Von der Seine an die Ems

Programme:
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Organ Sonata in F minor Op. 65/1
Pierre Cochereau: Scherzo symphonique
Thierry Escaich: III Poèmes, Triptyque improvisé
Igor Stravinsky: »The Firebird« (Auszüge)
Louis Vierne: Méditation aus Pièces en style libre Op. 31

Another distinguished guest from Paris! After Olivier Latry last year, we welcome another titular organist of Notre-Dame cathedral, which celebrated its reopening ceremony on 7 December: Thierry Escaisch. With his appointment in 2024, Paris once again chose an artist who is one of the pre-eminent French musicians of our time, not only as an organist, but also as a composer and improviser. Escaisch combines these three sides of his career for his concert on the instrument in Papenburg, Germany’s largest preserved Weimar Republic organ. As a »mere« interpreter, he draws an arc from Mendelssohn Bartholdy, the father of the Romantic organ sonata, to Louis Vierne, one of his predecessors at Notre-Dame, all the way to Stravinsky’a »Firebird« music. The fact that there is still room for his »III Poèmes« and an improvisiation on a theme suggested by the audience is only natural for Escaisch, who says about his three artistic talents: »Everything is interconnected, one is not possible without the other two«.

Thierry Escaich organ

in cooperation with Landkreis Emsland, the Emsländische Sparkassenstiftung and the City of Papenburg