Every rendition of a piece will be different, shaped by countless factors from the performer’s mood that day to the acoustic properties of a venue or the energy brought in by the group of individuals forming the audience. The uniqueness of each live music experience – shared only by those in that particular room at that particular time – is a precious part of the power of performance.

It can also shape the way an event is put together. Programming concerts and festivals is a significant part of my work, and I find real satisfaction in constructing a sequence of music that draws out particular ideas or connections, that will take the audience on a journey, and that is bespoke to a particular occasion. Sometimes that’s inspired by a theme, a cultural idea, a historical anniversary. Sometimes it’s about a particular space – its atmosphere, its story, its dramatic possibilities.

When I was asked to put together a piano recital as part of Christ Church’s 500th anniversary music festival, I knew I wanted to reflect both the musical heritage of the place, and also my own interaction with it. Music has been at the heart of the social, spiritual and educational life of Christ Church throughout the half-millennium history of the college – and of course for centuries before that too in the monastic foundation which predated it.

The Hildegard of Bingen transcription I’m playing nods to that earlier ecclesiastical heritage. I had the good fortune of being organ scholar in the Cathedral while I was a music undergraduate, and always loved the connection in that building and through its liturgical patterns to something ancient. Christ Church musicians through the ages are represented in pieces by John Dowland, Peter Warlock and Richard Pantcheff, and visitors to Christ Church in Felix Mendelssohn and Cheryl Frances-Hoad. Their pieces in turn are paired with other pieces picking up on thematic ideas – a pair of night-time pieces, including one by Clara Schumann; a pair of pieces about water, including Deep River by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, whose anniversary falls this year.

Bookending this eclectic mix are two works by Bach – the composer I most enjoyed playing on the organ back in my Christ Church days, and a composer who has occupied much of my time in my work as a pianist in more recent years. His French suite is elegant, chic, radiant – whilst his mighty Chaconne is dark and profound, grappling somehow with the deepest truths of what it is to be human. Busoni’s transcription of the latter work is virtuosic and orchestral, yet never loses sight of the qualities of Bach’s original. Like the generations of people who have lived, studied and worked at Christ Church he combines the heart of the old with an exploration of the new – and in so doing, discovers something dazzling.

500th Festival Piano Recital

Libby Burgess (2002, Music)

Friday 21 November at 8pm

Christ Church Cathedral

Programme to include:

J. S. BACH – French Suite No 5 in G major

BACH/BUSON – Chaconne in D minor

CLARA SCHUMANN – Notturno Op 6 No 2

SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR – Deep River

Works by Christ Church composers (Peter Warlock, John Dowland, Richard Pantcheff) and Christ Church visitors (Felix Mendelssohn and Cheryl Frances-Hoad).

Tickets are available here.