Wammes, Ad: Interludes for organ

Album for organ solo from the composer of the much-recorded “Miroir”. The album consists of four pieces of between 2½ and 4 minutes’ duration respectively. “Play it cool!” was composed as the mandatory test piece in the 2012 First Breda International Organ Competition, with the Grote Kerk’s four-manual Flentrop/Van den Heuvel instrument in mind. As the title suggests, the piece makes great play on syncopated, jazz- and rock-inflected figures. Suitable for advanced standard performers. “The Messenger on the Hill”, while similarly syncopated and witty, is within easy reach of intermediate standard players. Laid out for two-manual instrument it features an almost continuous oscillating left-hand figure with right-hand melody and a very simple pedal part. “Rejoice!” is an arrangement of a work for saxophone and organ, made at the request of, and in collaboration with, Thomas Trotter. A duo for contrasting manuals, with a simple, syncopated bass part in the pedals. Suitable for advanced standard performers. ­­­“­Passacaglia”, also for two-manual instrument, is composed almost entirely for the white notes. The simple passacaglia theme is repeated throughout on the pedals. Above this, melodic material derived from the theme is played in the right hand against a sustained, chordal left-hand accompaniment. Later on, there is dialogue between the hands, with some optional ornamentation in the right hand. Suitable for intermediate standard performers.