Oxford Hymn Settings for Organists: Epiphany

Rebecca Groom te Velde earned degrees in organ performance from Seattle Pacific University and the University of Western Ontario, also studying composition and church music. She continued her studies in Germany on a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service. An active performer and clinician on service-playing, she holds the Associate Certificate from the American Guild of Organists. She has published organ music with Oxford University Press and Darcey Press and choral compositions with Santa Barbara Music Publishing. She is organist of First Presbyterian Church, Stillwater, and adjunct instructor of organ at Oklahoma City University in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.David Blackwell read music and studied the organ at Edinburgh University, where he gained his FRCO, and for many years worked in music publishing, becoming Head of Music Publishing at Oxford University Press. He has published anthems and carols with OUP, is co-editor of Carols for Choirs 5 (2011), and has published organ pieces in Oxford Service Music for Organ (2010), compiled and edited by Anne Marsden Thomas. He is also co-writer of OUP's award-winning String Time books.

Many of the items are by composers whose names will be very familiar, and many are of great beauty. It was a pleasure to sit down and play through many of them at one sitting. There is a wide stylistic range, ensuring that there is plenty of material . . . for most occasions. This is an enterprising project, planned to continue with the release of further volumes covering the liturgical year. The layout and printing are admirably clear. Though the anthology market is fairly crowded, I welcome this endeavour and recommend the series to any player who is seeking approachable and attractive contemporary settings.

• Be still ; Carlisle ; Christe sanctorum ; Cruger ; Crusader's Hymn/St Elizabeth ; Deo gracias ; Dix ; Epiphany ; Greensleeves ; Houston ; Kelvingrove ; Kings of Orient ; Old 120th ; Puer nobis nascitur ; St Edmund ; Salzburg ; Shine, Jesus, shine ; Stuttgart ; Was lebet ; Wie schon leuchtet