Stefan Engels

SEATTLE     “… Stefan Engels chose a program that highlighted the stereophonic effects of the antiphonal placement, endowing Bach’s arrangement of Vivaldi’s “Grosso mogul” Concerto with a rare spaciousness.  This was a bold programmatic choice that surrounded the audience from the outset in the organs’ dialogues across the reverberant space.  Despite the 220 feet separating the two instruments, Engels was able to maintain lively tempos and clear figuration between the tutti and concertino sections. … The program concluded with Sigfrid Karg-Elert’s mammoth Chaconne and Fugue Trilogy with Choral, Op. 73.  This was an incredibly daring choice for an AGO convention audience, and Engels’s commitment to the work was keenly felt as he carried listeners through the 34 variations of the Chaconne and the three fugal expositions.  Engels has established himself as an authority on Karg-Elert’s organ music, and this performance sealed his stature.  He spent three days at the cathedral registering the program, and one cannot imagine a more thorough demonstration of the two organs, from the individual timbres used for misterioso passages to the combined choruses heard in thundering fortissimos.  Listeners were aware that they were hearing a unique musical event, and they fervently expressed admiration for Engels’s Herculean efforts.”     The American Organist, October 2022