entry occuring at the mid point and at the interval of the tritone away from the original subject. A quiet coda (". . . healing gifts of heavenly grace") presents a complete statement of the original chant. Variation III is a lullaby; based again on a melodic compression of the chant, a rocking figure (LH) offsets the theme presented as an inverted canon at the tritone (RH and pedal). This picture of the birth of Jesus (verse 3) ends also with a quiet coda presenting the chant tune over a tonic pedal (" . . . the spotless victim all divine."). The set ends with Variation IV, a toccata-rondo inspired by the words of verse 4 (". . . and own thee King for evermore."). The rondo theme is entirely derived from the chant, while the intervening sections are derived in part from the English celebratory art of change-ringing: the generating pattern here being the first part of the Stedman Doubles for a peal of five bells

Benedictus for Solo Organ (1992) - Peter Paul Koprowski

Benedictus was written to commemorate the 425th Anniversary of the birth of Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), a composer of great stylistic diversity, whose works often served as models in the teaching of Nadia Boulanger, the friendship and scholarly care of whom I was honoured to secure in the late 1960s and early 1970s. While the central berceuse of Benedictus is designed to reflect upon the operatic side of Monteverdi (free of harmonic or melodic dependencies on the composer), the preceding section is based on a benedictus from one of Monteverdi’s Masses, unfolding to include a three-measure quotation. The toccata-like writing alludes to the 17th century organ repertoire, here embodied within chromatic and bi-tonal harmonies, thus setting a dissonant contrast to the rather plaintive central sections.

Benedictus was premiered on August18,1992 by Sylvain Barrette at the final concert of the National Convention of the Royal Canadian College of Organists on the organ of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Ottawa. - Note by the composer

Reflection and Promenade (1992) - Chan Ka Nin

Reflection is a contemplative piece for solo organ. The music is lyrical and reaches a climax near the middle of this one movement work. The introduction and coda consist of extreme high and low notes which seem to suggest the communion between heaven and earth.

Promenade describes a casual excursion of a youngster who seems to find everything in sight interesting and exciting. In this work, the complexity of intricate rhythms and mixed meter is offset by the simplicity of using only the “white notes” of the keyboard.
- Note by the composer

Reflection and Promenade were commissioned by the Toronto Centre of the Royal Canadian College of Organists in 1992 for performance at the International Congress of organists convention in Montreal, Quebec. The works were premiered by Dr. Patricia Phillips Wright in July 1993.

Emergences (1992-93) - Alain Gagnon

Emergences is Alain Gagnon’s fourth work for organ. Completed on January 21, 1993, it was given its first performance in Notre Dame Basilica-Cathedral in Quebec City on November 14, 1995 by the organist Jean-Charles Castilloux, to whom it is dedicated.
Written in the form of an organ sonata, it is built on short musical fragments taken from previous works, and thus awakens for the composer many memories emerging from a time only just past.
- Note by the composer

Fantasy Variations for Organ On a Newfoundland Folk Song (1995) - Robert Evans

Fantasy Variations for Organ was founded on the exquisite Newfoundland folksong, “Star of Belle Isle” which I have been wanting to use for some time. The charm of its mixolydian mode and the lovely lyric are undeniable.

The melody appears in many guises throughout the work. The opening chord finds the third phrase of the melody stacked in a vertical cluster. The second section explores a rhythmic variant in a recitative. In the third the ornamented tune chases itself in canon. In No. 4 the upper two voices explore the stretched version while the melody crosses from one voice to the other with a free pointillistic accompaniment. The fifth section briefly finds the melody in 5/8 in the pedal with a flattened third omitting repeated notes. No. 6 should be quite impressionistic as “wisps of fog” with the song in diminution over slowly moving 5ths in the pedal disappearing into nothing at the end. The seventh section is quite boisterous, starting with a bit of fanfare before a rhythmic dance, bridge and lyrical contrast returns to the dance and bridge once more. During this section the melody becomes more fragmented. No. 8 returns briefly to the opening flourish to introduce a pedal cadenza which finally settles into the ninth section and a coda which complete the work.

Fantasy Variations for Organ on a Newfoundland Folksong was commissioned by Ian Sadler for his recital at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge on the 28th of January, 1995.
- Note by the composer

THE COMPOSERS

Brent Lee - Brent Lee (b. 1964, Wynyard, Saskatchewan) grew up in the Edmonton area, where he studied saxophone and guitar. He completed his Bachelor's (1986) and Master's (1990) degrees at McGill University, studying composition with Brian Cherney, Bruce Mather, and Donald Steven; he also studied computer and electroacoustic music at McGill with Bruce Pennycook and Alcides Lanza. After extended residencies in the Netherlands, Bourges and at the Banff Centre, he settled in Calgary in 1990, where he taught at the Mount Royal College Conservatory, volunteered with New Works Calgary, and performed with the crossover ensembles Strictly Plutonic and Modus vivendi. In 1999 he completed a doctoral degree at the University of British Columbia, studying composition with Keith Hamel and Steve Chatman. While in Vancouver, he also undertook orchestration studies with Nikolai Korndorf. After a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at UBC, he accepted a position at the University of Windsor in 2002.

Brent Lee's compositions range from orchestral music to electroacoustic pieces, and include jazz and incidental music. His compositions and improvisations often juxtapose acoustic instruments and electroacoustic sound, and reflect his interest in the exploration of musical colours and textures.

Deirdre Piper - Born, raised and educated in the United Kingdom, Piper studied at the Royal College of Music (organ and cello) and at the University of Manchester (Mus.B. and Ph.D. in historical musicology). She has held full-time teaching positions at the University of Manchester Faculty of Music, Huddersfield Polytechnic School of Music, and at Carleton University, where she is Associate Professor of Music and Supervisor of performance and Practical Studies. Her current areas of teaching comprise composition, theory, analysis, counterpoint, orchestration, and issues of concert music since the Second World War.

In addition, Piper is active as a performer: organist, pianist, and choral conductor. Currently she holds the position of Organist and Director of Choirs (mixed adult and children's) at St Matthias Anglican Church (Ottawa) where the musical tradition is rooted in the English cathedral repertoire but encompassing also music of more "contemporary", popular idioms. Outside the ecclesiastical establishment Piper frequently performs as ensemble pianist and vocal accompanist. She is a member of the Royal Canadian College of Organists (Ottawa Centre) where she has served on the executive committee as chair of the academic studies sub-committee.

Peter Paul Koprowski - Peter Paul Koprowski was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1947. Noted for his early compositions as an "outstanding talent", he attended and graduated in nearly half the required time from the Krakow Academy of Music, earning awards and having his works broadcast and performed in concerts.

His subsequent tutelage in Paris under Nadia Boulanger, who praised him as "a real artist, a real musician and a composer of value", reaffirmed in him "the sense of oneness within music, a fusion" with the full continuity of the past.

After a period in England, where he received further awards, he moved to Canada in 1971 and took his doctorate at the University of Toronto. Since then his prolific output has continued with a canon extending from songs to symphonies. His have been repeatedly performed and recorded by all major orchestras in Canada, as well as in the USA, Europe, South America and Asia.

Twice, in 1989 and in 1994, he was recipient of the Jules Leger Prize and in 1990 was bestowed the interdisciplinary Victor Martyn Lynch-Stanton Award. In 1997 he received the Jean A. Chalmers National Music Award, and in 2002 his Viola Concerto received JUNO nomination.

Currently, Peter Paul Koprowski is a professor of composition at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and divides his time between European and North American engagements as a composer and conductor.

Chan Ka Nin - Chan was born in Hong Kong and moved with his family to Vancouver in 1965. At the University of British Columbia he studied composition with Jean Coulthard while pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. After graduation he decided to continue studying composition with Bernhard Heiden at Indiana University where he eventually obtained his Master's and Doctoral degrees in music. Since 1982, he has been teaching theory and composition at the University of Toronto.

Twice winner of Juno Awards for Best Classical Composition, Chan’s works have been performed by ensembles and artists such as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Esprit Orchestra, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, Amici, Rivka Golani and Lawrence Cherney.

His numerous international awards include Jean Chalmers Award, Béla Bartók International Composers' Competition, Barlow International Competitions, International Horn Society Composition Contest, PROCAN Young Composers' Competition and Amherst Saxophone Quartet Composition Competition.

Alain Gagnon - Born in Trois-Pistoles, Quebec, Canada on May 22, 1938, Alain Gagnon began his musical studies in his home town and continued them at the Seminary in Rimouski, where he studied organ and piano with Philippe-Auguste Lavoie. In 1963-64 he obtained his Baccalauréat and Licence in composition from Laval University, and in the same year he won the Lieutenant-Governor’s Medal and the French Government Prize for his outstanding academic achievements. In 1965 he won the Prix d’Europe in composition. With grants from the Canada Arts Council and the Government of Quebec, he studied further in France, Holland and Switzerland under such masters as Henri Dutilleux, Olivier Alain and André-François Marescotti. On his return to Quebec in1967 he taught at Laval University until 1998. Today Alain Gagnon is actively pursuing his career as a composer and devotes himself to poetry and painting.

Robert Evans - Robert Evans (b. 1933, d.2005) was highly respected as a composer and conductor within the choral music community, having written music for such ensembles as the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Amadeus Choir, the Toronto Children's Chorus, and King's College Choir, Cambridge. He had a considerable number of commissions, performances and broadcasts, and his works appeared on 5 different CD choral anthologies. Evans composed in an accessible yet challenging style for a wide range of performers - children, amateurs, sacred and secular communities and his fellow professionals.
Robert Bruce Evans passed away peacefully on Thursday, March 10, 2005. In addition to being a prolific composer, he was an accomplished poet and an award-winning photographer. For a collection of some of Robert's works of poetry, music and photography, please refer to his website. Up to his passing, he enjoyed new commissions, broadcasts, recordings, as well as winning awards for his photography and poetry.

THE PERFORMER

David Palmer has performed from coast to coast in Canada, and has given recitals in such American centres as San Francisco, Washington and New York, as well as several cities in the Midwest. In Europe, he has played in England and France, including recitals in the cathedrals of Chartres and Notre Dame in Paris. CBC Radio has broadcast nationally many of his performances, both solos and appearances with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. He has been a judge for several organ playing competitions, among them the nationals of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and the semi-final round of the Second Calgary International Organ Festival.

David has developed a specialty in the keyboard music of Olivier Messiaen. In the spring of 1981, he studied with the composer’s wife, Yvonne Loriod, concentrating on excerpts from Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus and Catalogue d’Oiseaux. Since then, he has given many workshops and lectures, and has written several articles on aspects of Messiaen’s music. In October 1990, he gave the first Canadian performance of Livre du Saint Sacrement at St. James’ Cathedral in Toronto, broadcast on CBC Stereo on “Arts National”, and was invited to perform excerpts of the work at the Fifth International Congress of Organists in Montreal in July 1993. His CD of Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité, recorded in the Cathedral-Basilica Mary Queen of the World in Montreal, was released in 1999. In the 2005-06, he gave recitals and workshops across Canada as a Travelling Clinician for the RCCO.

A native of Victoria, British Columbia, David Palmer holds degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he studied with Robert Glasgow. Past-President of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, he is a Professor in the School of Music at the University of Windsor, and Organist and Choir Director of All Saints’ Church, Windsor.

The Carthy Organ - Casavant Frères Ltée has been associated with pipe organ building since 1837. Widely reputed as one of the finest pipe organ builders and restorers in North America and the World, the company was commissioned to design, build and install what is now known as the "Carthy Organ" (Casavant Frères Ltée Opus 3623) in the Jack Singer Concert Hall in 1986.

The organ was manufactured over a period of 15 months in the Casavant Frères Ltée factory, which is located in St. Hyacinthe Quebec. It was then dismantled and shipped by truck to Calgary. After arriving in Calgary, it took more than 4 months to re-assemble, tune and voice.

The combination of the Carthy Organ and the special acoustical qualities of the EPCOR Centre’s Jack Singer Concert Hall represent a resource that is truly world class. Carlo Curley has called the Carthy Organ "one of the ten great organs of the world," and "the finest concert organ in North America."

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