Ma$HeD (2016)
solo organ
9 minutes
commissioned by Mark Pacoe and St. Malachy's - The Actors' Chapel in New York City
for the 2016 Paul Creston Award Celebration Concert, in memory of Margaret 'Peggy' Pugh,
honoring Pulitzer and Grammy award winning composer Jennifer Higdon, 2016 recipient of the Paul Creston Award.
To be very faithful to the purpose of this event, I quoted Jennifer Higdon’s energetic piece Smash, as well as Paul Creston’s Psalm XXIII and Now Thank We All Our God: all three pieces are on the same program. It is my observation of the organ improvisation tradition that improvisateurs frequently take themes from other pieces in the same program. Bruce Neswick, who was the 2010 awardee of the Paul Creston Award and who premiered this piece, had introduced this tradition to me. I have therefore incorporated some of his improvisational style in the beginning of the piece, though everything is written down. All these ideas and influences are interwoven or ‘mashed up’ into a 9-minute extravaganza.
9 minutes
commissioned by Mark Pacoe and St. Malachy's - The Actors' Chapel in New York City
for the 2016 Paul Creston Award Celebration Concert, in memory of Margaret 'Peggy' Pugh,
honoring Pulitzer and Grammy award winning composer Jennifer Higdon, 2016 recipient of the Paul Creston Award.
To be very faithful to the purpose of this event, I quoted Jennifer Higdon’s energetic piece Smash, as well as Paul Creston’s Psalm XXIII and Now Thank We All Our God: all three pieces are on the same program. It is my observation of the organ improvisation tradition that improvisateurs frequently take themes from other pieces in the same program. Bruce Neswick, who was the 2010 awardee of the Paul Creston Award and who premiered this piece, had introduced this tradition to me. I have therefore incorporated some of his improvisational style in the beginning of the piece, though everything is written down. All these ideas and influences are interwoven or ‘mashed up’ into a 9-minute extravaganza.