TIMOTHY TIKKER, Variations sur un vieux Noël, pour grand orgue. Hinshaw Music (HMO 171). $4.95. With this work, Timothy Tikker took first place in the Holtkamp-AGO composition competition some years ago, though the ensuing publication was not reviewed in these columns. True to the tradition of variations generally (and variations sur les Noëls particularly), the work originated in improvisation––as a practice sketch made during the composer’s study in Paris under Jean Langlais. The theme, “Or, nous dites Marie,” is at first given in a modal setting for two manuals and pedal. The first variation is an unbarred Canzona en trio in which the three voices (again on separate keyboards) follow one another closely in four short sentences corresponding to the four phrases of the theme, and it features quaint-sounding double leading-tone cadences in the manner of the early Renaissance. The second variation is for 8¢stops, and explores the theme in “flat” modalities and in strict canon at the octave. The third variation expands upon the original phraseology of the theme, in a series of discursive harmonic flights for combined flute stops. A Berceuse and Musette follow, both with piquant sonorities: solo 4¢ pedal punctuated with touches of 1 3/5¢ and 1¢ in the upper manual, and a droning Bourdon-Quintaton-Voix Humaine combination, respectively. The next-to-last variation is a canon at the fourth between upper manual and pedal, with an accompaniment in ostinato rhythm. The final Fugato et Final treats all the phrases of the Noël (the first phrase, in double exposition) and is in a lively 7/8 time with ffff conclusion.

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