Fairs / A Victorian Landscape Painted with the Sound of Organ - NOSPR

British music is inextricably interwoven with the grandeur of great cathedrals. Equally inseparable from the atmosphere of Gothic and Romanesque architecture is the sound of thousands of organ pipes pouring into their lofty interiors.

The recital by Henry Fairs, Head of Organ Studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, will open with the overture to Paulus, the monumental oratorio byFelix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. In this work, the life of Saint Paul constitutes the basis for a meditative tale, where Romantic exuberance intertwines with echoes of Baroque oratorio music and the chorale tradition, especially that associated with the Leipzig Cantor. With much the same sense of wistful fascination as Mendelssohn when he was exploring Bach’s manuscripts, Percy Whitlock – along with other like-minded composers in the first half of the twentieth century – looked back with nostalgia to the harmonies and melodies of the Romantic age. His Fanfare provides ample opportunity to demonstrate the full sonic potential of the organ. At the NOSPR, this promises truly remarkable effects.

The second part of the recital turns to a composer often seen as a defining voice in the shaping of the national style in British music. If the French title Chanson de matin (Morning Song) may at first seem incongruous in this context, a few opening bars suffice to dispel any doubt: the eponymous 'morning' is bathed in the gentle light of an idyllic Victorian landscape. The Sonata in G major, Op 28 is considered one of Elgar’s most significant works. It did not, however, initially meet with widespread approval – a circumstance largely attributable to the composer himself. The manuscript bears the telling inscription one week’s work’, and indeed most of the piece was written within the final week before its premiere. Elgar’s habitual procrastination placed performers in a difficult position, for the sonata’s rich texture and expansive form left little room for easy preparation. Today, however, these very qualities account for the distinguished place the work holds in the organ repertoire.

Concert duration (intermission included): approximately 110 minutes

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