14 November 2013

In This Issue

 

Originally written for solo organ for a wedding of friends of the composer, A Festive Intrada by Walter Pelz lends itself well to solo trumpet with organ accompaniment. Roy Nance suggested this arrangement and today's recital is the first known performance using this instrumentation. Following an introduction by the organ, the trumpet gives the listener a regal melody reminiscent of many English processionals that repeats itself throughout the work and ends in typical British fashion.

 

Blind since the age of two, Jean Langlais was born in 1907 and died in 1988. A composer, church and concert organist, Langlais followed organists C�sar Franck and Charles Tournemire as organist at St. Clotilde in Paris from 1945 to 1988. The Te Deum, composed in 1938, is from a set of three pieces based upon paraphrases of Gregorian chant themes.

 

Although Franz Josef Haydn wrote one hundred and eight symphonies, sixty-eight string quartets, and forty-seven piano sonatas, the catalog of his complete works lists a scant seventeen concertos composed over three decades-and most of those are lost. Many apparently were written quickly, for a single performance, and then set aside, with no eye to the future. Of those that remain-including two cello concertos and a concerto apiece for violin and piano (compared to Mozart's groundbreaking twenty-seven)-the Trumpet Concert on E-Flat is the most popular of all.

 

This is the last concerto of Haydn's career; it also is one of the few instrumental works composed during the final years of his life, when he had given up writing symphonies and piano sonatas for good, and had begun to concentrate on vocal music. It was prompted, sometime in 1795 or early in 1796, by a request for a concerto from Anton Weidinger, a trumpet player in the Vienna Court Orchestra. Weidinger had spent his career perfecting an "organized trumpet" designed to fill in the gaps between the notes of the natural series; five or six holes drilled in the instrument and covered by padded keys provided the missing chromatic notes. In Weidinger's hands, the natural trumpet became a melodic instrument, like the oboe or the flute. Weidinger toured Europe, demonstrating his invention, and became something of a celebrity (although his instrument was superseded by the valve trumpet after 1820). He eventually commissioned a concerto from Hummel that now rivals Haydn's in popularity.

 

The slow movement is richly lyrical, with the same melodic luxury one hears in The Creation

that Haydn began the same year he wrote Weidinger's concerto.

 

- Program notes taken from a recent performance given by the Chicago Symphony. The author, Phillip Huscher, is the program annotator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

 

These charming movements for Musical Clocks were written in 1792 (the same year the Commonwealth of Kentucky became the fifteenth state in the Union) for a famous clock in Vienna. They were automatically played on a small flute organ, operated by the clock mechanism.

 

This arrangement of Praise to the Lord, the Almighty by James Curnow for trumpet and organ was written for trumpeter Phillip Smith, Principal Trumpet of New York Philharmonic, for inclusion into a collection of hymn arrangements entitled "Great Hymns". This collection of hymns has connection to Central Kentucky as the demonstration recordings were recorded in Lexington by Mr. Smith and Central Christian Church (Lexington) organist, Michael Rintamaa.

 

The Danish born German organist Dieterich Buxtehude was born in 1637 and died in 1707. Buxtehude settled at L�beck in 1688 as organist of St. Mary's Church. There he gained such fame as a composer that the city became a center for musicians of northern Germany. The young Handel visited him in 1703, and in 1705 young J.S. Bach walked more than 200 miles to see him. Both men hoped to succeed the master at L�beck, but marriage to one of his daughters was a condition and each found it unacceptable. The Prelude begins with a solo pedal fanfare. The piece concludes not with scales and arpeggios, but a chaconne built on a three measure theme.

 

Edward Cuthbert Bairstow was Organist at York Minster from 1913 to his death in 1946. With strong allegiance to his native country Bairstow was once asked if he planned to follow his predecessor, T. Tertius Noble, and eventually go to serve St. Thomas Church in New York City.   Bairstow quickly replied he would rather die. He is best known for his choral compositions and service music for the Anglican liturgy. He wrote twelve instrumental pieces including Evening Song. The enchanting theme is heard in the left hand under a series of sixteenth note flute stops. The B section is typical English organ writing with full swell and contrasting softer sections. A return of the A section followed by a quiet coda concludes this reflective piece.

We have launched an exciting new concert series each Sunday afternoon throughout the academic year.  Though these concerts are primariliy organ recitals, 

many different genres of music will be celebrated throughout the year.  

Please spread the word and invite your friends!

All Sunday afternoon concerts are at 4:15pm and admission is free, 

however, donations are gratefully accepted.

 

17 November 2013 - 4:15pm - Organ/Trumpet Recital by Roy Nance and David Goins. Free admission.

                        Roy Nance has recently retired as Minister of Music at First United Methodist

                        Church, Frankfort, Kentucky. David Goins is the newly appointed Minister

                        of Music at the same institution.

 

24 November 2013 - 4:15pm - Organ Recital by Rob Vanover. Free admission.

                        Rob Vanover is Organist at Centenary United Methodist Church, Lexington,

                        and is on the music staff at Lexington Catholic High School.

 

1 December 2013 - 4:15pm - Organ Recital by Owen Sammons. Free admission.

                        Owen Sammons is Director of Arts & Music at St Peter's Episcopal Church, Paris, Kentucky.

 

8 December 2013 - 4:15pm - Organ Recital by Jane Johnson. Free admission.

                        Jane Johnson is Organist at Crestwood Christian Church, Lexington,

                        and is Director of Student Affairs, College of Fine Arts, University of Kentucky.

 

15 December 2013 - 4:15pm - Organ Recital by John Linker. Free admission.

                        John Linker is Organist/Choirmaster at Church of the Good Shepherd, Lexington.    

 

                        Program

                        Widor / Symphonie gothique, Op. 70

 

22 December 2013 - NO CONCERT TODAY.

                        5:00pm A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols

 

24 December 2013 (Christmas Eve) - 6:15pm - Organ Recital by John Linker. Free admission.

                        John Linker is Organist/Choirmaster at Church of the Good Shepherd, Lexington.    

 

                        Program

                        Widor / Symphonie gothique, Op. 70

 

29 December 2013 - NO CONCERT TODAY.

Back by popular demand is The Dick Sisto-Steve Allee Spirit of Life Quartet for a dynamic program called "The Spiritual Music of Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn.  The concert is Friday, November 22nd, at 7:30pm.  Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.  (For tickets, call 859 252 1744 or visit www.goodshepherdlex.org.)

Making their second appearance on the Good Shepherd Friends of Music Concert Series, Dick Sisto (vibraphone) and Steve Allee (piano) will delight the audience with their soul-satisfying rhythms, angelic melodies, and modern jazz harmonies.  

A native of Chicago, Sisto has had an illustrious career throughout the United States, performing with such noteworthy musicians as Milt Hinton, David "Fathead' Newman, Willie Pickens, Ira Sullivan, Fred Hersch, and Barry Ries, just to name a few.

www.dicksisto.com 

Steve Allee, Pianist

 

A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols for Christmastide

This annual favorite will take place on 22 December at 5:00pm.  Please arrive early to find a good seat, as this is one of our most popular services of the year.

 

Organist Olivier Latry coming to Good Shepherd in 2014

Olivier Latry, one of the three organistes-titulaires de Grande-Orgue of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, will be playing a recital in Good Shepherd on Friday 28 February 2014. This remarkable event will be co-sponsored between the Lexington and Louisville Chapters of the American Guild of Organists as well as Good Shepherd. Latry is also organ professor at Paris Conservatory and is considered to be one of the finest organists in the world. You may read more info about this dynamic musician here.

Church of the Good Shepherd | 859 252 1744 | office@goodshepherdlex.org | http://goodshepherdlex.org
533 East Main Street
Lexington, Kentucky  40508

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