John Franklin Carré was born on October 20, 1894 in Racine Wisconsin and died there in November of 1966. He was an organist in Racine, and was a pupil of the great Clarence Eddy (1851-1937) and of Felix Borowski (1872-1956).
He wrote an astounding three-movement "Sonata Eroica" in 1951, and you can hear a complete performance of it here:
https://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/23883
"Nocturnals" was published by J. Fischer & Bro. in 1954. It won First Prize in the 1953 Wisconsin Contemporary Composers' Contest sponsored by the Federation of Music Clubs.
"Swans at Eventide" is the second of the two pieces.
It is dedicated: "To my friend Dr. Edgar Nelson, The Chicago Conservatory."
Edgar Nelson (1882-1959) was organist of the First Presbyterian Church, Oak Park (Chicago).
This is a sweet and soaring work that may just melt your heart. In this performance, I took the more "luxurious" approach that I mentioned in my previous upload. This was actually the first performance that I recorded, and the tempo is slower, mostly because of the "wider" acoustic.
The famous harmonic flute of the Solo gets that last long, extended melody, but I'm not sure of the "neutral" quality of its color is "intense" enough.
More extensive notes about the composer are given in the First Comment.
A photo of the First Presbyterian Church in Racine where Carré was organist is attached below, as well as a photo of Edgar Nelson, the dedicatee.. Also attached are some photos of swans at eventide.
If anyone is interested in the score, please send me a Direct Message, and I will be glad to send you a scan.
Coming soon: "Mountain Sketches" - a more extended three-movement tone poem by Carré.
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