PETER NARDONE

Lunchtime at Chelmsford Cathedral

02.05.08

Back from his "short sabbatical", the Master of the Music played a recital of Bach and the British to a large and appreciative audience.

The major work was the Toccata and Fugue in F major [BWV 540]. It was a performance of strength and clarity, the rippling sinews of the Toccata sharply defined.

After the Chorale Prelude BWV 654, Delius's slightly soporific First Cuckoo, then, with string tones replacing the pastoral woodwind, Elgar's charming Salut d'Amour, and to close, the same composer's mighty Allegro Maestoso from the opus 28 Organ Sonata.

Peter Nardone dedicated his recital to Dr Mary Berry, the musicologist and conductor, who died the day before, Ascension Day.

He recalled their last collaboration, a CD of Machaut recorded, not without difficulty, in the composer's own cathedral at Reims.