Virtuoso Canadian organist performs a recital on the mighty Auckland Town Hall Organ.
Isabelle Demers at the console of the Auckland Town Hall Organ Photo: RNZ/Tim Dodd
Isabelle Demers inside the Auckland Town Hall Organ Photo: Kerry Stevens
A native of Quebec and a graduate of the Juilliard School, Isabelle Demers is one of the most exciting players in the world today. She’s been electrifying audiences and critics for over a decade now with the precision and clarity of her playing.
Peter Reed of The Classical Source commented in 2016: “There is no shortage of organists who make their instruments roar; and while her power was never in question, Demers made the instrument sing.”
A particular aspect that really sets her apart from other organists – she always plays everything from memory.
BACH arr Reger: Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue in D minor BWV903
In this work, Bach, the progressive, explores new harmonic and tonal possibilities. It was originally written for harpsichord and this version for organ was prepared by the great 19th Century German organist and composer Max Reger.
WILLIAM ALBRIGHT: Ragtime Lullaby & Shimmy, from Flights of Fancy
Albright was a leading American composer until his death in 1998 and taught for many years at the University of Michigan.
Flights of Fancy is subtitled 'Ballet for Organ'. In these two movements, Albright pays homage to popular American genres with a good dose of humour.
RACHEL LAURIN: Berceuse mariale, from Sonata for Organ No 1
This gentle lullaby uses the strings stops and is based on the Lourdes' Ave Maria.
Rachel Laurin was organist at the St Joseph Oratory in Montreal and became Canada's leading organ composer. She died in August 2023, just a few weeks after this recital by Isabelle Demers.
JOHN WILLIAMS arr Demers: Star Wars Medley
Demers plays four movements – all from Episode 4: A New Hope: 'Main Title', 'Princess Leia', 'Cantina Band', and 'The Throne Room'.
MOZART: Fantasia in F minor K608
Demers writes in her programme note that this is “a rather intriguing work [...] written not for organ, but rather for a flute clock, [an instrument] invented during the 18th-century for aristocrats who desired to be entertained during meals. It functioned more or less like an automated player, and many famous composers such as Haydn and Beethoven, wrote works for the mechanism.”
Apparently Mozart didn’t like the instrument but needed the money, so he wrote a few pieces for it. This Fantasy is the most extensive and it would have fully explored the tonal resources of the clock ... almost to breaking point, Demers suggests.
STRAVINSKY arr Demers: The Firebird, Suite
Stravinsky is said to have hated the organ. However, we can fancifully imagine that his stance would have softened somewhat if he could have heard Isabelle Demers' colourful arrangement of the Firebird Suite, one of the three masterpiece ballets that cemented his position as one of the greatest 20th-century composers.
VIERNE: Finale, from Organ Symphony No 1
Played as an encore in response to the audience requesting something loud.
Recorded by RNZ Concert, 9 July 2023
Producer: Tim Dodd
Engineer: Rangi Powick
