Slains Castle (2007)

Although most of my organ music is religious in content, I have for many years been interested in the expressive power of the organ as an instrument in its own right; something I explored in my early ‘Five Pieces for Organ’. ‘Slains Castle’ is my latest organ piece, composed earlier this year. It was inspired by the stark ruins of the castle on the Aberdeen coast, the mighty rocks beneath it and the fact that Bram Stoker wrote much of his famous novel ‘Dracula’ at the castle and nearby Cruden Bay, where he spent his holidays for some seventeen years. The castle he describes in the book is, in fact, Slains Castle. I have tried therefore, to suggest in the piece not only the awe inspiring scene, but to reflect briefly on certain episodes in the book. The piece is laid out for an average three manual organ and although there are some eerie sounds, the registration I have asked for is fairly conventional and there are no particularly unusual combinations of stops in the piece. I am at present working on a set of six contrasted pieces entitled ‘Reflections from the organ loft’, which I hope to finish in the near future.

Duration: 7mins
Available from: the composer
Price: £7.00

Listen to Martin Wolf giving the world première of Slains Castle on 27th October 2007 at St Dominic's Priory