Ian Wells was kind enough to cast a ray of (musical) sunshine to today's gloomy weather at Holy Trinity Church, where he played the organ for about an hour in a recital designed to showcase the range of this instrument; while one tends to only think of its dynamic range, the pipe organ also has, between its deep lows and its piercing highs, a wide tonal gamut. Not phased by a console that looks like an airplane's cockpit, Mr. Wells promised to literally pull all the stops and take us through a musical journey of French, British and German composers– not before giving the audience a very much welcome introduction to not only to each of the seven pieces he played, but to the overarching structure of the presentation.
I particularly enjoyed his rendition of the first movement in Frank Bridge's The First Book of Organ Pieces, which, though meant to be allegretto grazioso, is, I think, more of a contemplative work, reminiscent of the legato sounds of water levels in video-games: a subtle piece where the theme is whispered to the listener in dream-like tones that much differ from the metallic sound more commonly associated with organs.
By the end of the recital, Mr. Wells' point was proven: the organ is indeed an instrument with an immense and often under-appreciated (or used) range. And it's an instrument best experienced live: I mean, you could go right now to Spotify and listen to Daniel Moult's version of the above-mentioned «6 organ pieces H.56» and, while this might be the best recording of this piece gracing Spotify's records, it doesn't compare to the experience of listening to it live; no matter how much you spend on a sound system, the acoustical qualities of the ample space of the Holy Trinity's Runcorn stone, fiberglass, and pitch-pine interior cannot be captured or replicated– specially not when the deeper notes of the organ reverberate through you, adding a guttural experience to an already all-encompassing musical affair, since not all of the notes come from the south-western transept's flute-pipes, but some seem to come from behind the listener, and some are too faint to even try to capture.
I guess it's one of those «you'd have to have been there» situations, but luckily we can all be there next month, when pianist Ms. Hanna Csermely will be gracing us with pieces by Bach, Rachmaninoff, and Enrique Granados. Hopefully it won't be as cold then, but, just in case, dress warm!