During a wedding consultation this week, a bride asked to record her selection for the entrance procession in order to play it for her mother. Rather than have her record just the audio, I quickly set up my mini-tripod and made a video. The aisle at the Cathedral is rather lengthy, so this is a popular choice for weddings here. I could have done more with the registration, and you don’t catch all the differences because I’m recording near the front organ, but I’m happy to share this impromptu performance of a popular work.
Category: Video
Vexilla Regis Duo
This is my first video recorded at the Cathedral of Mary, Our Queen in Baltimore. There are two identical consoles for the organ at the cathedral and pipes at each end of the building. This excerpt from my Suite in French Classical Style on Vexilla Regis was recorded from the console in the sanctuary using only pipes from the gallery. Watch carefully to notice the delay between my fingers and the audio!
Faith Is Like a Mystic Spirit – Video
Video of the first performance of Faith Is Like a Mystic Spirit during the Baccalaureate service for Gateway High School.
Bel Canto Choir of Gateway High School
Chris Barletta, conductor
Wm. Glenn Osborne, composer and pianist
Text by John Dalles
The Chariot Rolls On!
The Chariot Rolls On
What a delight it was Monday evening to hear the Bel Canto Choir from Gateway High School under the direction of Chris Barletta give the premier performance of my composition, The Chariot. Knowing that the students had only a few rehearsals to learn the piece, I was quite pleased with the result. Check it out for yourself by clicking the picture below!
Faith Is Like a Mystic Spirit
At the conclusion of the piece as I was walking off stage, I told Chris that I’d have another piece for the group to learn for the Gateway High School Baccalaureate. By the end of the week, I had sent him a score for a new text by John Dalles, “God, Your Golden Doorway Beckons.” Unfortunately, it seems I took the text’s references to “a bold challenge we can claim…at the edge of what can be” a little too seriously and wrote a piece just out of reach for the number of rehearsal left. So I found another text (also by John Dalles) and produced something a little easier: “Faith Is Like a Mystic Spirit.” I went over to rehearse the choir last Friday and am now looking to the premier of this piece at the Gateway Baccalaureate on May 25.
Finishing a Piece
So what happens with “God, Your Golden Doorway Beckons”? The piece is written. Will it sit in a drawer until next year? Any one else interested in giving it a go? I love the text so much that I decided to program the piece with the school choir from Holy Redeemer for the eighth grade Graduation Mass. We won’t be able to sing all the harmony parts, but the melody alone (with piano accompaniment) will still provide a lovely rendition of this end of school year text. I may not have mentioned it in last week’s discussion of the 5 Ws, but it’s very difficult for me to write a piece of music if there is no ‘When’ on the calendar. Also, when the piece requires more than just one person to perform it, I never feel like it is truly finished until I’ve handed the score over to someone else to perform. This is when I realize what part of the music doesn’t exist on paper, and what I still need to write down. Even this scaled down performance with the school choir from Holy Redeemer will give me that opportunity I need to experience the piece and satisfies that “W’ that went missing on me.
40 Days After…
Sandwiched in between the graduation pieces above happens to fall the Feast of Ascension (40 days after Easter) and the premier of “God Is Gone Up” written for Dr. Carl MaultsBy and the St. Richard’s Schola. This is the second piece I’ve written for St. Richard’s and will make three premiers in one week! What an exciting way to bring the month of May to a close!
Classical Choir
With all this talk about the end of the school year, it must mean that summer is almost here. For the past two years, I have had the pleasure of accompanying the CFCArts Classical Choir in their summer concerts. This summer, I will be playing for the group rehearsals and concert as they prepare the Mass in C Minor (K. 427) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. If you are in the Orlando area, I encourage you to sign up and join the group. Rehearsals will be on Thursday evenings starting June 5. I was able to perform this work with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Robert Shaw while I studied at Westminster Choir College, so I am looking forward to doing the piece again now almost twenty years later.
Wishing you a happy and safe Memorial Day and a beautiful start to your summer!
Glenn
Newsletter Issue 22 – 2014 05 20
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The Chariot – Video
Below is the video of the first performance of The Chariot by the Bel Canto Choir of Gateway High School under the direction of Chris Barletta.
Videos and Concerts
Duets and Pedal Fun
Preparing for the two organ duet concerts with Jaime Carini created a very intense week. I hope you enjoyed the video from our first day of practice in the last newsletter. ( Click here in case you missed it or to see it again.) We also posted Promenade by Dello Joio from our practice session in Daytona here. By far, the most popular piece on the program was the set of waltzes by Johann Strauss Jr. transcribed for four feet. These were very challenging to learn as we often found ourselves playing the exact same notes right after each other. We had to practice slowly and watch where and how we moved to each note in order to make sure we didn’t step on each other or keep the other person from getting to the proper location. We even took a little video to see if we could spot any better ways to stay out of each others way. Have a look and see for yourself: Pedal Practice for Strauss Waltzes.
Naji Hakim – The Apostles
It was a great joy to play the US premier of movements from The Apostles by Naji Hakim. We have audio and video from both concerts, and I hope we will receive permission from Hakim to post a couple of excerpts on YouTube. We enjoyed doing these concerts together, and we both hope to be able to play the pieces again in other locations as well as actually learn all the movements of The Apostles.
John Stainer – The Crucifixion
After putting Jaime on the plane early Monday morning, I went up to Leesburg that evening to play for a rehearsal of The Crucifixion by John Stainer at Morrison United Methodist Church. When I last played the piece, I burned my hand the week before the concert, so had to play the piece using basically only my right hand and pedal with a few single notes by my left hand and a little assistance from my page turner for a couple of passages where Stainer requires the organist to play on two separate manuals. The concert is tonight at 7:30 pm. I am looking forward to it as not only a wonderful musical event for the Lenten season, but also as a chance to finally play the piece uninjured and pain free!
Even though I know many of you are not able to attend these events in person, I hope that the clips on YouTube provide some entertainment. Once this set of concerts is over, I hope to be able to post more videos of performances and improvisations in the next few months. I also wish to continue exploring how music gets both to and from the written page.
Hoping spring arrives in April!
Glenn
Newsletter Issue 18 – 2014 03 31
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Dilexisti Justitiam Video
With additional orchestration, this is a live performance of Dilexisti Justitiam at the Missa Pontificalis in honorem Sanctae Venerandae (Virgin and Martyr).
2013/26/07
Performers: Coro e Orchestra della Cappella Musicale della Venerabile Reale Cappella di Santa Venera, Acireale
Conductor: Alessandro Maria Trovato
Pedal practice – Strauss Waltz for Pedal Duet
Jaime Carini & Wm Glenn Osborne prepare for organ duet concerts on Friday, March 21, 2014, at All Saints Episcopal Church in Winter Park, Florida, and Sunday, March 23, 2014 at First Church of Christ, Scientist in Daytona Beach, FL.
This excerpt is from a set of waltzes by Johann Strauss Jr. arranged for four feet. We took this video today while practicing in Daytona to see how we might better avoid each other….
Merkel Day 1
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! While everyone was out celebrating, Jaime and I were working on our program for our concerts this weekend. We still have some polishing to do, but here is a little teaser so you can see a little of what happens when two people sit down at the organ.
Naji Hakim – The Apostles
Because our concert in Winter Park is the same weekend as the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival, we chose to include as many art-inspired music selections as possible. While looking for repertoire, I discovered a set of pieces for organ duet by Naji Hakim inspired by wood carvings by Lucas Cranach the Elder. The Apostles presents a series of short movements based upon the artwork but also making use of Gregorian chant and other chorale themes. As the composition was only written in 2011 and not that many people perform organ duets, I recently contacted Dr. Hakim and was informed that we would be doing the US premier! We are super excited to be the first American performers and hope you will be able to come hear it at one of the concerts on Friday or Sunday!
Wishing you all the luck of the Irish!
Glenn
Newsletter Issue 17 – 2014 03 18
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God We Would Hear the Angels Sing – Video
Recorded live at the 2013 Basilica Christmas Concert, William Picher conductor.
The score is available here, and the CD can be purchased here.