Music Notes

Sunday’s prelude is taken from the organ work "Sacred Sounds" by George Shearing (1919-2011). “I Love Thee, My Lord” is part of the first published works in the idiom of classical music that Shearing wrote in 1977.  Dale Wood, editor of the Sacred Music Press, worked with George Shearing to adapt the arrangements of nine hymn tunes to the pipe organ. George Shearing was born blind to working class parents in Battlesea, London, England. He began formal training on the piano at the Linden Lodge School for the Blind.  As a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular bass group, he immigrated to the United States in 1949. His harmonically complex style of mixing swing, bop, and modern classical influences gained popularity.

The postlude “Toccata Brevis” is a flashy piece for the pipe organ in the French style was written by Daniel E. Gawthrop (b. 1949). The sophisticated harmonies and spirit tempo has made this organ work one of Gawthrop’s most popular and a best seller to the organist repertoire. Daniel E. Gawthrop is an American composer who writes primarily for choral groups and the pipe organ. As a music broadcaster he presented numerous programs over Washington, DC classical music  radio station in the 1990’s. A graduate of Michigan State University and Brigham Young University, he now resides in Southern Idaho with his wife and five adult children.