PHILLIP COOKE Organ Music

Track List

Regent is delighted to release first recording entirely devoted to the solo organ compositions of Phillip Cooke, recorded on the iconic instrument of Blackburn Cathedral.

Cooke’s compositions are strongly influenced by his native Lake District and by the history, culture, and people of the region. His main musical influences are found in continuing, reconciling, and developing a pastoral British tradition.

This collection of his organ works utilizes the full resources of the Blackburn Cathedral organ, ranging from the contemplatively meditative to the epically dramatic, with the power of the building’s long reverberation and subsequent silence playing a significant role. A number of the shorter pieces are based on chant – bringing a timeless quality to these works – and in some of the larger works the spirit of one of Cooke’s great loves – the music of Herbert Howells – might be discerned, particularly the earlier composer’s pieces for organ, such as the six Psalm Preludes and the Six Pieces – but here reimagined in Cooke’s own hauntingly original and contemporary voice.

Download pdf of booklet

Total timing: 73:25