MUSIC.
A Morning and Evening Cathedral Service, composed for a Chorus of four voices, with an Organ Accompaniment. By W. 7'. Best.
Three Preludes and Fugues, composed for the Organ, with Pedal Obligato. By W. 7'. Best.
We have already had occasion to speak of Mr. Best as an able as well as a sound and orthodox musician. From his published works he appears to have devoted himself to sacred music, and to have gone through that severe course of study requisite to form an ecclesiastical composer. His Morning and Evening Service are of great merit, and well worthy of being adopted in any cathedral in the kingdom. They are entirely choral and antiphonal, without solos; the voices on the opposite sides of the choir being partly responsive and partly united in fall harmony. The counter- point is simple, without any complicated points of imitation or fugue, and the four parts frequently move in unisons and octaves. The modulations are masterly, and the whole effect is grand and solemn. The harmony seems immaculate, except perhaps in the bar of the " Te Deum " at the bot- tom of page 3, in the organ part, where C sharp and C natural are brought so closely together as to have the effect of a "false relation." But this, if an oversight, is of no great moment.
Fugue-writing, especially for the organ, is always a part of the studies of an ecclesiastical musician. The preludes and fugues before us show a thorough acquaintance with the great models in this branch of music, from Sebastian Bach and Handel down to Mendelssohn; but they show also that the composer has escaped from the trammels of imitation, and has gained considerable independence of style. The second of the set, dedi- cated to Dr. Rimbault, is the most simple, as well as the most expressive and masterly. The others, with much merit, are somewhat overcrowded with rapid notes. They all show great knowledge of the mechanism and powers of the organ.
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