Dr David Ponsford @ Whitefriar Street Church in partnership with Pipeworks
Dr David Ponsford, organ
Annual Organ Recital Series in Whitefriar Street Church || Sunday 12th May at 7pm || Entrance free with a retiring collection
FANTASY & COLOUR
J. S. Bach (1685–1750)
Pièce d’Orgue, BWV 572
Georg Böhm (1661–1733)
Partita on ‘Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig’
Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676–1749)
Suite du deuxième ton
-Plein jeu
-Duo
-Trio
-Basse de cromorne
-Flûtes
-Récit de nazard
-Caprice sur les grands jeux
J. S. Bach
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C, BWV 564
Dr David Ponsford is an organist, harpsichordist, and musicologist. His book ‘French Organ Music in the Reign of Louis XIV’ was published by Cambridge University Press in 2011, subsequently released in paperback in 2016, and his edition of Nicolas de Grigny’s Premier livre d’orgue was published by Ut Orpheus, Bologna, in December 2019.
He was fortunate to study the organ with Lionel Rogg, Piet Kee and Peter Hurford, and then harpsichord with Kenneth Gilbert and Gustav Leonhardt. His first post after graduating from Cambridge University was as Assistant Organist at Wells Cathedral. Later, he was awarded a PhD from Cardiff University, where for 17 years he was both Associate Lecturer and Conductor of Cardiff University Chamber Orchestra. In 2021, he was appointed to the organ department of the Royal Academy of Music, London.
Currently he is recording a series of CDs of French Baroque organ music on historical French organs for Nimbus Records, including the Couperin Masses from La Flêche (Vols. 1 & 2), Clérambault Suites from Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache (Vol. 3), Nicolas de Grigny’s Livre d’orgue from Sarlat Cathedral (Vol. 5) and Louis Marchand’s Pièces d’orgue from Saint-Antoine l’Abbaye (Vol. 7). Volume 8, played on the 1709 Andreas Silbermann organ in Marmoutier, was released in January 2024, about which Gramophone stated: ‘David Ponsford plays Corrette and Dandrieu with authority and affection.’
This year he has been honoured in being awarded The Medal of the Royal College of Organists in recognition of his distinguished achievement in organ performance and scholarship.
