Iveta Apkalna, organ: Glass & Bach
Helsinki Music Centre, Concert Hall
Fri 30.8.2024 19:00
Duration: approx. 2h, interval
Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna is one of the world’s brightest stars of the instrument. Music Centre’s new organs receive a worthy guest when Apkalna comes to Helsinki Festival to perform a solo recital, the programme of which consists of a hypnotic mix of Philip Glass’ pulsating contemporary music and Johann Sebastian Bach’s ageless organ works.
Since 2017, Apkalna has served as the titular organist at Hamburg’s legendary Elbphilharmonie and performed as a soloist for some of the top orchestras in the world, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw. Apkalna was the organ soloist of NDR Elbphilharmonie at the world premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Sinfonia concertante in 2023.
Apkalna’s Helsinki Festival concert uniquely weaves together organ works by Philip Glass and J.S. Bach. Glass’ trance-like works accented by a penetrating minimalist pulse also introduce a new angle to Bach’s iconic compositions.
Iveta Apkalna, organ
Programme:
Philip Glass: Satyagraha. Act III, Conclusion (arr. Michael Riesman)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Pièce d’Orgue (Fantasia in G major), BWV 572
Philip Glass: Music in Contrary Motion
Johann Sebastian Bach: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582
Johann Sebastian Bach: Ricercar 6, The Musical Offering, BWV 1079
Philip Glass: Mad Rush
Johann Sebastian Bach: Chaconne, BWV 1004 (organ arr. M. Keller)
The most prevalent musical technique during Philip Glass’s youth and student years was serialism. At its most strenuous, this approach prohibited all repetition in music. This also ended musical continuity and a clear pulse. Tonality and triad harmonies were obvious taboos in serialism.
The American composers of the 1960s developed a style that was the antithesis of the complexity of serialism. Its key features were the endless repetition of simple musical elements and motifs, a steady pulse and static dynamics, and triad-based harmonization that might even only move within one key.
This new approach was dubbed minimalism. Glass, however, shuns this often misunderstood term. He prefers to describe himself as a composer of “music with repetitive structures”.
Satyagraha (1979) is a three-act opera performed in Sanskrit. The finale of the third act has been arranged for organ by Michael Riesman. Much calmer than its title suggests, Mad Rush (1979) can be performed on the piano or organ. According to Glass, Contrary Motion (1969) was written in “open” form; the piece never really ends, it just stops. It is based on expanding characters that could theoretically keep growing forever. In principle, a performance lasting hours or even days is possible.
In Glass’ music, small, repeating melody fragments and ostinatos create a calm, steadily pulsing weave and wrap the listener in a pleasant musical blanket that avoids dissonance.
Johann Sebastian Bach was best known as an organist, organ expert and composer during his lifetime. In addition to his immense life’s work, Bach regularly consulted on various organ projects and participated in the testing of organs. He also often had the honour of performing his own solos at the inaugural concerts of new organs. Bach composed organ works during his entire active career, even though the most productive phase was 1708–1714.
Pièce d’Orgue is a fairly early work from Bach’s Weimar period (1708–1717). The five-voice free counterpoint midsection is framed by virtuoso arpeggio figurations. The harmonic tension of the last figure is raised by a chromatically descending bass line.
Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor is one of the greatest achievements in this type of music in all of history. In Passacaglia, Bach masterfully varies the eight-bar bass line for 21 variations and places references to famous choral compositions among the variations. With the Fugue, the modulations extend to major keys. A masterful triple counterpoint is emblematic of the movement.
A part of the Musical Offering collection, the Ricercar is based on a theme given by Frederick the Great during Bach’s visit to the Prussian court. The theme opens with a triad motif and continues in a descending chromatic scale. The manuscript is written on six staves without any mention of the performance composition. Most often, the Ricercar a 6, a six-voice fugue, is performed on a keyboard instrument.
Chaconne represents the same basic idea as the passacaglia. It is a fairly short, repeating musical motif with variations. Though the motif of the Chaconne is narrower and the variations freer. The magnificent three-part structure is formed by the first part’s minor figure, the middle’s major figure and the return to the main key, D minor. Although originally composed for solo violin, an endless number of arrangements for different instruments and ensembles have been drafted.