Martin Cooke Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 I am never sure I have really found the best voluntary for an Advent Carol Service. I can't play the Andrew Carter piece! I tend to think that a Bach OB-lein CP (Nun komm for me) followed by a minor key P&F is the most dignified ending, but I have also tried the WS Lloyd Webber piece on Helmsley and the Cuthbert Harris one on Veni Emmanuel - IMSLP. The Bach Wachet Auf always features somewhere as does the Karg-Elert. What else should I be considering? (There's a Wachet Auf piece in the OUP Hymn Settings for Organists series which is hilarious but might possibly frighten the natives.) Very happy that this post might be expanded into considering all Advent organ music - ie, for pre-service music too - feel free. I'm ok generally for Advent, tbh, but would value some thoughts on grand post-service music for the evening service. Is the Rowley Veni Emmanuel piece on anyone's agenda these days. I have used it but sort of hope there's nobody around!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timothyguntrip Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 If one doesn’t mind lots of 5/8, there’s the Adolphus Hailstork Toccata on Veni Emmanuel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dafydd y Garreg Wen Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 1 hour ago, Martin Cooke said: Is the Rowley Veni Emmanuel piece on anyone's agenda these days. I have used it but sort of hope there's nobody around!! Hmmm … that’s a funny one, isn’t it? (I don’t know it but have just had a look at it.) I like the Harris when I’m in the mood for some healthy old-fashioned vulgarity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter ellis Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 Kenneth Leighton did voluntaries on Veni Emmanuel and Helmsley - both in the same book from memory. Helmsley is a crowd pleaser - I've never played Veni Emmanuel without getting complaints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowland Wateridge Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 For the virtuoso players there is Mendelssohn’s “Overture to St Paul” which opens with his majestic harmonisation of “Wachet auf”. I have heard magisterial performances by Thomas Trotter, most memorably at Birmingham Town Hall (how on earth did Sean Rafferty have such a distorted idea of that organ?) and at the opening of the new Tickell organ of Manchester Cathedral. The audience reaction at the latter was particularly interesting. I guess that very few present were organ aficionados - the great and good of the region were very prominent! - and I felt the unfamiliarity with some of the repertoire was obvious, people slightly restless in their seats looking straight ahead and that kind of thing. There was a visible reaction to the opening bars of “St Paul”: people sat up and it was undoubtedly the highlight of that special occasion. Of course, there’s also Reger … … Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hebridean Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 One of Jeanne Demessieux's 'chorals ornés' in the collection Twelve Chorale Preludes on Gregorian Chant Themes for Organ (Summy-Birchard Music, 1950 and then 1995) is on Rorate caeli. It may not be a final voluntary, but might work well before a service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjf1967 Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 The Cecilia McDowall Advent Antiphons are very much worth a look, and not hugely difficult (two are down for ARCO in the current syllabus). There's also a set by Nico Muhly but they have some more taxing moments. The Leighton Helmsley piece is harder than it looks, I think.... he also wrote a stand-alone Veni Redemptor Fantasy, but it's pretty difficult. Hakim Sinfonia in honorem John the B is concise and effective, and there's also a three-mvt piece called Canticum based on Advent plainsongs. I'm pretty sure there's a short Reger Wachet Auf CP in one of the collections: Vol 1 of the Karg-Elert Op 65 is Advent and Christmas based. Little partita by Anton Heiller on Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland. The short Dupre CPs might have some useful things, but they tend to be short of course. The OUP hymn prelude series has an Advent volume, I'm pretty sure. And you may still be able to get hold of the Novello Festal Voluntaries Advent/Xmas volume if you're lucky - can't remember what's in it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjf1967 Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 Just now, sjf1967 said: The Cecilia McDowall Advent Antiphons are very much worth a look, and not hugely difficult (two are down for ARCO in the current syllabus). There's also a set by Nico Muhly but they have some more taxing moments. The Leighton Helmsley piece is harder than it looks, I think.... he also wrote a stand-alone Veni Redemptor Fantasy, but it's pretty difficult. Hakim Sinfonia in honorem John the B is concise and effective, and there's also a three-mvt piece called Canticum based on Advent plainsongs. I'm pretty sure there's a short Reger Wachet Auf CP in one of the collections: Vol 1 of the Karg-Elert Op 65 is Advent and Christmas based. Little partita by Anton Heiller on Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland. The short Dupre CPs might have some useful things, but they tend to be short of course. The OUP hymn prelude series has an Advent volume, I'm pretty sure. And you may still be able to get hold of the Novello Festal Voluntaries Advent/Xmas volume if you're lucky - can't remember what's in it though. Also a very good Distler Nun komm Partita.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolsey Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 Piet Kee's Fantasia on Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers, wake) is a possibility. It was originally published as one of Two Pieces by Hinrichsen (H810b), now Edition Peters. It's long been out of print, but it looks as if it can be purchased again from abroad. In addition, libraries may have it on their shelves. If you can get hold of Volume 1 of Choralvorspiele für Orgel zum Gotteslob (Carus catalogue no. 18.202), Kai Schreiber's bluesy chorale prelude Herr, send herab uns deinen Sohn is effective. A redacted preview is viewable on page 19 of the document here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjf1967 Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 (edited) 11 hours ago, wolsey said: Piet Kee's Fantasia on Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers, wake) is a possibility. It was originally published as one of Two Pieces by Hinrichsen (H810b), now Edition Peters. It's long been out of print, but it looks as if it can be purchased again from abroad. In addition, libraries may have it on their shelves. If you can get hold of Volume 1 of Choralvorspiele für Orgel zum Gotteslob (Carus catalogue no. 18.202), Kai Schreiber's bluesy chorale prelude Herr, send herab uns deinen Sohn is effective. A redacted preview is viewable on page 19 of the document here. which reminds me - anything useful in the Helmut Walcha chorale preludes? Edited November 7, 2023 by sjf1967 typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dafydd y Garreg Wen Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 17 hours ago, sjf1967 said: which reminds me - anything useful in the Helmut Walcha chorale preludes? Can’t see anything. Incidentally, astonishing prices here for print-on-demand copies: https://www.broekmans.com/en/bladmuziek/choralvorspiele-vol1-orgel-25746 €105.95 per volume, and €127.35 for the fourth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Cooke Posted November 8, 2023 Author Share Posted November 8, 2023 Thanks very much for all these thoughts - most helpful. I've been swatting up the Bach B minor and F minor P&Fs but I am also tempted to use the Pierné Prélude - (which I have played for years) - as the concluding voluntary for the Advent carol service. I chanced upon a recording of it the other day and the opening strikes me as having just the right feeling of warmth and solemnity for the start of Advent. By the way, I am very vexed, looking forward, that the 'new' feast, 'Baptism of Christ' nudges Epiphany out of the top spot, as it were for the first Sunday in January. I have always loved Epiphany and it seems quite wrong that it has to jostle with other things that, to my mind, seem to be less significant, in worship terms. There we are! Hey ho! Back to Advent... I'm just going to look into sjf's suggesting regarding the McDowell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjf1967 Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 On 08/11/2023 at 09:36, Dafydd y Garreg Wen said: Can’t see anything. Incidentally, astonishing prices here for print-on-demand copies: https://www.broekmans.com/en/bladmuziek/choralvorspiele-vol1-orgel-25746 €105.95 per volume, and €127.35 for the fourth. crikey, had no idea! I picked mine up second hand for about a fiver... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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