Gerald Near
Gerald Near
 

Getting Near #1720

…the music and insights of a prominent American composer of organ and church music, Gerald Near.

Hour 1

GERALD NEAR: ToccataMary Preston (1992 Fisk/Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, TX) Pipedreams Archive (r. 7/1997)

NEAR: A Triptych of Fugues (1966) –Aaron David Miller, organist. NEAR: Three Anthems (To Thee, o Lord, have I lifted up my soul; They that wait upon the Lord; Sing Alleluia) –House of Hope Motet Choir/Matthew Culloton, director; Aaron David Miller (1979 C. B. Fisk/House of Hope Presbyterian Church) Pipedreams Archive (r. 4/29/12)

NEAR: Carillon on a Ukrainian Bell CarolLarry Visser (1996 Austin-Allen/LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, MI) LaGrave 2013

NEAR: Sonata No. 1 for OrganJeremy Filsell (Skinner & Aeolian-Skinner/Washington National Cathedral, District of Columbia) Raven 942

Filler – Anthem, “They that wait upon the Lord” (see above)

Hour 2

NEAR: 3 Chorale-preludes (Liebster Jesu; Freu dich sehr; Nun danket alle Gott), fr ChoraleWorksSteven Egler (1997 Casavant/Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI) Prestant 1011

NEAR: 2 Chorale-preludes (Veni Emmanuel; A solis ortus cardine), fr Chantworks Set I –Elwood Bernas (1889 Whalley & Genung/1st Presbyterian Church, Port Townsend, WA) FPCPT 2006

NEAR: Suite in Classic StyleCheryl Gobbetti Hoffman, flute; Bruce Neswick (1988 Wilhelm/St. Alban’s School, Washington, DC) Raven 840

NEAR: Air with Variations, fr Sonata BrevePamela Decker (1987 Kney/University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN) Pipedreams Archive (r. 10/27/08)

NEAR: St. Mark’s Service (Magnificat & Nunc dimittis) –Llandaff Cathedral Choir/Michael Smith, director; Michael Hoeg (1937 Norman & Beard/Llandaff Cathedral, Wales) Priory 551

NEAR: Choraleworks, Set I (Westminster Abbey; O Welt, ich muss dich lassen; Moscow; Suo Gan; Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland; Erhalt uns, Herr; Herzliebster Jesu; In dulci jubilo; Salzburg) –Steven Egler (1997 Casavant/Central Michigan University) White Pine 203

Filler – Fugue No. 3, fr Triptych (see above)

Composer Gerald Near converses with Michael Barone during a presentation at House of Hope Presbyterian Church in Saint Paul, MN. Near talks about his musical beginnings, the transition from ‘playing by ear’ to composing, text setting, using a computer, and the creation of a new choral score commissioned by the church.

Listen online to the premiere performance of this new score by Gerald Near for Choir, Strings and Piano: Serenade on Poems by Robert Herrick.
            To Music
            Thanksgiving to God for His House
            The Funeral Rites of the Rose
            Gather ye rosebuds
            A carol

The premiere performance of Near’s well-loved anthem “Sing Alleluia Forth” was presented in an early PIPEDREAMS program (#8438).

This is an ‘encore’ release of material first aired as #1505 in February 2015.

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Learn more about the tremendous support we receive from the Family of Lucinda and Wesley C. Dudley, from Walter McCarthyClara Ueland and the Greystone Foundation, from Ed and Wanda Eichler, from the Art and Martha Kaemmer Fund of the HRK Foundation, and from affiliate members of the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America (APOBA), including the Andover Organ Company of Methuen, MA.

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