Voluntary on "Winchester New"

Craig Sellar Lang (13 May 1891 – 24 Nov 1971) was a New Zealand-born British organist, composer and music teacher.

Born in Hastings, New Zealand, he was known to his friends as "Robin", and was educated at Clifton College. He was a pupil of Walter Parratt and Charles Stanford at the Royal College of Music. He was an ARCM and received his Doctor of Music from The University of Durham

Lang returned to Clifton as assistant music master in 1921, and in 1929 was appointed Director of Music at Christ's Hospital school in Horsham, West Sussex.

CS Lang's choral music includes service settings (such as the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in B flat, Op.16), and anthems such as "He shall give his angels charge over thee" (1941). His fine setting of Psalm 8 has remained popular. There are also many anthems for trebles' voices, composed for use at Christ's Hospital, as well as numerous secular choral works.

His best-known work is the "Tuba Tune' for organ, Opus 15. Lang's numerous other works for organ include a lengthy Sonata in D minor (Op. 47, 1947), the Introduction and Passacaglia in A minor (Op.51, 1952), the Fugue-Trilogy on E.G.B. (Op. 58, 1952), and many hymn preludes and sets of preludes and fugues.

"Voluntary on 'Winchester New'" comes from the Novello series of "Festal Voluntaries" (Advent), and was published in 1956.

The tune is the well-known one used for "On Jordan's bank," and was adapted from a Chorale in "Musicalisches Hand-Buch" Hamburg 1690.

Lang gives the option to play the work "softly" or "loudly," but I chose the later since the piece is very reminiscent of Bach's "Fantasia super: Valet will ich dir geben, BWV 735."

It is like a grand procession, and the hymn tune appears in the tenor register, and played upon the Solo Tuba.

This upload continues my "daily Advent upload" of at least one piece uploaded per each day during the season. Hopefully, I will keep this going right up through the feast of the Epiphany on January 6th!