Music for Church Cleaners

This collection of solo organ pieces — some improvised, others based on a graphic score of O’Dwyer’s own design — was recorded in St Marks Church in north London. O’Dwyer, normally a harpist, played while the staff were inside, cleaning up between masses. You can hear all sorts of noise in the background, including children laughing and running around at times, and once or twice there’s a comment from the cleaners. After “An Unkindness of Ravens,” there’s “a request from the ladies” that she “not stay on one note for a long time”; after “‘Deep Sound’ Invocation,” it’s made clear that the long low tones are an issue. But even if some of this music is disturbing to its inadvertent initial audience, it’s really beautiful when listened to at home or on headphones. Some of it has the dreamlike quality of minimalist classical, and some just filters through the room like sunlight through a stained-glass window.