The second organ concert of the Alton Organ Society’s 2022-23 season will be given by David Davies of Buckfast Abbey at the Church of St Lawrence in Alton tonight at 8pm.

Available for sale will be David Hill’s compact disc Celebration which was recorded on the St Lawrence organ last October. It was produced by Herald AV to celebrate 55 years of organ concerts organised by the society. It costs £15, of which £3 will go to the organ restoration fund.

Refreshments will be served from 7.30pm. For details of David’s programme and the society visit altonorgansociety.co.uk

Colin Walsh, organist emeritus at Lincoln Cathedral, gave the society’s most recent concert on October 4.

Society members and the rest of the audience were treated to a highly accomplished programme of predominantly French organ music.

Much of Colin’s early training was in France, where he was a pupil of Jean Langlais. Apart from the mandatory piece by J S Bach, it was very much a Gallic night of wonderful music played to the highest professional standard.

Colin opened his programme with a fortissimo performance of Charles Tournemire’s Improvisation sur le Te Deum.

Tournemire, in his day, was renowned for his improvisations but it took Maurice Duruflé to reconstitute the music and convert them to written manuscripts.

Bach’s Prelude and fugue in C followed the unmistakable sound of César Franck’s Fantasie in A.

The author’s favourite was the exciting and unrelenting toccata Tu es Petra by Henri Mulet; a tricky piece which needs to be taken at a steady speed to avoid rushing.

Two short pieces by Bonnet were a delight and demonstrated, beautifully, the quieter stops which are one of the strengths of the St Lawrence organ.

Pasticcio by Langlais is a fun piece of a series of fanfares played to different registration settings.

Colin brought his concert to a rousing climax with extracts from Louis Vierne’s Symphony No 1 including everyone’s favourite, the concluding Final.

Tony Willman