Orgelkonzert Martin Setchell

He is perhaps the congratulator with the longest journey in the 20th anniversary year of the Oppenheimer Woehl organ: Martin Setchell. The dynamic organist, born in England, of the Christchurch Town Hall has already been dubbed ‘New Zealand's most traveled concert organist.’ After over 40 years as a staff member of the University of Canterbury School of Music, he stepped down in 2014 as an extraordinary professor of music to work freelance as a performer, guest conductor and concert organist, author, music editor, speaker, and teacher. With a good dose of British humor, he – together with his wife Jenny, whose humorous books about organs and organists are regarded by both professionals and amateurs alike as an enjoyable "must-have" – has been enthusiastically enchanting his audience in Oppenheim for many years with his virtuosic playing, lively personality, and diverse repertoire.

On Sunday, June 28 at 7 p.m. he will present a program of facets of European timbres at the Woehl organ in the Katharinenkirche.

With the Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C Major (BWV 564), the young Johann Sebastian Bach already presented himself at the Weimar court at the age of just 23. In the shadow of the more famous Toccata in D minor, but nonetheless one of the most brilliant and expressive organ works of the composer, the Toccata in C Major impresses with the silvery transparency of the North German School, as he learned it during his North German "wandering years" in Lübeck with Dietrich Buxtehude.
Very different then is the tone of French organ music in the works of Louis Vierne, who served as titular organist at the Paris Cathedral of Notre-Dame from 1900 until his death. His name stands for compositions that represent a peak of complexity and virtuosity in French organ symphony. But he was also versatile: In the meditative mood of the small character piece "Claire de Lune" from the Pièces de Fantasie, the play of light from moonlight against the vastness of the night sky is perceptible through the finest tonal nuances.

Also widely traveled and in this respect closely related to the soloist of the Oppenheim concert evening was Alexandre Guilmant. He celebrated acclaimed successes at the great instruments of the world, including the then largest instrument in St. Sulpice/Paris and the Wanamaker Store organ in Philadelphia – which is still the largest playable organ in the world today. He is considered a guide to the independent French-Romantic sound language, of which the poetic mood of the Pastorale and the radiant energy of the finale from his 1st Organ Sonata stand as impressive testimonies, which Martin Setchell will play in the Oppenheim concert.

A reference to the music of the Renaissance and a bow to the work of the British composer Thomas Tallis is ultimately represented by the 1940 composition "Master Tallis’ Testament" by Herbert Howells. And the organ tells a distant story, providing harmonic surprises through echoes of ancient church modes, gaining a powerful physicality until the memory dissolves in an adagio perdendosi.

Sunday, June 28, 7 p.m.
Organ Concert
Johann Sebastian Bach: Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue in C Major BWV 564
Louis Vierne: Clair de Lune
Felix Alexandre Guilmant: 1st Organ Sonata (Pastorale, Finale)
Howells: Master Tallis’ Testament
Organ: Prof. Martin Setchell, Christchurch (New Zealand), University of Canterbury

Price Category B
18 Euro, reduced 12 Euro