America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)

This arrangement of "America" is played on the Willis organ of Hereford Cathedral making plentiful use of the big tuba.

For the July 4th weekend I thought it appropriate to play it again for the third time. Today I played it as a postlude for our Sacrament Meeting.

In May of this year I did my second recording of this piece on the Holzhey organ of St. Peter und Paul Weissenau:

http://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/21017

In February of last year I did my first recording of this piece on the demo sampleset of the St. Michael Zwolle organ:

http://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/15642

The original piece this is based on was "God Save the Queen", the anthem of the United Kingdom, and later used for "My Country 'Tis of Thee", as one of the original anthems of the United States. It was later replaced with "The Star Spangled Banner".

I'm not sure who wrote this particular arrangement, but it's one that I find very satisfying and not too difficult to play.