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David Saint |
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Programme Notes – October 9th 2004.
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Toccata and Fugue in A minor |
JL Krebs (1713 – 1780) |
| Krebs was a pupil of Bach and in many ways was the
last great organ composer of the eighteenth century. Bach’s
influence is easily discerned in this Toccata which is virtually
a pastiche of the great F major Toccata BWV540. Elements of the E
minor Fugue (‘Wedge’) also seem to be woven into Krebs’ Fugue
though the overall style is considerably more classical, or galant.
Despite some shortcomings of structure and indeed content, this Toccata
and Fugue is propelled by a sense of purpose and joie de vivre. |
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Chaconne in F minor |
J Pachelbel (1653 – 1706) |
| This charming chaconne takes as its basis a simple
four-note motif, heard mainly in the bass. Pachelbel’s imagination
allows a wide variety of figuration to unfold, climaxing in a brief
modulation to the relative major before the music returns to the
mood of the opening |
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Four chorale-preludes from the ’18 |
JS Bach (1685 – 1750) |
| Herr Jesu Christ dich zu uns wend BWV 655
Nun komm, der heiden Heiland BWV 659
Von Gott will ich ncht lassen BWV 658
Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist BWV 667
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| These four chorale-preludes are all from the collection
known as ‘the Eighteen’, Bach’s second major collection
after the Orgelbuchlein. Herr Jesu Christ, employs a trio texture,
and the first line of the chorale is used as the basis for the manual
figuration and the pedal motif. |
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| BWV659 is one of three preludes on Nun komm, der
heiden Heiland in the collection. Here the chorale is used as the basis
for a decorated melody with the accompanying parts using figures
developed from the hymn. |
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| Von Gott will ich nicht has the chorale in the pedals
at 4’ pitch and in unadorned form, against manual figuration
which is again derived from the first line of the chorale. |
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| Komm, Gott, Schöpfer is a Lutheran chorale based
on a plainsong hymn, Veni Creator Spiritus (Come Holy Ghost). In
this prelude, the chorale appear first in the soprano, and then in
a long-note pedal cantus firmus. Bach’s music is rich in symbolism:
here, the compound time signature divides the beat into three (Trinity)
and at the beginning, a new voice enters on each quaver (Father,
Son and Holy Ghost). The pedal continues sounding on the 3rd quaver
only, as befits a hymn to the third person of the Trinity |
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Prelude and Fugue in C minor |
F-B Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847) |
| Mendelssohn was a man of many parts; not only a distinguished
composer, but also a well-known performer, conductor and concert
organiser. He was central to the Bach revival, and the influence
of the latter’s music is evident in this fine prelude and fugue.
This is Mendelssohn at his best, with a strong rhythmic prelude and
a skilfully wrought fugue in 12/8 wherein syncopation becomes an
increasingly strong feature as the music unfolds. |
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INTERVAL
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Choral no.3 in A minor |
C Franck (1822 – 1890) |
| Franck opened the new instrument in St-Clotilde in
1859 and from that time was inextricably linked with the Cavaillé-Coll
school of organ composers. The Trois Chorals were written in the
summer of 1890, just a few months before he died. No. 3 in A minor
is probably the best-known and has among its features the following:
an enigmatic tempo direction, Quasi Allegro; busy semiquaver figuration
which seems to owe something to Bach; a contrasting spacious ‘chorale’;
a fine Adagio interlude; finally the bringing together of the semiquaver
figure and the ‘chorale’ melody in a well-wrought climax. |
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Aria |
J Alain (1911 – 1940) |
| Alain was born into an intensely musical family which
had a particular interest in the organ. His father, Albert, built
a versatile and idiosyncratic house organ (recently restored and
recorded); his sister, Marie-Claire, was to become famous as a player
and exponent of Jehan’s music, and Alain himself left a unique
contribution to the organists’ repertoire at his untimely death
at the age of 29. Litanies is probably the best known of his works;
the Aria of 1938 is less well-known, but is a charming, at times
melancholic piece, with colourful registrations and intense, chromatic
harmonies. Aria has a rhapsodic quality, and the listener should
not be lulled by the gentle, lilting opening – the shifting
pulse gives the clue that there are surprises in store. |
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Sonata on the 94th Psalm |
J Reubke (1834 – 1858) |
| Grave: “O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth,
shew thyself. Arise, thou judge of the world: and reward the proud
after their deserving.” |
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| Larghetto – Allegro con fuoco: “Lord, how
long shall the ungodly triumph? They murder the widow and stranger:
and put the fatherless to death. And let them say, Tush, the Lord
shall not see: neither shall the god of Jacob regard it.” |
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| Adagio: “If the Lord had not helped me: it had
not failed but my soul had been put to silence. In the multitude
of the sorrows that I had in my heart: thy comforts have refreshed
my soul.” |
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| Allegro: “But the Lord is my refuge: and my God
is the strength of my confidence. He shall recompense them their
wickedness: and destroy them in their own malice.” |
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| The German composer Julius Reubke was the son of the
organ builder Adolf Reubke. His Sonata on the 94th Psalm was written
in 1857 shortly after Reubke had begun to study composition with
Liszt in Weimer and was premiered by him on the organ of Merseburg
Cathedral later that year. Tragically Reubke died the following year
at the age of only 24 leaving only one other large scale work – a
grand romantic sonata for piano. Shortly after his death Liszt wrote
a letter to his father, saying: Truly no one could feel more deeply
the loss which Art has suffered in your Julius, than the one who
has followed with admiring sympathy his noble, constant, and successful
strivings in these latter years, and who will ever bear his friendship
faithfully in mind. |
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| The Sonata on the 94th Psalm is in a single movement
falling into several sections which depict different verses of the
psalm. The dramatic opening of the sonata depicts God arising to
judge the world which leads into an allegro section depicting a mood
of anger and fury. A tranquil adagio section follows depicting a
sense of trust in God before the final fugal section concludes the
sonata in a mood of optimism and defiance. |
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| David Saint was born in Jarrow and
read music at Hull and Liverpool universities. He studied the orgtan
with Alan Spedding
and Dame Gillian Weir. David has been Organist and Director of Music
at St. Chad's Cathedral Birmingham since 1978, and is also Head of
Academic Studies and Head of Organ at Birmingham Conservatoire. He
is actively involved with the Royal College of Organists as it moves
its base to Birmingham. David played in this year's Proms with a
performance of Britten's Curlew River and recitals this
year inclued Durham Cathedral, Hexam Abbey and Newcastle Cathedral.
Recitals in 2005 include Symphony Hall Birmingham, and a visit to
the Soro Festival in Denmark. |
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