Praeludium in C - Boehm

Dies sind dei heiligen zehn Gebot BWV 678 - Bach

Praeludium in E minor - Buxtehude

Cantabile Op 37 No 1 - Jongen

Adventus - Eric Sweeney

Suite gothique Op 25 - Boellmann

Simon Harden is an organ scholar at Trinity college, Dublin. For his lunchtime recital at the NCH on Friday he chose works which allowed fantasy full play - more in the style of Buxtehude than of Bach. Boehm's Praeludium in C, with its excitable working out of motives, was adventurous but not as much as Buxtehude's Praeludium in E minor, with its trumpet-like calls to arms, its intellectual fugal passages, its decorated aria and its fairground finale.

Bach's BWV678, played between two Praeludiums provided an interlude of reflection as quiet chains of melody were woven around the chorale theme. Harden's playing was clear and controlled, giving the music time to breathe and avoiding an excess of sentiment.

Jongen's Contabile was a dreamy, north-European pastoral embellished with a wistful chromaticism that never transgressed the bounds of good taste. Eric Sweeney's Adventus was a much more piquant offering, built up to insistent scalic passages, interrupted by angry chords, which contrived colourful metamorphoses while remaining recognisable. Harden gave a sympathetic performance.

Boellmann's Gothic Suite had plenty of variety in its four movements but its melodic material was cliched and could not be disguised by the opulent registrations.