Toccata on ANTIOCH

From "Joy to the World"
Three Preludes for Christmas by Craig Phillips

In the set are also included a nice arrangement of Forest Green and Divinium Mysterium. All three have the stamp of Craig Phillips - shifting meter and interesting harmonies.

I was introduced to the music of C.P. by an organist friend in Southern California, Kimo Smith who happened to be playing an arrangement of Lobe den Herrenon by C.P. on a recital and asked me to turn pages for him. A number of years later, at a Christmas concert by David Higgs in San Francisco, David played the Toccata on Antioch as an introduction to the singing of "Joy to the World". It was a full house at Davies Symphony Hall and he really opened the big Rufatti up, cleared the rafters with the introduction and the singing was so much fun with such a large "congregation". I've never had the guts to use it as an introduction to the hymn but have used it as the postlude and it's been a favorite of mine for some time now. Hope you enjoy it.