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The Washington and Lee University Department of Music will launch its 2023-2024 season of concerts with a faculty recital by organist William McCorkle, which will take place on Sunday, Sept. 17, at 3 p.m. in the Lexington Presbyterian Church.
The program will display the C.B. Fisk pipe organ, op. 128 (2007).
The program, entitled “Variation,” will explore the use of musical variation in organ music over the centuries to showcase the instrument’s many sound colors and the technical demands on players. Fixed forms, such as “Passacaglia” and “Chaconne/Ciacona,” will be offered, along with sets of variations on sacred and folk melodies.
Composers whose music will be heard include three giants of the baroque period, Johann Sebastian Bach, Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Pachelbel; the late Renaissance Dutch master organist, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck; the 17th-century Belgian, Lambert Chaumont; two 20th century French stars, Jean Langlais and Jehan Alain; and the American centenarian, Margaret Vardell Sandresky.
McCorkle is well known to areas audiences for decades of keyboard performances on organ, piano, and harpsichord. His repertoire includes music of many styles and periods, and encompasses solo, chamber, and concerto literature.
In recent decades he has turned his attention to keyboard improvisation, and to composition, particularly for liturgical use.
The concert on Sept. 17 is open to the public and will be live streamed on the church’s website at https://www.lexpres.org.
