Prince of Peace Lutheran – Loveland, Ohio

Thursday Evening July 26, 2018, I played the third program on the Prince of Peace, Lutheran Church, Loveland, Ohio 2018 Summer Concert Series.  The organ is a recently installed VERDIN CUSTOM THREE MANUAL INSTRUMENT with a low-profile French inspired console.  A Schulmerich G5 Bell System was temporarily installed for the evening which I made good use of!

The room, while perfect for contemporary music is a bit of an acoustical challenge for most organ music, but I worked to get to know the organ and chose a program I thought showed the best sounds of the well-designed traditional instrument (no orchestral voices).  I must say in retrospect, I have learned it’s always wise to choose a couple of carefully placed “resting pieces” in a concert to recover from intense pieces, and for some reason I over-looked this in this program.  Even the Walcha Chorale Preludes and the little Purvis Clock Piece required intense concentration.  I was able to pull it off, but I feel I deserved every cookie and Lutheran “Bar” I consumed following!  Here’s the program:

Fletcher-Festival Toccata

Clokey-Bell Prelude

Walcha-Chorale Preludes

Praise to the Lord, If Thou But Suffer, A Mighty Fortress

JS Bach-Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Purvis-The Petite Clocks

Wright-Lyric Rhapsody

Mendelssohn-Sonata III in A Major (con moto maestoso)

Linker-Variations on “O Waly Waly”

Vierne-Carillon de Westminster

As I often do, my conversation with the audience of Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists and probably several others, was centered on taking a “tour” of the organ.  We visited England, 20^th Century America, 20^th Century Germany, 18^th Century Germany, American Program Music, 19^th Century Germany, and 20^th Century France.  After describing each scenario, I asked the audience to listen to how different the organ sounded on each piece.  Here is some of the feedback received in personal notes and e-mails following:

“many positive comments…including lots of comments about your program conversation…greatly appreciated”. 

“…(RLB) assembled and executed a great program…I appreciate the spirit and energy (RLB) injects into his playing and the thoughtful sharing about the pieces that helps bring the music to life as we gain insight into the culture and minds of the composers”.

“I really enjoyed the concert.  I haven’t heard such rich and beautiful sounds out of that organ until you played last Thursday”.

My appreciation to Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Toby Lyke, Music Director and to Dewey Kuhn from Verdin Organ Division for making this evening possible.