Organist and Choirmaster James Walker had planned a concert for his fine choruses and chamber performers with two works, a short concerto for organ and chamber orchestra, and Charles Ives' The Celestial Country. Each work's orchestration excluded instruments in the other's orchestration. This handed him the dilemma of a finding specific work for that particular set of instruments. He asked me to complete the program with a work tailored to the specific group of instruments. As All Saints also has a fine two-manual harpsichord and as James' assistant at that time, Timothy Howard, was also a fine player, essentially we decided together on a double concerto, with James at the organ and Tim conducting from the harpsichord.
Based on a simple chord structure and progression, the theme is stated by solo harpsichord prior to the opening concerto grosso itself.
[ Duration and MP3 file size of this excerpt: 0:47 733 KB ]
i. Improviso, cantilena e contrappunto
The first movement opens with improvisation-like gestures for the organ, followed by a long lined melodic section for strings and winds, and then a contrapuntal development of motives drawn from the "Thema." The excerpts which follow are not the entire performance, but only hint at the work's whole.
[ Duration and MP3 file size of this excerpt: 1:11 1,102 KB ]
ii. Lento assai
An introspective middle movement restates the theme in the body of the Lento, after a meditative opening.
[ Duration and MP3 file size of this excerpt: 1:07 1,048 KB ]
iii. Rondo cantabile
The harpsichord opens this movement, in answer to the organ's lead in the first two movements, and then a rondo of themes based on the "Thema" and its chord progression ensures, growing more lyric and long-lined as the movement wends its way to a sub-dominant coda and final cadence on the tonic.
[ Duration and MP3 file size of this excerpt: 1:44 1,625 KB ]
