By REBECCA DIXON

Last updated 17:35, Thursday, 21 August 2008

HEXHAM Abbey is well known for nurturing the talents of young musicians.

There are two choirs, providing opportunities for both girls and boys, and there are three young organists receiving tuition from the director of music, Michael Haynes.

It was these three young musicians who together gave the Saturday lunchtime concert on August 16, to a very appreciative audience.

Aiden Berry, senior organ scholar elect, got the concert off to a rousing start with an uplifting performance of Kenneth Leighton’s Fanfare.

He continued with a relaxed performance of Bach’s chorale prelude on Liebster Jesu followed by a very spicy rendition of the William Mathias Processional (perhaps reflecting the sponsorship of a local restaurant?).

Aiden has a very crisp keyboard technique which was particularly effective in the 20th century pieces.

Ben Rowarth, junior organ scholar elect, played my own Chorale and Variations on Forty Days and Forty Nights. It is not always easy to listen to your own music, but on this occasion I felt it was in safe hands.

Ben had clearly given a lot of thought to the mood of each variation, and his careful choice of registration reflected this.

Although originally written for the 1885 T. C. Lewis organ in St George’s, Cullercoats, this music settled in very happily on the Phelps organ.

Warren Smith, the retiring senior organ scholar, gave us the first movement of the Bach/Vivaldi A minor Concerto, one of those works which the Phelps organ does extremely well.

This was followed by the very colourful Variations on a Dutch Carol by Flor Peeters in which Warren demonstrated his ability to play in two keys simultaneously!

The recital was brought to an exciting end by Warren’s performance of the monumental Introduction and Passacaglia of Max Reger.

This work concluded with a tour de force of harmonic brilliance which brought a thoroughly enjoyable recital to a thrilling climax.

Paul Ritchie