AN ITALIAN CAN RAISE GREAT ENTHUSIASM

Luca Benedicti, a virtuoso from Torino, played Baroque and Romantic pieces giving the third concert within the Summer Organ Festival in Salem cathedral.

“It is a really very nice church organ”, said an enthusiastic Benedicti. The virtuoso from Torino is the third organist who exhibits himself within this interesting third edition of the International Salem Organ Festival. The program read “Baroque and Romanticism in Germany and in Italy”. In an interview for the Südkurier the artist said that “Not every Baroque work can be played on a Romantic type organ like the one in this cathedral”. However, since some of the stops have been conceived in the Baroque style, he decided to open the concert with a piece from J.S. Bach, the “Fantasia and Fuga” in C minor, BWV 537, something really majestic and pregnant. The artist chose for the registration of the Fantasia a combination of stops known as “Plenum”: Cornett, Principal, Gamba and Octaves, with a trombone at the pedal.

The concert proceeds with the magnificent sound of Bach's choral “Allein Gott in der Höh sei Her” where the Cantus Firmus is committed to the soprano.

An empathically executed Adagio aims in its noble disposition at inviting the audience to meditation and unaffectedness.

Rinck, a contemporary of Mozart and Beethoven, adopted several styles thus linking together influences from Baroque counterpoint with the innovating ideas emerging from Classical and Romantic styles. The first one of his “Six Variations on a theme by Corelli” op. 56, is rich in bright flute sounds.

Benedicti interpreted his fresh enthusiasm for joyfully playing through cheerful musicl acts, that were reflected in the calmness of the audience while listening to the “Toccata con lo scherzo del Cuccù” by Bernardo Pasquini. The piece, dynamical, humorous, touching and fascinating, is simply delightful with its variations on shaded sounds of the “cuccù” and ends in an amazingly   

rapid virtuosity.

Luca Benedicti plays the first two movements of the Eleventh Organ Sonata in four movements in Re minor by Rheinberger. The first one, named Adagio, can be considered as a Fantasia.

There follows an intimate Cantilena, sounding rather Baroque though a XIX Century feeling prevails over the tone. The sequence in octaves finds its way in a harmonious wrapping and creates a greatly melancholic atmosphere in the ascendent part as well as in the final one, characterized by rather sweet lines.

The concert ends with the “Cinque pezzi” by Marco Enrico Bossi (1861-1925), the most recent composer chosen by the artist.

The Suite begins with an “Entrée pontificale” executed in a very dramatic plenum and culminates in a deeply spiritual “Ave Maria” onceived in celestial tones to close with a “Rédemption”, a kind of choral  characterized by furious sequences.

A solemn silence is followed by the applauses.