Sunday 12 February 2023 at 8:00 PM
Eccles Organ Festival Recital
Loreto Aramendi
Basilique of Santa María del Coro, San Sebastian (Basque Country)
Eccles Organ Festival Recital
Loreto Aramendi
Basilique of Santa María del Coro, San Sebastian (Basque Country)
International concertist Loreto Aramendi is the main organist of the Cavaillé-Coll organ ( 1863) of the Basilique of Santa María del Coro and professor at the F. Escudero Conservatoire in San Sebastian (Basque Country). After attending the Conservatoire of San Sebastian, Loreto Aramendi later pursed her studies in organ, harpsicord and piano at several prestigious institutions including the National Higher Conservatoire of Lyon National Regional Superior Conservatoire in Paris. One of the leading performers of her generation, Loreto is regularly invited to perform in international festivals in USA, Canada, South America, Russia, Asia and most of European countries.
Program
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Toccata BuxWV 156
Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)
Prélude from Suite Op.5
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Funérailles (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, 1849) (+)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Danse macabre Op. 40 (1874) (+)
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Pelléas et Mélisande (+)
I. Prélude
III. Sicilienne
César Franck (1882-1890)
Rédemption (Interlude Symphonique) (+)
Charles Tournemire (1870-1939)
Choral Improvisation "Victimae Paschali”
(+): transcription by Louis Robilliard
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Toccata BuxWV 156
Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)
Prélude from Suite Op.5
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Funérailles (Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, 1849) (+)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Danse macabre Op. 40 (1874) (+)
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Pelléas et Mélisande (+)
I. Prélude
III. Sicilienne
César Franck (1882-1890)
Rédemption (Interlude Symphonique) (+)
Charles Tournemire (1870-1939)
Choral Improvisation "Victimae Paschali”
(+): transcription by Louis Robilliard
PROGRAM NOTES
by Dr. Kenneth Udy, University of Utah
Buxtehude was one of the most significant composers of the 17th century. His career included posts at three different churches—all named St. Mary’s—beginning in Helsingborg, Sweden, where he succeeded his father; then at Helsingør, Denmark; and for his last 38 years at Lübeck, Germany, where he succeeded Franz Tunder on the condition that he marry Tunder's daughter! Buxtehude epitomized the North German school of organ playing, and many composers, including Bach, copied his compositional style. He cultivated to maturity the North German organ prelude: a genre that juxtaposes multiple sections of free improvisation and strict fugal counterpoint using contrasting moods and meters. Of his 19 surviving preludes, the Toccata in F Major, BuxWV 156 is a splendid example. Its two fugal sections occupy only a minor place, while the free sections, unified by stylus phantasticus and long pedal points, take priority. The final free section features dizzying disjointed tenths in the pedal illustrating the high degree of pedal virtuosity attained by Buxtehude and his contemporaries.
Duruflé was appointed organist of Paris’s Saint Etienne-du-Mont in 1929, a job he held for the rest of his life. He was highly self-critical and published only 14 opus numbers. His four major organ works were written between 1926 and 1943 and are pinnacles in the repertory. His three-movement Suite was composed in 1933 and dedicated to his teacher, Paul Dukas. The dark opening Prélude in E-flat minor uses two themes (one closely resembles “Pie Jesu” from his Requiem) and two modalities oscillating in a slowly developing crescendo followed by a long decrescendo returning the movement to its initial calm.
This evening Ms. Aramendi plays four 19th-century pieces transcribed for organ solo by Lyon-based organist Louis Robilliard (b. 1939). His superb ability to create organ transcriptions allows “the music to sound as if it were originally written for the organ.”
Liszt had a fascination with death, pain, and suffering. Composed in October 1849 as an elegy to casualties in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Funérailles [Funeral] is the seventh and most famous in his collection of ten piano pieces, Harmonies Poètiques et religieuses. It is in the style of his symphonic poems: a one-movement programmatic work with sections that contrast in character and tempo. The dark and gloomy first section, Introduzione, evokes muffled bells on the battlefield with the lowest pedal C imitating cannons exploding and the advancing army depicted through motives sequencing upward in half steps. The second section begins with a funeral dirge that modulates into a sweet, intimate melody in A-flat major. The piece then moves into a heroic warrior march beginning with a rapid ostinato in the left hand under trumpet calls building to an intense climax. The final section reprises the three themes, culminating on a long D-flat augmented chord, and ending suddenly with two staccato chords.
Liszt’s good friend, Camille Saint-Saëns, was a native of Paris. He was organist at La Madeleine from 1858 until he received a substantial inheritance in 1877 which afforded him an early retirement from church music. His famous symphonic poem Danse macabre was originally composed in 1872 as a vocal setting of Henri Cazalis’s poem of the same name. Two years later he expanded it into a symphonic poem modeled after Liszt. Although the first performance in 1875 allegedly induced in the audience widespread feelings of anxiety, the following year Liszt transcribed the piece for piano solo, and ever since, countless transcriptions have appeared, including two by Saint-Saëns himself. At the outset a single D is repeated twelve times recalling the legend that every Halloween Death appears at the stroke of midnight. After the first and second themes are introduced, the piece becomes more energetic as Death summons the dead from their graves to dance while he plays his fiddle. Dies irae, a chant from the Requiem Mass for the Dead, is quoted, followed by a fortissimo frenzy as the skeletons dance. An abrupt break signals dawn, and with the rooster’s crow the dead return to their graves for another year.
Saint-Saëns’s student, Gabriel Fauré, was the assistant organist at Saint-Sulpice. In 1877, at the request of his teacher, he became the assistant to Dubois (Saint-Saëns’s successor) at La Madeleine. Later he succeeded Dubois both as titular organist and as director of the Paris Conservatory. Despite his long tenure as a church organist, Fauré wrote nothing for the organ; instead, he preferred to improvise. That being the case, organ transcriptions of Fauré’s other music may provide a glimpse of the sounds that unfolded during his improvisations at La Madeleine. A beautiful example is incidental music Fauré composed in 1898 for the London production of the play Pelléas et Mélisande. The Prélude, marked Quasi adagio, is based on a stepwise theme and a romantic “love” theme originally played by a solo cello. The celebrated Sicilienne in G minor was originally composed in 1893 but later repurposed. Loosely associated with Sicily, a sicilienne is often in a slow 6/8 meter characterized by dotted rhythms in a minor key.
Franck was a towering figure in French music of the 19th century. As a teacher and mentor he gained admiration for his modesty and generosity while influencing younger disciples. His 1873 oratorio, Redemption, is a fusion of choral movements and solo arias interspersed with spoken recitative and one purely orchestral number intended to join the oratorio’s two major sections together. After a failed debut, Franck’s students persuaded him to revise the oratorio, only to have it flop again in 1875. Now-forgotten, it was never performed again in Franck’s lifetime; however, the orchestral number, Interlude Symphonique in D major, which Franck completely rewrote for the revision, has taken its place in the orchestral repertory alongside his three other symphonic poems. Marked Maestoso poco lento, the piece demonstrates Franck at his most luxuriant as he brings together several melodies from the oratorio and dresses them in opulent, chromatic language reminiscent of Wagner or Berlioz. It is sensuously dramatic in its Christian devotion and melodic intensity. Organist Marcel Dupré first transcribed the work for organ solo and made an annual tradition of performing it at the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at Saint-Sulpice.
A native of Bordeaux, France, Charles Tournemire descended from a family of organists. He studied with Franck and Widor and filled Franck’s coveted post at Sainte-Clotilde from 1898 until his death. He was a brilliant improviser, and in 1958 his former student and assistant, Maurice Duruflé, transcribed a Choral Improvisation on Victimae Paschali [Pascal Victim] in G minor recorded in 1930 at Sainte-Clotilde. The pause in the middle reflects the fact that Tournemire recorded straight to enormous wax discs, and each side lasted just five minutes. The improvisation is divided into three 3 sections. After an energetic, medieval introduction on the tutti and an agitated development with surprising modulations (G minor to B minor, for example), the Victimae pasachali chant is heard as a harmonized chorale. An ostinato in E minor then leads to the central Lento on the Voix humaine, followed by a thrilling crescendo into the glorious return of the Easter chant, punctuated with striking arabesques, to complete the improvisation.
by Dr. Kenneth Udy, University of Utah
Buxtehude was one of the most significant composers of the 17th century. His career included posts at three different churches—all named St. Mary’s—beginning in Helsingborg, Sweden, where he succeeded his father; then at Helsingør, Denmark; and for his last 38 years at Lübeck, Germany, where he succeeded Franz Tunder on the condition that he marry Tunder's daughter! Buxtehude epitomized the North German school of organ playing, and many composers, including Bach, copied his compositional style. He cultivated to maturity the North German organ prelude: a genre that juxtaposes multiple sections of free improvisation and strict fugal counterpoint using contrasting moods and meters. Of his 19 surviving preludes, the Toccata in F Major, BuxWV 156 is a splendid example. Its two fugal sections occupy only a minor place, while the free sections, unified by stylus phantasticus and long pedal points, take priority. The final free section features dizzying disjointed tenths in the pedal illustrating the high degree of pedal virtuosity attained by Buxtehude and his contemporaries.
Duruflé was appointed organist of Paris’s Saint Etienne-du-Mont in 1929, a job he held for the rest of his life. He was highly self-critical and published only 14 opus numbers. His four major organ works were written between 1926 and 1943 and are pinnacles in the repertory. His three-movement Suite was composed in 1933 and dedicated to his teacher, Paul Dukas. The dark opening Prélude in E-flat minor uses two themes (one closely resembles “Pie Jesu” from his Requiem) and two modalities oscillating in a slowly developing crescendo followed by a long decrescendo returning the movement to its initial calm.
This evening Ms. Aramendi plays four 19th-century pieces transcribed for organ solo by Lyon-based organist Louis Robilliard (b. 1939). His superb ability to create organ transcriptions allows “the music to sound as if it were originally written for the organ.”
Liszt had a fascination with death, pain, and suffering. Composed in October 1849 as an elegy to casualties in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, Funérailles [Funeral] is the seventh and most famous in his collection of ten piano pieces, Harmonies Poètiques et religieuses. It is in the style of his symphonic poems: a one-movement programmatic work with sections that contrast in character and tempo. The dark and gloomy first section, Introduzione, evokes muffled bells on the battlefield with the lowest pedal C imitating cannons exploding and the advancing army depicted through motives sequencing upward in half steps. The second section begins with a funeral dirge that modulates into a sweet, intimate melody in A-flat major. The piece then moves into a heroic warrior march beginning with a rapid ostinato in the left hand under trumpet calls building to an intense climax. The final section reprises the three themes, culminating on a long D-flat augmented chord, and ending suddenly with two staccato chords.
Liszt’s good friend, Camille Saint-Saëns, was a native of Paris. He was organist at La Madeleine from 1858 until he received a substantial inheritance in 1877 which afforded him an early retirement from church music. His famous symphonic poem Danse macabre was originally composed in 1872 as a vocal setting of Henri Cazalis’s poem of the same name. Two years later he expanded it into a symphonic poem modeled after Liszt. Although the first performance in 1875 allegedly induced in the audience widespread feelings of anxiety, the following year Liszt transcribed the piece for piano solo, and ever since, countless transcriptions have appeared, including two by Saint-Saëns himself. At the outset a single D is repeated twelve times recalling the legend that every Halloween Death appears at the stroke of midnight. After the first and second themes are introduced, the piece becomes more energetic as Death summons the dead from their graves to dance while he plays his fiddle. Dies irae, a chant from the Requiem Mass for the Dead, is quoted, followed by a fortissimo frenzy as the skeletons dance. An abrupt break signals dawn, and with the rooster’s crow the dead return to their graves for another year.
Saint-Saëns’s student, Gabriel Fauré, was the assistant organist at Saint-Sulpice. In 1877, at the request of his teacher, he became the assistant to Dubois (Saint-Saëns’s successor) at La Madeleine. Later he succeeded Dubois both as titular organist and as director of the Paris Conservatory. Despite his long tenure as a church organist, Fauré wrote nothing for the organ; instead, he preferred to improvise. That being the case, organ transcriptions of Fauré’s other music may provide a glimpse of the sounds that unfolded during his improvisations at La Madeleine. A beautiful example is incidental music Fauré composed in 1898 for the London production of the play Pelléas et Mélisande. The Prélude, marked Quasi adagio, is based on a stepwise theme and a romantic “love” theme originally played by a solo cello. The celebrated Sicilienne in G minor was originally composed in 1893 but later repurposed. Loosely associated with Sicily, a sicilienne is often in a slow 6/8 meter characterized by dotted rhythms in a minor key.
Franck was a towering figure in French music of the 19th century. As a teacher and mentor he gained admiration for his modesty and generosity while influencing younger disciples. His 1873 oratorio, Redemption, is a fusion of choral movements and solo arias interspersed with spoken recitative and one purely orchestral number intended to join the oratorio’s two major sections together. After a failed debut, Franck’s students persuaded him to revise the oratorio, only to have it flop again in 1875. Now-forgotten, it was never performed again in Franck’s lifetime; however, the orchestral number, Interlude Symphonique in D major, which Franck completely rewrote for the revision, has taken its place in the orchestral repertory alongside his three other symphonic poems. Marked Maestoso poco lento, the piece demonstrates Franck at his most luxuriant as he brings together several melodies from the oratorio and dresses them in opulent, chromatic language reminiscent of Wagner or Berlioz. It is sensuously dramatic in its Christian devotion and melodic intensity. Organist Marcel Dupré first transcribed the work for organ solo and made an annual tradition of performing it at the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at Saint-Sulpice.
A native of Bordeaux, France, Charles Tournemire descended from a family of organists. He studied with Franck and Widor and filled Franck’s coveted post at Sainte-Clotilde from 1898 until his death. He was a brilliant improviser, and in 1958 his former student and assistant, Maurice Duruflé, transcribed a Choral Improvisation on Victimae Paschali [Pascal Victim] in G minor recorded in 1930 at Sainte-Clotilde. The pause in the middle reflects the fact that Tournemire recorded straight to enormous wax discs, and each side lasted just five minutes. The improvisation is divided into three 3 sections. After an energetic, medieval introduction on the tutti and an agitated development with surprising modulations (G minor to B minor, for example), the Victimae pasachali chant is heard as a harmonized chorale. An ostinato in E minor then leads to the central Lento on the Voix humaine, followed by a thrilling crescendo into the glorious return of the Easter chant, punctuated with striking arabesques, to complete the improvisation.
