Opus 223
On Lofty Places (2000)
for Organ
Edward Elwyn Jones, organ
Duration: 3.75 min.
Dedication: for Peter J. Gomes
Commission: Commissioned by the Murray Schultz Service Playing Competition
Publisher: Lauren Keiser Music Publishing in "A Carson Cooman Organ Album"
Performance materials available from the publisher.
On Lofty Places (2000) for organ is dedicated to the Rev. Peter J. Gomes and was inspired by an extract from a prayer of his: “Set our feet, O Lord, on lofty places, that we may see where it is that Thou wouldst have us go.” This concept drives the transformation of the opening chord into the rest of the main material of the composition. (The principal chord is based around the intervals of two fifths, each starting a major second apart—by the end, this idea has resolved into a single perfect fifth—where it is Thou wouldst have us go.) Combined with this idea are five brief quotations from traditional hymns which appear and interact with the main material.