The Washington and Lee University Department of Music will present a faculty recital by organist William McCorkle on Sunday, Sept. 28, at 3 p.m. The concert, which will take place in the Lexington Presbyterian Church, will display the church’s C.B. Fisk pipe organ, op. 128 (2007).
The program, entitled “Constellations of Pipes: Organ Masterpieces from Star Cities of Europe,” will offer a kaleidoscopic array of short pieces from different times and places. In each case, the musical work offered will represent the compositional output of a master organist whose prominence and creative brilliance could be said to have made given his city “star status” in the world of the European pipe organ.
“I’ll ask those in attendance to approach this program as a kind of taster’s choice, a miniature masterpiece giving us, in each case, a glimpse in sound of the genius of a particular musician whose creative genius and virtuosity brought him a welldeserved fame and respect,” said McCorkle. “The variety of these pieces, spanning several centuries and styles of organ building, and revealing certain stylistic trends and tendencies, will offer us the chance to consider varying groups of cities as, so to speak, ‘constellations.’
Not meant to be at all comprehensive in spanning history and geography, the music of the program will draw the listener’s attention to a wide range of cities (and cultures) across Europe, in each of which, at least at one moment in time, there was a brilliant organist/composer. Cities featured include some obviously major cultural centers as well as smaller towns less familiar to the general public. There will be music written in/for Paris, Madrid, Rome, Venice, London, Vienna, Rouen, Reims, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Lübeck, Danzig, Weimar, Frankfurt, and Leipzig — a glittering display of musical miniatures by composers including Bach, Buxtehude, Gabrieli, Frescobaldi, de Grigny, Titelouze, Cabezon, Sweelinck, Scheidemann, Böhm, Stanley, Markull, Brahms, Reger, Walcha and Messiaen.
C.B. Fisk, Inc., one of the world’s most respected organ builders, created the opus 128 instrument for the Lexington church in 2006 and completed its installation and voicing in early 2007.
McCorkle is well known to area audiences for decades of keyboard performances on organ, piano, and harpsichord, and for his work as a choral conductor and church musician. His keyboard repertoire includes music of many styles and periods, and encompasses solo, chamber, and concerto literature. At Washington and Lee University, he was a staff accompanist for many years, and has taught organ and piano for more than a decade.
The concert will be live streamed on the church’s website at https://www.lexpres.org
