Robert Saxton's commemorative solo organ work Passacaglia on the name John McCabe has garnered praise in the Summer 2016 edition of The Organ magazine. Robert Matthew-Walker describes the piece as 'a very impressive short work indeed; brilliantly imagined and written for the instrument, to the extent that one feels Saxton should essay a much larger organ piece. The growing sense of majesty, as the music builds to a thrilling final E major tutti chord, is irresistible.'
Review of Robert Saxton's 'brilliantly imagined' Passacaglia in The Organ
16 August 2016Passacaglia was commissioned by George Vass for a concert in celebration of the life and work of John McCabe CBE. Matthew-Walker remembers McCabe 's many talents, as 'a composer, first and foremost; a magnificent pianist with a wide repertoire; a gifted writer on music, a major contributor to musical education and someone who was always putting his great gifts at the service of fellow-composers.'
Matthew-Walker continues, 'regular readers of The Organ will know of McCabe’s notable contribution to the organ repertoire. Now, at his passing, fellow-composer Robert Saxton has commemorated McCabe in this impressive short (five-minutes) Passacaglia on McCabe’s name, the work commissioned by George Vass for a McCabe commemorative concert, and first played by Edward Kemp-Luck in Faversham Parish Church.
As the piece's title indicates, the passacaglia theme is based on the pitches H-CABE (in German nomenclature). The theme is heard 'initially on the pedals and throughout varying in 3/4 and 2/4 metre in the longer first section before breaking loose in a shorter fantasia-toccata passage until the initial idea is recalled with ever-greater freedom of expression (yet always held by the underlying pulse).'
'One can only urge this music on all recital organists – it is a splendid piece, and would surely make a counterpart to an original McCabe organ work in the same programme – the Johannes-Partita, especially.'
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