Programme 2013 – The King of Instruments

Celebrate   Be Immersed

“The King of Instruments”

MOZART

WAIAPU CATHEDRAL
ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST

I want to thank all the donors and funders, and the fundraising committee, who believed in our vision, not only to restore, but expand our organ.

Gary Bowler, Music Director at the Cathedral since 1981, inspires us all with his musicianship and talent. This rebuilt organ is a tribute to his work, skill and vision. Gary always believed that a provincial cathedral can stand alongside the best in New Zealand and the world.

The team at the South Island Organ Company led by John Hargreaves have been a delight to work with and have created an even finer instrument than we could have imagined.

All of this we have done to the glory of God.
With the psalmist we say

Praise God in his sanctuary;
Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with organ and pipe!
Let everyone that breathes praise the Lord! (Psalm 150)

Very Reverend Dr Helen Jacobi
Eleventh Dean of Waiapu

I will forever remember the looks of utter delight upon the faces of the Dean and Music Director as the team from the South Island Organ Company began the re-assemblage process of our Cathedral Organ. If their faces provide an indication of the pleasure by others of this beautiful instrument will give, then we are in store for years of extraordinary enjoyment.

Many thanks to all who made this happen.

The Right Reverend David Rice
Bishop of Waiapu

When Napier became a city on 8 March 1950 part of the criteria for city status was 30,000 residents and a cathedral. The celebrations in the city were joyous and fun.

We now have a fabulous refurbished organ to celebrate and the cathedral and city will mark this journey with music and gladness.

Napier City invested in this wonderful project because it believes that the cathedral is open and inclusive of all the people of the city and the region.

It will bring much joy to many.

Barbara Arnott
Mayor of Napier

APU [WAIAPU] CATHEDRAL, PARISH OF ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST
28 Browning St, Napier, New Zealand.
Ormond Chapel:   Napier Terrace, Napier.
Parish Office:   Monday-Friday 9.30am – 3.30pm
PO Box 495, Napier 4140
Telephone 06 835 8824   Fax 835 8854
Email [email protected]
WAIAPU CATHEDRAL

WAIAPU CATHEDRAL
ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST

The King of Instruments
(Mozart)

A recital of organ works played by
Olivier Latry
Titular Organist, Notre Dame, Paris

Celebrating the rebuild of the Cathedral Organ

Waiapu Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Napier

5 April 2013 at 8pm

French organist Oliver Latry is considered one of the most notable organists of his generation, not only in France, but on the international scene as well. He was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, in 1962 where he began his musical studies. He later attended the Academy of Music at St. Maur-des-Fossés, studying organ with Gaston Litaize.

From 1981-1985 Olivier Latry was titular organist of Meaux Cathedral and at the age 23 he won a competition to become one of the three titular organists of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, beside Philippe Lefebvre and Jean-Pierre Leguay, succeeding Pierre Cochereau. In 1990 he followed his teacher, Gaston Litaize, as an organ professor at the Academy of Music at St. Maur-des-Fossés. In 1995 he became organ professor at the Paris Conservatory. He still holds this position with Michel Bouvard.

Olivier Latry, who has performed in more than fifty countries on five continents, considers himself an ambassador of seventeenth to twentieth century French organ music. Today he is counted among the most noted “improvisers” in the French tradition. He has also a particular interest in contemporary music and has premiered works of French composers Xavier Darasse, Claude Ballif, Thierry Pécout, Vincent Paulet, Thierry Escaich, and Jean-Louis Florentz. In early 2000 he performed three complete cycles (six recitals each) of the organ music of Olivier Messiaen, at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New-York City and at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. These performances were followed by a recording for Deutsche Grammophon of the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame.

In addition to concerts and teaching, Olivier Latry has made his mark through recordings. Thus far he has several CDs to his credit, including music of Bach, Widor’s Symphonies 5 and 6, Vierne’s Symphonies 2 and 3, the complete works of Duruflé. With Deutsche Grammophon, he has recorded a transcription programme called “Midnight at Notre-Dame”, and a CD of works by César Franck. More recently, he recorded the Poulenc Organ Concerto and the Barber “Toccata Festiva” with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Jongen “Symphonie concertante” with the Liège Orchestra.

For his work in the field of organ performance and studies, Olivier Latry was awarded the Prix de la Fondation Cino et Simone Del Duca in 2000, as well as Fellowships “Honoris Causa” from the North and Midlands School of Music in 2006, from the Royal College of Organists in 2007 and the McGill University in Montreal in 2010. He was also awarded “International Performer of the year” by the American Guild of Organists in April 2009. He has recently been appointed organist emeritus of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Canada.

PROGRAMME

Louis MARCHAND (1669-1732):
Grand Dialogue en Ut

Francois COUPERIN (1668-1733):
Tierce en Taille
(extrait de la <>)

Johann-Sebastian BACH (1685-1750):
Prélude et fugue en Ré majeur BWV 532

César FRANCK (1882-1890):
Cantabile
Piéce héroique

Alexandre GUILMANT (1837-1911):
Final de la 1ére Sonate

Olivier MESSIAEN (1908-1992):
Alléluias sereins
(extrait de “l’Ascension”)

Thierry ESCAICH (né en 1965):
Evocation II

Olivier LATRY (né en 1962):
Improvisation

MARCHAND:   Grand Dialogue en Ut
Louis Marchand (1669-1732) was a French baroque organist, harpsichordist, and composer. Born into an organist’s family, Marchand was a child prodigy and quickly established himself as one of the best known French virtuosi of his time. He worked as organist of numerous churches and, for a few years, at the French court. Marchand had a violent temperament and an arrogant personality, and his life was filled with scandals, publicized and widely discussed both during his lifetime and after his death. Despite his fame, few of his works survive to this day, and those that do almost all date from his early years. Nevertheless, a few pieces of his, such as the organ pieces Grand dialogue in C and Fond d’orgue in E minor, have been lauded as classic works of the French organ school.

COUPERIN:   Tierce en Taille from Messe des Couvents
Francois Couperin (1668-1733) was born in Paris. In 1685 he became the organist at the church of Saint-Gervais, Paris, a post he inherited from his father. In 1693 Couperin succeeded his teacher Thomelin as organist at the Chapelle Royale (Royal Chapel) with the title organiste du Roi, organist by appointment to Louis XIV. Only one collection of organ music by Couperin survives, the Piéces d’orgue consistantes en deux messes (“Pieces for Organ Consisting of Two Masses”), the first manuscript of which appeared around 1689-1690. The two masses were intended for different audiences: the first for parishes or secular churches, and the second for convents or abbey churches. These masses are divided into many movements in accordance with the traditional structure of the Latin Mass. The Tierce en Taille was to be played at the Elevation of the Host.

JS BACH;   Prélude et fugue en Ré majeur BWV 532
Like most of Bach’s organ compositions, this piece was written during his tenure in Weimar between 1709 and 1717. Many of his greatest and most well known organ works were written during this period. The composer was residing in Weimar after being hired by the ruling duke of Weimar, Wilhelm Erst, in 1709. As an organist and member of the court orchestra; he was particularly encouraged to make use of his unique talents with the organ by the duke. Indeed, his fame on the instrument grew and he was visited by many students of the organ to hear him play and to try to learn from his technique. The Prelude and Fugue in D major was probably composed in 1710. This work features a lengthy, complex, self-contained fugue preceded by a multisectional prelude.

C FRANCK:   Cantabile
Piéce héroique
César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck (1822 – 1890) was a Paris based composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher. In 1858 he was named organist of the church of Saint Clotilde. He was also appointed organ professor at the Paris conservatory in 1872, though he used this position to teach composition as well. Franck composed around one hundred pieces for organ, but most of them are merely a page or two in length, and intended for liturgical use for either organ or harmonium. These features make them very different from his twelve masterworks for organ – extended pieces which are organized in three cycles. The second cycle Trois Piéces (1878) includes the two works in tonight’s programme, (Cantabile, Piéce Heroique) and comes eighteen years after his first major publication. There is a much more symphonic approach to the character of the pieces, thus bringing a greater influence from Franck’s symphonic works to the keyboard.

GUILMANT:   Final de la 1st Sonate
French organist and composer. Félix-Alexandre Guilmant (1837 – 1911) was appointed organist at la Trinité church in Paris, in 1871, a position he held for 30 years. Guilmant followed a career as a virtuoso; and gave concerts in the United States, Canada, and Europe. He was a prolific composer devoting himself almost entirely to works for the organ.. Guilmant’s Eight Sonatas were conceived with the Cavaillé-Coll organ of La Trinité in mind, and are therefore symphonic in style and form, taking their place alongside the symphonic organ works of César Franck and the Organ Symphonies of Charles-Marie Widor.

MESSIAEN:   Alléluias sereins (extract from L’ascension)
Olivier Messiaen (1908 – 1992) French composer, organist and ornithologist, and one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex reflecting his interest in rhythms from ancient Greek and Hindu sources; harmonically and melodically it is based on musical modes or scales that fulfil specific criteria. Messiaen also drew on his deeply held Roman Catholicism. He was appointed organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité in Paris in 1931, a post held until his death.

He was appointed professor of harmony soon after his release as a prisoner of war in 1941, and professor of composition in 1966 at the Paris Conservatoire, positions he held until his retirement in 1978. He found birdsong fascinating, believed birds to be the greatest musicians, and considered himself as much an ornithologist as a composer. He notated bird songs worldwide and incorporated birdsong transcriptions into much of his music. L’ascension (“The Ascension”), was composed for orchestra in 1932-33 and the organ version a year later.

ESCAICH:   Evocation II
Thierry Escaich (b.1965) has held the position of Professor of Composition and Improvisation at the Paris Conservatoire since 1992, where he has been awarded eight First Prizes. Since 1997 he has also been the organist for the St-Etienne-du-Mont church in Paris, succeeding Maurice Duruflé. He tours internationally as a concert organist, acclaimed everywhere for combining classic repertoire with his own compositions and improvisations. He has appeared in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Tokyo, Berlin, Amsterdam, London (the Proms), Birmingham, Vienna, Budapest, Saint-Petersburg, Seville, and numerous French and international music festivals. Composing largely for the organ (solo pieces, chamber music, two concertos, La Barque Solaire (The Sun Boat) for organ and orchestra), Thierry Escaich is open to all genres and forms, always investigating new universes of sound.

Olivier LATRY (b.1962): Improvisation

ORGAN DEDICATION WEEK
continues …

Saturday 6th April, 4.00pm
“The Colours of the Organ”
A free illustrated lecture by Gary Bowler and Vincent James on the history of the Waiapu Cathedral Organs

Sunday 7th April, 10.00 am
Choral Eucharist
with Acting-Dean Bishop John Bluck.
Music includes Vierne’s Messe Solemnelle for choir and organ.

Tuesday 9th April, 8.00 pm
Malcolm Archer – Organ Recital
Former Organist and Choir Director at St Paul’s Cathedral, London

Tickets for the recitals are on sale from TICKET DIRECT outlets
or ph: 0800-224-224 or online at www .ticketdirect.co.nz

Browning St, P O Box 495, Napier 4140, New Zealand   www .napiercathedral.org.nz
Telephone:   06 835 8824   E-mail:   [email protected], [email protected]