Pastorale (Op 62, No 2)

Craig Sellar Lang (13 May 1891 – 24 Nov 1971) was born in New Zealand and was a student of Walter Parratt and Charles Villiers Stanford. He received his Doctorate of Music from The University of Durham. In 1929 he was appointed Director of Music at Christ's Hospital school in Horsham, West Sussex. His instructional works, aimed at students, were highly influential and generations of organists were brought up on these.

Published by Novello in 1962, the Opus 62 "Prelude, Pastorale and Fugue" is a set of three works which Lang states "are suitable for performance as a Suite, or they may be used separately as voluntaries. ... The Pastorale is a lyrical movement and the registration is left to the discretion of the player and the resources of the instrument. A Claribel Flute contrasted with an Orchestral Oboe is suggested as a suitable tone colour for the R.H. melody. "

Short but very sweet, the Peterborough flutes, contrasting with the Solo Clarinet, bring this lilting melody to life.

This year 2021 marks the 50th year of his passing. I hope to learn several of his lesser performed works and share them online - I do hope you will follow along on this adventure!

If you are not familiar: nkoda is a subscription music service that runs on a tablet - think Netflix for sheet music - and it is here I have found a selection of the Novello catalog to help me with this https://www.nkoda.com/