Classical new release - Harmonia Mundi UK Distribution

Label: Mode Records
File Under: Classical/Instrumental
Catalogue No: mode253/54
Barcode: 764593025320
NORMAL Price
Format: 2 CD
Packaging: cristal
Gary Verkade [organ of Nederluleå Church,
Gammelstad, Sweden]
assisted by various registrants
John CAGE: The Works for Organ
Gary Verkade
Some of “The Harmony of Maine” (Supply Belcher) (1978)
Souvenir (1983)
ASLSP (1985)
Organ2/ASLSP (1987)
RELEASE DATE
3RD JUNE 2013
This release is the first complete recording of all of Cage’s works for organ, plus 4’33” (on the DVD version only).
The organ is ideally suited to Cage’s aesthetic — its multitude of stops make it the ultimate prepared instrument. The fact
that sound emanates from a number of pipes placed at discrete locations in space nicely accords with Cage’s idea of the
separation of sounds in space. And it represents vast possibilities that could be released as sound through the use of
chance operations. For this reason Cage’s organ music occupies a small but quite important place within his output.
For Some of 'The Harmony of Maine' Cage selected 18th-century American hymns by Billings, Law, and Belcher and
altered them by extending certain tones and removing others through chance operations so as to attenuate the functional
harmony underlying them. Here and there, melodic fragments from the original hymns remain.
The 1978 and 1987 works were written for the German organist Gerd Zacher, an important champion of new music.
American organist Gary Verkade, a student of Gerd Zacher, is on the faculty of the Musikhögskola in Piteå, Sweden. He
has appeared at major festivals and concerts throughout Europe and the USA. Verkade was one of the registrants in the
first German performance of Some of 'The Harmony of Maine'.
Includes booklet with trilingual notes by Rob Haskins.