Garth Edmundson (1900-1971) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was educated at the Leipzig Conservatory, and he studied with Harvey Gaul, Lynnwood Farnam, Joseph Bonnet, and Isidor Phillipp. His working life was as an organist/teacher and director of music in several churches and schools in western Pennsylvania. The Toccata on "Von Himmel Hoch" is from a group of four pieces and is in the French style with a frantic manual accompaniment over the loud pedal statement of the chorale. However many times one listens to this piece, the penultimate "naughty" chord hits the spot!

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