I Have Decided to Follow Jesus (2002)

Emma Lou Diemer (1927–2024)

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus (2002)

Emma Lou Diemer knew exactly what sort of performance she wanted from this setting. In her preface she describes it as a “lively, rhythmic, upbeat piece,” with overtones of fast blues and a suggestion of Latin rhythm. Her final instruction may be the most important of all: it should be played “with proper zeal.”

And zeal it certainly wants.

Rather than treating the familiar missionary song sentimentally, Diemer turns it into something exuberant and physical. The melody emerges through syncopations, displaced accents, sharply detached figures, blues-inflected harmonies, and increasingly energetic changes of registration. Her score asks for bright upperwork and reeds, and the organ gradually becomes a participant in the rhythmic action rather than merely the vehicle carrying the tune.

That made the Gallery Schlicker at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles a particularly interesting instrument for the piece. Throughout this series I have been exploring different consequences of the Schlicker’s remarkable clarity. Here, clarity becomes something else: propulsion.

Its clean speech and release allow the detached figures to remain distinct at speed, while the reeds give the music a wonderfully unruly edge. As the registration grows, the performance can become more exuberant without losing the rhythmic profile underneath it.

So this installment of my Schlicker exploration asks a rather different question from the others: Can the Schlicker boogie?

Apparently it can.

Organ: Gallery Schlicker, First Congregational Church of Los Angeles
Virtual instrument: Evensong Music