Timothy Howard
Meaghan King
Judith Siirila Paskowitz
| Timothy Howard, organist
with Meaghan King, organist, and Judith Siirila Paskowitz, soprano Saturday, March 15, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.
Free Admission ~ Voluntary offering The idiosyncrasies of Timothy Howard’s annual PPC recital are evident right from the program’s beginning, as he opens with a piece titled Recessional. There’s some Bach (actually, nearly 15 minutes of it, one of the Master’s most adult Prelude and Fugue pairs) for those who need that particular fix, then Paul Halley’s exquisite Prayer for organ/piano duet with Howard assisted by Meaghan King. Next up is Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue in F minor, with its two siblings famously (and quite inÂcorÂrectly) labeled by one critic as “doomed to oblivion” because of its “inÂsurÂmountÂable difficulties;” the F minor is nearly unique within the prelude/fugue genre in that it ends quietly instead of at or beyond full organ.
Puccini didn’t write anything for solo organ (that we know of, at least), but that’s not stopping Howard from featuring one of the composer’s most familiar melodies—”Un bel di” from Madamma Butterfly—as the starting point for an improvisation; Judith Siirila Paskowitz sets the mood by singing Puccini’s aria. The program concludes with two pieces from Louis Vierne’s Op. 55 Fantasie pieces that will reveal some quite unique sounds from PPC’s magnificent Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ.
Dr. Howard’s improvisation on this program is sponsored by Charla Bolton, who “bought” it at last Fall’s Friends of Music Silent Auction. We are grateful to Charla for her support. Program: - William Mathias: Recessional
- J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in E minor (”Wedge”), BWV 548
- Paul Halley: Prayer
- Marcel Dupré: Trois Pr&3acute;ludes et Fugues, Op. 7
No. 2 in F minor
- Giacomo Puccini: Un bel di (from Madamma Butterfly)
- Improvisation on a theme by Puccini
- Louis Vierne: Pièces de Fantaisie, Op. 55
No. 5 Gargouilles et chimères
No. 6 Les cloches de Hinckley
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