St. John’s Cathedral, Friday 20th September 2024 at 7:30 – 8pm.
Celebrating 10 years of the Limerick Pipe Organ Festival and 160 years of St. John’s Cathedral Orgam.
Irina Dernova, is originally from Russia, where she studied and graduated from the Vyatka College of Arts and the Nizhny Novgorod Glinka State Conservatoire. Living in Ireland since 2006, Irina is currently continuing her organ playing studies under the tuition of Bernadette Kiely, the organist at St John’s Cathedral. Irina teaches piano and organ at Clare Music Makers, Ennis, and piano at Mid-West Vocal Academy, Lisnagry. She works extensively with singers and instrumentalists as an accompanist and collaborative pianist in Limerick and Clare and is much in demand. She is Resident Organist at St Michael’s Church, Pery Square and St Mary’s Church in Athlunkard St. in addition to playing in St Mary’s Cathedral, and the Redemptorist’s Church at Mount St Alphonsus.
Irina would like to express her gratitude to the Limerick Pipe Organ Festival and Culture Night Limerick for the opportunity to play such an exciting programme tonight, and to Canon Gerard Garrett Adm. of St John’s Cathedral and to Kieran Loughran, sacristan for their hospitality and assistance.
Programme
1. Prelude and Fugue in A-major BWV 536 – J.S.Bach (1785-1850)
Flourishing arpeggios of the Prelude certainly show the Buxtehude influence in Bach’s writing. Long pedal notes with virtuoso arpeggio passages unfold into a beautiful contrapuntal cascade. The subject of the Fugue originates perhaps in minuet or in another dance, forlana, skilfully weaved into a beautiful and exciting piece.
2. Fantasie in E- flat major (Echo Fantasie) – C. Saint-Saens (1835-1921)
Composed in 1857, this is the first published organ work by Saint-Saens, dedicated to his friend and fellow organist Georges Schmitt. The piece has two section, the first is an echoing elegant chordal melody, scattered between all three manuals of the organ, and second is a triumphant march with elements of polyphonic development.
3. Le Jardin Suspendu (Suspended Garden) – J.Alain (1911-1940)
In the style of Chaconne, this slow composition that variations as a development tool. The description of the piece reads: “The hanging garden is the artist’s ideal, perpetually followed and fleeting, it is an inaccessible and inviolable refuge”.
4. Organ Sonata No.2 – 3 rd movement – H. Howells (1892-1983)
Composed in 1933 and dedicated to George Thalben-Ball, the tumultuous third movement is a toccata, with bold melodic lines engraved over the continuous stream of passages in the background, with brief moment of calm, when you hear a slow, haunting solo melody. It is full of dissonant harmonies and dark chaos, overpowered by the transformative victory of the Light in the final section.
