Andrew Forbes at the organ

It was a great privilege to welcome Andrew Forbes to St John’s for the second in our series of summer organ recitals. Andrew is the Director of Music of Glasgow Cathedral and the winner of the 2014 Northern Ireland International Organ Competition. Some years back he played the previous pipe organ in our church, and more recently he has played that same organ after its installation in its new home, a church in Edinburgh.

For this recital he chose a programme which would demonstrate all the capabilities of our new organ, emphasising that a good digital organ is certainly not inferior to a pipe organ. The ‘Suite Gothique’ by Leon Boellemann provided a good introduction to its different moods. This was followed by Set 2 of the Psalm Preludes by Herbert Howells (De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine) and a Leipzig Prelude by J.S.Bach (An Wasserflussen Babylon). Finally he played three movements (Mars, Venus and Jupiter) from ‘The Planets’ by Gustav Holst, transcribed for the organ by Arthur Wills.

Our Director of Music and our Rector welcome Andrew Forbes

This was a really exciting recital and was enjoyed by all present. Revd. Graham Taylor, our rector, was joined by our Director of Music, Alison Grant, in welcoming Andrew and expressing the thanks of all present at the close of the recital.