Procession from Five Pieces

The Five Pieces were written in 1961 & published by Novello in 1962.
I have been reading how the Brutalist architectural movement in post-war Britain influenced composers; amongst them, clearly, was Arthur Wills.
If a piece shows that influence then it is this….or is it? In this I hear the massiveness of the Romanesque nave of the great “Ship of the fens” & can see a procession make slow progress down its length.

I have a very early memory of this piece as played by a classmate of mine in a joint recital we gave whilst at school. Procession was on the list for Grade 5 Organ in the 1980s & I remember how jealous I was that he was getting to play this with its massive blocks of sound. I am still transported back to those days whenever I play this piece: it is VERY satisfying to play!

For REALITY I again return to St Edmundsbury. In this organ I hear the huge pedal Ophicleide that I remember from my classmate Martin’s performance way back in 1984 as well as the power of the manual heavy pressure reeds. A somewhat different grandeur from that lent by the trenchant Cavaillé-Coll pedal reeds!

When speaking of another piece written around the same time as the Five Pieces Arthur makes reference to ‘a certain French influence in the textures and harmonies… This trait was to be confirmed in many subsequent pieces; but after all I did spend many of my working hours in a Norman cathedral where we frequently sang the music of Henry Purcell, much of it patently influenced by French models.’
I'm not sure that much Purcell sounds like this, but the point is well made!!