Göteborgs Konserthus A Sunday of meditative organ

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) Livre du Saint-Sacrement Livre du Saint-Sacrement from 1984 deals with the mystery of the Lord's Supper and is the largest of Olivier Messiaen's organ cycles. It sums up his creation, both in terms of musical style and musical forms. The whole reflects the pious Catholic way of participating in the Mass: after interior preparation, one approaches the Eucharist in the consciousness of what Christ has done, and one thus participates in the holy act itself. Certain passages in the Gospels are quoted from the Bible which in one way or another are connected to the Lord's Supper, and other texts which have been applied to the Lord's Supper or appear in liturgical contexts. Several of the other mottos are taken from well-known Catholic texts. The tone is consistently that of the Messiah; he has developed his own stylistic devices that clearly distinguish him from other 20th century composers. Colorfulness in the chord progression, certain intervals that often return (for example exceeding fourths), a skillful use of the organ's tonal resources, a constantly varied rhythmic with elements from the shifting and intricate rhythms of ancient Greek poetry and above all Indian musical tradition, a melodic that long pieces are influenced by Gregorian chant (where it is not even a matter of quotations from or variations on Gregorian themes). And in all this a strongly perceptible desire to paint scenes and express moods - all this continues the line from Messiaen's earlier works. Birdsong also plays an important role in the Book of Sacraments – this nature's own musical gift that Messiaen has systematically used in his compositions since the 1940s and which for a period completely dominated his music. The remarkable thing about the birdsong in the Book of Sacraments is that the birds whose song is imitated here are only those that occur in Israel - that is, as the composer himself writes in his commentary, only birds that Jesus himself could have heard. All this together makes the Book of Sacraments a summation of Messiaen's tireless musical work over sixty years - a work aimed at pushing the boundaries of music in order to reach a universal dimension in music, to (as he himself put it) produce "a music which touches all things and at the same time touches God". Anders Ekenberg (excerpt)

Hans-Ola Ericsson is one of Sweden's most successful organists, composers and lecturers. During his career he has collaborated with composers such as Paul Dessau and Klaus Huber, and composed scores such as Melody to the Memory of a Lost Friend, the church opera Höga visan and Sub specie aeternitatis. After starting his musical journey at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, he made his way to Freiburg, and eventually to a professorship in Bremen. In 2000, Hans-Ola Ericsson became a member of the Royal Academy of Music and in 2011 he was appointed professor at McGill University in Montreal. After 10 years in Canada, he moved home to Sweden and thus ended his academic involvement. Today, Hans-Ola Ericsson is involved in the reconstruction and restoration of an organ to be placed in Liden's church in Sundsvall. Between 1992 and 1997, he was project manager for the Övertorneå project, a research project that included documentation and reconstruction of the organs in Övertorneå and Hietaniemi church. Hans-Ola Ericsson was also project manager for the construction of the Orgel Acusticum at Luleå University of Technology, which was completed in 2012.

Hans Davidsson is an internationally active organist, church musician, researcher, author and consultant and artistic director of Gothenburg International Organ Academy. Since 2017 he is back in Gothenburg as organist in Älvsborg church. From 1986 he worked as a teacher of organ and church music at the Academy of Music at the University of Gothenburg and was appointed professor in 1988. He has also taught at the Eastman School of Music 2000-2012, the Hochschule för Künste in Bremen 2006-2013 and the Royal Danish Music Conservatory in Copenhagen in 2011 -2018. Among Hans Davidsson's many recordings are all organ works by Matthias Weckman, Georg Böhm, Dietrich Buxtehude and Felix Mendelssohn's Six Sonatas (Loft). Hans Davidsson was a driving force in the construction of the new Rieger organ in Gothenburg's Concert Hall, which was inaugurated in 2021.