Organ Work Premieres
(16 Dec, 2007)

Four Noble Gases by Daniel E. Gawthrop is a four movement suite for organ solo which was commissioned by the Program Committee of the 2007 Region III Convention of the American Guild of Organists. The world premiere performance of the work was given during the convention, held in Baltimore, Maryland during the first week of July. Hundreds of organists from the mid-Atlantic states and beyond heard the piece in a recital by Eric Plutz, organist of Princeton University, who presented his program twice to capacity audiences at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church.

The new work had been prepared for publication by Dunstan House and was available for sale in the exhibit area. The entire stock of copies of the new work was sold out within a day of the premiere performance and orders were taken from many disappointed shoppers for delivery after the convention. Also released at the convention was a new CD of Gawthrop's organ music, including the first commercial recording of Four Noble Gases. (Further details of this exciting new CD by concert organist David Pickering, called "Like A Fire," can be found in a separate News item below.)

When asked about the title of the work Gawthrop said, "Four Noble Gases is a set of small-scale character studies offering a musical response to the personalities of Neon, Argon, Krypton and Xenon. Although my scientifically better educated friends tell me that the periodic table of elements actually contains six noble gases, I decided to restrict myself to these four. (Radon is radioactive and thus difficult to get close to, and Helium is quite light and thus a bit of an airhead.) The four movements arrange themselves nicely into a slow-fast-slow-fast grouping for use together, but may be freely excerpted by players who need something shorter. Although one of the movements is frankly sentimental in nature, the two quicker movements are both quite forthright, proving unequivocally that it is quite possible to be bold and still be a gas."

Sample pages from the score and mp3 recordings are available here.

New Gawthrop CD Released
(16 Dec, 2007)

Concert organist David C. Pickering has recently released "Like A Fire," a CD devoted to the organ music of Daniel E. Gawthrop on the Grace Notes Media label. The disc was recorded on the much acclaimed Helmuth Wolff organ in the Bales Recital Hall on the campus of the University of Kansas. The disc features Gawthrop's organ symphony in four movements, O Jerusalem, which was commissioned for Pickering, as well as the first comercial recording of Four Noble Gases, commissioned by the American Guild of Organists for their Region III Convention in Baltimore.

Dr. Pickering holds an endowed chair and is Assistant Professor of Music at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa.

Also included on the album are two of Gawthrop's "Sketchbooks" for organ, Sketchbook Two (commissioned by organist Sondra Proctor), and Sketchbook Four (commissioned by organist and composer Carson Cooman). Rounding out the collection are the Four Trio Preludes (on Latter-day Saint hymntunes) and the title cut, Like A Fire, which is a toccata on LDS hymntune Assembly.

Ordering information for the disc can be found here.