All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself

[qatsi]

It was an early start from Prom 10, and at least the trains ran as advertised. The queue had already entered the Hall as we arrived, but they had dispersed themselves across the Arena and in fact I easily found what has become my normal spot in the centre of the second row. Someone once said to me that an organ recital is the one occasion when it really doesn't matter where you are - you will hear and see the same concert. Iveta Apkalna began with Widor's Toccata from Organ Symphony No. 5 - nothing we can't hum there. It does make me wonder what the rest of the symphony sounds like - it's impossible to find on the Internet because it's drowned out by this "bleeding chunk", and indeed the programme notes stated that the whole work has never been performed at the Proms. We moved on to Franck's Pièce héroïque - in fact another "bleeding chunk" from Trois pièces - and then to Apkalna's own arrangement of Fauré's tender Pavane. Of course, an organ Prom should surely contain some Bach, and so the next work was the Fantasia in G major BWV572. This was followed by an Australian/British composer I'd never heard of - George Thalben-Ball - though using a tune that is ubiquitously familiar: Variations on a Theme by Paganini (A Study for the Pedals). Poor old Paganini did write more than this one tune, but he ought to have been made rich by the way it has been taken up by so many other composers. The set of variations was satisfying and entertaining. Finally in the scheduled programme, another new composer, Thierry Escaich, whose Deux Évocations were an interesting and contrasting pair. Apkalna acknowledged the applause and kept pointing to the instrument itself, to share the credits, before giving an encore by her Latvian compatriot Aivars Kalējs, Toccata on the Chorale Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr.