Trumpet Fanfare by Chase Olson (b. 2003)
Prelude and Fugue in D Major BWV 532, J.S. Bach (1685 - 1750)
Andante in D Major MWV W 32, Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)
Three Short Pieces Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912)
I. Arietta
II. Elegy
III. Melody
Première Choral, César Franck (1822 - 1890)
Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80 by Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) arr. Louis Robilliard (b. 1939)
III. Sicilienne
Tree of Life, Angela Kraft-Cross (born 1958)
Program Notes
I wrote Trumpet Fanfare in 2021 and premiered it at the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco in September of the same year, before the start of my studies at Oberlin College & Conservatory. Trumpet Fanfare has been performed many times since, including by Alan Morrison in early 2022.
J.S. Bach’s virtuosic Prelude & Fugue in D Major, BWV 532, is well known as one of Bach’s great masterworks. The Prelude contains a collection of different national styles which Bach wove together; following the opening flourish, the style shifts dramatically to a dotted, French overture-like rhetoric figure which leads into the alla breve, the main section of the Prelude. The adagio concludes the Prelude in the style of Durezze e ligature. The Fugue begins with a subject of 64 notes, which is tied with the ‘Gigue’ Fugue, BWV 577 for the longest fugue subject written by Bach. The quick and dazzling nature of this fugue ultimately creates one of the most joyous organ masterworks.
Andante in D Major, MWV W 32 is quintessentially Felix Mendelssohn; the rise and fall of the theme and the contoured yearning toward the high point evoke some of his most convincing works. Written near to the end of his life in 1844, Andante in D Major was posthumously published, and though rather modest in composition and variation, exhibits a deeper beauty than is implied by its simplicity.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Three Short Pieces, like Mendelssohn's, are quietly evocative. Coleridge-Taylor was rather well-known in his time; while studying composition at the Royal College of Music, Coleridge-Taylor’s professor, Charles Villiers Stanford, described him as a genius. Written in 1898, they were likely intended to be used as voluntaries in a church service. In concert, I enjoy using this set to explore different colors and registrations that I would not have otherwise been able to fit into a program.
César Franck’s Premier Choral in E Major was composed in the final year of his life. As the first of three, Franck opens with an invitation into an intimate setting, which commences a grand introspection, only finishing with the conclusion of the third choral. Throughout the piece, Franck varies the opening theme amid the intricate weaving of the choral tune, steering us on a great journey through dark forests of chromaticism until the final, triumphant statement of the choral. Though it is not empirically known, one rather common belief about the three chorals is that they are representative of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, respectively.
Gabriel Fauré’s Sicilienne, added to the Pelléas et Mélisande suite after its premiere, serves as a brief respite in the tragic story of Pelléas and Mélisande, a story of ephemeral love. The Sicilienne is the one happy moment that Pelléas and Mélisande share, before Pelléas is killed by his half-brother, Golaud, Mélisande’s husband, and Mélisande dies in childbirth, concluding the great tragedy of Romantic hope.
Tree of Life is a passacaglia that was composed in 2013 by Angela Kraft Cross for the installation of five new stained-glass windows in the Congregational Church of San Mateo, California. The windows, interconnected by a great oak trunk, represent the seasons: winter, spring, summer, fall, and winter again. Each section of the passacaglia evokes a different season as an analogy for the chapters in human life, from the formative winter to the youthful spring, the leisurely summer to the fall harvest, and closing with the final blizzard and celebrations for a life well-lived, all connected by the passacaglia bass, the mighty oak trunk which is the presence of God in our lives.
Biography of Chase Olson
Chase Olson is a Senior at Oberlin College & Conservatory, where he is pursuing a Double Degree in Organ Performance and Financial Economics. He currently studies with Christa Rakich and began studying organ with Dr. Angela Kraft Cross in 2016 on his 13th birthday. In addition to his Financial Economics degree coursework, Chase pursues economic research in time series analysis, among other quantitative financial topics.
He has performed at numerous venues, including the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco, Trinity Cathedral in Reno, Church of the Covenant and Trinity Lutheran Church in Cleveland, and Église Notre-Dame d’Auteuil in Paris. In 2023, Chase was a featured performer in Reno’s Artown Festival.
In 2025, Chase performed on the Danenberg Honors Recital series at Oberlin Conservatory and with the Oberlin Orchestra. He received scholarships from the San Francisco Peninsula Organ Academy in 2018, 2022, 2023, and 2024 to study in France with Louis Robilliard, Frédéric Blanc, Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin, Jean-Baptiste Robin, Olivier Penin, Marie-Louise Langlais, Aude Heurtematte, and Christophe Mantoux.
Chase has also studied piano with Dr. William Wellborn and art song with Dr. William Woods. In his spare time, he enjoys crunching numbers and coding regression models, and is perpetually searching for the perfect quarterzip – light enough to wear with a button down during the summer but not so light that it isn’t warm during the winter.