Description
Few contemporary composers have combined scholarship, craftsmanship and imagination with such individuality as Gerald Hendrie. Across more than six decades, he has created a remarkable body of organ music that draws inspiration from historical styles and traditions while remaining unmistakably his own. This newly revised four-volume edition brings together the complete organ works in hardback, wire-bound and digital formats.
Volume 1 contains Le Tombeau de Marcel Dupré, a substantial homage to the great French organist-composer. Composed between 1990 and 1992, its three preludes and fugues combine contrapuntal mastery, rhythmic vitality and a powerful harmonic language.
Volume 2 presents Hendrie’s three major sonatas: In Praise of St Asaph, In Praise of Reconciliation and Sonate en Trio. Together they form the centrepiece of his organ output, ranging from reflections on war and reconciliation to tributes to Welsh musical culture and the contrapuntal traditions of J. S. Bach.
Volume 3 brings together Six Concert Studies and Four Concert Rags. These works reveal both the composer’s formidable command of the organ and his lifelong affection for ragtime, transformed here into music of dazzling virtuosity and character.
Volume 4 spans the years 1960 to 2023 and includes many of Hendrie’s most fascinating works, among them the rediscovered Postlude from his years at Norwich Cathedral, the evocative Sicilienne, a tribute to Maurice Duruflé, and the first publication of Livre d’orgue, a remarkable evocation of the late French Classical tradition.
This publication has been a particular pleasure for Lyrebird Music. Gerald Hendrie’s music occupies a unique place in the contemporary organ repertoire: intellectually rigorous, technically accomplished and unfailingly imaginative. We hope that this edition will encourage both performers and listeners to discover, or revisit, one of the most distinctive compositional voices of our time.
We invite you to listen to Tom Winpenny’s acclaimed recording of the Toccata and Fugue from Le Tombeau de Marcel Dupré using the link below. Further recordings, sample pages and ordering information may be found on the Lyrebird Music website.
