³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

With Thierry Escaich (organ). The Chorale-Études, a cycle of six works based on chorale themes, was commissioned by the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Rattingen, Germany, in 2010. Thierry Escaich performs four of them in this Prom. ‘Herzliebster Jesu’ seizes upon the repeated-note motif that opens the chorale, transforming it into a series of chords that dart from one keyboard to another as an echo effect. A second motif, derived from the chorale’s following phrase, forms a series of legato chords that move at an unstable tempo, imparting a mood of persistent anxiety. ‘Nun freut euch’ is a luminous work, incorporating dance-like rhythms of both added and reduced note values – comments upon the Christmas text as it unfolds around the Adeste fideles theme. ‘Herzlich tut mich verlangen’ depicts the darkness of Christ’s Passion. The chorale is preserved intact far in the background, a memory upon which passages of sombre, tormented lyricism are superimposed like foreign bodies. In ‘Christ ist erstanden’, a broad and majestic polyphony opens in the manner of a double choir. Long descending lines intertwine in the manuals while the pedal announces a declamatory motif based upon the chorale’s opening. As it develops further, an ostinato becomes the foundation for outbursts of chords resembling shafts of brilliant light.