Concert review: Andrew Dewar

ANDREW Dewar continued the Celebrity Organ Recitals 2011 series at St Giles with an intriguing programme which primarily consisted of piano works arranged for organ. Although both are keyboard instruments, some pieces came through the transcription process better than others.

Mozart's Adagio and Fugue in C minor K546 was originally written for two pianos then arranged by the composer for strings. However, the organ version sounded more like Bach on a bad day than Mozart, owing to arranger Jean Guillou's penchant for improvisation. The simple melodic structures that lie at the heart of Mozart's music were completely submerged in the adagio, and the fugal voices were indistinguishable.

The organ's array of tonal colours were well-suited to numbers 4, 5 and 6 of Mendelssohn's 6 Preludes and Fugues Op 35, imaginatively arranged by Christoph Bossert. Dewar brilliantly articulated these mellifluous fantasies and challenging fugues particularly in number 5. This had a dreamy quality, the mysterious chromaticism of the prelude a complete contrast to the stridency of the fugal material.

Bernhard Haas's dazzling arrangement of Liszt's Sonata in B minor enabled Dewar to demonstrate his keyboard virtuosity showing off the Rieger Orgelbau organ. A colossal work on the piano, on the organ it assumed Wagnerian proportions, with a thrilling display of effects from great avalanches of sound to themes reduced to a breathy whisper.