“These are written-out improvisations that were a part of the Good Friday noon liturgy at Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Minneapolis. It is a service based on stations of the cross from the Anglican tradition, in our case, with a procession to each of nine stations.
At each station there is a mini-liturgy which consists of a reading, prayer, interpretive improvisation on the organ, and the singing of a stanza of a hymn. For the improvisation, I weave in images from the reading with the hymn. For example, at the sixth station, the reading includes the phrase “His yoke is easy”, and the hymn is “Go to Dark Gethsemane.” The improvisation alternates between the theme from the chorus “His yoke is easy” from Handel’s Messiah and a very dark and thick chordal setting of the hymn. The improvisations are full of imagery which are evocative and emotionally charged.”
-David Cherwien
This unified set represents nine Stations of the Cross, but the pieces can also be used individually as preludes, hymn introductions, or worship interludes. A special reproducible liturgy "Good Friday: The Way of The Cross" by Susan Palo Cherwien is also included.
AN WASSERFLÜSSEN BABYLON;
EIN LÄMMLEIN GEHT;
HERZLICH TUT MICH VERLANGEN (PASSION CHORALE);
HERZLIEBSTER JESU;
KAS DZIEDAJA;
REDHEAD 76 (GETHSEMANE/PETRA);
SHADES MOUNTAIN;
STABAT MATER DOLOROSA
Organ
