The Cooman Files

compiled by Gary Penkala

Carson Cooman, a fine musician and organist, is Composer in Residence at The Memorial Church, Harvard University. A composer of "Contemporary Classical Music," as he notes on his website , he has hundreds of compositions to his credit. His sacred works are published by Selah Publishing Compoany, Saint James Press, Alfred Publishing Company, Adoro Music Publishing, and Paraclete Press, among others.

Over the past several months, Mr. Cooman has begun a project to record short organ pieces, from various composers (mostly contemporary), that would function well for church or simple recital use. He notes: "My primary goal in recording repertoire is to feature accessible pieces that others can learn and play in their own situations." He has made these recordings available on YouTube, each with its own appropriate photograph or artwork.

I encourage you to check his roster of online organ pieces.

Here are some of my favorites:

• Prelude on Samanthra from Three Hymn Tune Preludes (Rev. Brian K. Muzas) CanticaNOVA Publications #6028
   
• Prelude on Quebec from Three Hymn Tune Preludes (Rev. Brian K. Muzas) CanticaNOVA Publications #6028
   
• Prelude on Wondrous Love from Three Hymn Tune Preludes (Rev. Brian K. Muzas) CanticaNOVA Publications #6028
   
• Offertoire (Humphrey Clucas) Fagus Music Company
   
• Toccata No.9 (Thomas Åberg) Noteria Music
   
• Deux petites pièces (Jean Langlais) Editions Musicales de la Schola Cantorum
   
• Fantasia (Denis Bédard) Éditions Cheldar
   
• Postlude on an Original Antiphon from Blue Cloud Abbey Organ Book (Christopher Uehlein) Augsburg Fortress #11-10394
   
• Festival Prelude (Mark L. Williams) Hinshaw Music
   
• Sept petites préludes (Antoine Tisné) Musik Fabrik
   
• Fanfare from Easy Modern Organ Music, Book 1 (Kenneth Leighton) Oxford University Press
   
• Aria and Interlude (Daniel Pinkham) ECS Publishing
   
• Festpostludium I (Johan-Magnus Sjöberg) SMIC
   
• Festpostludium II (Johan-Magnus Sjöberg) SMIC
   
• Toccata No.8 (Thomas Åberg) Noteria
   
• Toccata e ostinato (Thomas Åberg) Noteria
   
• The Saint Luke Organ Book (Daniel Pinkham) ECS Publishing #6599 [distr. Morning Star]
   
• A Christmas Prelude from Four Organ Pieces for Advent and Christmas (Charles Callahan) MorningStar Music Publishers
   
• Postlude on a theme by Victoria (George Frederick McKay) World Library Publications
   
• The Good Shepherd (Thomas Åberg) Noteria
   
• Three Saint George Preludes (Thomas Åberg) SMIC
   
• Meditation on Children of the Heavenly Father (Thomas Åberg) SMIC
   
• Icon (Pawel Lukaszewski) PWM
   
• Ostinato from Organbook (Benjamin Cornelius-Bates) Baetz Editions