Gabriel Jackson

St Asaph Toccata was commissioned by Symphony Hall Birmingham as part of the Bach to the Future Series. The composer writes: 'The original title for the piece was Toccata Machine as I had an image of the gigantic Symphony Hall organ as some kind of mad machine uncontrollably spewing out manic toccata figuration. Except for a short oasis of calm two-thirds of the way through the piece is very loud and has millions of notes in it. The eventual title refers to the street in South London where I live rather than the Welsh Saint Asaph'.

The Orgelbuchlein Project is a long running project to complete Bach's unfinished collection of organ music. Bach inscribed the title of 164 Chorales in his manuscript but only composed 46 of them. This short chorale setting for solo organ is Jackson's contribution to the completion of the set.