PRELUDE TO PARADISE – JADCD 1105
Works by: Eric Gross, Robert Allworth, Carson P. Cooman, Derek Strahan, Ann Carr-Boyd. DURATION: 71'37"

Works by 3 Australian composers, Allworth, Strahan and Carr-Boyd and US composer and organist Carson P. Cooman.

The title track “Prelude To Paradise” (1977-2001) by Eric Gross, is a touching musical portrait of the composer’s niece who died at an early age in Pittsburgh, USA. It is written in the form of a melodically graceful Prelude.The work is heard on this CD on Track 1 as orchestrated by the composer, and played by the St. Andrews Cathedral Orchestra, directed by Michael Deasey. It is heard on Track 9 in its original form as an organ prelude performed by the late Lawrence Bartlett, also a composer, whose own work is featured on many other Jade CDs.

Gross also contributes another elegiac work on Track 2, “Meditation on a Blessed Spirit” (2001) in memory of Bevele Champion, as a gesture of thanks to Bevele and her family for the strong and generous support which they