Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Liz Lane — Leading Light (2026) for organ
Carson Cooman, organ
Published by the composer and downloadable (in return for a donation to the British Heart Foundation) from: https://1drv.ms/f/c/7e1e195aa395b8a5/IgCqJsgYiPV4Sb6qJUoV6I2ZAcTdCxXQDhDX2JTLQrmLiYY?e=TL6qCs
The composer writes: “Leading Light” was written for my father’s 90th birthday, the most recent in a series of specially written pieces over the last two decades. It is based around the musical notes of his initials and names, and incorporates themes taken from the word “ninety”–heard in different ways and lightly using the serialist techniques of retrograde, inversion and retrograde inversion–and “1936”, as well as part of the main melody from the first movement of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44, completed in 1936. The title “Leading Light” has a number of literal and metaphorical meanings including maritime, religious, and aviation–the first successful helicopter flight took place on the day my father was born.
English composer Liz Lane was born in Carshalton, Surrey and was six when she had the first public performance of one of her pieces, twelve when a television documentary about her was broadcast and thirteen when her music was performed by the strings of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, also televised. Her teenage years were marked by a series of commissions and works for orchestras, choirs, and instrumentalists. Also a hornist, percussionist, and pianist, she is a graduate of Cardiff University, holds a postgraduate diploma from the Royal College of Music and was awarded a PhD in composition by Cardiff University in 2010. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England Bristol and also holds academic positions at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London and the Open University, and has been involved in a number of education projects, with works for brass band, voice, and community initiatives forming an increasingly large part of her substantial catalogue of compositions in numerous genres. She has held positions as Composer in Association with the Grimethorpe Colliery Band and Composer in Residence with Lydbrook Band in the Forest of Dean. (https://www.lizlane.co.uk)
Liz Lane — Leading Light (2026) for organ
Carson Cooman, organ
Published by the composer and downloadable (in return for a donation to the British Heart Foundation) from: https://1drv.ms/f/c/7e1e195aa395b8a5/IgCqJsgYiPV4Sb6qJUoV6I2ZAcTdCxXQDhDX2JTLQrmLiYY?e=TL6qCs
The composer writes: “Leading Light” was written for my father’s 90th birthday, the most recent in a series of specially written pieces over the last two decades. It is based around the musical notes of his initials and names, and incorporates themes taken from the word “ninety”–heard in different ways and lightly using the serialist techniques of retrograde, inversion and retrograde inversion–and “1936”, as well as part of the main melody from the first movement of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44, completed in 1936. The title “Leading Light” has a number of literal and metaphorical meanings including maritime, religious, and aviation–the first successful helicopter flight took place on the day my father was born.
English composer Liz Lane was born in Carshalton, Surrey and was six when she had the first public performance of one of her pieces, twelve when a television documentary about her was broadcast and thirteen when her music was performed by the strings of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, also televised. Her teenage years were marked by a series of commissions and works for orchestras, choirs, and instrumentalists. Also a hornist, percussionist, and pianist, she is a graduate of Cardiff University, holds a postgraduate diploma from the Royal College of Music and was awarded a PhD in composition by Cardiff University in 2010. She is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England Bristol and also holds academic positions at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London and the Open University, and has been involved in a number of education projects, with works for brass band, voice, and community initiatives forming an increasingly large part of her substantial catalogue of compositions in numerous genres. She has held positions as Composer in Association with the Grimethorpe Colliery Band and Composer in Residence with Lydbrook Band in the Forest of Dean. (https://www.lizlane.co.uk)
