I learned Dan Locklair’s “The Peace May Be Exchanged” (from Rubrics) almost fifteen years ago. Little did I know, but this beautiful, tricky piece would become my single-most-played piece ever.
At first glance, you wouldn’t think this would be the piece I come back to over and over. It’s quiet. And it’s challenging, with double pedal and irregular meters.
But here’s what keeps me coming back:
First, it’s gorgeous.
How many pieces still capture you year after year, funeral after funeral? But I am just as musically satisfied by “The Peace May Be Exchanged” now as when I first learned it years ago. And it’s not just me who loves it. People regularly ask me for the title after a service if it wasn’t listed in the program.
Second, it’s functionally perfect.
It’s a comfortable length for a prelude. And it’s easy to register, even on the smallest of organs–all you really need is a louder stop and a quieter stop. During my many years as a substitute organist, I played this piece week after week, partially because I loved it, and partially because I could register it in about a minute, and then turn my attention to more complicated registrations for the hymns and postlude.
For all that pragmatism though, what really gets me is how much I love it after so much use. How can I not be tired of it after all these years? But whenever I get to this piece in the midst of a long funeral prelude, I always relax a little and joy in the music.
And I’m not alone! The piece it’s from, Rubrics, is apparently one of the most popular organ works by an American composer. Click here for Marilyn Keiser’s recording of “The Peace May Be Exchanged.” And click here if you’d like the sheet music (an affiliate link, which means, at no cost to you, I may earn a small commission if you chose to purchase through the link – thank you for supporting the content I produce!).
GEMS is a series devoted to continual delights—music, books, and other things that bring joy, year after year.
