VINCENT PERSICHETTI (1915-1987): Organ Works - Foundations: Creator Spirit, by whose Aid the world’s foundations first were laid, Op. 68/4, Dryden Liturgical Suite, Op. 144, Prince: Drop, Drop Slow Tears, Op. 68/13, Chorale Prelude: Drop, Drop Slow Tears, Op. 104, Primal: Our Father, whose creative will asked being for us all, Op. 68/1, Auden Variations, Op. 136, Organ Sonata, Op. 86.

Description: Persichetti’s organ music holds an important place in 20th-century repertoire. Steeped in tradition and yet open to the currents of modernity, he developed a thoroughly distinctive musical language. The selections from his Hymns and Responses for the Church Year, Op. 68, explore traditional form with a refreshing harmonic palette, while the Dryden Liturgical Suite contrasts meditative elements with virtuoso bravura. Persichetti’s most extensive organ piece, the Auden Variations, is supremely contrapuntal and accomplished, whereas the Sonata for Organ, though convention-ally structured, daringly explores free tonality. Iain Quinn (Fisk organ of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Greenville, North Carolina).