Written for organ.
When I was in high school, an organist friend played for me Jehan Alain’s Litanies. Since then, I have been enthralled with the piece and have wanted to write some hymn variation in the same style.
Also, for years, I have been deeply moved by Charles Wesley’s wonderful hymn describing Jacob’s wrestling with God (“O Come, Thou Traveler, Unknown”), as well as the tune (Candler) to which it is set and the story — possibly apocryphal — as to why it was set to that tune. The hymn’s lyrics absolutely shout in one of the verses that God is love and the tune joyfully proclaims the same.
The organ variation moves along at a very nice clip (a la Alain’s Litanies) and is not for the mediocre organist or the faint of heart!
Listen to a soulless, computer generated, MIDI recording of this piece:
