Opus Amadeus Organ Festival, the first of which was held last year, has started with an opening concert on 26th November! Concerts are hosted by glorious Saint Esprit Cathedral in Istanbul with its Gebrüder-Rieger Organ built in 1897. The crowd was as twice as last years' with many foreigners (possibly Danish because organist Jonas Hellesoe is from Denmark) in the audience.
The art director of the festival Mehmet Mestçi, whom is also organising Opus Amadeus Chamber Music Festival for 8 years, mentioned Europe's prominent organ virtuoses are invited to the festival as last year in his opening remarks. Each three concerts have J.S. Bach in common in their programs. But there is also diversity since (like the diversity of Istanbul organs) organists are from Denmark, France and Italy.
In Istanbul, there are 15 organs (more or less) from England, Germany, Austria, Italy, France and United States. Mostly in churches (only The Christian Orthodox churches do not have organs.) but there are also 2 in educational institutions (one in a high school and one in a university). They were built at the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century. This subject requires a separate and more detailed essay (even a book:) so, here I won't tell further.
The Rieger organ in St. Esprit is Austria-Hungarian and it has 11 stops for first manual, 8 stops for second manual (plus a tremolo) and 4 stops for pedal. It also has an expression pedal (which allows playing with volume of the organ) for Vox Humana register. The best organ in Istanbul, has been taken care by Istanbul Pipe Organ Team since last year. They cleaned and repaired the pipes and tuned the organ for the festival (for masses it's not played much as I know but that would be very nice). It had an excellent voicing in this concert when considering more than a hundred year without any proper cleaning and maintenance.
The picture on the poster is not the organ of St. Esprit as also it wasn't last year! It would be better putting the picture of the organ in St Esprit to the Opus Amadeus Istanbul Organ Festival cover.
Jonas Hellesoe is a Danish virtuoso, also known with his instagram account @jonastheorganist . "Through social media, he is trying to make pipe organ reach a wider audience and often stream his performances live. He also plays harpsichord and studied improvisation." Hellesoe played a program* of baroque, classical and romantic pieces with a surprise improvisation of a Turkish folk melody.
First piece, Prelude and Fugue, G major, BWV 541 by J.S. Bach (1685 – 1750) was performed succesfully by Hellesoe and the festival said its first hello to Istanbul !
Bach composed this music piece in years 1712-17 with 3 sections but in 1733 revised and reduced to 2 sections (which are prelude and fugue). First published in 1831 according to Imslp. J.S. Bach wasn't a famous person as he is today when he was alive; he was mostly discovered and paid attention on early 19th century by romantics. Especially by Mendelssohn who was also from the same city (Leipzig) and the same church (Thomaskirsche) with Bach who lived and worked there for years to the his death. There is also a statue of Mendelssohn in the garden of Thomaskirsche in Leipzig.
Listening Organ Sonata, B-flat major, Op. 65 No. 4 by F. Mendelssohn (1809 – 1847) after Bach is quite meaningful because of this connection between them. Mendelssohn's fourth sonata from his six organ sonatas which have major importance in the organ repertoire interpreted by Hellesø for the first time in Turkey. I enjoyed his registration*** preferences in general; especially in Andante religioso and in Allegretto movements. At the second movement, Andante religioso, rain has begun and with its sound on the background, it (andante religioso) had become holier.
Fantasia, F minor KV 608 is written at the last year of W.A. Mozart's (1756 – 1791) life. Therefore, it reflects all of his mastery. At the last year's festival, French organist Ghislain Leroy performed Andante in F KV 616 by Mozart too.
Hellesoe had some troubles with the stops while performing this great piece. As was also seen on his live stream, he even stopped in the middle of the piece when he was trying to change stops. Because of this pause, there were even applauses** in the middle of this 1 movement piece!
Choosing F.J.Haydn (1732 – 1809) after Mozart is also wise, for which they have lived at the same time period (even he was born before and died later than Mozart) and even played together. They are the creators of string quartet form. Mozart adored Haydn; he said "He could amuse, shock, arouse laughter and deep emotion as no other." about him.
In 1796-97, Haydn wrote 6 string quartets published as Op.76, Hob. III: 75-80. C major Emperor Quartet is the third of them with the number Hob. III: 77. It has 4 movements, Hellesoe played the famous 2nd Movement: Poco adagio. Its main theme has a very famous melody. (A string quartet is made of 4 musicians playing 2 violins, 1 viola and cello. That is why it is called "quartet" which comes from "four". Here, of course, he played a transcription for organ.)
The same pauses happened during this piece too. Maybe I'm not experienced enough for appreciating organ repertoire however, these were confusing for all the audience I assume.
Next piece was the surprise and I was so excited to hear it: Improvisation/Variations on a Turkish Folk Melody. His improvisation skills are admirable. He didn't only improvised melody, but also rhythm and registration. Witnessing an organ improvisation was an extraordinary experience for me. Yet, the piece (Ankara'nın Bağları!) choosing was poor in my opinion because it is a song mostly alienated by Turkish classical music listeners. However, the intention of playing some Turkish music was really symphatetic, I would like to thank him for that.
Last piece was “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam” S 259, second movement of Fantasia and Fugue: Fugue by F. Liszt (1811 – 1886). The Latin exhortation "Ad nos, ad Salutarem undam" (Come to us, to the waves of salvation) is from Meyerbeer's opera Le Prophète. Franz Liszt used the chorale-like 27 note theme from Act 1 of the opera to weave a spectacular musical tale. Liszt himself visited Istanbul in 1847 and performed several concerts in the Palace (Çırağan Palace) for Emperor Abdulmecid and in public halls as well as foreign embassies. He even paraphrased the Ottoman Imperial Anthem of that time: "March of Abdulmecid" (Mecidiye Marşı). We do not know if he played any organ in Istanbul.
As encore, he played Charles-Marie Widor's (1844 – 1937) Toccata from The Symphony for Organ No. 5 in F minor, Op. 42, No. 1. At the last year's festival, French organist Ghislain Leroy performed this piece too. As it was last year, the final was a success !
The concert lasted for a little bit more than 1 hour. So we can assume upcoming ones will not be longer also. Next concerts are on 4th and 10th of December. In order to experience this extraordinary concerts save the dates!
p.s: For the audience, not seeing the instrument and the player could be strange. Be prepared for that when you go to an organ concert! :) Your face turns to the paintings and all of the magnificent ornaments of the church and you are expected to appreciate the Holiness !
*(Organists choose their program according to the organ that they will perform; so they request the list of registers (stops) and setup beforehand.)
**an interesting note for claps: Last year audience was timid for applausing as this year. Normally Turkish concert audience would cheer more than necessary, even between movements (sections of a piece). It would be nice to put a guide who knows the pieces before and navigates audience when we suppose to applause. Actually, I'm volunteer for this ! for the next concerts I will be more prepared to the program :)
And I should also thank to the organizers for disclosing the program before the concert, so I have a chance to be prepared and I enjoy the concert more.
***Registration is the technique of choosing and combining the stops of a pipe organ in order to produce a particular sound. Registration in organ is a huge subject which I will write about in next posts. ****Really last note:) I won this concert's ticket on a radio program in AçıkRadyo. Art director of the festival Mehmet Mestçi and İstanbul Pipe Organ Team founder organist and technician Tarkan Şendal were the guests of "Yeni" program on 19th November. Mestçi gifted free tickets to the listeners who knew the answer of the question "Who is the famous organist, harpsichordist and conducter of 20th century? (hint: he is German)" The correct answer is Karl Richter. Thank you very much for this opportunity and for the ticket:)
(I wish there was recording/podcast of that Yeni program on Açıkradyo, because that conversation was so informative about this festival, Istanbul organs and organ music in general.)
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