A few days before the Fête de la Musique, the Friends of the Organs of Figeac established a musical bridge between France and Japan, by inviting the Japanese organist Yuka Ishikawa, an international concertist and organ teacher in Tokyo, and the Figeacois Lyrique singer Timothé Bougon, in an exciting concert. After the Ave Maris Stella at the opening, the singer interpreted the Gregorian anthem “a queant laxis” whose words were, in the Middle Ages, at the origin of the notes as we know them: ut, re, mi, fa, soil. A theme immediately taken up at the organ for the “fantasy” of the German composer Froberger. The evocation of the Gregorian period ended with the “Libera Me”, a terrifying evocation of fire and the flames of the last days, taken up in the process by a modern organ “Flame vision” of the Japanese composer Nishimura. The opportunity to discover the amazing power of the organ.
Fortunately, the rest of the program brought the public back in the sweetness of spring with the song “Karachi flowers”, the beautiful white flower of a japan orange tree. And without transition, walk on the beach, lulled by “La Chanson de la Baie”, interpreted by Timothe in Japanese. Finally, the song “Voyage” evoking for a Japanese a dream dream in France, was extended to the organ by the melody “after a dream” by Gabriel Fauré.
Finally, the sparkling “prelude and fugue in Mi Edead” of Bach made it possible to admire on the big screen, the amazing dexterity of Yuka Ishikawa, using both the two keyboards and the instrument’s pedal.
A concert that was much appreciated by its original and exotic character.
The Friends of the Organs de Figeac will meet on July 13 at 8:30 p.m. in the Saint-Sauveur abbey, for a film concert with Vincent Dubois, organist co-dame of Paris.
