New Music for Organ

various artists compilation - New Music for Organ

William Bolcom - Black Host (1967) for organ, percussion and tape

Performers: William Albright - organ; Sydney Hodkinson - percussion

The title of the Bolcom work, written in the summer of 1967, takes its cue from the black mass envisioned by St. Secaire (as mentioned in Frazer's encyclopedia of the occult, "The Golden Bough"). St. Secaire is supposed to have said black mass in the crypt of his church in order to purify that institution of its own sin. By desecrating the Body and Blood, he meant to deny the church its most sacred pleasure until it began to mend. By contrast, the black mass J. K. Huysmans describes in his novel "La-Bas" appears to be nothing more than an orgy with slight religious intent. Both ceremonies, however, often employ as part of their heretical paraphernalia a triangular black paten (thus "black host").

Nevertheless, the work is not a tone-poem on the tribulations of St. Secaire. Nor is it an exigesis on moral dualism, a dark ray of non-hope, or an uplifting sermon on the virtues of Calvinism (as it has been variously called). Even though "Black Host" flagrantly juxtaposes several recognizable styles within its time-span and is unified by the ghost of an old hymn-tune found in the Genevan Psalter, neither is it program music. It is an emotionally based piece, and if it is about anything, it would be fear. The score is even inscribed with the rueful words of Lord Russell: "In the daily lives of most men and women, fear plays a greater part than hope: they are more filled with the thought of possessions that others may take from them, than of the joy that they might create in their own lives and in the lives with which they come in contact.

"It is not so that life should be lived." (from the liner notes by William Albright)

William Albright - Organbook II (1971)

William Albright - organ; also includes tape

The religious aspects of "Organbook II" are more oblique than "Black Host". The generic title Organbook is an adaptation of the popular French Baroque term "livre d'orgue" and, like the centuries-old model, is a collection of several pieces, each of which explores a single idea or sonority. The titles of the individual movements of "Organbook II" were also inspired by the liturgical function of the original French pieces. But in contrast to the wholesome piety of my "Organbook I" ("Benediction", "Recessional"), the current work, akin to "Black Host", is warped in the direction of the darker, more sinister aspects of religion-nocturnal rituals, the devil, mortality. (from the liner notes by William Albright)

All music on this LP was performed on the Frieze Memorial Organ at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Electronic tape realized at the University of Michigan Electronic Music Studio.

Tracklisting:

Side One

1. William Bolcom - Black Host {16:29}

Side Two

1. William Albright - Organbook II: Night Procession {10:26}

2. William Albright - Organbook II: Toccata Satanique {8:43}

3. William Albright - Organbook II: Last Rites {8:43}

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