Music for a Grand Exhibition Organ
Andrew Benson-Wilson
St Anne’s, Limehouse. Friday 2 October, 7:30
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Alle Menschen müssen sterben BWV 643
Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein BWV 641
Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ BWV 639
Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten BWV 642
‘Cathedral’ Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 533
Alexandre Pierre-François Boëly (1785–1858)
Quatour
Offertoire pour le Jour de Paques
Dialogue
Fantasia pour le verset Judex Crederis au Te Deum
Louis-James Alfred Lefébure-Wély (1817-1869)
Scène pastorale avec orage pour une inauguration d’orgue
J S Bach
‘St Anne’ Fugue in E flat, BWV 552
Welcome to a rare opportunity to hear the magnificent 1850 Gray & Davison organ in Nicholas Hawksmoor’s stunning 1730 church of St Anne’s, Limehouse – the “Cathedral of the East End”. The organ won first prize at the 1851 ‘Crystal Palace‘ Great Exhibition in Hyde Park. The organ features several gentle stops as well as some astonishingly powerful reeds. Around the late 1980s, I gave some annual recitals here, around the time a book was published that described the organ as “decrepit but still magnificent”. The idea of those recitals was to let people hear this important organ, whatever state it was in, before it became unplayable and forgotten. Following the 2006 William Drake restoration, I am delighted to be invited back for this recital.
All the proceeds from the retiring collection will go towards the continuing maintenance of this important organ.
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