Organist, pianist and conductor – Aurel Dawidiuk is really taking off in all three fields. Sitting at the organ was a big dream of the Hanover native even as a child: »What others dream of sitting in an aeroplane cockpit, for me was the organ.« At the Elbphilharmonie, he takes his place in the »organ cockpit« and plays a programme rich in variety and contrast.
Dawidiuk begins with the most famous organ work of all time, Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. The iconic opening of the piece has long since made its way from the church nave into popular culture and has lost none of its hypnotic fascination. It is not only the young organist who reveres the great Bach; other composers have also dedicated their music to this giant: the simplest way is with the note sequence B-A-C-H, Bach’s trademark, as the works by Zsigmond Szathmáry and Franz Liszt demonstrate.
The second half focuses on Maurice Duruflé, although none of the composer’s original music is performed. Instead, Aurel Dawidiuk plays artful arrangements of two famous Bach cantatas, including the ever-popular »Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring« and two transcribed improvisations by his teacher Charles Tournemire. The latter is regarded as the father of a whole generation of famous French organists and was renowned for his brilliant improvisations.
PERFORMERS
Aurel Dawidiuk organ
PROGRAM
Johann Sebastian Bach
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
Zsigmond Szathmáry
B-A-C-H »Hommage à ...«
Franz Liszt
Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H, S 260
- Interval -
Charles Tournemire / Maurice Duruflé
Improvisation über »Te Deum«
Johann Sebastian Bach / Maurice Duruflé
Ertöt uns durch dein’ Güte
César Franck
Choral Nr. 3 a-Moll FWV 40
Johann Sebastian Bach / Maurice Duruflé
Jesus bleibet meine Freude
Charles Tournemire / Maurice Duruflé
Improvisation über »Victimae Paschali Laudes«
