Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein

Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein (When in the hour of utmost need) is the fourth movement in Eleven Chorale Preludes for Organ by British composer and organist Dr Christopher Maxim (b. 1971). Published by Paraclete Press in 2019, the collection was written as a direct 21st-century homage to Johannes Brahms’s final masterpiece, the Eleven Chorale Preludes, Op. 122.
Maxim—a Cardiff University PhD graduate, specialist in historical keyboard music, and former Director of Music at St Matthew’s, Bethnal Green.

This setting of Paul Eber’s 1564 Lutheran hymn text, paired with the historic melody by Louis Bourgeois, unfolds in a gentle, deeply introspective, and richly chromatic texture. Its restless, interweaving lines poignantly evoke the anguish and uncertainty of the opening words, “When we are in utmost need, and are completely at a loss,” before gradually yielding to a profound sense of stillness, spiritual solace, and quiet consolation.

It gives a perfect opportunity to enjoy the plaintive quality of some of the gentle colours of this wonderful instrument.