Since the grand reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris, Thierry Escaich has been the titular organist at the world-famous cathedral. Not only is he a world-class master of his instrument, but he is also renowned for his imaginative improvisations and compositions. Escaich is therefore the ideal choice to open this season’s »Simply Organ« series at the Elbphilharmonie.
In his programme, Escaich takes the audience on a journey through musical history, beginning with Baroque music by Jean-Baptiste Lully and Johann Sebastian Bach’s famous Fantasy in C minor, which was performed at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, amongst other occasions. However, the French organist focuses primarily on 20th-century music: with Jehan Alain’s elegiac »Litanies«, an arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s expressive ballet music for »The Firebird« and Astor Piazzolla’s »Fugata«.
The congenial improviser and composer Thierry Escaich also has his say: with the fully composed improvisations »Andante and Scherzo«, followed by his mystical evocations »Évocations I & II« and the »Symphonic Dances«. In both pieces, Escaich explores the diverse sonic possibilities of the »King of All Instruments« with great sensitivity.
PERFORMERS
Thierry Escaich organ
PROGRAM
»Mirrored Dances«
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Overture to »Le bourgeois gentilhomme«
Claude Gervaise
Sixième livre de danceries
Jehan Alain
Variations sur un thème de Clément Janequin
Jehan Alain
Litanies
Johann Sebastian Bach
Fantasy in C minor, BWV 562
Johann Sebastian Bach
Fugue in G major, BWV 577
Thierry Escaich
Improvisation: Andante and Scherzo
Louis Vierne
Naïades
Igor Strawinsky / Pierre Pincemaille
L’oiseau de feu (The Firebird) / excerpts
Thierry Escaich
Évocation I
Thierry Escaich
Évocation II
Astor Piazzolla
Fugata
Thierry Escaich
Improvisation: Symphonic Dances
