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Organist Jonathan Ryan plays Bach’s Clavier-Übung III at Trinity Cathedral (Mar. 21)

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by Timothy Robson

RYAN-JonathanJohann Sebastian Bach’s monumental Clavier-Übung III is arguably the greatest collection of organ works of all time. Comprised of twenty-one chorale preludes and four duets, and bookended with a prelude and fugue in E-flat major, the Clavier-Übung III is the final distillation of Baroque organ counterpoint. American organist Jonathan Ryan played Bach’s longest, most complex, and most difficult organ work Tuesday evening, March 21 on Trinity Cathedral’s 1977 Flentrop organ. [Read more…]

Organist Jonathan Ryan to play
“Clav III” at Trinity Cathedral

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by Daniel Hathaway

RYAN-JonathanDespite its unassuming title, the idea of the Clavier-Übung — a collection of pieces exploring the practice of keyboard music — inspired a number of Baroque composers to some of their best compositional efforts. First among them was Johann Sebastian Bach, whose four-part published collection included the Six Partitas (collected in 1731), the Italian Concerto and French Overture (1735), the German Organ Mass (1739), and the aria with thirty variations we’ve nicknamed the “Goldberg Variations.”

Organist Jonathan Ryan, who pursued his undergraduate studies with Todd Wilson at the Cleveland Institute of Music before moving on to Eastman, will play the German Organ Mass, or Clavier-Übung III, on the Flentrop Organ in Trinity Cathedral on Tuesday, March 21 at 7:30 pm. [Read more…]

Review: Happy Birthday, Benjamin Britten at Trinity Cathedral (November 22)

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by Daniel Hathaway

BRITTEN-BenjaminOn November 22, a far happier occasion to remember than the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of JFK was the centenary of the birth of Benjamin Britten — and far more appropriate to St. Cecilia’s Day, the patron saint of musicians. A smattering of area tributes to the greatest British composer since Henry Purcell have been planned during 2013, but Trinity Cathedral under Todd Wilson has clearly taken the lead with celebrations of Britten’s music fueling two Brownbag concerts and a gala concert last Friday evening featuring three of his most celebrated vocal and choral works.

Wilson’s choral forces — Trinity Chamber Singers and the Trinity Cathedral Choir — sang the Hymn to St. Cecilia and the festival cantata, Rejoice in the Lamb, respectively, and countertenor John McElliott and tenor JR Fralick teamed with Wilson in the second of Britten’s Five Canticles, Abraham and Isaac.

The key to Britten’s renown as a vocal composer is his choice of excellent texts to set and his dead-on intuition about how to fit music to words. [Read more…]

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