Richard Lane

3 Organ Pieces

This collection contains all three of Richard Lane’s compositions for solo organ. This collection is an anthology, not a suite, as the pieces were written for different purposes. While each piece is quite effectively individually, if one did wish to combine them in performance, the Reflection and Recessional could be paired as a diptych, or as a prelude and postlude for a church service. The more extended (and hymn-based) Prelude should stand on its own.

PROGRAM NOTES
I. Prelude
Richard Lane’s Prelude (1965) is an extended fantasy on the familiar Welsh hymn tune Hyfrydol (Rowland Huw Prichard, 1844), which appears in nearly all hymnals and with a variety of different texts—most often Charles Wesley’s 'Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.' In keeping with the spirit of tune and text, the Prelude explores a festive and joyous mood. In typical fashion, Lane’s setting is very harmonically imaginative, taking the tune through a variety of key areas. In the final section, the tune is treated as a four voice fugue, with a final entrance of the tune in augmentation as a fifth voice.
II. Recessional
Richard Lane’s Recessional (1969) is music in the familiar 'maestoso' genre of organ processionals/recessionals. Though the opening melodic idea is quite conventional for the genre, Lane immediately begins moving freely and naturally through a variety of harmonic areas. The result is a very skillfully built piece whose forward momentum is achieved not just rhythmically, but also harmonically.
Carson Cooman, USA, 2014

III. Reflection
I commissioned Reflection for organ during the summer of 1976 and premiered it in the spring of 1977 in Medford, New Jersey (USA).
Richard Lane was fond of 20th Century French music, and the work reflects this affinity for the atmospheric and coloristic affects of that style, as well as a masterful sense of classical proportion and thematic development.
Karl Tricomi, USA, 2006