Martin Setchell will be playing a variety of music at his Dannevirke concert on Sunday. Photo / Supplied
Martin Setchell will be playing a variety of music at his Dannevirke concert on Sunday. Photo / Supplied
Martin Setchell is promising entertainment in the "best sense of the word".
The international concert organist will be playing a very special concert, Organic Extravaganza at the Anglican church hall on November 13.
Tying in with Dannevirke's 150th anniversary, Setchell chose to include a piece by Ralph Vaughan Williams, an English composer who was born the same year Dannevirke's European settlers arrived in New Zealand.
"It's a small point, but it's a nice connection," he said.
His programme will include the Liberty Bell March, which featured in Monty Python's Flying Circus, and a piece from the movie The Deer Hunter, as well as some classical pieces.
"It won't all be serious classical performance. There will be lighter things."
There was a perception that organ music was church music, Setchell said.
"There is some truth in that because it does have a function and has always had a function liturgically, but the difference that people don't realise is that the organ is a concert instrument, a bit like the grand piano or a violin."
Based in Christchurch, Setchell's base is a concert hall - the Christchurch Town Hall where he plays a concert hall instrument.
"I play concerts for audiences which have got nothing to do with church. Or religion."
He said he also played concerts in churches such as the one in Dannevirke he'll be playing - the Anglican church of St John's - as that was where the organ was.
Organ music could be played at weddings and such, but Setchell said his music was for everyone: "If the right sort of music is played, and if the occasion's treated as a concert, even if it's being held in a church."
Martin Setchell with one of the many different organs he has played. They can have more than four keyboards, although the average is three. Photo / Supplied
Playing the instrument was a lot more complex than a piano as it had more keyboards, the average being three.
"You've got a separate keyboard for the feet which play bass notes," Setchell said.
"The organ is a much more complicated, much more colourful instrument than the piano."
Setchell was born and educated in England where he received the Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists.
He served for more than 40 years on the staff of the University of Canterbury School of Music but resigned in 2014 to freelance as a performer, both in conducting and as a concert organist.
He began learning the piano at a young age, but was gradually drawn to becoming an organist, rather than a pianist.
"The piano is a monochrome instrument. The tone is basically the same. Every organ is different so it's a much greater variety of tone colour, which is fascinating."
Setchell said he liked the challenge.
"I thought it was more challenging than the piano which is a bit unfair because the piano does have a different challenge."
While pieces by Bach were the core of many organists' repertoire, Setchell loved a lot of French Romantic music, and English music.
Setchell said the concert, which starts at 3pm, was going to be a fun event.
Setchell has something of a personal connection with Dannevirke, as his wife Jenny lived in the town when she was younger and also played the organ at the church.
"There are still people there who remember her," he said.
The couple still had many good friends there.
Setchell said every organ, every acoustic and every building he performed in was different.
"Every concert is different. I look forward to them all because it's the variety."
It didn't matter whether he played in a 2500-seater concert hall like the Christchurch Town Hall, or a relatively small church in Dannevirke.
