{"id":1991,"date":"2014-10-12T18:31:32","date_gmt":"2014-10-12T17:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=1991"},"modified":"2014-10-12T18:31:32","modified_gmt":"2014-10-12T17:31:32","slug":"stephen-page-4-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=1991","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Page: 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

HastingsUnitarianChurch, Saturday 11th<\/sup> October 2014<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

A full programme for the opening day of Hastings Week, coupled with heavy thundery showers, could have depleted our potential audience.\u00a0 It was wonderful therefore to see many regular supporters, and many new faces, so that every chair in the Meeting Place was taken!<\/p>\n

Stephen never fails to delight with the amazing variety he includes within one programme.\u00a0 We started with Eric Thiman to whom Stephen has introduced us in previous recitals. There was a quietly humorous note to begin \u2013 the lively Short Fanfare<\/i> was very, very <\/b>short! Thiman\u2019s reflective Chorale <\/i>led naturally into JS Bach\u2019s gentle Adagio in A minor,<\/i> the only movement of his Toccata, Adagio and Fugue, we learned, that could be accommodated on the small pedal board of the Snetzler. JC Simon\u2019s Prelude and Fugue<\/i>, also in A minor, was in lively contrast to the Bach.\u00a0 Such contrasts continued in a programme which spanned four centuries, took us from England to the continent and America, and ranged from classical, sacred, and martial music, to musical comedy.<\/p>\n

Sacred music was well represented. From the mid-twentieth century, Arthur Milner gave us In Nomine,<\/i> based on Latin Chant, while Gordon Young\u2019s Prelude on Slane and Recessional on <\/i>St Anne were more familiar to the non-musicians amongst us as Be thou my vision, <\/i>and O God our help in ages past.<\/i> Both composers were also represented by secular works \u2013 Young\u2019s jaunty and better known Prelude in Classical Style, and Milner\u2019s Intermezzo and Carillon from <\/i>6 Miniatures.<\/p>\n

The 6 Miniatures <\/i>well demonstrated the organ\u2019s range, including the delicate dulciana <\/i>stop \u00a0patented by Snetzler himself. Stephen had planned the entire recital to demonstrate the versatility of the organ. Each of this year\u2019s recitals has contained a Sonata by CPE Bach as its longest item.\u00a0 This time it was number 5 in D major. As Stephen explained, his style was revolutionary, being playful and full of sudden contrasts, and the two manuals of the Snetzler were well able to demonstrate this.\u00a0 Another item chosen to show the organ\u2019s potential, was the Humoresque (L\u2019Organo Primitivo), <\/i>of Pietro Yon.\u00a0 Sometimes known as Toccatina for <\/i>Flute, the piece uses just this one stop throughout.<\/p>\n

The programme displayed not only the versatility of the instrument, but also the skill and dexterity of the player. Watching Stephen\u2019s hands brought to mind a scientist who some years ago included \u2018a pianist\u2019s fingers\u2019 in his Seven Wonders of the Natural World,<\/i> as they move faster than the brain can send messages to them!<\/p>\n

The programme concluded with Jule Styne\u2019s The Party\u2019s Over<\/i>, and Abe Holzmann\u2019s Blaze Away!<\/i> which set our toes tapping and sent us on our way humming. Both the titles and the music seemed a fitting end to a stimulating 2014 series of organ recitals at the Unitarian Meeting Place.\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you, Stephen! \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 CE<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HastingsUnitarianChurch, Saturday 11th October 2014 A full programme for the opening day of Hastings Week, coupled with heavy thundery showers, could have depleted our potential audience.\u00a0 It was wonderful therefore to see many regular supporters, and many new faces, so … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1991"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1992,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1991\/revisions\/1992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}