Carillon

Recently I have recorded two American organ compositions called “Carillon.” These two works were in the French organ tradition of taking a carillon or bell motif and creating a toccata-like work from it with normal organ stops. This piece, in contrast, is a more meditative work and uses actual bell organ stops (harp and chimes) in trying to recreate the sound of multiple bells in a tower playing at once.
I had wanted to record this work for a while but did not have an organ sample set that had an enclosed harp and chimes, which Sowerby calls for. Luckily, Evensong Music, Media and Graphics had recently produced a sample set of the substantial E. M. Skinner organ in Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles, California and I was glad to take advantage of this opportunity to showcase this work with it. This organ was made well known by Clarence Mader, who was responsible for the E. M. Skinner’s installation and was one of the foremost organists on the West Coast.