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A lovely glowing of the chords
Organ Summer: In the Pauluskirche, French splendor enfolds Bach.
by Albrecht Schmidt, Südhessen Nachrichten (translated by Mieke Koppen Tucker)
“Bach and the French” would have been a fitting title for the fifth concert of the Organ Summer 2010 series this Wednesday evening in Darmstadt’s Pauluskirche. The 34-year old organist Federico Andreoni from Montreal presented two important works of Johann Sebastian Bach, and then in contrast, organ compositions by Dupré, Vierne, and Widor, thus highlighting a fundamental difference between the German and French traditions: to wit, the German tendency to profound constructivism with counterpoint and polyphony, compared to the French preference for symphonic dimensions and brilliant colour effects with minute registrations.
As an organist for whom technique presents no problems, Andreoni can afford to begin with a very sophisticated piece such as Bach’s Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major (BWV 564). With great verve he approached the thundering run-up of the Toccata, so that the pipes of St. Paul's sparkled as never before. Pithily, and without missteps, he tied it off with the long bold pedal solo. In the Adagio the organist unfolded a delicate tone and added trills and original ornamentation to the flow of the play. He saw the Fugue grandiosely through in a unified compact registration, with drive and steady pulse. The motifs of the Fugue were well differentiated from each other which ensured a lightly structured transparency.
This also defined Bach’s Trio Sonata in G major (BWV 530), which flourished in an unobtrusively light manner: Andreoni’s bright silvery registration covers the composition’s whole range of themes. The music reached its greatest intensity of expression in the slow middle movement, whose calming rhythm and initial melody clearly recalls the alto aria “Have mercy” of the St. Matthew Passion.
After Bach and the added Chaconne in e minor by Dietrich Buxtehude, Federico Andreoni bridged the transition from the German Baroque to the organ pieces by the French composers with one of his own compositions. This small fantasy, “Flowers of Jamaica,” turned out to be a meditative study of bright friendly tones full of impressionistic tones with pastel coloured appealing sounds and beautiful vibrato effects.
Then the French: Marcel Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue, Op 7 no. 2, restrained and mysterious in the soft glowing weaving of chords, followed by two excerpts from the organ symphonies of Louis Vierne; at first an imposing and violent sound in the Allegro from the second symphony, next in a Mendelssohnian type light scherzo, a movement from the first symphony.
Then in conclusion, as a triumph of radiant power and virtuosity, the Finale of Charles-Marie Widor’s 6th organ symphony with festive fanfares and march-like phrases – altogether a sensuous and yet enigmatic organ performance.
As an encore Federico Andreoni returned to Bach and his magnificent C major fugue and thereby created a succinct conceptual arc back to the beginning of the concert.
