An Organist's Storybook began life as a commission from Christian Cang cuesta. After he met Tristan as part of the 'Organ for Non-majors' class, they became firm friends. Christian even kindly took part in a performance of an earlier piece of Tristan's entitled Fury's Descent from The Glass Box (Op.13) for a Composition department recital. Having tried a bit of smaller solo work, Christian was keen to try something larger, and approached Tristan to write something for the organ in an orchestral setting.

Spurred on by the prospect of this, and delving into his research into music psychology for inspiration, Tristan soon struck on the idea of constructing a form that was grounded in natural processes. Tides was the result of this – a concerto consciously written for virtuosity as a soloist and an accompanist. The piece is based on the form (hydronomics data) in the table shown above, to which the organ is entirely integral.

Tides is paired here with Thoughts on Time and Life: An Essay for Orchestra. Written whilst Tristan was reading for his masters degree at St Chad's College, Durham University, U.K, the piece ponders the virtue of perseverance in the face of adversity. The single moment of a large, dissonant chord is juxtaposed against the formal structure of an entire symphonic poem that seeks desperately to resolve it. Be sure to listen for the twist ending. Most of all, we hope that you can positively lose yourself in these musical narratives.