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Richard Wayne Dirksen Centenary

Richard Wayne Dirksen Centenary

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Eucharist setting

Christ our Passover – Liturgical, Unison

Glory be to God, the highest

Three-verse paraphrase of the Gloria.  Give Allein Gott a break!

Communion Service in E minor – Rite I

Score & video.  The Gloria is in my TOP THREE Dirksen pieces.  Less than three minutes long, it opens with a liturgical joke and ends with an explosive Amen.  Note his tempo!

Communion Service in E major – Rite I

Full scores & videos. By 1960 Dirksen had participated in Easter services at the Cathedral for 15 years and knew the forces intimately.  This grand Mass features exceptionally brilliant writing for the brass and timpani, ground-breaking mixed meters (13/8 notoriously raised the choir’s eyebrows), and in the Agnus Dei some of his spookiest writing for the organ.  It’s also noteworthy that two movements of a Mass in E major end on F# (Kyrie, Benedictus).  That uncanny whole-tone lift comes a shock each time but prefigures the Gloria’s triumphant final modal cadence from D to E. He also orchestrated it for double wind quartet after the Stravinsky Mass.

Communion Service in G Major –  Rite I

This speculative work features obbligato handbell parts for 10 bells replicating / mimicking several change ringing methods in each movement as well as a carillon part for the Gloria.

Sanctus & Benedictus in G Major – Rite II

Score & Audio. Liturgical setting, with bells – reworked from the 1966 / Rite I Communion Service in G.

Communion Service in A minor – Rite II – The Canterbury Service

For the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury, 10/14/79.  Three brilliant trumpet parts in the Gloria.

Communion Service in C minor – Rite II

Score & audio.  A two-part setting.

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