Organist Paul Blanchard

NORTH GERMAN CHORALES WERE MUSIC FOR THE SOUL AT AGO RECITAL

Organist Paul Blanchard played an outstanding and instructive recital August 28 at Santa Rosa’s First Presbyterian Church. It was the fourth and last in a series of summer Sunday recitals featuring organists of the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), and underwritten by the Church.

“Music for the Soul - The Art of the North German Chorale” was an appropriate title for Mr. Blanchard’s recital, which opened with Mendelssohn’s D Minor Sonata, Opus 65, No. 6. The work based on the German hymn tune “Vater unser in Himmelreich” by Martin Luther. The Sonata was followed by a collection of six Bach chorale preludes, and one chorale prelude by Samuel Scheidt.

Mr. Blanchard introduced the program by asking the audience to stand and sing from the hymnal the hymn “Our Father who Art in Heaven” on which the sonata is based. The organist then played the multipart sonata (Chorale, Fuga, and Finale) with flowing note-perfect confidence, observing organ registration and phrasing authentic to the composer and the instruments of his time.

The short Bach works by demonstrated how the great composer used repeating short motifs within the preludes to express the moods of the chorales: “Have Mercy, Lord” (BWV 721); “Come Holy Ghost” (BWV 631); “O Lamb of God” (BWV 618); “I call to Thee” (BWV 639); “We are here, Lord Jesus” (BWV 633); and finally “Christ Lay in the Bonds of Death” (BWV 625). These Preludes were played with clarity and simplicity using both perfect Baroque manual touch and selection of organ stops. The beautifully varied registration chosen by the organist made each prelude uniquely expressive.

The less familiar Scheidt “Cantio Sacra,” SSWV 106, based on the tune “Warum betrübst du Dich,” closed the program. This is a 12-verset composition from an earlier musical time, and once again Mr. Blanchard’s educated choice of organ stops made each of the sections fresh to the ear.

The performer, Music Director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Healdsburg, gave the audience excellent verbal explanations of the music, bringing everyone from the late Renaissance through the Baroque and into the Romantic musical era in reverse chronological order! It was a very satisfying recital.