Organist and Musicologist Leslie Dukes at the Incarnation Organ (R. Crockett photo)

ARVO PART'S MUSIC PLAYED BY LESLIE DUKES IN TWILIGHT SERIES

Sonoma County music fans had a rare opportunity Oct. 9 to hear the organ works of Arvo Pärt, performed by Church of the Incarnation staff organist Leslie Dukes. The Estonian born composer’s sparse but intense bell-sound style of music tintinnabuli is now recognizable to many American ears, but his organ compositions are largely unknown to organists and the public alike.

Pärt wrote only four short works for solo organ, and Ms. Dukes played each sensitively in a sequential journey of mind and heart. Trivium (1988), in three parts, opens slowly and thoughtfully and then rails as though a Baltic winter is blowing over ancient people, marching through ice and snow. Cold and gray bare tones rise to a high pitch, passing into a canon of infinite endless movement.
Pari intervallo (1976), composed on the occasion of a friend’s passing, depicts the soft sound of wounds washed with tears. Mein Weg hat Gipfel und Wellentäler (My road has its crest and its groundswells) from 1989 is a tonal journey over rocky hills and valleys in which the stones can be felt under foot.

An organ setting of the Latin Mass was Annum per annum, composed in 1980, and opens with a pulsating shout, reminiscent of the beginning of Vierne’s Messe Solenelle, then softening to a quiet Kyrie. The Gloria is the sound of angel bells ringing softly. The Credo uses various organ stops to sound a diverse crowd of rustic human voices speaking one by one: “I believe.” The Sanctus suggests celestial voices singing smoothly and joyfully in contrast to the human ones of the Credo. The quiet and peaceful Agnus Dei begins with peaceful skipping lambs and leads into a coda of cosmic resolution of all human grief.

Pärt’s music is sparse in the sense that there are few notes per unit time, but the tone intervals of his music grid generate emotional pressure begging to burst. Ms. Dukes’ fine sense of time in the music’s execution kept this intensity very strong. All in all, the concert was a significant musical experience.

Twilight “mini” recitals will continue at the Church of the Incarnation on the second Friday evening of each month.

AGO Dean Carolyn Wiester attended and adds comments to Mr. Harrod’s review:

In a wonderful program Leslie Dukes gave a spiritual exposé of a composer whose works challenge even experienced organists. The scene in the Church of the Incarnation was one of peace and quiet, just before dusk and similar to Vespers, with the hush of the outdoors coming through the main church doors and windows while Ms. Dukes played. The organist played with calmness, changing stops and turning pages effortlessly. Audience applause waited until the last tutti chord at the end of the program. As the appreciative audience rose to its feet, the sun dropped behind the hills to the west, signifying a subtle end to a lovely occasion.

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