The recent recital by visiting Christchurch organist Martin Setchell in St John's Cathedral, Napier, revealed fresh insights into the major work on the programme, Pictures at an Exhibition by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky.
Originally composed for solo piano, the work is well known in the brilliant orchestral arrangement by Ravel.
On the organ, the 10 sound pictures and the various Promenades each had a new, distinctive quality as Setchell made full use of the vast array of tonal colours available on the newly expanded cathedral organ.
The widely varied series of slides of paintings by New Zealand painter Phillip Trusttum accompanying the performance gave added meaning to the music.
Jenny Setchell's slides of the many Christchurch pipe organs damaged or destroyed in the series of earthquakes in Christchurch, with before-and-after shots, was a poignant reminder of how much of its music heritage the city has lost.
