Paul Searle-Barnes’s choice of programme put the organ in St John’s Church through its paces in a performance which was enthusiastically received by the lunchtime audience, writes Jane Scorer.
An accomplished musician, he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists at the age of 22.
His lively keyboard technique and interpretation of contrasting music by a wide variety of composers – from J S Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor to Schubert’s gentle Ave Maria – showed off the organ’s range of sound.
Among other works was the delightful Eight Pieces for Musical Clocks by Joseph Haydn, which called for nimble fingers, and John Stanley’s popular Trumpet Voluntary.
He closed with the Toccata from Widor’s 5th Symphony, now often played at weddings but far from universally known, apparently, until Princess Margaret had it at her ceremony in 1960.
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