{"id":3197,"date":"2016-10-05T07:55:20","date_gmt":"2016-10-05T06:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=3197"},"modified":"2016-10-05T07:56:06","modified_gmt":"2016-10-05T06:56:06","slug":"pull-out-all-the-stops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=3197","title":{"rendered":"PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Jane Parker-Smith, organ<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong> Royal Festival Hall, 3 October 2016<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The 2016\/17 season of this international organ series started with a bang in this recital by the renowned concert organist who is based in London. The programme notes included a quote from Gramophone magazine which describes her approach as \u201cmusically assertive organ-playing\u201d and her championing of \u201cbig, gutsy, colourful\u201d repertoire. \u00a0There is no doubting that Jane Parker-Smith is a fine organist with a tremendous command of the instrument but my problem with this evening was the amount of music which was overly loud, percussive and fast.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning with Marcel Lanquetuit\u2019s <i>Toccata in D<\/i> the first sounds from the organ were insistent and \u201cin your face\u201d! Guillou\u2019s transcription of Lizst\u2019s <i>Orpheus <\/i>followed, with some good orchestral registration but at times it felt like some of the accompaniment was running away with itself. Andreas Willscher\u2019s <i>Toccata alla Rumba <\/i>brought some rhythmic contrast but was in many ways a return to the sound world of the opening piece. The most substantial work in the first half was Healey Willan\u2019s <i>Introduction, Passacaglia &amp; Fugue in Eb minor. <\/i>This was the nearest we came to baroque \/ classical structures and was well played with some lovely registration and overall a more measured approach. The beginning of the Passacaglia was beautifully constructed with well defined lines.<\/p>\n<p>The second half consisted of just one work, Vierne\u2019s <i>Symphonie No 2 in E minor. <\/i>This was a well-executed performance with a lot more contrast in registration and some sublime passages in the <i>Chorale<\/i> as well as the delightfully playful <i>Scherzo<\/i> as well as some more evidence of the might of this organ and organist.<\/p>\n<p>An interesting evening which I am sure appealed to many in the audience. I enjoy organ music of varying styles and was impressed by much of the programme as individual items. For an entertaining evening and a showcase for this remarkable instrument I personally would have appreciated a more balanced diet.<\/p>\n<p>The next concert in the series, an all Bach-programme, is given by Robert Quinney on 3<sup>rd<\/sup> February.<\/p>\n<p>Stephen Page<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jane Parker-Smith, organ Royal Festival Hall, 3 October 2016 The 2016\/17 season of this international organ series started with a bang in this recital by the renowned concert organist who is based in London. The programme notes included a quote &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=3197\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3197"}],"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=3197"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3200,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3197\/revisions\/3200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}