About two months ago, Carson Cooman asked if I would be interested in recording a set of new works by Raymond H. Haan. I am always pleased to be invited, so I said that I would be glad to do them.
My first instincts was to be put off by the registrations, as they seem to be for a large Allen or Rodgers. However, when I stop prejudging and working on them, I found some REALLY BEAUTIFUL MUSIC in them!
I used Salisbury, trying to use it more like an "American organ," and I am very pleased with the results.
What I found to be especially satisfying is that Carson sent the recordings to the composer, and he was overjoyed. As a performer, that is something very gratifying.
The twelfth work is "Cherubic Hymn," and it's very different from anything else in the collection. It attmepts to portray the dramatic scene of the cherubim calling back and forth to each other as the worship the Almighty in the great temple of heaven. The effect is of chords "piling up" on top of each other and "overlapping" each successive entrance.
My first reaction to this piece was, "Well this is just silly! I understand what he's doing, but it doesn't work!"
Well, it DOES work. It really, really does...
This one may just blow you away after all...
Carson has also asked that I include the following:
Published in "Raymond H. Haan: Preludes and Meditations" by Lorenz Publishing.
https://www.lorenz.com/search-results/preludes-and-meditations
A native of Michigan, Raymond H. Haan (b. 1938) is a graduate of Calvin College and the University of Michigan. In addition to an extended career in education teaching middle and high school English, Haan was
Director of Music at Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church for more than fifty years. As a composer he has published extensively, and his body of more than 500 works includes music for organ, choir, handbells, and other solo instruments.
I found these pieces really "refreshing," and I hope that you will as
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