On September 20th, I presented a lecture recital for the Northeastern North Carolina Chapter of the American Guild of Organists at our home in Murfreesboro. As I prepared for the recital, I considered how and how much to use the square grand. On the one hand, having a Skinner descendent play this music on the Skinner/Roberston family piano would be about as authentic as we could get. On the other hand, the timbre and tuning (I did the tuning!) might become a little grating or disappointing after a while.
Because that's what I was thinking, I initially planned on limited use of the square grand to provide a little bit of flavor, but to play the majority of the recital on the much better sounding Steinway.
However, as I practiced on the instruments, I started to feel like many of the pieces worked better on the square grand. In the end, I played around half on each, but having performed very little on square grand in the past, it felt like I played most of the recital on the square grand.
Our friend, Johnathan Johnston, provided some violin playing for this recital in the Boieldieu and the Virginia reels.
AGO members sang along on the choral closing to The Battle of Waterloo: Britons Strike Home.
Our good friend, Agnes Lassiter, provided chocolate cake at intermission.
The complete program with original spellings from the scores is listed below.
Mademoiselle Sontag’s Waltz
Henri Herz
Life Let Us Cherish with Variations
Mozart
Life let us cherish while yet the taper glows
And the fresh flower, pluck ere it close.
Why are we fond of toil and care
Why choose the rankling thorn to wear
And heedless by the lily stray which blossoms on our way?
The Cottage Rondo
M. Holst
Battle of Warterloo
G. Anderson
Advance to the Battle – Cannon
The Battle –
The English Horse Guards Advancing to Attack the French Curassiers
The Prussians Advancing
Heavy Cannonade
The French in Full Retreat
Bugle Horn
The Rejoicings
Lamentation for the Slain
Britons Strike Home
Bonaparte’s Retreat from Moscow
Intermission and Refreshments
Virginia Reels
G. P. Knauff
Natchez on the Hill
Mississippi Sawyer
Whiskey Barrel
Love in the Village
Kinlock of Kinlock
The Huntsmen’s Chorus in Weber’s Der Freyschutz
N. Bull
Beauties of Masaniello, La Muette de Portici,
Wilhelm Iucho
Composed by Auber,
Selected and arranged as a Divertimento
For the Piano Forte
Dedicated to Miss Elizabeth Whittelseuf
Overture to Calife de Bagdad
Boieldieu
Charles J. Hulin IV, piano
Jonathan Johnston, violin
1830s Griffen and Scudder Square Grand
Rebuilt in the 1980s
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