Toccata on "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"

This Toccata on "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel was written by Jason Roberts. Jason serves as Director of Music Ministries at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in New York City. He previously served as Associate Director of Music at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York and at St. James’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford, Connecticut. He is renowned for his improvisational abilities and this toccata sounds like one of his many brilliant improvisations.

While the term "toccata" often brings to mind flashy, virtuosic showpieces in the French tradition, this piece defies that in some ways. While still virtuosic, it begins with only 8' foundations and after a few episodes with the Harmonic Flute and Swell celestes we get a more traditional toccata-sounding episode, but only registered up to the Full Swell before returning to the 8' Foundations for an ending that dissipates into thin air.