MUSIC REVIEWS : ORGANIST WEIR

Organ recitals have always seemed the domain of a small and specialized group of listeners. But one of the impressive things about the Organ Series at the Crystal Cathedral--besides the huge instrument--is its audience-building success. Friday evening, there was another large crowd on hand to hear Gillian Weir.

In Marcel Dupre’s centenary year, it was no surprise to find his music in a prominent position. But Weir’s persuasive playing reminded us that the Frenchman has earned our attention regardless of birthdays. She presented the Symphony II and an Esquisse with the varied registration that the music demands, but without the diffuse or fussy effect it often produces.

The British organist began her program with a set of French Baroque pieces. Marchand’s Dialogue and a Recit by De Grigny seemed scheduled solely for their timbral display, which in the Dialogue was compromised by out-of-tune reed stops. One of Daquin’s Noels, however, made a showcase for the nimbleness of Weir’s technique.

In the Crystal Cathedral tradition of spoken program notes, Weir introduced her Baroque pieces with some highly colored storytelling. Her only other verbal contribution was to announce the replacement of Alkan’s Grand Prelude with an “Echo” Fantasie by Saint-Saens, although its namesake element could not be heard in her performance.

Joseph Jongen’s brief Sonata Eroica, Joseph Bonnet’s “Elfes,” and Enrico Bossi’s toccata-like Etude Symphonique completed the recital. The thrust and color of Weir’s accounts inspired prolonged applause, but no encores were forthcoming.