Attended a great concert this evening. Ian Tracey playing the three manual organ at my old school.
Now, having played the organ, I had a really good appreciation of his skill. You could tell that he’d taken it by the guts and given it a really good shake. It’s only got a limited range of stops, but he made it sound much bigger than it was. The program was:
* Minuee (VI Concierto par Dos Organos) – Antonio Soler
* Adagio in G minor – Thomas Albinoni
* Chaconne in d – J.S.Bach / Coss-Custard
* Three pieces for Musical Clocks – F.J.Haydn
* Scherzo in G minor – M.E.Bossi
* Modal Suite – Flor Peeters
* Psalm Prelude set 1 no. 3 – Herbert Howells
* Danses (Nutcracker) – Tchiakovsky / Tracey
* Toccata (Sinfonie V) – Charles Marie Widor

My faves were the Adagio in G minor, which was really sweet and expressive. The Bossi, where he beat the organ into submission and emerged triumphant, and of course the Widor, which having murdered it at a few weddings was really fantastic.
He had a great way with the audience and he introduced the pieces with some humor.
All in all, a great night, and I’d love to hear him playing at his home of LIverpool.

Perhaps my agegroup (old as I am!) misses out on the clasical side of things somehow, or perhaps I’m getting old!