Musical contribution - April 2020 - removed

(LiVE Sampleset: Utrecht, Bätz)

You’ll Never Walk Alone                                                                      R.Rodgers / Harm Hoeve

The musical contribution for April was ready to go online, until current events turned our minds towards a completely different title. What do I mean by this? At the time of writing, it is the end of March 2020. The whole world is in the grip of the coronavirus. It’s impossible to describe everything that’s going on (and not going on) around us.

A week ago, the management came up with the idea of issuing an organ challenge with the theme/song being “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, as a means of encouraging people around the world.

Director Marco van de Weerd challenged me to make an arrangement of this world-famous song, film it, and post it to Facebook. In the video, I challenged three colleagues to do the same, and these three colleagues could challenge three other friends/organists in turn. The intention was to turn this challenge into one huge source of encouragement.

Now, just a week later, untold numbers of organists from around the world have answered the call. There are also floods of responses from listeners who have been deeply moved by the gesture, the song and/or the arrangements.

Colleague Harm Hoeve has written out his arrangement in its entirety. When I asked him if I could publish it, he enthusiastically gave his permission. We’re pleased to be able to offer you this arrangement, with the hope that you too may encourage others, with a view to better times.

It’s simply astounding to see what this one call from Marco van de Weerd has led to.

Thank you, Marco.

Warm regards,

André van Vliet