Organist James David Christie

CHRISTIE RETURNS TO SCHROEDER WITH THE FAMILIAR AND THE NEW

Organist James David Christie returned to Schroeder Hall on the SSU campus April 17 to play an awesome concert of Baroque music on the Hall’s Brombough Opus 9 organ. The artist performed to a large appreciative and attentive audience, and presented both familiar and unknown musical selections from the European Baroque repertoire.

The three familiar works were Georg Böhm’s Praeludium in D Minor, Buxtehude’s Praeludium in G Minor (BuxWV 148), and Art of fugue (BWV 1080) the Contrapunctus XI à Four (triple fugue) by Bach. Each was played with consummate virtuosity. With varied interesting organ stop combinations, Mr. Christie made each part of these familiar pieces fresh and new.

The unfamiliar selections were short works by a variety of composers from the 17th and early 18th centuries. These were a set of anonymous Almandes from a newly discovered 16th century Dutch manuscript, played on 4’ flutes; a vigorous Ciaccona in C by Bernardo Storace, and a high velocity Consonanze stravaganti (whimsical) by Giovanni de Macque. Following a Rondo in G by Giuseppe Gherardeschi, there was a Fuga in G Minor by Johann Adam Reincken; La Béatitude from Pièces choisies by Charles Piroye; and four “Neumeister Chorale Preludes” from Bach. The last came from manuscripts that were discovered discovered in 1982. The registration chosen for these interesting pieces varied from full organ with reeds, to single 8’ stops, and to flutes in the 4’ and 2’ range. There was never a boring moment of sound.

The golden crown of the recital was Christie’s masterful performance of the beautiful, thickly woven four-voice fugue (Contrapunctus XI) from the Art of Fugue. The audience naturally demanded an encore, which was Bach’s transcription of Vivaldi’s Flute concerto in E.