Nicolas Haigh (Uppsala Cathedral)

Program
Rachel Laurin (1961-2023)
Poème Symphonique pour le Temps de l’Avent op. 69 (9’)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Partite diverse sopra “Sei gegrüßet, Jesu gütig” BWV 768 (20’)
Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr BWV 662 (7’)

Healey Willan (1880-1968)
Introduction, Passacaglia, and Fugue B. 149 (20’)

Healey Willan’s monumental masterpiece Introduction, Passacaglia, and Fugue owes much of its musical heritage to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue. Representing the apotheosis of Willan’s late Romantic compositional style, the work blends classical compositional form with the harmonic innovations of the era within which Willan lived. Sometimes referred to as the ‘Dean of Canadian Organ Composers’, Willan had considerable influence over the dual British/French school of organ composition with his background in the English cathedral tradition. Thus, Rachel Laurin’s Poème pour le Temps de l’Avent offers a contrasting – French – vision of Canadian organ composition. Rooted in plainsong and unencumbered by strict form, Laurin constructs a rhapsodic tone poem that conjures up vivid graphic imagery (World of stars/Satan’s snare/Virginal shrine, pure victim) rather than abstract emotion.
Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr is the first of three settings of this chorale prepared in the last decade of Bach’s life. Although the style of composition harkens back over the previous century to the work of Scheidemann, Bach’s use of large-scale form transforms the simple structure and texture into a significant masterpiece. Finally, Sei gegrüßet, Jesu gütig completes the program. A set of variations on a simple chorale melody, it offers a foil to the late-Romantic Willan that ends the program. Bach’s strict control of form allows for immense colour and variation across the eleven variations ending in an apocalyptic restatement of the opening theme.