Faythe Freese March 23 in Santa Rosa

WARM SPRING MUSIC AND ART IN CAS ORGAN RECITAL

Spring brought flowers and the virtuoso organist Faythe Freese to play a joyful recital on March 23 at Santa Rosa’s Resurrection Parish. Both the artist and the beautiful spring weather were most welcome, and the event was part of the Creative Arts Series.

Ms. Freese, Professor of Organ at The University of Alabama, performed all of the music on the program, classical and contemporary, as though it were a part of her metabolism - fast, incredibly accurate and with exuberant joy. Her precise, rapid pedal playing appeared to have been executed by mental commands alone with no visible physical effort or exertion.

The balanced program brought to an appreciative audience the California premieres of two organ works by contemporary living composers. These were The Freese Collection by Pamela Decker and Naji Hakim’s To Call My True Love to My Dance. These two compositions have fascinating histories, crossing national borders and artistic mediums, and informed us about collegial friendship between living artists.

The Freese Collection is a suite of three pieces commissioned by the performer, and the Ms. Decker based the works on the visual art in Ms. Freese’s home. These are Augenmusic (Eye Music), Lirio e amapola (Iris and Poppy) and Croix de Foi (Cross of Faith, or in this case, of Faythe). The paintings are by the artist Fred Nall Hollis, who uses the name "Nall". "Nall" executed the paintings for Freese after he heard her play in recital. These are difficult and complex compositions, evocating the flowing lines and rich colors of the paintings seen by the audience and on display at the recital. Ms. Freese executed the music with consummate skill and with the intimacy of hosting an invitational visit to her own home.

Hakim’s My True Love to My Dance is a suite of ten lovely vignettes based on a theme by Hanne Kurup, a contemporary Danish composer and inventor of a program of music for infant learning entitled “Baby salmesang.” Each short segment is a delight of harmony with rhythms hinting at Lebanese music.

The traditional and familiar classical compositions played on the program were Bach’s C Major Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue, BWV. 564, played very fast with absolute accuracy and totally clean articulated touch. Then came the second and third movements of the Première Sonate, Op. 42, (Pastorale and Final) by Alexandre Guilmant, and Leo Sowerby’s Carillon.

The encore was a Sowerby virtuoso showpiece: Pageant. This is a firework of color and with intricate double passages played throughout by the both feet simultaneously in the pedal division at high velocity. The execution was flawless.

Adding to virtuoso execution of the music, Ms. Freese engaged the attendees and explained the music with lively enthusiasm and obvious love for making music for others. It was a wonderful afternoon of music.