Please join us at National City Christian Church this Friday, May 20, at 12:15 p.m., for our weekly Music at Midday recital. We are delighted to be welcoming organist Richard Spotts, from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, to perform the “Three Poems for Organ” by Charles Tournemire (1870-1939):
- Poème nº I
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? (Psalm xxj/xxij)
- Poème nº II
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. (Psalm xxij/xxiij)
- Poème nº III
Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. (Psalm cl)
Richard Spotts has dedicated over a decade of study to Charles Tournemire and L’Orgue Mystique, having concertized widely in the United States and Canada. He has performed the complete L’Orgue Mystique in concert series, most notably in Pittsburgh for the Pittsburgh and Duquesne chapters of the American Guild of Organists and Duquesne University. In celebration of Tournemire’s 2020 sesquicentennial, Mr Spotts’ book on the subject—Charles Tournemire’s L’Orgue Mystique: La haute mission, which is a summation of his study of the man and his music—is set to be published by Wayne Leupold in the spring of 2022.
Currently the wearing of masks is optional but highly recommended. For those who are not able to join us in person, we will be recording the concert and will post it on the church’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.