NSAGO Artist Recital
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Evanston
Friday, March 6, 2020
“Gourmet French Colors”
Wolfgang Rübsam, organ
On Friday evening, March 6, organists and organ aficionados filled St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston, attending what may have been one of the last live organ recitals in the Chicago area before pandemic injunctions began to keep us quarantined at home. Concerns about the contagious Coronavirus were already in evidence as most people, including recitalist Wolfgang Rübsam, substituted bumping elbows for shaking hands.
The program, titled “Gourmet French Colors,” featured two of César Franck’s Chorals and Charles-Marie Widor’s Third Symphony – an excellent combination of organ, acoustic space, and repertoire. Rübsam’s assured technique and sublime phrasing beautifully displayed the orchestral nature of these works and took full advantage of St. Luke’s marvelously restored 1922 E. M. Skinner organ, “Opus 327.”
Rübsam opened the recital with Franck’s Choral No. 2 in B Minor. The repeated bass theme very quickly thundered in the room, just like I’ve had the privilege of hearing in Franck’s Paris church, Sainte-Clotilde. Rübsam’s virtually imperceptible stop changes were a revelation, leading to incredibly smooth crescendos and descrescendos.
Widor’s Third Symphony is little known and rarely heard, a fact demonstrated vividly when the knowledgeable audience did not know it was time to applaud following the final movement – the Symphony ended quietly! Rübsam’s nuanced phrasing, even in complicated textures, exhibited his devotion to making orchestra-inspired organ music truly imitate the interaction of many different instrumentalists playing together. The audience came away enchanted, eager to explore and learn at least some of this Widor.
The recital ended with Franck’s Choral No. 1 in E Major, and Rübsam’s dazzling handling of the organ again demonstrated the orchestral capabilities of “Opus 327” with deft registration and incredible technical dexterity. The audience responded with a standing ovation and demanded an encore.
Arguably, organ sound can never be completely duplicated on recordings. Thankfully, Rübsam’s recital of “Gourmet French Colors” gave us a marvelously worthy memory of live sound, something to sustain us during a quarantined time, until we can gather again to hear masterful organists perform on stunning instruments in glorious spaces.
For more information about Wolfgang Rübsam see: www.wolfgangrubsam.com
For more information about St. Luke Episcopal’s E.M. Skinner “Opus 327” see: www.opus327.org
Submitted by Elizabeth Naegele, D.Mus., AAGO
NAGO Board Member