Recital at St Michael’s Church, Beckenham 29 Sept 2013
Norman Harper, ~ Organist, St George’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Southwark
Programme
Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750 Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Gabriel Fauré 1845-1924
Pavane (arr Robert Husson)
Noel Rawsthorne b1929
Hornpipe Humoresque
Richard Strauss 1864-1949
Beim Schlafengehen from Four Last Songs
Christopher Maxim b1971
Toccata Nuptiale
Gerald Finzi 1901-1956
Prelude (arr Alan Ridout)
J.S.Bach 1685-1750
Passacaglia in C minor BWV 582
The Toccata and Fugue are the most performed of all Bach’s works.
This transcription (by Robert Husson) is the well-loved Pavane, by Gabriel Fauré. Originally composed in
1887, it passed through a number of versions: for piano, for orchestra, and then with the addition of a choir.
Noel Rawsthorne’s career as an international virtuoso organist was long associated with the great organ of
Liverpool Cathedral, where he was organist for 25 years. In more recent years he became a prolific composer
and arranger, and his entertaining take on the Sailor’s Hornpipe is now a very popular recital item. You may
detect a few extra tunes creeping in, some intended by the composer and some possibly not.
Richard Strauss’s Four last songs are expansive concert pieces for soprano and large orchestra, based on
poems by Hesse and Eichendorff. Beim Schlafengehen (Going to sleep) is characterised by glorious, sweeping
melodies and rich, romantic harmonies.
Christopher Maxim’s Toccata Nuptiale is a tongue-in-cheek wedding voluntary, based on a tune so well
known it hardly needs pointing out – and there’s a tenuous link with today’s date.
Gerald Finzi’s Prelude here transcribed by Alan Ridout, is a string orchestra piece in F minor, dating
possibly from the 1920s. Though tranquil in mood, it contains many of the melodic and harmonic
hallmarks of Elgar’s nobilmente style, together with the occasional piquant false relation, to remind us of
an earlier period of English music.
Though a relatively early work (probably composed between 1708-1712) the great Passacaglia in C minor is
one of the finest of all J.S.Bach’s works for organ, building on a simple chaconne figure (found in the Trio en
Passacaille of André Raison’s Suite du Deuziesme Ton) to create a monumental series of twenty-two variations
and a double fugue. The huge scale of invention here is matched by a powerful sense of logical development,
growing towards an awesome conclusion.
Norman Harper was organ scholar at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and is now organist and director
of the Girls’ Choir at St George’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Southwark. In addition to his CD recordings, he has
performed as soloist in many of the major venues in the UK, including St Paul’s Cathedral, St John’s College
and King’s College Cambridge, the Temple Church, Coventry Cathedral and Southwark Anglican Cathedral, as
well as in Germany, France, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Australia and the USA. He has broadcast solo recitals
on BBC Radio 3 and accompanied services on Radio 2 & 4 and BBC TV. He also composes music for solo
organ and for choirs, including a Mass for Men’s Voices, written for the Lay Clerks of St George’s Cathedral.
Recital venues during 2013 - 14 include Westminster Abbey, St Michael’s Cornhill, Grosvenor Chapel
Mayfair, Westminster Cathedral, Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church and Christchurch Priory, Dorset.