Wednesday 18th September

From Buxtehude to The Beatles


12.30 Lunchtime Concert



Guest organist:

Paul Ayres

organist, composer, arranger,
choir director, accompanist




Sponsors:
Julie West Solicitor

Supported by:
Leatherhead Concert & Arts Society
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Programme

William Herschel (1738-1822)
from Twelve Full Organ Pieces
Two Pieces

Dieterich Buxtehude (1637/39-1707)
Passacaglia in D minor BuxWV 161

Nicholas Ansdell-Evans (b1970)
Passacaglia (1995)

Traditional, adapted by Paul Ayres
Five Two-Part Inventions on Nursery Rhymes

JS Bach/John Lennon/Paul McCartney/Paul Ayres
Trio on Ich steh’ mit einem Fuss im Grabe and Hey Jude

George Harrison/Paul Ayres
Toccatina on Here Comes The Sun

Lennon/McCartney/Ayres
Adagio Cromatico on Michelle

Concerto on I want to hold your hand


Concert duration: 35 - 45 minutes

Free Concert, with a retiring collection to cover costs. Tea and coffee will be available after the concert.
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Paul Ayres


Paul Ayres was born in Perivale, west London, studied music at Oxford University, and now works freelance as a composer & arranger, choral conductor & musical director, and organist & accompanist.

He has received over one hundred commissions, and his works have been awarded composition prizes in Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the USA.

Paul particularly enjoys “re-composing” classical works (Purcell, Bach, Handel, Fauré) and “classicizing” pop music (jazz and show tunes, The Beatles, Happy Hardcore).

Paul conducts City Chorus and the London College of Music Chorus, accompanies Concordia Voices, and is associate accompanist of Crouch End Festival Chorus. He has led many music education workshops for children,
and played piano for improvised comedy shows and musical theatre.

Please visit www.paulayres.co.uk to find out more.
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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.
Hill Norman and Beard Pipe Organ Christ Church United Reformed Epsom Road Leatherhead KT22
The Hill Norman & Beard organ at Christ Church (United Reformed), Leatherhead
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Next month's guest organist, on Wednesday October 16th, will be Polina Sosnina
Organ Scholar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and the Temple Church, EC4
former Organ Scholar, Magdalene College, Cambridge
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Concert at Home
Here are some links to online recordings of works that feature in Anthony Gritten's concert:


William Herschel (1738-1822)
from Twelve Full Organ Pieces
Two Pieces

This is indeed the same Herschel who was a noted astronomer. We shall hear Piece No 1, an Allegro, played on the 1883 Henry Willis organ at St David's Cathedral by Susi Jeans:

Dieterich Buxtehude (1637/39-1707)
Passacaglia in D minor BuxWV 161

We shall hear Ton Koopman, at the Arp Schnitger baroque organ (1686) in the Evangelical-Lutheran Ludgerkirche, Norden, Germany:

Nicholas Ansdell-Evans (b1970)
Passacaglia (1995)

Our recording was made by Paul Ayres playing the organ of St Peter's Church, Ealing, which is a 1925 Walkers rebuild of the 1894 Bishop & Son 3-manual organ, updated in 1985 by Bishops:

Traditional, adapted by Paul Ayres
Five Two-Part Inventions on Nursery Rhymes

I have a feeling that unless Paul has recorded his music himself we might struggle to find matching recordings here. Certainly my search for the Nursery Rhymes failed.

JS Bach/John Lennon/Paul McCartney/Paul Ayres
Trio on Ich steh’ mit einem Fuss im Grabe and Hey Jude

Indeed, this fine recording of Hey Jude with the Bach chorale is played by Paul Ayres, on the organ of St Barnabas, Ealing:

George Harrison/Paul Ayres
Toccatina on Here Comes The Sun

Here too, our organist is Paul Ayres himself. The St Barnabas organ was built as a 2-manual instrument for St Jude's Southsea, by Gerard Smith. It was opened in 1851 by SS Wesley when he was organist of Winchester Cathedral. In 1877 Hill & Son rebuilt the organ as a 3-manual. Nicholson's installed and updated the organ for Ealing in 2011. It replaces a 1925 'temporary' organ which seems to have been a merge of parts from two earlier instruments, and which had never been powerful enough for the size of St Barnabas.

Lennon/McCartney/Ayres
Adagio Cromatico on Michelle

For a change, I've picked a recording of the Adagio Cromatico played by a string quartet:

Lennon/McCartney/Ayres
Concerto on I want to hold your hand

We are back at St Barnabas for Paul Ayres' recording of our final Beatles classic:

We hope you have enjoyed your Concert at Home
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