Lenten Music Corinth Reformed Church in Hickory, NC

A gray, overcast and rainy day became became a background for this recital, number three of six, and when we came out the rain was falling harder than before but birds were singing and daffodils were blooming.

The first presentation was a raucous (to my very untrained ear) piece played seemingly at full capacity. Perhaps part of that was due to the fact that it was written by the amazing Felix Mendelssohn, who, according to the bulletin handed out by the members of the church, had actually died before he was born. Or maybe he was one of those born-again composers.

The performance, played by Joby Bell, organist at First Presbyterian Church in Lenoir, was ably done. An organist is an amazing person. It certainly must be a hard hobby to follow. Organs don’t fit well into most homes - or neighborhoods - and the organist has a lot of keyboards and pedals to press and operate. Also the organist has to play the audience as well as his wonderful machine.

The second piece, “Oh Man, Bewail thy Grievous Fall” by J. S. Bach was considerably less than full throttle and seemed a well paced tune with lots of different tones. Next came a tribute to Master Tallis which was a sweet piece that seemed to invoke memories, perhaps of the first two pieces.

Most of the members of the audience seemed suspended somewhere between ecstasy and stoicism. Some were clearly lost in thought, far from the church, others had on their involuntary bored expressions, which would turn briefly into raised eyebrows as the cadence changed, then you could almost see welcome Thoughts occur again to them. Me too.

Finally came the beautiful Prelude, Fugue and Variation from Cesar Franck. It seemed to begin as a solitary figure, dancing on a small stage which then appeared becoming larger, and the dancer then became transformed into a wanderer dancing through a vast architectural wonder. Then came the fugue and confrontation and transformation. Finally the last part ended in the variations as a spiritually matured dancer demonstrated a sense of perfection.

About sixty heads rose above the walnut-rose pews. Forty of them were gray scale, shades from ivory to medium gray. About twelve of them were without appreciable hair of any kind except around the fringes. Two were kind of an ordinary mousy brown, the rest were perfect shades of red and blond.

Afterwards we went to Backstreets for a magnificent lunch. Delicious. I had a Bruchetta Melt. It looked pretty grim but was so good that I ate it all and enjoyed every bite. First time we have been there in well over a year. Last time the cigarette smoke was a problem. This time, in a newly rebuilt building, there was no trace of smoke. Beautiful.