22-year-old British pianist and organist Richard Gowers plays the Sonata on the 94th Psalm by Julius Reubke (1834-1858) on the recently restored organ of King's College Chapel, Cambridge.
If there was a copy of the score on the music desk this would be an amazing performance. The absence of a score places this performance in the truly extraordinary category.
With the possible exception, and quite possibly of equivalent performance of Virgil Fox this young man has reached the highest plateau of excellence. His professional performance not only of the music itself from memory but also the many, many registration changes and combination settings he also used from memory. Be prepared for the musical ride of your life on this one. He took my breath away with his ability. God bless him.
All that would appear the case-actual. As the Austrian Emperor (Jeffrey Jones) exclaimed to third-rate composer Salieri: "Well . . . . . . there 'tiz!"
Absolutely stunning! I love this piece, which I first heard way back in April, 1964, in a thrilling performance by Virgil Fox. This performance is of equal caliber. How blest we are to have such astounding talent in our midst. A great career awaits you!
One can see why Reubke wrote this piece since his music teacher was Franz Liszt, who wrote the Fantasy and Fugue on "Ad Nos, ad Salutarem Undam" in 1850. Reubke must have been really inspired to write this piece to show respect for Liszt.
Well done, Richard, a stunning performance. I know this piece mostly from Simon Preston's 1960s performance at Westminster Abbey on Decca/Argo. He was particularly proud of having been able to use a complete, unedited take as the recording which was issued. The two instruments are (or rather, were then) very similar, both being Hill/Harrisons. I agree that the video sound doesn't do full justice to the King's instrument, but what it lacks in punch it makes up for in clarity. Most enjoyable.
I'd love to see this in 4K with top shelf audio. Nicely played "to the room" with it's wonderful acoustic yet very clean sound. You'll go far. Actually you already have!
I often see this work described as "titanic" and it truly is! This is an amazing performance, and from memory. No hesitation. Just complete confidence on display. My favorite bonus is the subtle shake of the console and the light as the piece thunders to a conclusion. This was a bad choice for me to put on "in the background" while I was trying to do other work on the computer, as i quickly gave up any pretense of productivity and simply enjoyed. Thank you for your gift.
Bravo, Amazing playing, We saw you play Bach Prelude & Fugue in D BWV 532 last week at a Kings College Choir Concert at St Matthews Church, Northampton. A huge future awaits you.
Fabulous. The first time I heard Reubke Sonata on the 94th Psalm live was at Bridlington Priory Priory before the Nicholson's restoration of said Organ. It was fabulous on the mighty Priory Organ. The Organ has in my opinion been tamed somewhat since that time but nonetheless is still a very fine concert instrument. I believe Richard has played Bridlington Priory so would like to hear is his views on this instrument.
Also there is a puzzle over bars 243 and 253 in the adagio. From the start the motto theme commences on the second beat and occasionally the fourth. In these bars we have the motto theme transformed into the "comforts delight my soul theme. This is a magical transformation of the motto theme. Elgar was to do the same albeit on a bigger scale in the last movement of the A flat symphony. The problem is that the score has this theme proceeded by an extra note, an a and then an a flat second time. This makes he theme start on the first beat. It is further confusing that the answering second half of the theme starts on the second beat as normal. I wonder if this is a long-standing misprint as the bars make no sense as written. May I suggest that the first note the a and then a flat should be taken over by the left hand and the comforts them should start on the e and e flat. This sounds much more beautiful and makes sense both musically and textually. It is the way I play it. No one else does, but I am convinced that this is what the composer intended.
Find Nathan Laube’s performance in Pittsburgh on the restored Von Beckerath Organ and you’ll se and hear another extraordinary performance from memory at a slightly faster tempo.
Good?? Can you do better? That is the most accomplished performance of the Reubke I ever heard, and by a 22-year-old, without the score! It was a triumph!! Thank you, Riichard.
I didn’t edit anything out, but the microphones used for the recording hang from the ceiling quite close to the organ, so they get a lot of direct sound and not so much of the ambience.
Maybe God decided he did enough. And when we believe and obey Jesus we'll get to heaven where by now on a new build organ you might hear the next composition... I really plan to go there.
Excellent. But as a matter of personal taste I feel that the whole piece hinges on the last stave - which for me should be played strictly in tempo with even a hint of accelerando, and the last chord should be played only fractionally longer than the note value (the fermata should be almost ignored). It is as angry an end to a musical work that I can think of, and that's how it should sound - angry, abrupt, and suddenly ending as if raising a pair of fingers to the universe. Just my view.
