I began writing this music, and the whole second symphony, in the fall of 2016 as an outlet for what I saw happening in the news with the rise of what has now become the operational norm of the Right. The music is mostly in 7/4 time, with the battle music in 5/4, adding to the unrest and tension. Only the peaceful string section towards the end in is 4/4. The ending, while finally resolving to the major chord suggested by the music all along, brings back the drums of war, a reminder that peace is fleeting in this world, and something to be cherished.
The score and recording was made with Finale using Garritan default sounds, Personal Orchestra 5, and CFX Lite Piano;  EastWest Hollywood Woodwinds, Brass, and Goliath; BFD Eco, and a homemade cymbal roll. Mixed in Adobe Audition 3.

Symphony No. 2 Mvt. 1 - The Drums of War

The original recording of this was finished in October of 2003, and was one of the very first things I recorded at home. I thought a 20th anniversary was a good time to fix everything I had left rough to approximate a live recording. Live recordings have improved dramatically in the past 20 years, leaving my old realization of the organ classic sounding just a bit off, to me, anyway. Most people I asked before I started this remix project thought the original was just fine. Yay for that, but here's what's new for 2023:
 - A new drum track, faithful to the original, but waaaay better. Still me though, programming BFD3.
 - A new organ track. Recorded with the pipe organ at the First United Methodist Church in Forest City, NC. The original organ tracks, still mixed in lightly here for depth, were my own Yamaha DX5 (two 7's in one 73-key keyboard) patches, and a Yamaha PSR630 chained together. Manuals, pedals, and some loud stops, were all recorded separately using a MIDI file created to match the original recording.
- …and of course, the new mix. The original was done in Cool Edit Pro (the precursor to Adobe Audition) running in Windows 98 on a 486 processor, and this in Logic Pro (Audition doesn't have MIDI capability) with an M1 processor. The amp and speakers are the same as before, but in a better room. Just like the first time, mixing this took about a month, there’s a lot going on.
I hope you like it.
       - Roger Lowe, October 2023

The Widor Toccata Prog Rock (20th Anniversary Remix)

The Widor Toccata Prog Rock 20th Anniversary Remix

Orchestral arrangement of the hymn. Score and parts available.

O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee - Orchestral Arrangement

Orchestration of one of my piano arrangements. Score available! Recorded in Logic with Finale; Garritan Personal Orchestra 5; CFX Lite Piano; BFD Drums; EastWest Hollywood Brass, Strings, Percussion, Harp, Gypsy (solo violin) and Goliath (upright bass). Some parts played by hand. Some cymbals and the triangle are my recordings.

Simple Gifts - Orchestral Arrangement

This is a lullaby that Joseph might have sung to the Baby Jesus on the night he was born. 
I wrote this in 1998, but never could get a decent recording of it. I finally have the equipment to do it justice. Sheet music available at https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_No/1437377/Product.aspx

Lullaby(Joseph's Song)

Lullaby (Joseph's Song)

Arrangement of the familiar hymn for flute with piano accompaniment. Sheet music available at https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/fairest-lord-jesus-22776698.html

Fairest Lord Jesus - piano/flute arrangement

This piece was improvised the spring of 1980 in one take using the UNC-G Moog Modular system that is now in the Moogseum in Asheville, NC. The patch on the synthesizer was monophonic, (meaning that two notes are never played at the same time) with just a hint of portamento (glide between notes). Polyphonic effects are entirely the result of echo. 
The echo effect was achieved with a reel-to-reel tape recorder. In this case, I had a small reel, of tape, and when I saw it was running out, I cut the speed of the tape in half, doubling the delay time. The second half of the piece is interesting to me because the delay was long enough and the decay of the repeats long enough to build rhythms and chords that change organically with each added note. The piece finally resolves on an A-flat chord and fades out. I have cleaned up the tape with digital noise reduction and an edit to make the transition between the two halves of the piece smooth. No new music has been added.

Echo Study

This piece was improvised the spring of 1980 using the UNC-G Moog Modular system that is now in the Moogseum in Asheville, NC, and the Arp 2600 that was in the studio that year. The drone was a relatively simple patch on the Moog using PWM for the phasing effect. The slow bell-like sounds were also created on the Moog. One can hear me turn the Arp 2600 on that plays the oddly out-of-tune descending scale with semi-random notes selected from a sampled LFO ramp wave. All other sounds were created with the Moog. Recorded on a Teac 4-track reel-to-reel and mixed to cassette.

Doppler And Bounce

This piece was improvised the spring of 1980 using the UNC-G Moog Modular system that is now in the Moogseum in Asheville, NC, and a Korg MS20 that was in the studio that year. You are initially hearing one oscillator, then I flipped on a second routed to FM the first, then a third LFO to modulate the second. This arrangement is quite like a Yamaha DX7 algorithm which would appear just a few years later. All this is fed to a tape delay, in this case, recording on one machine and running the tape to a second for playback. As in the case of “Echo Study”, I began to run out of tape and cut the speed, which you can clearly hear in the recording. The flying saucer effect at minutes 2:00 and 5:00 are both the Korg MS20.

Forbidden Studio

Hark, the Voice of Jesus Calling orchestra/rock  arrangement

Adaptation of Der Mond kommt still gegangen by Clara Schumann (1844), Op 13, No. 6. Arrangement and additional material by Roger Lowe

The Silent Moon Rises

Roger Lowe has written music for orchestra, chamber groups, piano, organ, guitar, choir, solo voice, electronic, and rock ensemble. He holds a Bachelor of Music, Music Composition from Gardner-Webb University (2013). 
Roger played keyboards in Christian Rock groups from 1981–1987 and has been a church organist since 1992.

Roger Lowe, composer

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