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Showing posts with label Organ concert series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Organ concert series. Show all posts

Monday, August 17, 2026

Organ Concert Series 2026 (4)

In fact this is the fifth concert, I missed the fourth one for Squonk -- sorry! And it's the last one for this season. Which is a pity.

However, this concert took place at August 16, 2026, with organist 

Nicholas Will.

This concert, to honour this wonderful Rudolf von Beckerath organ, went under the headline "B for Beckerath", and so all composers whose works we heard today started with B: Nikolaus Bruhns (1665-1691), Adriano Banchieri (1568-1634), Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), Léon Boëllmann (1862-1897), Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and Dudley Buck (1839-1901). 

My special discovery this time was Léon Boëllmann's Suite Gothic, Op. 25 in four movements. Very impressing.

And of course Brahms -- I really love his music, but I never knew he composed works for organ. It's indeed only a small number of pieces, but I will check them out.

As always, this concert was recorded for WQED-FM. 

Monday, August 3, 2026

Organ Concert Series 2026 (3)

 The third concert from August 2, 2026, with

Neil Stahurski.

Works by Georg Muffat (1653-1704), Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676-1749), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Jehan Alain (1911-1940)

My special discovery his time was the "Suite pour Orgue" by Jehan Alain. Very impressing. I've never heard of him, but I'm sure he listened a lot to Olivier Messiaen.

The concert was recorded for WQED-FM. 

 

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Organ Concert Series 2026 (2)

 The second concert from July 12, 2026, with

Pamela Shaw,

accompanied by violinist Warren Davidson


 

Works by Alexander Därr, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Nicolaus Bruhns, Olivier Messiaen, Mark Sedio, Robert G. Farrell, Kenneth Danchik, Josef Rheinberger, Georg Friedrich Händel and as always Johann Sebastian Bach.

My special this time was "Oraison" by Olivier Messiaen, originally written for piano and Ondes Martenot, here arranged for organ by Christopher Carone. 

The concert was recorded for WQED-FM.

Sunday, June 28, 2026

Organ Concert Series 2026 (1)

 This summer's organ concert series at Saint Paul Cathedral started June 28, 2026 with

Ian Michael Brown

playing works by Tate Pumpfrey, Dietrich Buxtehude, Jean Langlais, Piere Camonin, Johann Sebastian Bach, Max Reger, Maurice Duruflé and Dom Paul Benoit. 




My special discovery this time was "Mors et resurrectio", Op. 5 No. 1 by Jean Langlais (1907 - 1991). Never heard of him before, but this was an impressing piece.

The concert was recorded for WQED-FM. 


Thursday, November 20, 2025

Orgel am Mittag / Organ at Noon

Die Heinz Chapel, die zur University of Pittsburgh gehört, verfügt über eine Reuter-Orgel von 1995. Die über 4000 Pfeifen sind vorn, rechts, links, hinten und sogar an der Decke im Raum angeordnet, was je nach Registrierung des Instruments eine Art Surround-Effekt ergibt. Das Instrument verfügt zudem über elektronische Samples, weil speziell manche französischen Werke in Bassbereiche hinuntergehen, die 32-Fuß-Pfeifen erfordern würden, die aber räumlich in der Kapelle nicht unterzubringen wären. 

Die Organistin Pamela Shaw, die unter anderem an der Musikhochschule Lübeck bei Walter Kraft studierte und als Assistenzorganistin an St. Paul tätig ist, spielte ein interessantes Programm zwischen Barock und Neuzeit:

  • Grand Choeur in B-flat major von Théodore Dubois,
  • Dialogue sur les grands Jeux (Veni Creator Spiritus) von Nicolas de Grigny,
  • Concerto no. 2 in a minor (after Vivaldi, BWV593) von Johann Sebastian Bach,
  • Aria from Leoni Variations von John S. Dixon,
  • Deo Gracias von Joseph Willcox Jenkins. 

Dreißig Minuten Orgelkonzert am Mittag -- eine gute Idee, die gern zur Tradition werden darf.

 
The Heinz Chapel, part of the University of Pittsburgh, boasts a Reuter organ built in 1995. Its more than 4,000 pipes are arranged at the front, right, left, back, and even on the ceiling, creating a kind of surround-sound effect depending on the instrument's registration. The instrument also features electronic samples because some French works in particular go down into bass ranges that would require 32-foot pipes, which could not be accommodated spatially in the chapel.

Organist Pamela Shaw, who studied at the Lübeck Academy of Music with Walter Kraft and is currently assistant organist at St. Paul's, played an interesting program spanning from the Baroque to the modern era:

  • Grand Choeur in B-flat major by Théodore Dubois,
  • Dialogue sur les grands Jeux (Veni Creator Spiritus) by Nicolas de Grigny,
  • Concerto No. 2 in A minor (after Vivaldi, BWV 593) by Johann Sebastian Bach,
  • Aria from Leoni Variations by John S. Dixon,
  • Deo Gracias by Joseph Willcox Jenkins.

Thirty minutes of organ recital at noontime—a great idea that should become a tradition.


 

Sunday, August 10, 2025

Another Sunday Afternoon

Another fine organ concert on the 1962 Rudolf von Beckerath Organ at this year's Saint Paul Cathedral Organ Concert Series, the last concert of five. Amanda Plazek Bruce played works by

Johann Sebastian Bach

Peter Kolar

Jean Langlais

John Dixon

Aaron Shows

Dieterich Buxtehude

Zsolt Gárdonyi

Marcel Dupré.

 

The concert got recorded and will hopefully be broadcast on Classical WQED-FM Pittsburgh -- providing that this station will exist any longer. You might have heard that the funding of public radio and tv is no longer guaranteed.