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Christ Church Cathedral
March 27, 2009
The wonderful organ in Christ Church Cathedral, now nearing its third birthday, remains an under utilized and under appreciated asset in the Victoria music community. It is a truly magnificent instrument and all too infrequently heard (except, one supposes, by members of the local high church Anglican community on Sunday mornings). So, when it is taken out for a spin by an organist of the stature of James David Christie the audience is in for a treat, one only enhanced by its comparative rarity.
The programme was divided into two distinct halves. The first was devoted to northern European organ music from the middle of the sixteenth century until the first half of the eighteenth. The second as devoted to nineteenth and twentieth century French music.
The early music half of the programme began with a Praeambulum by Heinrich Scheidemann. Right from this start, it was clear that the audience was in for a treat. The Praeambulum began with a full-throated roar that was really quite thrilling. Christie took full advantage of the instrument at his disposal, contrasting the loud passages with quieter, delicately rendered sections.
Next up was Scheidemann's teacher, Sweelinck, represented here by a Ricercar. (Sweelinck can be regarded as the great founder of the Northern European school of organ playing. Scheidemann was the student of Sweelinck and the teacher of Buxtehude. Since Buxtehude taught J.S. Bach, Scheidemann was his musical grandfather and Sweelinck was Bach's musical great-grandfather.) The Sweelinck piece began with a haunting and hauntingly performed opening. As the work unfolded, momentum built and the musical texture thickened until Christie brought it to a bravura conclusion.
The recital continued with two selections from the keyboard book of Susanne van Soldt. This manuscript contains keyboard reductions of some of the most popular tunes of the sixteenth century, including the "Almande de la nonnete" (a.k.a. "Une jeune fillette"). These arrangements were clearly intended for domestic performance, likely on a virginals, and not for a grand church organ, but they successfully made the transition to the larger instrument. What was lost in charm was gained in grandeur. Particularly striking was a bell-like effect that Christie drew from the instrument.
The French school was represented by La Béatitude by Charles Piroye. This work provided Christie with an excellent opportunity for showing off a wide range of the palette available on the Christ Church organ. Christie took full advantage, speeding through some dazzling passagework and turning this work into a vehicle to showcase the instrument's resources.
Johann Bernhard Bach was Johann Sebastian's second cousin and good friend, but his compositional style was dramatically different. Johann Bernhard was much more in tune with the musical developments of his day. His Ciaconna in B Flat Major, a series of 22 variations, is much more galant than anything we associate with the organ works of his more famous cousin. More dance like and less contrapuntal, Christie gave the piece an appropriately transparent reading. The last variation featured another remarkable effect available on the organ, as the sound seemed to have receded into the distance.
The first half concluded with a resounding performance of a Praeludium in d minor by Georg Böhm (another of J.S. Bach's teachers). Here we were back in the realm of heavy duty baroque and Christie opened up some stops for a resounding finale.
The Sortie in B Flat Major by J. Guy Ropartz began the second half of the programme. A large-scale work, Christie speculated that it was composed for some important church festival, complete with bishops and thuribles. Although the piece is a bit gimmicky, Christie kept the textures clear in giving the work a committed and stirring performance.
Augustin Barié (1883-1915) was apparently one of the great organ improvisers of his time. (He was blind from birth.) His Élégie has something of an improvised feel about it, and this was brought out nicely in Christie performance. The work dies away pathetically, mirroring the tragically short life of the composer.
Jean Langlais, a composer much-admired by Christie, was represented by a movement of his Suite Médiévale, This work is a complex composition superimposed over a simple plainchant theme (repeated on the pedals). Christie's reading of the work was intense and striking. Christie continued his homage to Langlais with a work of his own composition, an Élégie in the style of his mentor. The work, in the form of a chaconne, was meditative both in conception and performance, a moving tribute to the French composer.
The scheduled programme finished with the third movement of Alexandre Guilmant's Sonata I in d minor, Op. 42. This work, originally composed for organ and orchestra, requires the organist to take on the role of an entire symphony orchestra. It was a barn burner of a conclusion and brought the audience to its feel for a standing ovation.
The encore was a piece by Giuseppi Gherardeschi from 1787. A real party piece, it features novel effects including a drum, twittering bird song and a loads of others. I am really not quite sure how Christie coaxed some of the sounds from the instrument. It truly had to be heard to be believed.
If you haven't heard the organ at Christ Church, you should take the first opportunity to hear it in performance, particularly if it is played by a musician of the Christie's calibre. Let us hope that it is not too long before this opportunity presents itself.
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