Martin Setchell organ recital | Albury Chamber Music Festival

Today I attended an organ recital by Martin Setchell, Town Hall organist of Christchurch, New Zealand. This was Martin's fourth visit to Albury and the second time I've heard him perform live. Earlier this week, I helped him with the organ's sequencer, so he could pre-programme his registrations for the performance. Having a sequencer means organists can make quick changes to the ‘sounds’ with a single button push. Over the course of a piece, an organist might use several ‘steps’ to achieve the desired result. Some organs don’t have registration aids or just fixed pistons—in this scenario, often one has to compromise on registration and/or make several piston changes to get the desired registration! This can be stressful and time consuming during preparation time for a concert organist. So in short, a sequencer is a really attractive feature of an organ!

Martin’s programme today was as follows:

Takle Celebration

J. S. Bach Prelude to Klavierûbung III in E flat major BWV 552

Albinoni (arr. Giazotto) Adagio in G minor

Vivaldi (arr. Walther) Concerto in B minor

Bossi Scherzo in G minor Op. 49, No 2

Vierne Romance from Symphony IV

Grison Toccata in F

The performance overall was very good and there was a lovely balance of repertoire presented. The first piece by Tackle was unfamiliar to me. Martin began this piece without a verbal introduction. It was like the “ice breaker” piece to start the concert. Tackle is a Norwegian composer, born in 1942, and is also a jazz pianist. The piece was very lively, jazzy and it’s unconventional nature intrigued me! Following this piece, Martin briefly spoke to the audience about his programme and how we will be taken through different musical periods.

The next piece was the St. Anne Prelude in E-flat major by JS Bach. I recently played this myself at my Bowral recital and earlier this year. It’s a well known piece amongst organists. Martin registered this on a bright plenum but without a pedal reed. I would have preferred the use of a pedal reed but you need to balance it correctly on this organ. Perhaps he played it safe and registered it modestly as the pedal Bombarde can be quite overpowering. Interestingly, at the inaugural organ recital for this festival, this same Prelude was played by Rhys Boak (Melbourne). Martin executed the piece very well and I was surprised to hear that he played the echo section ending E-flats on the manual (instead of pedal). I will have to experiment with this the next time I play it. Registration wise, he clearly used three different registrations for each section that depicted a nature of the Trinity.

Next we had the famous Adagio in G minor by Giazotto. This brought a smile to my face, as well as others in the audience, because it was a piece I also recorded for my CD. It was also a good reprieve to have a quieter work as we were just blasted with the organ’s plenum for around 9 minutes. Following this was the transcription of the Walther Concerto in B minor. The tune of the Allegro movement is so catchy! Among all Bach’s transcriptions of Italian concerti, I think this is the least popular. When I say “least popular”, I don’t mean it’s a so-so arrangement, but rather we hear the Vivaldi A minor or the Ernst G major much more frequently. Playing these concerti is no easy feat...they require very accurate playing and tasteful articulation. Martin achieved both and the registration sounded like the different sections of the orchestra.

The Bossi Scherzo was unfamiliar to me. I’ve seen it in recital programmes before, but I’ve never heard it. Martin had sequencer problems in this piece. It was meant to start quietly but perhaps he was on a wrong channel or the system locked up. Fortunately he got it working and restarted the piece again. My concentration in appreciating and listening to this piece was hindered by the fact I was worrying about further sequencer issues. I know all too well how this can happen to anyone! We did survive the rest of the piece without any further issues, thank goodness! The Vierne followed and served as a palette cleanser before the mighty French Grison Toccata in F. I’ve heard this piece played by Martin several times, on a CD I bought from him during his last visit. It was exciting to hear it live and he played it brilliantly. The organ at tutti sounded glorious but not as loud as I would have originally thought. You see, I’m rarely down in the nave as I’m always upstairs performing. I now have a better understanding of balance, hearing somebody else play the instrument I frequently play.

A roaring round of applause was heard as Martin finished and walked downstairs to take a bow to the audience. The concert organiser asked for an encore and Martin obliged by playing Cats at play by Denis Bédard. This is also a piece I play 😄. The audience smiled and chuckled because it was such a playful piece. At the departing words of the concert, my name was mentioned! The organiser said that “If you want to hear more of Bédard’s music, you already have a local here that frequently plays it. I also think he plans on being the first Australian to play his complete organ works.” Well, it looks like I’ll have to get onto learning all those pieces pretty soon then!

Overall, a very enjoyable Saturday morning spent listening to organ music. Now I must return to my own practise as my final recital for the year will be this Tuesday. My programme will be as follows:

Tuba Tune — Carson Cooman

Variations on a Basque Noël – Carson Cooman

Contrastes – Denis Bédard
Aria; Fanfare; Choral; Oraison; Humoresque; Tarantelle

Toccata in F major, BWV 540 – Johann Sebastian Bach

Toccata in D minor – Gaston Bélier

Yours truly,
@contrabourdon

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