Organ Recital: CARSON COOMAN in Marblehead, MA

Organ Recital – St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Marblehead, Massachusetts

April 21, 2024 at 5 pm: Works by Karen Beaumont, Carlotta Ferrari, Katia Farn and Thomas Åberg (Five St. George Preludes*)

Organist: CARSON COOMAN

*Carson Cooman writes about the St. George Preludes:

”Five St. George Preludes (1983) is the original version of what would become one of Åberg’s most iconic works. The music was written during the period when Åberg was studying with the older Swedish composer Stig Gustav Schönberg. Schönberg was then organist of St. George’s Church (Sankt Görans kyrka) in Stockholm. Åberg’s first publisher of the time, Hans Busch, desired a shorter publication, and so the original second and third preludes were separated out and published later by Noteria as separate pieces. The remaining three pieces became Three St. George Preludes, as the work has been known since. This concert’s configuration restores to the sequence the two pieces that were separated: Marsch Babacou and Prelude in C major. (Marsch Babacou takes its title from the names of BAch, BArtók, and COuperin—composers that Åberg was thinking about at the time.) The first prelude contrasts flowing lyricism with lighthearted music. The second and third explore a more classical orientation, combining overt style elements and progressions from common practice harmony with Åberg’s distinctive spirit and musical ideas. The fourth is a gentle lullaby, and the fifth is a jubilant toccata.”