Concert on 9th October 2016

Ashley Grote (Norwich cathedral)

Phantaisie über Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott Op 27: Max Reger
Concerto in A minor after Vivaldi, BWV 593: Johann Sebastian Bach
Fantasia in F minor K608: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Chanson de Matin: Edward Elgar arr. Herbert Brewer
Pomp and Circumstance March No 4 in G: Edward Elgar arr. G R Sinclair

Interval

Overture to Die Meistersinger: Richard Wagner arr. Edwin Lemare
Prelude on Cross of Jesus: Ashley Grote
Crown Imperial: William Walton arr. Herbert Murrill
Andante in F: Louis J A Lefébure-Wely
Sortie in E flat: Louis J A Lefébure-Wely


Ashley Grote ©Paul Hurst
Ashley Grote
©Paul Hurst

Organist of Norwich Cathedral, Ashley Grote brings us a programme that shows off the Town Hall qualities of the Binns organ, even though several of his pieces originated in church. Reger’s awesome fantasia on Ein feste Burg puts the hymn through a complete assault course, its different moods inspired by different verses of the hymn (at one point the tune is in the right foot, with left foot and hands doing something else entirely). That other great German, Richard Wagner, shows himself at his most gloriously ceremonial, and imperial swagger – brilliantly conveyed by this organ – is shown in marches by Elgar and Walton. Bach and Mozart remind us of the more “classical” influences on J J Binns’s organ-building, while Ashley’s own piece takes us back into church, as it were. So of course does Lefébure-Wely, whose two pieces dignified many a high mass at La Madeleine and St-Sulpice!

Away from music, and thanks to the generosity of many friends and supporters, Ashley has raised a considerable sum by running both the 2015 and 2016 London Marathon for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, following his daughter’s treatment there. If you would like to support him, please do so via www.justgiving.com/ashleymarathon2016 or send a cheque payable to GOSHCC to:
Ashley Grote Marathon Fund
53a The Close
Norwich
NR1 4EG