The Oxford Book of Lent and Easter Organ Music

On retirement from a teaching career spent successively at St Paul's Boys' School, Barnes, Radley College, Oxfordshire, and Glenalmond College, Perthshire, (where he was also a Housemaster and Senior Tutor), Robert Gower worked as Organist at St Barnabas Catholic Cathedral, Nottingham, before moving briefly to the most northerly parish in the Church of England at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Returning to Scotland so as to be nearer to family, he is now Director of Music at Dundee Parish Church. Robert's commitment to English 20th-century repertoire is reflected through his founding and leadership of the Percy Whitlock Trust between 1981 and 2016 and in his longstanding Chairmanship of the Gerald Finzi Charitable Trust, from which he retired in 2022. He enjoys transcribing music for organ (with a wide range recently embracing both Leroy Anderson and Maxwell Davies) and in liturgical composition, completing a three-year cycle of responsorial psalms for the Church Music Society.

This is an essential book, a splendid collection of 34 pieces covering Lent, Palm Sunday, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. Well-known hymn tunes provide the basis of 29 of them. There are items written especially for this collection, as well as several earlier pieces that I have not seen elsewhere ... I particularly enjoyed Naji Hakim's Variations: O filii et filiae, well stocked with the hallmarks of his style and a welcome reappearance of the composer after an absence from new music lists. The eye-opener for me was Fanfare: Shine, Jesus, Shine by Christopher Tambling. This is a winner, a splendid working over of a good tune and an exhilarating piece of organ music. The collection has many uses beyond the period in the title, and every organ loft should have a copy. Trevor Webb, Church Music Quarterly, June 2013 This is a truly eclectic collection which will have wide appeal to organists seeking seasonal music for liturgical and recital purposes. The title of the volume does not do it full justice, however, since the music follows the church year beyond Lent and Easter through to Ascension-tide and Pentecost... This is a major publication. It owes much to the skills of its editor, Robert Gower, and at about fifty pence per piece it is more than worth its price. There is much to explore and enjoy and most of the music is well within reasonable technical limits. Very highly recommended. Alan Spedding, Organists' Review December 2012

• Aus der Tiefe rufe ich ; O Mensch, bewein' dein' Sunde gross ; Toccata: Aberystwyth ; Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir ; Chorale Prelude: Abridge ; Aus der Tiefe ; Chorale Prelude: Martyrdom ; Valet will ich dir geben ; Prelude: Winchester New ; Valet will ich dir geben ; Wir setzen uns mit Tranen nieder ; Herzliebster Jesu ; Chorale Prelude: Caswall ; Meditation: Love Unknown ; Chorale and Variation: Herzlich tut mich verlangen ; Chorale Prelude: Rockingham ; Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod ; Prelude: Were you there? ; Song 13 (Orlando Gibbons) ; Paraphrase on a chorus in Judas Maccabaeus (Handel) ; Variations: O filii et filiae ; I know that my Redeemer liveth, from Messiah ; Fantasy: Easter Hymn ; Variations: Noel nouvelet ; At Easter-tide ; Chorale Prelude on a Melody by Melchior Vulpius ; Heut' triumphieret Gottes Sohn ; Ricercare: Llanfair ; Fanfare: Gopsal ; Komm heiliger Geist, Herre Gott ; Chorale Prelude: Down Ampney ; Chorale Prelude: Hereford ; Veni Creator Spiritus ; Fanfare: Shine, Jesus, Shine