View from the Green Room: Tops of the Baroques at Organ Festival!
Waterford International Organ Festival
The Waterford International Organ Festival opens at Christ Church for a superb Baroque programme from the medieval quills of Telemann, Handel and Bach that delights the full cathedral. Experienced mezzo Róisín O’Grady, a splendid quartet and choir of experienced singers especially chosen for the festival with Christ Church’s Simon Harden as organist and Shen Wenn Teo as continuo.
Simon is the inspiration behind the festival. In 2021, he founded the Waterford International Organ Festival and became its Artistic Director and he’s got quite the resumé. Simon lectures in organ performance at the TU Dublin Conservatoire and is Organist and Director of Music at Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford. He’s won numerous musical awards and has recorded several CDs.
Dean Very Rev. Bruce Hayes opens the Festival and is generous with his welcomes. Rev. Bruce points to a new organ that stands just in front of the altar and explains that it is a gift from the Sisters of Mercy, Ballybricken, who have recently closed their convent.
"It’s a wonderful gesture of ecumenism," remarked the Dean and is the perfect opening to the Organ Festival.
I just love Baroque music and an opening concert that includes Telemann, Handel and Bach in its programme is like a ‘Tops of the Baroques’ to die for. Organ Festival and Music Director Simon Harden has assembled a hand-picked choir and mezzo along with a superb quartet to anchor the concert.
Telemann’s motet ‘Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott TWV 8:7’ (A Mighty Fortress is our God) is full of the joy of the absolute certainty of faith in the Lord when times are difficult. Mezzo soprano Róisín O’Grady is in glorious voice for the opening aria that is jam-packed with cadenzas, descending scales and tuneful phrases that fills the old cathedral with beauty. The recitative continues the story in a confidential tone and moves the motet to a space between spaces. The final aria is a pacy piece that skips along, is full of business and challenge for Róisín and leads on to a joyful conclusion.
Handel’s Organ Concerto in B flat major op.4 no.2 is bright and tuneful and the dualogue between the solo organ and the orchestra sparkles. The gentle opening masks the noisy energy of the conversation between the solo passages on organ with the edgy orchestral interludes that are full of musical contrasts. There’s a short dreamlike interlude on organ before a final adagio pushes the concerto on against the restrained strings of the quartet to a joyful finale.
Two splendid pieces from Bach is just the perfect ending. ‘Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust BWV 170’ (Contented rest, beloved pleasure of the soul) is a five-movement cantata that moves between solo organ and recitative and dates from 1726. It speaks to the thought that true contentment only comes from God – a sort of Baroque version of ‘give up yer auld sins’!
Róisín O’Grady’s gentle entries between long orchestral intervals are elegant and polished and are full of conviction that inner peace does indeed lie within the nourished soul.
Bach’s motet ‘Lobet den Herrn, all Heiden BWV 230’ (Praise the Lord all ye nations) is a big joyful ending that’s packed with line climaxes and choral run-ons that is a polyphonic treat. Praise the Lord and heads down for the final tape with Hallelujahs ringing around the old cathedral.
A great opening to the Waterford International Organ Festival.
