Reviews: Selected organ works by Vernon Hoyle

Vernon Hoyle has written prolifically for a number of years now, one of a number of composers providing well-crafted and musicianly organ works of fairly modest technical difficulty for (mainly) liturgical use. All but one of the works reviewed here has its roots in hymnody of one sort or another. Any organist who has set foot in a church where liturgy is of the more traditional kind will know how useful such pieces can be – but nothing precludes their use for other purposes.

Hoyle’s musical language is firmly tonal, with a leaning towards periodic phrase structures. He writes fluently within this traditional idiom. Everything is in the best sense pragmatic, and this grasp of realistic practical musicianship extends to the demands he makes on the player. Suggestions for tone colour and manual changes, too, are informed by insight into the tonal resources generally available to the players for whom the music is intended. Most instruments of two manuals and pedals, with around 15–20 stops, will be able to supply what is needed. This is a sensible strategy, and even where specific timbres are requested nothing is beyond adaptation and reinterpretation.