Organist James Hicks

DRAMATIC SCANDINAVIAN ORGAN MUSIC IN AGO RECITAL AT INCARNATION

The Casavant organ in Santa Rosa’s Church of the Incarnation was on full display Nov. 9 and met the demands of organist James Hicks in a program of music from Nordic lands. The Twilight Pipe Organ Mini Recital was exquisitely played and the organ’s many colorful stops were utilized for the three major works on the program.

Mr. Hicks, from Morristown, New Jersey, opened with a three-part Sonata by the Finnish composer, Vitjo Mikkola. The piece had dramatic attributes of the French symphonic style and Mr. Hicks discovered the unpublished Sonata in a library in Finland.

This was followed by the lyrical Elegi from Suite for Organ, Op. 35, by contemporary composer Kurt Wiklander. Mr. Wicklander’s music, not well known outside of Scandinavia, is formidable and he is virtuoso pianist as well as an organist. The more colorful and delicate stops of the Casavant were featured in this piece. The final work on the program was the Introduction and Passacaglia by the Icelandic composer Pali Isolfssohn, and the performer compared the composition to the style of style of Max Reger. It certainly was romantic, filled with interesting harmonic development and manifold organ registrations from the softest to most bombastic. Mr. Hicks played all of these pieces with musical conviction, technical prowess, and most important with an intent to present this lesser known music to American audiences.

As with all of the Twilight series programs, sponsored by the Redwood Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, the audience members were invited to a no host dinner with the artist following the program.

Sebastopol organist Beth Zucchino will play Dec. 14 in a program featuring Bach, Rheinberger and Alexandre-François-Pierre Boëly’s Recueil de Noels: 14 Preludes sur des Cantiques de Denizot, Op. 15.