On Tuesday, four boys travelled to London to take part in another organ lunchtime recital, this time at St Mary-le-Bow on Cheapside. This was the second recital given by pupil organists as part of the Royal College of Organists’ Young Performers’ Series.
The recital was book-ended by performances by Dominic D. (L6ths), who opened with Bach’s Fantasia in G minor. This was followed by the lyrical hymn prelude on Rhosymedre by Vaughan Williams. Aarnav H. (Divs) then took to the bench with his rendition of Flor Peeters’ soothing prelude on Of the Father’s love begotten, an Advent tune. Milan A. (Divs) performed a jazzy number, John Jordan’s self-proclaimed nonchalant Mooching. Adam K. (U3rds) then gave an assured performance of the British composer Noel Rawsthorne’s Flourish for an Occasion. Dominic then returned to the bench to play three shorter works by more recent composers. He began with Florence Price’s Adoration, which had an air of Ravel’s Pavane pour une enfante défunte. This was followed by Bednall’s Meditation on Wie schoen leuchtet der Morgenstern, an entrancing piece, and the only work performed on Tuesday by a living composer. The recital closed with Karg-Elert’s enduringly popular prelude on Nun danket alle Gott, or Now thank we all our God in the vernacular.
With a visit to Hamburg on the (distant) horizon, we look forward to other organ events in the nearer future, namely the ‘Come and Play the Organ!’ event for prep and junior schools on Wednesday 30th April. More information about this can be found here https://www.rco.org.uk/play_events.php
