Description
His name Gerre is pronounced Gerry!
This impressive volume comprises a selection of 11 pieces by Gerre Hancock, who was for 33 years Organist and Master of Choristers at St Thomas’s, Fifth Avenue, New York. It includes meditative voluntaries, postludes and preludes, and flashier showpieces, suitable for either liturgical or recital use. As well as new editions of original organ repertoire, the volume contains Todd Wilson’s new transcriptions of three pieces from Hancock’s first LP of improvisations. The organ-writing is highly idiomatic throughout, revealing a French influence in its often beguiling harmonies, and will be attractive to performer and listener alike.
Gerre Hancock studied at the University of Texas, the Sorbonne, and the Union Theological Seminary, New York, with teachers including Jean Langlais and Nadia Boulanger. He held church appointments at St Bartholomew’s, New York, Christ Church Cathedral, Cincinnati, and St Thomas’s, Fifth Avenue, New York, where he achieved international acclaim as Organist and Master of Choristers from 1971 to 2004. Widely active as a recitalist, conductor, and composer, he was also on the faculty at the Juilliard School and Yale University. His renown as an improviser at the organ led to the publication of his textbook, Improvising: How to Master the Art.
