It is now 20 years since the release of his first Stormin’ Norma CD and he marked this anniversary yesterday with an afternoon recital.
Kemp, who was a very congenial compere for the recital, believes organ concerts should be fun and an opportunity to show off the ‘‘King’’ or more correctly in this case the ‘‘Queen of Instruments’’ to maximum effect.
A good-sized audience enjoyed his chosen programme of light classics which opened with a triumphant delivery of a fast-moving catchy melody by Karl Jenkins Celebratio, followed by the equally tuneful Bolero de Concert (Lefure-Wely), which utilised extra percussion and castanet stops.
Kemp’s guest artist was violinist Yuka Eguchi (assistant concertmaster NZSO) and they performed several pieces together.
Heart of Piece written especially for them by the Norwegian composer Mons Leidvin Takle was an absolute highlight, with subdued organ and violin melody soaring divinely in the town hall’s incredible acoustics. Two movements from Takle’s Palletes of Love Suite were equally beautiful and emotionally intense.
Popular marches included English’s rather syncopated and embellished arrangement of Invercargill March (Lithgow), Sousa’s Washington Post and an encore of Radetzky March.
Other popular numbers were Hornpipe Humoresque (Rawsthorne), which demonstrated Norma’s percussion pipes, Londonderry Air, Sleigh Ride with glockenspiel highlights, an arrangement of Benedictus by W. S. Lloyd-Webber and Bach’s Air on a G String. Tuba Tune in E Flat recognised Dunedin composer Richard Madden.
The beautiful melodic lines of Saint-Saens’ Le Cygne and an extremely fast and brilliantly virtuosic performance of Power of Life (Takle) ended an excellent programme of short demonstrative works by Kemp, Eguchi and Norma.
