Due to reasons beyond Warsaw Philharmonic, the concert has been canceled.
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When you look at a monumental organ placed in a huge concert hall or a church it is difficult not to get the impression that the instrument constitutes an integral part of that interior, a kind of a fixture. And yet, some Italian organ virtuoso from the first half of the 17th century was offered an engagement at one of Venetian churches on condition that he brought his own instrument with him. The instrument in question was most probably a small-sized positive organ with up to several stops that could be transported by just two people. The organ family also includes even smaller and more handy instruments that do not require any assistance to play them (although, in medieval iconography we can sometimes come across the figure of Saint Cecilia playing the organ assisted by angels). At the beginning of the 14th century, these small portable instruments were known in Italy as “organetto”. Although they offer a less rich tone palette than their larger cousins equipped with numerous manuals and a pedalboard, they allow the performer (who operates a small bellows himself at the expense of playing the keyboard with only one hand) to control the pressure of the air driven through the pipes. This allows the organist to achieve an interesting array of articulatory and dynamic effects that cannot be produced on a larger instrument.
The organ and its countless variants have been a part of our musical heritage since antiquity; hence the idea of presenting in a single recital a very diverse programme that would combine works from the late Middle Ages, early modernity, the Baroque and contemporary times. We will hear them in a signature arrangement composed by the improviser and virtuoso of the “small organ”, Christophe Deslignes, who has chosen exoticism as the central theme of his selected programme.
Bartłomiej Gembicki