VCHpresents Organ: Pipe Up! II

PIPE UP! II

MON 16 DEC 2019 12.30PM VICTORIA CONCERT HALL SPONSORED BY

ISAAC LEE ORGAN

SAMUEL ARMSTRONG TROMBONE

Isaac Lee is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the Royal Danish Academy of Music, where he studied under Dr Hans Davidsson and Prof Bine Bryndorf respectively. He most recently completed a fellowship at Roskilde Cathedral. Having relocated back to Singapore, he maintains a busy schedule of teaching, performing, organising concerts and educational events.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Samuel Armstrong began his studies at age 12 with Byron Peebles and James Miller of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Samuel is a passionate educator, having most recently been invited as a guest artist at the firstever Alessi Seminar Asia. He is a faculty member at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore.

PROGRAMME NOTES Agitato: Allegro from Organ Sonata No. 11 in D minor, Op. 148 10 mins Josef Rheinberger Written in 1887 by Josef Rheinberger, this Organ Sonata is one of his finest.

He stood out amongst the Romantic titans of his time, with his reputation as a classicist being evident in his penchant for “older” forms of composition, such as the SonataAllegro form of this movement. This form is an effective narrative tool that makes for clear organisation of ideas and more understandable listening, pitting a tumultuous first theme against a more lyrical second.

Cantilene: Adagio from Organ Sonata No. 11 in D minor, Op. 148 6 mins Josef Rheinberger The second movement of the Organ Sonata is one of Rheinberger’s best known pieces and is modelled after the Adagio of Bach's Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564 with a through-composed style. Despite his classicist training, Rheinberger indulges in the more Romantic idioms with the inner movements. This cantilena marries traditional influences with the Romantic idea of an ending melody. The writing and texture suggest a soprano soaring above luscious orchestral strings.

Morceau Symphonique, Op. 88 8 mins Alexandre Guilmant An accomplished composer, Alexandre Guilmant composed over 90 opuses, most of which were for the organ.

The Morceau Symphonique (1902) is thus exceptional for its feature of the trombone. The piece opens with a slow and lyrical section, with the introduction in E-flat minor, an uncommon key.

The piece then takes on a more martial character, with a dotted, rhythmic figure that foreshadows the succeeding fast movement. Finally, an unabashedly joyful fast section as the music explodes into a radiant E-flat major.

Passacaglia in B minor 5 mins John Ebenezer West Englishman John E. West worked 45 years as editor at the famed music publishing house Novello & Company, of which 32 were spent as its chief.

He made the acquaintance of a great many composers and was an admirer of Rheinberger. The Passacaglia in B minor was written in memory of the great composer of organ music, and pays homage to Rheinberger’s own celebrated example of the same genre.

Passacaglia, as a form, is a piece of music that develops over a repeating theme. This theme is stated plainly at the beginning in the pedals and the music unfolds in increasing complexity over this recurring bass line.

Adeste Fidelis in an Organ Prelude 4 mins Charles Ives Ives was the most daringly innovative in a line of pioneering radicals in American music. Yet at the height of his powers, he suddenly gave up composition altogether, realising that he could not do it professionally without compromising the way he felt compelled to write. He thus made a living as an executive in the insurance business and composed at his leisure.

Adeste Fidelis was written during his time as a composition major at Yale. An exercise in bitonality, this prelude subverts and pits the much beloved Christmas carol against its own melodic inversion.

The warring keys of B-flat minor and F major stubbornly clash as each vie for dominance. The piece begrudgingly resolves only at the very last bar.

Variations on “America” 8 mins Charles Ives Composed by Charles Ives at the age of 17, Variations on “America” (1891) is an arrangement of the de facto anthem of the United States at the time. This work includes his very first example of polytonality and reflects his reminiscence of the era of music before the use of traditional tonality and choice of theme.

However, the work also points towards the new direction music will eventually assume.

Notes by Lynnette Chng and Isaac Lee

Visit www.sso.org.sg/klaisorgan to learn more about Victoria Concert Hall’s Klais organ, Singapore’s only fully mechanical organ.

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