Barry Jordan (organ)

Prelude & Fugue In E Minor - Bach

Nun Komm Der Heiden Heiland - Bruhns

Clavierubung Part III - Bach

Sonata No 2 In E Minor - Ritter

Deux Fantaisies - Alain

Praise Song - Barry Jordan

Barry Jordan has been cathedral organist and choral director in Magdeburg since 1994, so it is not surprising that his playing has a solidity that has the weight of the German tradition behind it.

Bach's Prelude & Fugue in E Minor and Ritter's sonata in the same key were presented in a way that suggested a family resemblance, even though Ritter came over a century later.

The magnificence of the two works was relieved by the almost playful selection of stops for Nun Komm Der Heiden Heiland by Nicolaus Bruhns, 20 years older than Bach and equally fond of counterpoint, and by the straightforward clarity of two pieces from Bach's Clavierubung: the unexpectedly gracious These Are The Ten Holy Commandments and the neat elaboration of Our Father In Heaven. It was in these two that Jordan's skill was most evident.

Alain's music could hardly be played on any instrument but the organ. By exploring its possibilities, he found a new idiom for the instrument and at the same time his own, original voice. Jordan brought out this individuality, this freedom from the German tradition, in the Deux Fantaisies, making them sound more of our age than his own Praise Song, even though the latter is to some extent inspired by the music and praise offered up to their chiefs by African tribes.

Born in South Africa, Jordan was familiar enough with this material to use it for his own purpose, and worked it up to an orgiastic climax.