Sunday 1 September
Toccata in Seven by John Rutter – the title springs from the time-signature of 7 short beats per bar, which gives it an irregular gait. The piece is energetic, and not unduly long, after what will have been something of a marathon early start and long liturgies already!
Sunday 8 September
In honour of Our Lady’s (official) birthday, here is the Toccata from Toccata, Fugue and Hymne on Ave Maris Stella (Hail, thou star of ocean) by Flor Peeters. This should be well suited to our organ apart from the more distant middle-section, where it’s difficult to get the remote but colourful effect he calls for. That’s because our quiet-box isn’t quite thick enough to hold the sound in! However, listen out for the famous rising tune outlined in the busy running passages but also quoted loud and clear in long notes in the pedal.
Sunday 15 September
“Take up thy cross” is the theme of today, and yesterday was the Exaltation of the Holy Cross; if you like, the life-rule of the redeemed in response to the triumph of the redeemer. In that light it would not be unreasonable to play a quiet and thoughtful prelude on Rockingham (When I survey the wondrous cross) by Leighton. Like all Leighton it’s not pretty, but grows organically from a single cell of an idea and the melody appears discreetly in the middle of the sound-world only just louder than its surroundings. There’s a message in that.
Sunday 22 September
Peace, often mistaken for quiet, is the product of order through dancing to a higher tune than just survival or competition. It runs through today’s liturgy but for a voluntary I am going to avoid the static, dreamy stuff and go for something grittier. Wir glauben all’ an einem Gott, Schöpfer (we all believe in one God, Creator) by J S Bach is a fugue over a striding pedal theme. The theme of the upper voices works out its conversation on the hymn-tune opening, but the pedal marches through in such keys as would have been tolerable with baroque tunings, giving a framework and a measure of control to things.
Sunday 29 September
As well as being an Ordinary Time Sunday, this is also Michaelmas, the quarter day for paying bills but much more interestingly, the festival of angelic beings – those we cannot see but whose messaging we pick up and whose role is credited throughout the Scriptures. Whitlock’s vigorous hymn-prelude on Ye Holy Angels Bright states the melody boldly and maintains a busy background through his typical shifting, restless and successful harmonic invention.