Jump to content
Mander Organ Builders Forum

More new music for you - Paul Halley


Guest Hector5

Recommended Posts

Guest Hector5

I've become somewhat fond of 'new age' style organ music/improvisations (Gunnar Idenstam being one example). I've been a fan of Paul Halley's music for some years now, and have performed a number of his compositions/arrangements at church. It's lovely stuff and worth investigating. His Triptych CD blew my wife and I away when we first heard it. He has collaborated with the Saxophonist Paul Winter (http://www.livingmusic.com/) on many projects, including various Solstice concerts at St John the Divine Cathedral, New York, where he was organist for some years. The Celtic Solstice CD is well worth downloading. Much of the music is recorded in the atmospheric conditions of the cathedral of St John the Divine, New York. His choral arrangements are also fascinating - one in particular superimposes plainsong, Siya Hamba, and Amazing Grace, and it works! His website is excellent, and there are audio examples available if you click on the CDs.

 

Hey ho, back to my raffia mat!

 

Hector

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been a fan of Paul Halley's music for some years now, and have performed a number of his compositions/arrangements at church. It's lovely stuff and worth investigating. His Triptych CD blew my wife and I away when we first heard it.

 

Fully agreed- Triptych is multi-tracked Piano, Organ and Harpsichord. Nightwatch was the first CD of organ improvisations from SJD that I came across, remastered from an old LP, but well worth a listen.

I had the chance to go to one of the Winter Solstice concerts in December 2004 and it was quite an event, with 'world music artists' joining the Paul Winter Consort- even though this was during the silence of the SJD organ post-fire, it was still a tremendous musical occasion and visual spectacle- saxophone and organ certainly work well together, and though Halley was not performing by this stage, many of his compositions and arrangements for the consort were still being used.

 

I think Paul Halley is now based in Halifax Nova Scotia, and his website is Pelagos Music. Some of the compositions and arrangements are recorded on CD and also available through iTunes music store. They get regular playtime on my iPod, and indeed I was using 'Angel on a Stone Wall' as 'quiet working music' for my class this afternoon- worked very well to calm down 16 excitable 8-9 year olds on a Friday afternoon and they got lots done!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fully agreed- Triptych is multi-tracked Piano, Organ and Harpsichord. Nightwatch was the first CD of organ improvisations from SJD that I came across, remastered from an old LP, but well worth a listen.

I had the chance to go to one of the Winter Solstice concerts in December 2004 and it was quite an event, with 'world music artists' joining the Paul Winter Consort- even though this was during the silence of the SJD organ post-fire, it was still a tremendous musical occasion and visual spectacle- saxophone and organ certainly work well together, and though Halley was not performing by this stage, many of his compositions and arrangements for the consort were still being used.

 

Ditto me too! Years ago I bought Nightwatch on LP and managed to get the CD on ebay a little while ago - it is really good! You can listen on Spotify - a lot of his stuff is uploaded...well worth a go!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...