Martin Herchenröder Toccata and Lament (2008)

Performed on April 22nd, 2019 at the Bales Organ Recital Hall at the University of Kansas by Jacob Hofeling in his second DMA organ recital.
Born in 1961, Martin Herchenröder studied organ with Ludger Lohmann and Wolfgang Stockmeier. He teaches as professor of organ and composition at the University of Siegen in Germany. Herchenröder is active as a solo concert organist and a composer. As a musicologist he is best known for his work with the works of Gyorgi Ligeti and Bengt Hambraeus.
From the forward to his piece, Toccata and Lament (2008): “this piece was composed in 2008 on a commission for the inauguration of the new organ in Christ Church Cathedral, Rochester, NY, USA. This instrument is a scientific copy of an organ built by the German organ builder Adam G. Casparini in 1776 in the Holy Ghost Church in Vilnius, Lithuania. The composition reflects the double - historical and local - reference the organ in Christ Church shows towards its original: As an organ of our time it tries to win back the musical language of another epoch, thousands of miles away from its roots, an ambassador of a different music culture, both in terms of time and place. Toccata and Lament captures this tension between centuries and continents, developing a specific musical language: It is a piece of music of our time, universal in its musical means that explore the scope between tonal triads and extremely dissonant clusters, but at the same time referring to musical traditions of the eighteenth century that are transposed into the language of the 21st. The composition is centered around a large, two-section lament, at the same time an adaptation of baroque “affect” esthetics which are so close to the modern expressionism, and a reflection of the sad history of the Eastern Baltic region that suffered so hard from war during the last century.”

[@michaelhofeling3439]

Totally awesome!

[@kimballwhitaker6092]

I think at about 7:28 you missed a note