Dryden Ensemable – Chamber Music for One: Works for Organ by Johann Sebastian Bach. Eric Plutz, organist.

Miller Chapel, Princeton, NJ.

Program

Concert in A Minor (BWV 53).

Fugue in G Major (“Jig”) (BWV 577).

Sonata No. 5 (BWV 529).

Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV 660).

Three settings of “Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Her” (BWV 664, 675, 676).

Partite diverse sopra “Sei gegrusset, Jesu gutig” (BWV 768).

Our friends David and Vivian has a season subscription to this ensemble’s season, and thus got two complimentary tickets which they were kind enough to give us.  We went over to Princeton after church.

Plutz is the University Organist at Princeton, and the duties include playing for weekly services at the Chapel (the Princeton Chapel, not the Miller.)  The Joe R. Engle organ was dedicated in 2001; I managed to find an article that talks about how the organ was “historically inspired.”  My limited knowledge of the instruments does not allow me to appreciate the nuances of the points of discussion.

Organist Eric Plutz in front of the Joe R. Engle organ.

The organ, with its different stops and manuals, is uniquely qualified to be a “chamber music” instrument.  Bach’s contrapuntal genius makes it a lot of fun to try to follow the different lines.  For me, not having the time to study the music beforehand makes Bach-listening at best a hobby and not as rewarding as it could be.  David and Vivian, however, will head over to Leipzig this summer for another Bach Festival, and on their busiest day they will be attending six different events.

In the Program one can find the list of board members of the Dryden ensemble, but not a list of members of the ensemble.  They do have sponsors for different instruments and voices, so there are evidently other musicians in the ensemble.  Their website has a listing of musicians “performing” this season, we actually know one of them.

We had to say goodbye to David and Vivian right after the concert as we needed to head up to Hoboken.