Glorious stuff in an entertaining concert at All Saints'
Last Monday Peter Dyke from Hereford Cathedral gave us a most varied and entertaining concert, the fifth in the series. He began with a lively March by Choveaux, not as French as his name suggests but an organist in Wimbledon ! Then followed two early music collections from the 17th century, the first half concluding with a splendid, rhythmic rendition of the Wedge Prelude and Fugue by Bach. The second half had all the glory of the full Father Willis sound exploited in Buxtehude’s Prelude in C major , four Chorale Preludes by four different composers, one being Peter himself, Danseuses de Delphes by Debussy and Force et Agilite des Corps Glorieux by Messiaen. Certainly glorious stuff. The concert ended with The Dancing Pipes by Jonathan Dove in which Peter’s fingers simply flew about the manuals. The encore was a truly virtuosic Prelude on a hymn tune by a Norwegian composer born in 1959. Peter’s anecdotes between pieces were informative and amusing.
The next concert will be at 7.30pm on Monday 13 August, to be played by Simon Bell from Tewkesbury Abbey. His programme will include music by Widor, Bach, Mendelssohn, Elgar, Mozart and the complete Sonata no 8 by Guilmant. Tickets £10. For more information call 0780 106 8156. By Marion Lovell.