French organ virtuoso Ghislain Leroy concert took place on 29th November, in the first pipe organ festival of Turkey hosted by Saint Esprit Cathedral. In the program there were pieces from 17th century to 20th century. Despite the cold and rainy weather, all the people who filled the church reflected the importance of organ music given by Istanbul listeners and the value of this festival .
Ghislain Leroy, who is coming from the French organ school, considered one of the most talented organists of his generation, is known as a strong interpreter and supporter of contemporary works. Since 2016, he has been an assistant at the Amiens Metropole region conservatory and the Royal Conservatory in Belgium, and has given concerts in many countries around the world, including Japan.*
The Austrian Rieger Orgelbau organ of the Holy Spirit Cathedral, which gives voice to the festival, is the same brand as in the Philharmonie de Paris. Organiser Mr Mehmet Mestçi stated that this organ, which belongs to the Romantic period, has been restored very well despite its age of more than 100 years and is in very good condition.
The romantic architecture of the Cathedral, which was built in 1846, was also in harmony with the music. (For more information on the history of the cathedral, you can visit the website and refer to the article published in Bianet)
Ghislain's concert schedule was as follows:
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) : Prelude and fugue in a minor BWV 543
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) : Andante in F KV 616
César Franck (1822-1890): Prelude, fugue and variation op. 18
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) : Ouverture de l'Oratorio Paulus op. 36 (transcription William T. Best)
Vincent Paulet (1962) : Salve Regina
Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937) : Toccata de la Vème Symphonie
The first piece was BWV 543 in A minor, one of Bach's prelude fugues for organ. Then, he played the Andante in F major, which he composed for the mechanical organ, which is one of the last three works Mozart wrote in the last year of his life in 1791. I can say that the B minor preludes, fugues and variations of Cesar Franck, one of the most important composers of French organ music, were the most beautiful pieces I heard at this concert.
After the overture of Mendelssohn's Paul Oratorio, the contemporary French composer performed Vincent Paulet's Salve Regina. For me, it was quite interesting to listen to a contemporary piece with atonal features from an old instrument such as the organ. As Turkish listeners, we still can't get used to contemporary works, so no one applauded for a while when it was over :D Fortunately, the gentleman next to me, who is a bassoon player in the IDOB orchestra, started the applause and this strange waiting came to an end :)
Final piece was C.M. Widor's "Toccata" from the 5th organ symphony which he played enthusiastically ! As the bis piece, he performed J.S. Bach, Jesus bleibet meine Freude" BWV 147.
In general, due to the stylistic differences of the French and German organ schools, the performance of his virtuosity was quite successful, although the expression remained in the background in the interpretation of the works of German composers and he adopted a more marching tempo. In melodic works, although the sub-parts and the bass part were above the melody from time to time, the strong basses made one's hairs stand on end. In this concert, I can say that I understood better why the Catholic Church, which uses various arts, including painting, to make the congregation feel the greatness of God, and at the same time arouse awe and fear of God, chose the organ as an instrument.
Ghislain Leroy, on the other hand, will complete this year's agenda with his Trumpet and Organ recital in Liege, Belgium, on 8 December. These duo played in the same church in Istanbul at the 3rd Opus Amadeus Chamber Music Festival in 2014. Trumpet and organ sound so appealing that I hope to have a chance to watch such a recital in the future. Until then, we have Youtube videos. Below, I share a performance of Purcell in which they played the aria of Dido's Lament, which I adore deeply.
*Since organ music is a genre that I do not have the opportunity to listen to widely (the first and last organ concert I listened to in Turkey was at the Bosphorus at the beginning of this year. I talked about this concert in my article titled Boğaziçi'nin Tarihi Orgu . Also, I had the chance to listen to it during my last visit to Leipzig and the Vatican this summer) and I am less familiar with organists compared to the piano. Therefore, I wanted to use the concert program and the artist's website to give information about him. However, I saw differences in the French, English and German biographies at http://www.ghislainleroy.org/Biographie.html. I share the information translated from French, considering that the French biography is translated and used in the program and other languages may not be updated on the site.
Comentarios