Millennium Book

Purchase Millennium Book from Firehead Organ Works:

This series of brief preludes for organ solo was intended to reach to 1,000 pieces (thus the title), grouped in volumes of 20 pieces each. I got as far as the first three volumes—60 pieces total—and will likely get no further, but I’m sticking with the (possibly overly grandiose) title, complete with its religious overtones, indicative of much of the music in these volumes.

As with many of my projects, the Millennium Book was a reaction against some compositional habits I had developed. Rather than being long, difficult, complex solo works, I wanted to write pieces that are short, simple(r), and functional in a variety of contexts, like worship or pedagogical settings. The most significant constraint I imposed was to not change meter. Many of the pieces work on a single manual; some of them omit the pedal; none of them require more than two manuals. Otherwise, the pieces present a variety of approaches to texture, registration, and technique, miniatures that hopefully spill out over their tight constraints.