Fantasia 1 (from Sunday Music) - Peter Eben
Intermezzo (Symphony V1) - Widor
Pieces de Fantasie, Op 53 - Vierne
Benedictus, Op 59 - Reger
Finale (from Sunday Music) - Peter Eben
The current series of organ recitals in the Pro-Cathedral places the emphasis on French composers and exploits the dynamic, colouristic resources of the instrument. Michael Quinn, in yesterday's lunchtime recital, widened the range by including work by Reger and Eben (German and Czech, respectively), but they did not seem out of place.
All the pieces, to a certain extent, built on the contrast between registrations, passages full of violence of brass alternating with passages of delicate tracery from the wood wind. The two pieces selected from Vierne's Pieces de Fantasie exemplified the difference by confining the delicacy to Clair de Lune and the violence to Toccata. It was in the second of these that Michael Quinn was at his most expressive, making the moonlight of the first even more pallid by comparison. The excitement of the Toccata and of similar passages in the other items was palpable, but perhaps too much so, in relation to the more reflective moments.
The work which gave the strongest impression of unity was the Intermezzo from Widor's Symphony No. 6. The block-like construction of Eben's Sunday Music seemed indifferent to formal balance; nevertheless, if the player could have sounded more involved in the gentler passages, the sense of fragmentation would have been dispelled and the air of enthusiasm would have pervaded the whole concert.
