Emanuele Cardi (organ)

Praeludium in C BuxWV136 - Buxtehude

Praeludium in C BuxWV136 - Buxtehude

Vater unser im Himmelreich - Bohm

Concerto in D minor BWV596 - Bach

Herr Jesu Christ dich zu uns wend BWV655 - Bach

READ MORE

Concerto del Sig Vivaldi - Walther

Fugues in B flat, D minor, G minor - W.F. Bach

Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern - Krebs

Prelude and Fugue in C - Krebs

Emanuele Cardi, who gave Sunday's recital at St Michael's, Dun Laoghaire, is from Naples. According to the biographical note in the programme, he holds posts in Salerno and at Pozzuoli Cath edral, and is "currently conducting a study of the development of organ music and organ building in the south of Italy from the 15th to the 19th centuries".

For his Dun Laoghaire programme, however, he looked not to his native land, but northwards to Germany, opting to provide a touch of southern flavour through arrangements of Vivaldi concertos made by Bach and Walther.

The nature of his playing in the opening Praeludium by Buxtehude in many ways set the tone for the evening. It was eager and colourful, alert to opportunities for embellishment, and, with his musically outgoing personality, Cardi eschewed that sense of reserve which would have protected him from occasionally demanding from his fingers more than they could comfortably yield.

The brightness of the playing might have been expected to counteract the temper of a grey July evening, but its consistency became a factor which itself called out for moderation. In Cardi's hands, Bach's trio on Herr Jesu Christ dich zu uns wend, BWV655, became rather breathless, and he did not succeed in penetrating the rarely-heard fugues by Bach's favourite son, Wilhelm Fried emann.

On the other hand, the faster movements of the Vivaldia-la-Bach were attractively done, and the closing, highly-demonstrative Prelude and Fugue by Bach's pupil Johann Ludwig Krebs found the performer at his buoyant best.

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor