Repertoire Passions

The question so many musicians find hard to answer is "what is your favourite music?"  How to even begin answering that is one of life's challenges!

Here I'd like to share some performances of which I'm really proud, and hopefully to give you an idea of some of the music I enjoy playing.

Most of these recordings are from concerts or final rehearsal tapes.  You'll probably get the best out of them by listening with earphones.
Trumpet Tune -- Dulcie Holland

This is from a performance in Melbourne in 2013.  Dulcie Holland is well-known to several generations of music students through her many books on musicianship, and the famous Master Your Theory series.  She was also a church organist in Sydney, and this is something that gives a sense of her engagement with the instrument.
Trio Sonata in e minor [BWV 528] -- J.S. Bach

This is a piece I practice almost every week.  Trio playing is simply indispensable to keeping up a good technique.

This performance is from a recital in October 2012 on an instrument that was beset with a lot of action noise (I played as quietly as I could!).

Just by way of raising the heroism quotient, I'd had a bicycle accident the previous week.  The recital still went ahead...
March "Over the Hills and Far Away" -- Percy Grainger

Grainger is one of those composers without peer, and so much of his music works just about any way you care to arrange it.  This is from a Sunday in January 2013, where I was playing for an Australia Day service on a small one-manual organ in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
Intabulation on Angelus ad Pastores Ait -- Heinrich Scheidemann, after a motet by Orlando di Lasso

This piece evokes the scene where the angels announce the birth of Jesus to a group of hitherto unsuspecting shepherds.  The opening is ravishingly beautiful, and develops into dazzling spinning and weaving of notes.  You can see why the shepherds were a little apprehensive.

This performance is from December 2012.
Ave Maris Stella: Grands Pleins Jeux -- Nicolas de Grigny

I do play a lot of early music, partly because there's such a lot of it for organ, partly because it is stimulating, partly because people ask to hear it.  This is definitely in the latter category, from a concert of early music in Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo, in March 2013.
Quasi lento, tranquillo from Sonata for Organ (1934) -- Herbert Howells

From a performance in November 2003.  Just sublime.
Allegro non troppo (Op. 38, No. 3) -- August Reinhard

This is music I discovered completely by chance when I was looking for something suitable to keep me going for a lengthy locum at a small instrument with unconventional compasses in the pedal.  Originally written for harmonium, August Reinhard's Three Sonatinas work equally well on a small organ where you can add pedals ad libitum.
Prelude in G (Op 109, No 2a) -- Camille Saint-Saëns

Here's another piece from that October 2012 recital.  I love the way this piece plays with contrasting timbres.
Maestoso -- Con Moto from Sonata in c-sharp minor (Op. 5) -- Basil Harwood

This is from a concert performance in Sydney in 2009.
Toccata  – Georg Muffatt

From a concert performance in March 2013.
Sinfonia from Solomon -- G.F. Handel

This is from a practice tape made in 2011, on an extension organ that is surprising for its clarity and crispness, aided by a nice resonant room.