Organon Novus - Contemporary Organ Works By American Masters, 1990-2015 / Randall Harlow [3 CDs]

$16.99
Label
Innova Recordings
Release Date
September 25, 2020
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      VARIOUS
    • PERFORMER
      Randall Harlow
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      September 25, 2020
    • UPC
      726708695927
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      INN959
    • LABEL
      Innova Recordings
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      3
    • GENRE
      Classical
    Works ⌄

    1. On a Day of Bells

      Composer: Libby Larsen

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    2. Ceremonies Suite: I. Meditation

      Composer: Jennifer Higdon

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    3. Diapason Fall

      Composer: Matt Darriau

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    4. Ordinary

      Composer: David Lang

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    5. The Revd Mustard His Installation Prelude

      Composer: Nico Muhly

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    6. The Gospel According to Sister Aimee: II. An Evangelist Drowns - Desert Dance

      Composer: Michael Daugherty

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    7. Fantasia Cromática

      Composer: Roberto Sierra

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    8. Star Rising

      Composer: Erik Santos

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    9. Hallel

      Composer: Shulamit Ran

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    10. New and Improved Dances

      Composer: Jonathan Schwabe

      Performer: Randall Harlow, Randy Grabowski

    11. Misericordia

      Composer: John Anthony Lennon

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    12. I. Angel Tears

      Composer: Augusta Read Thomas

      Performer: Randall Harlow, Stephen Burns

    13. II. Earth Prayers

      Composer: Augusta Read Thomas

      Performer: Randall Harlow, Stephen Burns

    14. No. 1. ascending order

      Composer: Tom Johnson

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    15. No. 2. pairs of pairs

      Composer: Tom Johnson

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    16. No. 3. one note changing

      Composer: Tom Johnson

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    17. No. 4. all notes change

      Composer: Tom Johnson

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    18. No. 5. pentagons

      Composer: Tom Johnson

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    19. No. 6. pentagon melodies

      Composer: Tom Johnson

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    20. No. 7. five-chord groups

      Composer: Tom Johnson

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    21. No. 8. triangles

      Composer: Tom Johnson

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    22. No. 9. eleven sections

      Composer: Tom Johnson

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    23. Memetics

      Composer: John Liberatore

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    24. Celesta

      Composer: Christian Wolff

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    25. Sizzles

      Composer: Alvin Lucier

      Performer: Randall Harlow, Matt Andreini

    26. là-bas

      Composer: John Zorn

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    27. Spires

      Composer: George Walker

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    28. From Generation to Generation

      Composer: Samuel Adler

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    29. Sunday Organ Piece for Church

      Composer: Larry Polansky

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    30. Festive Sounds II

      Composer: Ursula Mamlok

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    31. An Idea of Order

      Composer: Ken Ueno

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    32. War and Peace

      Composer: Lukas Foss

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    33. Ascent

      Composer: Joan Tower

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    34. I. Kyrie

      Composer: Aaron Travers

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    35. II. Wedge

      Composer: Aaron Travers

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    36. III. Agnus Dei

      Composer: Aaron Travers

      Performer: Randall Harlow

    37. IV. Swann's Way

      Composer: Aaron Travers

      Performer: Randall Harlow


The “King of Instruments,” the pipe organ, has a long and storied history. Its long association with the church has been a source of strength but also, in recent times, led to its seeming neglect by contemporary concert composers. Organon Novus is a monumental effort to bring together this hidden slice of American music. Clocking in at over three hours of music, and running the gamut from Adler to Zorn, it includes 25 works from the past 25 years by 25 celebrated composers – composers not often associated with their organ oeuvre. With 8,565 pipes in 132 ranks available to them, the 1928 E.M. Skinner symphonic organ in Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago is no modest resource for a composer’s imagination (not to mention a player’s active limbs). Randall Harlow, in this marathon tour de force, reaches them all. Compositional approaches range from the sonic tapestries of Thomas and Zorn, to the linear complexity of Adler and Mamlok; from the full-bodied symphonic approaches of Ran and Tower, to the eclectic and unique voices of Lang, Johnson, Lucier and Wolff. The album concludes with the premiere of Aaron Travers’ monumental Barlow Prize work, Exodus. Exploring the extremes of what is possible on the organ, the work offers a way forward for the instrument in contemporary art music, an exit from the common modern associations of the organ with churches and staid liturgical Gebrauchsmusik. Organon, “the device”: the original Greek word for the pipe organ from the third century BCE. Novus, “the new.” From its beginnings as a noise maker to its apotheosis as a contrapuntal keyboard-controlled orchestra, all coupled with the acoustic and architecture of its location, the organ can be many things. This musical snapshot is both a chronicle and a revelation.