Toccata and Lament was composed on commission in 2008 to inaugurate the large new organ in the Christ Church Cathedral, Rochester, NY, USA. This instrument is a detailed reconstruction of a late Baroque organ of 1776 fromVilnius in Lithuania. The point of departure a clash of contrasting eras and musical cultures on two continents already bodes excitement. Martin Herchenröder, a composer and professor of music theory, has incorporated thesecontrasts in his roughly eight-minute composition. The result is a musical idiom of rare distinction, universal in its musical resources and alternating between tonal triads and extremely dissonant clusters. The heart of thepieceis a dirge which, using the Baroque doctrine of the affections, relates to Eastern European cultural history in and around Vilnius, a history marked by the predations of 20th-Century war.
- Expressive andeffective contemporary organ music
- Amalgam of musical traditions from the 18th to 21st Century
- Explanatory foreword by the composer (Ger/Eng)
| Arrangement | Organ |
| NumberOfPages | 19 |
| Media | Book(softcover, stapled) |
| Publisher | Bärenreiter-Verlag |
| Contributors | Herchenrö der, Martin(Composer) |
| Language | English, German |
| ISMN | 9790006565269 |