Prom 55 – Organ Recital: Nathan Laube

Part of the BBC Proms.

Exciting young American organist Nathan Laube makes his Proms debut with a programme celebrating the expressive power of the Royal Albert Hall’s mighty ‘Father’ Willis organ – the second-largest instrument of its kind in the UK. At the climax of the concert is Laube’s own transcription of Liszt’s brooding Sonata in B minor – perhaps the composer’s greatest work for keyboard, its shape-shifting themes transformed with dazzling invention and variety. The concert also includes Franck’s Grande pièce symphonique – an organ symphony dedicated to the great pianist and composer Charles-Valentin Alkan, whose own Scherzando from the 11 Grands preludes is dedicated in return to Franck. The concert opens in a blaze with the Grand March from Wagner’s opera Tannhäuser.