Tom Trenney - Tom Trenney: Organ Ovations & Improvisations on the Patrick J. Murphy Organ, St. John's Lutheran Church, Baltimore (2007)
Artist: Tom Trenney
Title: Tom Trenney: Organ Ovations & Improvisations on the Patrick J. Murphy Organ, St. John's Lutheran Church, Baltimore
Year Of Release: 2007
Label: Raven
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Total Time: 1:01:47
Total Size: 237 MB
WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist:Title: Tom Trenney: Organ Ovations & Improvisations on the Patrick J. Murphy Organ, St. John's Lutheran Church, Baltimore
Year Of Release: 2007
Label: Raven
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Total Time: 1:01:47
Total Size: 237 MB
WebSite: Album Preview
1. Tom Trenney – Improvisation: Variations on "St. Denis - Immortal, Invisible": I. Immortal (01:48)
2. Tom Trenney – Improvisation: Variations on "St. Denis - Immortal, Invisible": II. Ancient of days (01:19)
3. Tom Trenney – Improvisation: Variations on "St. Denis - Immortal, Invisible": III. Unresting (01:28)
4. Tom Trenney – Improvisation: Variations on "St. Denis - Immortal, Invisible": IV. Unhasting (02:49)
5. Tom Trenney – Improvisation: Variations on "St. Denis - Immortal, Invisible": V. God only wise (01:07)
6. Tom Trenney – Improvisation: Variations on "St. Denis - Immortal, Invisible": VI. Light inaccessible (01:07)
7. Tom Trenney – Improvisation: Variations on "St. Denis - Immortal, Invisible": VII. Invisible (01:34)
8. Tom Trenney – Fugue in G, "Jig," BWV 577 (03:19)
9. Tom Trenney – Prelude in D Major, BWV 532 (05:01)
10. Tom Trenney – Fugue in D Major, BWV 532 (06:26)
11. Tom Trenney – Canon in B Minor, Op. 56, No. 5 (03:01)
12. Tom Trenney – Canon in B Major, Op. 56, No. 6 (04:20)
13. Tom Trenney – Sonata in E-Flat Minor, Op. 65: III. Allegretto (04:04)
14. Tom Trenney – Irish Air from "County Derry" (Danny Boy, Londonderry Air) (04:18)
15. Tom Trenney – Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 65: I. Con moto maestoso (07:42)
16. Tom Trenney – Sonata No. 3 in A Major, Op. 65: II. Andante tranquillo (02:39)
17. Tom Trenney – Improvisation: Suite on "Hyfrydol": I. Allegro agitato (02:26)
18. Tom Trenney – Improvisation: Suite on "Hyfrydol": II. Andante (02:17)
19. Tom Trenney – Improvisation: Suite on "Hyfrydol": III. Fugue (02:27)
20. Tom Trenney – Improvisation: Suite on "Hyfrydol": IV. Toccata (02:22)
The ability to improvise freely and well was once expected of organists as an essential skill, but it became less prominent in the twentieth century, with few famous practitioners and little demand from listeners. At the beginning of the twenty first century, however, the art of organ improvisation has started to regain the respect it was given in the past, with funded competitions and organizations devoted to it; more virtuoso organists are demonstrating their proficiency in this creative practice. Tom Trenney, an award-winning improviser who is noted for his work as a church musician but also as a brilliant recitalist, is known for his facility in weaving elaborate variations around hymn tunes. The improvisational sets that open and close this album from Raven give a clear idea of Trenney's deep knowledge of organ styles and traditional forms, which he incorporates in his spontaneous playing: whether he adapts Baroque, Romantic, or modern musical idioms, or wittily borrows from the masters, Trenney is alert to the possibilities at his fingertips and shows promising signs of becoming a master. Filling the rest of his program with works by J.S. Bach, Robert Schumann, Horatio Parker, Edwin H. Lemare, and Felix Mendelssohn, Trenney also demonstrates his artistry as a performer of the written note, and his crisp and disciplined playing is carried off with great care in phrasing, smoothness in execution, and a fine sense for the highly varied registration of the modern organ of St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Baltimore, MD.
