E. Schlager, E. Cardi, J. Peck and J. Duff in Resurrection Parish

ITALIAN ORGANIST PLAYS YON'S MUSIC IN CREATIVE ARTS SERIES RECITAL

Organist Emanuele Cardi played a recital of fiery virtuosity to an appreciative audience of organists and organ music fans October 20 in Santa Rosa’s Church of the Resurrection, opening the Creative Arts Series season.

Mr. Cardi is organist and choirmaster at the Ghilardi and Carli organs of St. Maria della Speranza church and sanctuary in Battipaglia, Italy, southeast of Naples.

The audience listened and watched in awe as Mr. Cardi’s gifted pedal-playing feet flowed across the 32 keys of the organ’s pedal board like the water cascades of the fountains of Rome. While executing the wildest imaginable “soles of fire” pedal passages, he maintained his performance and a body posture that was totally composed.

The recital presented compositions of Pietro Alessandro Yon (1886-1943), an American-Italian organist who worked first in the Vatican and later as the music director of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Yon’s music is not well known to American organists a century after his heyday, and it was educational for us to become acquainted with the composer at this concert.

The two major compositions of Yon performed were Sonata Prima and Sonata Chromatica. These works should be described as complexly chiseled craft pieces. The downloadable score of the Sonata Prima shows a six-note cadence (B-E’-E-C sharp-B-F sharp) to be employed as the basis of the composition in each of multiple short sections and variations. This motif can be seen clearly in the score but is not easily discerned by the ear. The Sonata Chromatica, in three short movements, is tightly knit and has many sweeping arpeggios and difficult pedal parts. Mr. Cardi’s stop registration for these pieces lacked the clarity of sound which we might have anticipated and the timbre was disappointing. However, his registration seemed to follow the composer’s own indications printed in the scores.

The program was bracketed by two pleasant divertimenti based on national folk song melodies: an American and an Italian from Yon’s Twelve Divertimenti for Organ, and an improvisation on Adeste fideles.

This was an entertaining and educational recital by an exceptionally talented organist.