With a host of accessible, quality new settings, and with pieces based on all the major hymn tunes, these volumes are a must for every church organist's library.
The principle behind OUP's invaluable collection of seasonal music is spelled out as clearly as one could wish in the Introduction: it sets out to provide "quality music based on well-known hymn tunes for church organists", and in this endeavour it is singularly successful . . . All the pieces are sensibly laid out and registered for an instrument of average resources, and make no more technical demands than a player capable of an assured performance of an Orgalbüchlein prelude should be able to accommodate. . . Forms, and methods of thematic transformation, are imaginatively varied. . . and players may find that the editorial encouragement to interpret pieces in a range of ways extends the usefulness of the volume even further. Overall, this constitutes a welcome and (in the best sense) functional addition to the liturgical organistâs seasonal armoury.
