Organ recitals in S:t Jacob's Church

Friday 5th of June 2026 5 pm

Sagas

Program

Jean Guillou (1930-2019)
Saga I ur Sagas op. 20

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847)
Sonata nr. 6 d-moll ”Vater unser im Himmelreich” op. 65  
i. Chorale. Andante sostenuto. Allegro molto
ii. Fuga. Sostenuto e legato
iii. Finale. Andante

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Fantasi och fuga över “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam” S. 259 

Programme notes

Jean Guillou was one of the most distinctive and visionary figures in modern organ music. As a virtuoso organist, improviser and composer, he is particularly known for his long‑standing work at the famous Paris church of Saint‑Eustache, where he served for more than fifty years as titular organist. His musical language is fascinating and innovative, often unconventional and dramatic, and it takes the organ far beyond its traditional liturgical role. Few works embody this vision as vividly as Saga, op. 20, which does not unfold as a conventional piece but rather as a kind of musical journey – unpredictable, dramatic and highly evocative.

From the very beginning, Saga I draws the listener into an unknown and unpredictable soundscape. Instead of a classical, expected harmonic‑thematic development of the material, Guillou presents a series of bold gestures, resonant chords, fragmented motifs and sudden contrasts, pauses and tone colours that feel almost improvised, as if the music were being discovered in the very act of performance. Yet beneath this apparent freedom there is a carefully controlled sense of direction, in which every gesture contributes to a larger, continuous structure. As the narrative unfolds, musical ideas appear, dissolve and return in transformed shapes. Guillou, who was a master of improvisation, preserves in the written score a sense of spontaneity and risk‑taking, where almost every moment feels alive and suspended between control and complete freedom.

Felix Mendelssohn’s Organ Sonata No. 6 in D minor, op. 65, is one of the most recognisable works in his set of six organ sonatas, composed in 1844–1845. Unlike a traditional sonata form, this work is constructed as a series of variations on the chorale melody Vater unser im Himmelreich (“Our Father who art in heaven”), reflecting Mendelssohn’s strong connection to the Protestant musical tradition.

In this three‑movement sonata Mendelssohn treats the theme by presenting it in a series of contrasting variations, thereby uniting a meditative character with drama, expressiveness and sensitivity. The entire work unfolds through several sections that differ in tempo, texture and character, while the chorale, presented in full at the beginning, remains recognisable throughout the piece. Some sections are gentle and lyrical, highlighting the spiritual and graceful nature of the melody, whereas others are more structurally and harmonically complex and more contrapuntal, revealing Mendelssohn’s mastery of form and his admiration for traditional, well‑established compositional techniques and for composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach.

The organ work Fantasy and Fugue on “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam” (“To us, to the wave of salvation”) by Franz Liszt was composed in the winter of 1850 in Weimar and is regarded as one of the most important and extensive works in nineteenth‑century organ literature. The piece is based on a chorale from Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera Le Prophète and is conceived as a three‑part whole – fantasy, adagio and fugue – in which Liszt displays outstanding inventiveness and creativity in his treatment of the thematic material and in the shaping of the large‑scale musical structure. The work is characterised by strong dramatic contrasts, virtuosic technique, rich harmonies and melodic lines, and a subtle palette of tone colours, where a symphonic approach is combined with a deeply spiritual expression.

The composition is built in three large, interconnected sections that together form a unified, continuous whole. In the first part, the fantasy, Liszt treats the thematic material freely and dramatically, with rich harmonies, sudden dynamic contrasts and a wide spectrum of the organ’s stops. In the Adagio the tension subsides and gives way to a more lyrical expression, with frequent modulations and singable melodic lines. The third part contains two fugues and a more rigorous contrapuntal working‑out of the theme, demonstrating the composer’s mastery of polyphony, while the tension gradually increases through a densification of the musical texture. The conclusion brings together the earlier elements in a grand culmination, ending with a solemn presentation of the chorale, where virtuosity and expressiveness merge into a powerful and monumental sound ideal. Here Liszt treats the organ as a large symphonic instrument and explores its many technical and expressive possibilities, resulting in a monumental work that even today represents a significant artistic and technical challenge.

— programme notes by Mladen Bonomi

Curriculum vitae

Mladen Bonomi (Croatia, 2001) received his basic musical education in piano and his upper‑secondary education in organ and piano at the Josip Hatze Music School. In parallel, he completed a science‑oriented upper‑secondary programme in his hometown of Split. In 2019 he began his organ studies at the Academy of Music in Zagreb and obtained his master’s degree in June 2024. During his fourth and fifth years of study he attended the University of Gothenburg, Academy of Music and Drama, within the framework of the Erasmus+ programme, where he studied with Professor Karin Nelson. After his first master’s degree he continued with further master’s studies in organ and chamber music at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where he studies with Robert Bennesh. He developed early as a church musician and is currently active as an organist. He performs regularly in concert and has been awarded several first prizes in national competitions, two “Knowledge Oscars” for outstanding academic results, as well as scholarships from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. He has also taken part in numerous masterclasses, festivals and seminars with leading international organists, both in his home country and abroad.