Cello & Organ Prayer pairs cellist Michael Kevin Jones and organist John Bryden in eleven devotional miniatures. The title word recurs through the program. Saint-Saëns’s Prière, Op. 158, Tolbecque’s Prière, Op. 9, and Halphen’s Prière are joined by Vavilov’s Ave Maria, Grützmacher’s Weihegesang (a consecration song) and Fitzenhagen’s Resignation. Fauré’s Romance, Op. 69, and Sulzer’s Sarabande are lyrical pieces for the pairing, and Halphen’s Andante Religioso is based on a Hebrew theme.

The repertoire spans a century and a half of cello writing, from the German Romantics Fitzenhagen, Grützmacher and Keller to the French school of Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Halphen and Tolbecque. It opens with a contemporary work, Şerban Nichifor’s Appassionato in Memoriam Alexandru Moroşanu, an Adagietto. Jones plays a 2017 Martin Schleske cello, accompanied by the 1973 Schuke organ at the Santa Rita Parish in Madrid. The pairing of a singing string line with the organ’s sustained colours suits this meditative, quiet repertoire.

Michael Kevin Jones, cello
John Bryden, organ