As part of Auditorio de Tenerife’s organ concerts, Willibald Guggenmos will perform in the programme Fuegos artificiales sinfónicos (Symphonic Fireworks). This concert is held in collaboration with the ‘Real Academia Canaria de las Bellas Artes San Miguel Arcángel’ (San Miguel Arcángel Royal Canarian Academy of Fine Arts – RACBA).

The first large symphonic organs were built in the mid-1800s, chiefly in France and England. The advent of these instruments quickly changed playing techniques, and their installation in public concert halls, where they were played before the public, led to the emergence of a more visually effective repertoire (e.g., using the pedal quickly).

The first acclaimed organists were also trained pianists. This conjunction of factors led to the creation of highly virtuosic music, some of which we shall hear in today’s programme.

The most noteworthy of the pieces are Vogt’s ‘Fantaisie orage’, in which the elbow is sometimes used to depress the keys, Petr Eben’s ‘Moto Ostinato’, with its rapid manual changes, and Vierne’s ‘Finale’, with its brilliant pedal scales heard towards the end.