Six Little Partitas: Book I (1992)

…By grace, the best comes last. James Woodman's two volume collection of six partitas for Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost takes good raw material (Veni Emmanuel, Est ist ein Ros, Wie schön leuchtet, Aus der Tiefe, Salzburg, and Veni Creator Spiritus) and burnishes it beautifully. In concept, the four-movement partitas are similar: a gentle opening abstraction of the tune, a more forthright statement, a cantabile setting, and a brief postlude suited to more aggressive playing and more substantial sound. What Woodman is able to do with this simple format is even more impressive than the pieces themselves: the variety within the uniformity is both inspired and inspiring. No small part of that miracle is Woodman's ability to work within his self-imposed limitations; these are all conceived for a small one-manual organ with optional pedal such as Woodman played as organist for a decade at the Monastery of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge. These amazing creations, designed for minimal registration, speak as eloquently to the art of organ music as any elaborate music anywhere. They epitomize my goals of service literature which transcends its original material and which transforms it auditors.