Organists celebrate composers’ births with feast of music

Press, 29 May 1985, Page 28

Organists celebrate composers’ births with feast of music

Already this year there have been a number of celebrations held in Christchurch and all over the world to mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of Bach and Handel. The music and times of the two composers will also feature prominently in the programme for the twentyfourth annual national congress of the New Zealand Organists’ Association.

Held in Christchurch this year, the congress will cover the three days of Queen’s Birthday week-end, attracting about 80 pipe organists from throughout the country.

Recitals by Anthony Jennings, organist of Auckland Cathedral and a lecturer in music at the Auckland University, will concentrate on works from the baroque period and particularly those by Bach and Handel.

Mr Jennings’ official congress organ recital will be given on Saturday afternoon on the classical trackeraction pipe organ in St Albans Methodist Church, and he will perform a pro-

gramme of harpsichord music in the State Trinity Theatre on Sunday evening for congress participants.

The wider contribution of the organ will he heard when the choir and orchestra of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament join forces with members of the organists’ congress to perform Handel’s “Zadok the Priest,” Bach’s church cantata No. 140 “Wauchet Auf,” and the “Organ Symphony” by Saint-Saens at the Cathedral on Sunday afternoon. New Zealand organists do not often have the chance to listen to or play historic organs, centuries old, which are commonplace in Europe. A multi-media show aimed at combining both the visual and aural delights of the .European baroque, classical and romantic organs will also be a feature of the congress.

There are, however, a large number of pipe organs in New Zealand with historical importance, and the organists will visit some of these on an "organ-crawl”

around Christchurch on Saturday. The only thing missing from the programme is the chance to hear and play a concert pipe organ in the Christchurch Town Hall, say the organisers of the congress, members of the Christchurch branch of the association.

A trust fund set up late last year to raise money for a civic instrument to be built to concert specifications, has accumulated from many generous gifts a total of $126,000. It is estimated that a suitable three-manual and pedal type organ would cost about $750,000.