Church of the Incarnation Organist Harold Julander at the Cassavant (photo: R. Crockett)

RARE GERMAN ORGAN PRELUDES PLAYED AT INCARNATION BY JULANDER

Church of the Incarnation organist Harold Julander played an outstanding recital of German chorale preludes April 9 on the Church’s Caassavant instrument. The program consisted of preludes by Bach, Mendelssohn, Max Drischner, Max Bornefeld, Ernst Pepping, and Jan Bender. Mr. Julander interpreted and the compositions with masterful ease and obvious familiarity with the genre.

The chorale prelude (Vorspiel in German) is a staple of the organ repertory, where the melody line of a popular hymn or folk tune is made the subject for the composer’s improvisation, sometimes composed in real time, on the spot. The improvisation then serves as an introduction to the singing of the chorale or may serve as a stand-alone organ voluntary.

Mr. Julander selectively “pulled out all the stops” to illustrate the special character of the melodic motif of each composition as well as the character of the composer’s era. The chorales included the familiar themes: Aus Tiefer Not, Es ist ein Rose, Wachet Auf, In Dir Ist Freude, Gelobt Sei Dank, Mit Freud en Zart, and Wie soll Ich Dich Empfangen.

The concert, part of the series produced by the Redwood Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, concluded with Bender’s exciting and somber Variations on a Theme of Hugo Distler, Op. 38. This complex work voices a somber complaint against all warfare, echoing the words by Martin H. Franzmann in the hymn Weary of All Trumpeting. The composer was a war resister in Northern Germany during World War II and an associate of Distler, a seminal composer of choral and organ music. Mr. Julander played Bender’s composition with robust solo and ensemble organ reeds and generated a stirring reading.

Twilight Mini Recitals at the Church of the Incarnation will continue May 14 at 6 p.m.