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Cathedral Architecture [Orchestra Version] (2012)

Available from the Canadian Music Centre (CMC)

Samples
  • Cathedral Architecture
    (Full Score Excerpts)
  • Cathedral Architecture
    (Organ Score Excerpt)

  • Cathedral Architecture (Orch.)
    Movement 1: Spires

  • Cathedral Architecture (Orch.)
    Movement 2: Gargoyles

  • Cathedral Architecture (Orch.)
    Movement 3: Windows

  • Cathedral Architecture (Orch.)
    Movement 4: Flying Buttresses

  • Cathedral Architecture (Orch.)
    Movement 5: Foundations
Instrumentation:Organ and Orchestra
Genre:Orchestra Music

Instrumentation: 3222/4331/3Perc.+Timp./Strings

Commissioner: Kingston Symphony Association

Premiere: Kingston Symphony Orchestra, Glen Fast, conductor, Michael Capon, organ, St. George's Cathedral, Kingston, Ontario, October 27, 2013.

Duration: approximately 40 minutes

Movements:

  1. Spires
  2. Gargoyles
  3. Windows
  4. Flying Buttresses
  5. Foundations

Program Note: Cathedral Architecture, for organ and orchestra, was originally written for organ and brass band.  The brass band version was commissioned by the Hannaford Street Silver Band and in this form was premiered at Metropolitan United Church, Toronto, Ontario, on November 3rd, 2012, with organist William O’Meara, to whom the work is dedicated.  This performance was conducted by British conductor and composer, Edward Gregson.  The rescoring of Cathedral Architecture for organ and orchestra was commissioned by the Kingston Symphony Association, for a premiere performance on October 27th, 2013 in St. George’s Catherdral, Kingston, Ontario.  Evan Mitchell conducted this concert with the Cathedral’s organist, Michael Capon, as soloist.  Both the Hannaford Street Silver Band and Kingston Symphony have been long-time supporters of John Burge’s music having commissioned and premiered many of his compositions over the past two decades.  

At the work’s heart, Cathedral Architecture is really a hybrid of an organ concerto with a symphony in the way that the music captures the structural and design features of a large cathedral in sonic building blocks.  While the work is organized in five movements, the brevity of the first four movements coupled with the expansive last movement give the work a broader two-part sense of organization.  The first four contrasting movements are subtitled, “Spires, Gargoyles, Windows and Flying Buttresses,” and are presented in a slow-fast-slow-fast alternation of tempos.   Each of these opening movements utilizes very distinctive organ colours, sometimes employed to accompany prominent solos from within the ensemble.  The fifth and final movement is subtitled, “Foundations,” and is a passacaglia with a fixed bass line that is repeated throughout the movement beginning initially with a lengthy organ solo.  As the last movement unfolds, prominent passages from the opening four movements return in reverse order as the music builds an aural cathedral moving from the foundations through the buttresses, windows, gargoyles and spires until eventually reaching a coda that ends with as much volume as can be produced by all the musicians involved.  

Full Score and Solo Organ Score (for purchase, loan or rental) and Parts (rental only) available from the Canadian Music Centre: Cathedral Architecture(Orchestra)-CMC