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.
Performance History:
5/20/2016 Bruce Neswick (BN), St. Malachy's, New York, NY
7/6/2016 BN, The Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, GA
10/1/2016 BN, Queen Anne Lutheran Church, Seattle, WA
10/28/2016 BN, St. Luke Lutheran Church, Silver Spring, MD
3/6/2017 BN, Agnes Flanagan Chapel, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR
8/13/2017 BN, Anglican Church, Geneva, Switzerland
4/6/2018 BN, Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. John Berchman, Shreveport, LA
1/13/2019 BN, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA
1/16/2019 BN, St. James Cathedral, Seattle, WA
4/23/2019 BN, Wiedemann Recital Hall, Wichita, KS
5/9/2021 Mark Pacoe (MP) St. John Nepomucene Church, New York, NY
6/23/2021 MP, St. Paul Episcopal Church, Greenville, NC
7/1/2021 MP, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PA
9/6/2021 BN, St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY
9/26/2021 BN, Sursa Performance Hall, Muncie, IN
1/9/2022 BN, The Cathedral of the Madeleine, Salt Lake City, UT
4/1/2022 MP, La Côte Église Protestante Réformée, Gland, Switzerland
Program Notes:
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.
Performance History:
5/20/2016 Bruce Neswick (BN), St. Malachy's, New York, NY
7/6/2016 BN, The Cathedral of St. Philip, Atlanta, GA
10/1/2016 BN, Queen Anne Lutheran Church, Seattle, WA
10/28/2016 BN, St. Luke Lutheran Church, Silver Spring, MD
3/6/2017 BN, Agnes Flanagan Chapel, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR
8/13/2017 BN, Anglican Church, Geneva, Switzerland
4/6/2018 BN, Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. John Berchman, Shreveport, LA
1/13/2019 BN, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA
1/16/2019 BN, St. James Cathedral, Seattle, WA
4/23/2019 BN, Wiedemann Recital Hall, Wichita, KS
5/9/2021 Mark Pacoe (MP) St. John Nepomucene Church, New York, NY
6/23/2021 MP, St. Paul Episcopal Church, Greenville, NC
7/1/2021 MP, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PA
9/6/2021 BN, St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY
9/26/2021 BN, Sursa Performance Hall, Muncie, IN
1/9/2022 BN, The Cathedral of the Madeleine, Salt Lake City, UT
4/1/2022 MP, La Côte Église Protestante Réformée, Gland, Switzerland
Program Notes:
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.