Peter Baier, may 4 2001

 

I never met Werner, I never saw him except on fotos but nevertheless I felt a great friendship when talking to him. His great feelings for music interpretation and his astonishing know-how gave me a friend to talk to. In 1997 I accidentialy came to the GMD Music Archive and was pleased to find a vast majority of instrumental and choir works. I am playing organ for years and spontaneous asked Werner if he wants to read my interpretation of Max Regers "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" fantasie. He was very pleased with it and asked if he may publish it on a web site. It was the beginning of a great "mailing adventure". We had discussions about romantic organ music and Max Reger, my greatest passion.

It came to me like a lightning bolt when I noticed the sad news of Werner's death. I felt sorry that I didn't have contacted him for over 3 month. I dedicated an In Memoriam to Werner and I called it "Elysium", the greek fields of souls. It has to be interpreted very slowly (dolente) and full of astonishing. The piece is the heavenly feeling and the eternal light that glows for Werner. I will miss you! And thank you for all.

 


2001-05-09, Christian Mondrup, Werner Icking Music Archive

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