Wonderful pieces, reflecting the Contemplation of Advent and the Glory of Christmas.
Almost all may be used throughout the year, only a few will be recognized as being “Christmas” music.
All the music is arranged by season and is alphabetical within the season.
Typically we include a list of suggested registrations. In this case early pieces have simple suggested registrations that we insert. Later pieces in this collection have the original stop registrations suggested by the composer and expression markings as well
Pieces up to the time of Bach and earlier were played on organs without an expression pedal. So moving from manual to manual was done to give variety to the sounds of the organ.
All the music is arranged by season and is alphabetical within the season.
Difficulty – easy to hard pieces that are enjoyable to play.
This is a mix of Manuals Only & Manuals and Pedals pieces.
Audio Samples
Humoresque “L’organo primitivo” – Pietro Yon
The Advent-Christmas Organ Book edited by Noel Jones is a fantastic anthology suitable for organists of intermediate and early-advanced levels. Many of the pieces can be played effectively on small organs.
The greatest strength about this anthology is the inclusion of pieces from many historical periods. While the Advent portion of the anthology emphasizes early music, the anthology as a whole has an almost equal split between music from before 1800 and after. It is refreshing to see 20th-century works by Pietro Yon and André Fleury, for example.
Many pieces are for manuals only. The remaining ones require modest use of the pedal. With some practice, most of the pieces can be handled by intermediate-level students and advanced pianists who are new to the organ.
The layout of the anthology is excellent. The margins are reasonably wide, and there is a good amount of space between the staves and staff systems. Users can add annotations such as fingering, pedaling, and registration without cluttering the pages.
This is a welcoming addition to any serious organist’s score library.
Eva Sze, FAGO
St. Clare of Assisi Church, Bronx, NY
A truly wonderful book of organ music specifically chosen for the holy season of Advent and Christmas. I’m only a beginner, but I’m absolutely delighted with the possibilities this has given me for brushing up on my technique and sight reading skills in readiness for more liturgical music as we approach Christmastide.
The book has useful information on suitable registrations, and will enable even the most humble of parish organists to get to grips with an exciting opportunity to expand their liturgical music repertoire as we approach Advent. Noel has put together a book that will take pride of place on my music desk at the moment.”
I genuinely enjoyed looking through it and have already attempted the first piece.
Kevin James King
Assistant organist at St John the Baptist RC Church
Camborne, Cornwall