Programme
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)
Echo Fantasia in A minor (Aeolian) SwWV 275 Paul Sturman (b1943) Variations on Jesu, thou joy of loving hearts (1970) Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Prelude and Fugue in C major BWV 547 Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) from Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes (1920) 2 Rhosymedre Christopher Steel (1938-1991) Changing Moods Suite for Organ Op 59 1 Genial March 2 Pensive Ground 3 The Chase 4 Nocturnal Siciliano 5 Dancing Toccata |
Free Concert, with a retiring collection to cover costs. Tea and coffee will be available after the concert.
Mark Brafield

Mark Brafield has studied the organ with Robert Munns, Stephen Farr, David Sanger and Dame Gillian Weir. He held an Organ Scholarship with a Scholarship in English Literature at Trinity College, Oxford, and is a Fellow and Trustee of the Royal College of Organists.
Mark now combines a legal profession with a career as a concert organist. He performs regularly at leading venues in this country, including Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral. He is in increasing demand as a performer overseas, with recent recitals including the Leonhardskirche in Basle, St Thomas’s Fifth Avenue, New York, and Notre Dame in Paris.
www.markbrafieldorganist.com
Mark now combines a legal profession with a career as a concert organist. He performs regularly at leading venues in this country, including Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral. He is in increasing demand as a performer overseas, with recent recitals including the Leonhardskirche in Basle, St Thomas’s Fifth Avenue, New York, and Notre Dame in Paris.
www.markbrafieldorganist.com
The Christ Church organ was built by Hill, Norman & Beard in 1970 with 16 stops, using some pipes from previous organs plus some neo-baroque sounds typical of the 1960's and '70's (Chimney Flute and Fifteenth on open-foot voicing, like the Royal Festival Hall organ). In 1995, HNB moved some loud stops from the Great to a new double case in the nave, 6 stops were added, and the tone was refined. In summer 2015 the nave organ was re-voiced to produce a more robust tone. |
Concert at Home:
Here are some links to online recordings of works that feature in Mark Brafield's concert:
Here are some links to online recordings of works that feature in Mark Brafield's concert:
Mark Brafield's concert opens with Sweelinck's Echo Fantasia in A minor, Aeolian mode.
The organist here is Gustav Leonhardt at the organ in the Martinikerk, Groningen, Netherlands.
Stops on this organ go back as far as 1450.
The organist here is Gustav Leonhardt at the organ in the Martinikerk, Groningen, Netherlands.
Stops on this organ go back as far as 1450.
Unfortunately there appear to be no online recordings of works by the British composer Paul Sturman.
Let's move straight onto our JS Bach work his Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 547. We are still in the Martinikerk, Groningen, this time with the young organist Jos Maters.
Let's move straight onto our JS Bach work his Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 547. We are still in the Martinikerk, Groningen, this time with the young organist Jos Maters.
We have certainly heard Vaughan Williams' take on the hymn tune Rhosymedre before, so here are two interpretations.
On the left we hear the 1978 Hermann Eule organ in St Johannis Lutheran Evangelical Church, Dessau, Germany, where the visiting organist is Robert Smith, Assistant Director of Music at York Oratory.
On the right is the excellent US Marines Band 'The President's Own'. A gentle, thoughtful performance this, from the Marine Barracks Annexe, Washington DC.
On the left we hear the 1978 Hermann Eule organ in St Johannis Lutheran Evangelical Church, Dessau, Germany, where the visiting organist is Robert Smith, Assistant Director of Music at York Oratory.
On the right is the excellent US Marines Band 'The President's Own'. A gentle, thoughtful performance this, from the Marine Barracks Annexe, Washington DC.
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As we missed out on the Paul Sturman work eaarlier and I have not been able to find a recording of Christopher Steel's Changing Moods either, let's enjoy a longer work of his.
Philip Rushforth, Director of Music at Chester Cathedral, plays Steel's Variations on a Theme of Guillaume de Machaut on the 1887 Bernasconi organ in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Rome:
Philip Rushforth, Director of Music at Chester Cathedral, plays Steel's Variations on a Theme of Guillaume de Machaut on the 1887 Bernasconi organ in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Rome:
We hope you have enjoyed your Concert at Home
Link to venue
details |
The Two
Classical Guitars of Francisco Correa & David Massey 12 Oct 2017 |
Kirkman String Quartet
from the Royal Academy of Music 26 Oct 2017 |
Wednesdays at
Christ Church 2017 monthly organ concert diary |