Processional: Organ Music by Dom Sebastian Wolff

Processional: Organ Music by Dom Sebastian Wolff

The name Dom Sebastian Wolff is synonymous with the music of Buckfast Abbey. Born in Ireland in 1929, Fr Sebastian became a monk of Buckfast in 1948, and has crafted a considerable oeuvre of music including settings of the Mass, responsorial psalms for the complete three-year cycle, and a Requiem. However, it is perhaps the organ which provided his greatest compositional inspiration. In this, the first recording of his complete organ music, Richard Lea presents an authoritative account of the works, following extensive consultation with the composer. This rich corpus of composition has explored a wide range of styles, texts and musical forces, and this recording celebrates Wolff’s significant contribution to the world of organ music in the twentieth century.

Disc 1

1: Processional

Advent & Christmas

2: Advent Chorale
3: Chorale Prelude on ‘O come, O come, Emmanuel’ (Veni Emmanuel)
4: Chorale Prelude on ‘Lo! He comes with clouds descending’ (Helmsley
5: Chorale Partita on ‘Unto us is born a son’ (Puer nobis nascitur)
6: Chorale Prelude on ‘Christe Redemptor omnium’
7: Chorale Prelude on the Somerset Carol

Fantasia & Fugue

8: Fantasia
9: Fugue

Passiontide & Easter

10: Chorale Prelude on ‘O sacred head, sore wounded’ (Passion Chorale)
11: Fanfare for Holy Saturday (Westminster Festival Mass)
12: Chorale Prelude on ‘Aurora lucis rutilat’
13: Entry for Easter Sunday morning on ‘Jesus Christ is risen today’ (Easter Hymn)
14: Chorale Prelude on ‘At the Lamb’s high feast’ (Salzburg)
15: Fanfare for Easter Day

Disc 2

1: Carillon (Hommage à Mulet et Vierne)
2: Chorale Partita on ‘Christ the Lord is risen again’ (Orientis partibus)

Introduction, Chorale & Fugue on ‘Let All Mortal Flesh’

3: Introduction
4: Chorale
5: Fugue
6: Chorale Prelude on a melody by Orlando Gibbons (Song I)
7: Chorale Prelude on ‘Our Father (Vater unser im Himmelreich)
8: Chorale Prelude on ‘ Most ancient of all mysteries’ (St Flavian)
9: Chorale Prelude on ‘Come, Holy Ghost’ (Tallis’ Ordinal)

Adagio & Fugue on ‘Liebster Immanuel’

10: Adagio
11: Fugue
12: Chorale Prelude on ‘Adoro te devote’
13: For a Festive occasion
14: Chorale Prelude on ‘Te beata sponsa Christi’
15: Nocturne

arranged Richard Lea (b.1962)
16: Fanfare (Cantata for a New Era)