Jan Lehtola, St. Michel Strings, Petri Komulainen- Naji Hakim : Påskeblomst - Concertos for Organ and Strings

Naji Hakim (b. 1955)

Påskeblomst (Easter Flower) for strings

Concerto No. 1 for organ and strings

Esquisses Grégoriennes

Concerto No. 3 for organ and strings

Mikkeli City Orchestra

Petri Komulainen conductor

Jan Lehtola, Paschen organ, Juva

Naji Hakim's works for organ and orchestra

Jan Lehtola and Mikkeli City Orchestra's new album includes works by Naji Hakim for organ and orchestra. Påskeblomst is a Danish chorale composed in 1910 by Carl Nielsen, with a text written by N. F. S. Grundtvig in 1817. The chorale depicts the great mystery of Christianity, the resurrection. The text examines the authenticity of the resurrection and progresses like a drama, reflecting on the relationship between faith and doubt. The first concerto for organ and strings was commissioned by the Dutch organ festival Orgelkring Heeswijk in 1988 and is dedicated to Professor Dorthy de Rooij. The organ part is written solely for the fingers of the organ without a foot, and the organ functions in the work both as a soloist and as part of the orchestra. The five-movement Esquisses Grégoriennes contains Gregorian paraphrases of themes according to the titles. The third concerto for organ and string orchestra was commissioned by the Royal Canadian Collage of Organists. The stunningly beautiful second movement of the concerto, Moderato, is based on an old Syrian tune. The work was premiered by the composer with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra conducted by Roy Goodman in Winnipeg in July 2004.

Påskeblomst for Strings and Esquisses Grégoriennes are world premiere recordings.

Naji Hakim is the most significant Lebanese-French organist-composer-improviser of our time. His orchestral composer career has taken off at a rapid pace. Six years ago, Hakim was chosen to succeed Olivier Messiaen as organist at the Église de la Trinité, where Messiaen worked for over half a century.

Format: Super Audio CD

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