Frederick Stocken World Premiere – 11 February 2014
Frederick Stocken
Frederick Stocken will give the world premiere of his new piece Faith, Love, Hope during a recital at St Lawrence Jewry, next to Guildhall in the City of London, on Tuesday 11 February at 1pm.
He says the inspiration to write a piece about Faith came as a response to the Catholic Church’s ‘Year of Faith’ from 2012 to 2013.
“The music that became Faith is an exultant toccata-like piece with a motto theme in the pedals based on how the words ‘I believe’ might be sung. It became apparent that I had some more music brewing for the other so-called ‘theological virtues’, Hope and Love, although, to make a more satisfying succession of three pieces, with Love as the still centre of the group and Hope as a climax, I changed the traditional order of listing the virtues – Faith, Hope and Love – to that of the title.”
The whole piece lasts about ten minutes, with each movement in the region of three minutes, and he intends that each of the pieces might be suitable for the liturgy on its own, or that all three might make a satisfactory recital group.
Although Frederick is a Catholic, his Jewish Grandmother died in the Holocaust.
He adds ” In October 2013, I was privileged to travel with my mother to Bechhofen, the town in Bavaria where my mother’s family came from, for the unveiling of a memorial to the thirty-two Jews that were deported by the Nazis. In memory of my grandmother, Rosa Bechhofer, and the other Jews of the town, I will be giving a second performance of Faith, Love, Hope later in 2014 in a recital in Bechhofen. It is especially serendipitous, therefore, that the first performance of the work will be at St Lawrence Jewry.”
The full recital programme:
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750): Prelude and Fugue in G major, BWV541
Simon Sechter (1788–1867): two chorale preludes from 18 Choralvorspiele, Op90
Hier legt mein Geist sich vor dir nieder
Lobe den Herren
César Franck (1822–1890): Pièce Héroïque, No. 3 from Trois Pièces pour Grand Orgue
César Franck: Prélude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18, from Six Pièces pour Grand Orgue
Frederick Stocken: Faith, Love, Hope (World Premiere)
