An organ recital fit for a Grand Temple

By Morwenna Campbell-Smith, 11 December 2020

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“online cameras take you to a privileged position right behind the organist’s shoulder”

Reviewed at Freemasons' Hall, London on 9 December 2020

Elgar, Organ Sonata no. 1 in G major, Op.28

Mathias, Toccata giocasa

Howells, Psalm Prelude, set 1 no. 1

Cocker, Tuba Tune

Elgar, Chanson de Matin

Thalben-Ball, Tune in E in the style of John Stanley

Bach, Trio sonata in E Flat Major, BWV525

Walton, Crown Imperial

Christopher Stokes, Organ

Turangalîla underwhelms at the Southbank’s Multitudes festival

Roy Westbrook, 23rd April

Serious music ill-matched by filmic limitations as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra tackles Messiaen’s epic “symphony” as part of the Southbank’s cross-genre festival.

**111

Immersive OAE submerged at Southbank’s Multitudes festival

Mark Valencia, 22nd April

The road to immersion is paved with modish deflections as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment performs 20th-century English string music.

**111

A dream of a Gerontius from Pappano, the LSO and Chorus

Roy Westbrook, 21st April

Giving their 27th performance of the oratorio, the London Symphony Chorus excel as angelic angels and demonic demons.

****1

Benedetti ablaze with the Philharmonia

Christopher Woodley, 19th April

As gifts to the Philarmonia's 80th birthday season, Nicola Benedetti gives a barnstorming account of Elgar's Violin Concerto before Cristian Mӑcelaru gets emotionally drained by La Mer.

*****

Nicholas McGegan brings delicacy and elegance to Mendelssohn

Erica Miner, 18th April

The Seattle Symphony offers an enchanting evening immersed in the joy and brilliance of both the young and the mature genius of Felix Mendelssohn.

****1

Wrangling the octopus: Mahler’s Ninth with Sir Simon Rattle

Chanda VanderHart, 17th April

Less a symphony, more a force of nature, Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in a turbulent, yet spacious reading of Mahler's Ninth Symphony in the Musikverein.

****1

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Morwenna Campbell-Smith

Morwenna Campbell-Smith writes The Lady Organist, a blog which began as a chronicle of her progress as an organist, but is now an international online magazine, with news, reviews, and advice for organists and would-be organists. She works for the Society of Women Organists, recently set up to encourage women and girls to take up the organ. Since 2015 she’s been on the the management team of the Royal College of Organists in the UK, as Editor of their learning campus iRCO, and writing their official blog, StopPress.

An organ recital fit for a Grand Temple: Christopher Stokes at Freemasons' Hall