As part of the St John’s lunchtime organ recital series, the Junior Scholar Freddie James proposed a very brave programme of contemporary organ music by Cage and Ligeti, having cut the work of the lesser known Scelsi, which was originally included.

He led off with Cage’s ‘Souvenir for organ’. Within only a few minutes into the piece, those listening were put into a trance – despite the constant flow of noisy tourists, who disturbed the carefully crafted atmosphere of the music. The sinister sound bounced off the walls of the chapel, the hypnotic loops in the higher register contrasted by occasional low growls, which sounded as if someone was physically moving the organ. It was closer to a sound effect than something from an organ – by candlelight it would have no doubt made many people jump. The very nature of the piece gave the performance almost a sacred but also sinister quality.

The beginning of Ligeti’s Volumina shocked and shook the chapel, which had been sustained in the last chords of the Cage. The first chord was massive and grating (it did feature every single note on the instrument). James’s interpretation of this piece, the score of which is a series of instructions and guidelines rather than actual notes, increasingly matched the atmosphere of the Cage. Gradual changes also made it hypnotic; it fluctuated between breathtaking moments of calm and technically impressive, more agitated passages. More so than the Cage, the sound crossed the line between hearing sounds and acoustic effects – at times it was not easy to distinguish between engine noises from the street and the organ, especially as certain tones appeared to emerge from different parts of the chapel, creating a layered effect. It was nonetheless exhausting as a performance. The church bells in the distance, which came at the very end of the recital, completed the surrealism, and highlighted the different world we had been immersed in.