"An organist noble in the Bach line...As a composer-performer she falls clearly into a lineage from which Bach and Durufle are but two points on a long and distinguished timeline. Decker reveals both a thoroughly ingrained knowledge of the existing repertory and a formidable command of the instrument and its possibilities. It's precisely that virtuosity that comes to the fore in "Kairos" (1996) and "Rio abajo rio" (1999), both of which gently push the boundaries of standard organ music...these works balance the freedom of spontaneous creation with the clear direction of a formal road map."
–Gramophone
Volume Two is named for its opening piece, Desert Wildflowers. Program notes
describe the flamboyant beauty of these rare blooms, and the music parallels
their extravagance. Decker is a painter in sound. All three of these movements
are tangos, but each with a different character. The first is sensible, tightly
composed; the second is lush and gorgeous; the third (Saiya) is both a tango and a fugue. The seed capsules of the saiya
flower contain caffeine, and so does this movement.
Kairos is the most
eventful piece on this disc. The listener feels borne from one state to
another, grown, as it were, from turbulence to solidity.
Passacaglia on BACH
is a Pulitzer Prize nominee. The work is thickly contrapuntal, with canon,
augmentation, diminution, inversion and four-part fugal writing. Not one but
two solos for double pedal require ferocious technique, and Decker handles the
task masterfully.
Fantasy on the Name of
Marilyn Keiser: Though the ‘spelling’ of this name in musical notation
results in a subject of ambivalent shape, Decker weaves a warm, lyrical, late
French romantic centerpiece from it.
Decker Plays Decker, Volume Two ends with Río abajo Río. My awareness of the requirements of the piece (having premiered it at the 2000 AGO convention in Seattle) only
increases my admiration for the performance here. This is new music audiences
love. It is rare for a composer of such accomplishment to be quite as fine an
organist as Decker is. She conveys her music with excitement and technical
fire. From both the compositional and the performance viewpoints, these CDs are
a tour de force.
–Christa Rakich, in The Diapason