As we approach Good Friday and Easter Sunday, an opportunity to hear the organ work that began its life as an improvisation. The four movement symphony is dramatic and follows the birth,death and resurrection of Christ. The concert opens with a virtuosic concert overture by the blind organist Alfred Hollins, as well as one of Bach’s organ masterpieces the’ St Anne’ Prelude and Fugue. 

The movements of the Symphonie Passion centre around four melodies which were presented to the composer for him to improvise. Two were Christmas and two were Easter. Three years after the improvisation the composition was begun.

Of the numerous Preludes and Fugues composed by Bach, none can be more majestic and thrilling as the one in E flat major. To begin the concert we hear a concert- overture whichreflects a bygone era of the victorian town hall organ concerts.