Prelude and Trumpetings

GREAT VOLUME RANGE!!! ppp to FFF :-)

Myron J. Roberts (1912-2004) was born in San Diego, and studied piano and organ at Stanford University, Warren Allen. He completed his undergraduate in 1935 at the College of the Pacific, and received his master's degree from the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in NYC, studiying with Clarence Dickinson. He served as professor of organ and theory at the University of Nebraska for 34 years, and served at several churches in Lincoln, including First-Plymouth Congregational, Holy Trinity Episcopal, and the RC Cathedral of the Risen Christ. In addition to his musical work, he maintained a lifelong interest in gardening and astronomy.

While some of his choral music seemed to be written for the volunteer musician, his organ music was written with a more adventurous and carefree spirit. He composed works for Robert Baker, Mildred Andrews and other top performers.

"Prelude and Trumpetings" dates from 1961 and is published by H.W. Gray, and is one his most popular organ works. The piece begins darkly, with an almost mystical use of dark reeds and a solo flute against strings over a 32' pedal. The mood is soon broken, and blazing passages with fire and flourish permeate the piece. A more quiet central section features "dialoguing" flutes, which swirl around in 16th and 32nd notes, before a return to the toccata-like mood of the opening. A great climax heralds the appearance of the "Solo trumpet" which appears in an extended fanfare. A brief return to the opening material, this time played in the pedals, brings the work to a thunderous close in the dark key of D minor.

The work was written "In memory of Charlotte Garden," a well-known organist who was Director or Music at Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church in Plainfield, New Jersey. She was tragically killed returning from a concert, while being driven home by her tenor soloist.