Suite for Christmas No. 1: Volume 1 - Tapa blanda

Six favorite Christmas Hymns arranged for solo pipe organ and put together as a Suite for performance. The pieces are loosely organized into a kind of liturgical order, beginning with a Prelude and ending with a Postlude.

1. Prelude: O Come, O Come Emmanuel
2. Introit: While Sheppards Watched Their Flocks by Night
3. Anthem: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
4. Offertory: Silent Night
5. Meditation: From Heaven Above to Earth I Come
6. Postlude: Joy to the World

http://www.garyvanderploeg.com

Born and raised in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, I started organ lessons at around age 10 (who can remember that far back) with a spinet organ (I can't remember the brand). After a few years, my family bought a new Johannus Opus organ and I began taking private lessons with an organist in my neighbourhood. I was organist at Long's Run Presbyterian Church in Calcutta, Ohio and have played in services in various churches through the years in both the United States and Canada, on pipe organs, electronic and digital organs. I now reside in Port Orange, Florida. Over the years I dabbled in composing my own works with varying success. I also developed a love of the traditional Dutch hymn improvisation from the likes of Feike Asma, Jan Zwart, and Teke Bijlsma, to name a few. My hymn arrangements are very much in the style of these organsists, though I have kept the difficulty down to a level that I, myself can manage. As I go forward, I have plans for two more Christmas Suites and am contemplating a similar Easter Suite and various standalone arrangements of some of my favourite hymns. www.garyvanderploeg.com