PROGRAM NOTE
The American Guild of Organists commission of a short solo organ work for its 2006 Biennial National Convention in Chicago provided me with the opportunity to explore what was exciting new territory for me. Whenever writing for a musical instrument for the first time, I become acutely aware that an instrument is not merely a vessel through and from which a certain kind of sound flows. It is not just the carrier of a characteristic timbre which can be manipulated in various ways. To write well for an instrument it is essential that I discover, in the process of composing, what I might think of as that instrument’s “soul.”
In this work, I found myself drawn to the organ for its enormous range of expression: from the most opulent to truly intimate, from vehemently powerful to pure and delicate, from grand to mysterious. And of course the devotional quality that seems so innate to the organ came to the fore quite naturally (hence the title HALLEL* which, in Hebrew, is the verb form of “praise”), and joyously so.
In a single movement, HALLEL intersperses full textures, solos, and brilliant toccata-like sections in a Fantasia style, its slow, introspective ending bringing back the work’s opening musical materials.
Two superb organists deserve thanks for their work on HALLEL:
David Schrader, who premiered the work at Chicago’s Symphony Center on July 2, 2006, generously and enthusiastically shared with me his extraordinary command of the organ during the composition of this work.
Randall Harlow later created the artful registration, based on the Daniel Jaeckel Op. 45 organ at the Emory University Donna and Marvin Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, that has become the current edited version of HALLEL.
—Shulamit Ran
* To be pronounced as in Hebrew — Ha-llel — accent on second syllable
INFORMATION
Commissioned by the American Guild of Organists for its 2006 Biennial National Convention
Premiere: July 2, 2006
Symphony Center, Chicago
David Schrader, organ
Duration: c. 8’
SHEET MUSIC
Available from your favorite sheet music seller, or directly from Theodore Presser.