Organist Ian Tracey has, as advertised, “stunning technique and a markedly individual style”. But there is much more to his performance than that. He is especially enthusiastic about his instrument, and one can see that he desires above all things that his audience share that enthusiasm.

He succeeds in doing this by imparting a wealth of information about the organ in a thoroughly engaging manner, about the composers who wrote - and still write - for it, and the performers who take on this king of instruments.

And Tracey also succeeded on this occasion by designing a programme for yesterday evening - and for tonight's concert as well - that demonstrates the unexpected and extraordinary range of tones this instrument can produce. Tracey's playing demonstrated this; his interpretation was thorough, imaginative, and indicative of his own enjoyment of them as he brought colour and texture to everything he played.

He billed the programme as a historical perspective, taking the audience back to this instrument's early days with Baroque composers that included the Spanish monk Soler, Michael Festing and of course J.S. Bach. In these pieces, he demonstrated the breadth of the organ's range from something quite delicate to the Bach, which built from an austere melody to a series of massive passages.

Moving forward to the classical period, Tracey determined on the theme of musical clocks, which he explained were quite a trend in those days. Composers were often asked to write short tunes for the musical clocks to play mechanically. But contrasting Haydn's jewellery box ditties with Straube's development of Mozart's Fantasia in F Minor was edifying: it is, Tracey explained, “on the fringes of being possible to play”. Once again demonstrating the remarkable range of colour that it is possible to achieve on an excellent instrument such as the St. Paul's Church organ, it ebbs and flows, mounting to become quite massive as it approaches the final phrases.

Moving toward the modern day, Cesar Franck's complex Deuxieme Choral en si mineur was a revelation: austere and spiritual to begin with, it develops to become a thrilling piece of organ music, and Tracey's ability to contrast the moods kept it spellbinding. Tracey's performance of Herbert Howells' Psalm Prelude Set 2 no. 1 also developed from its sombre, thought-provoking opening phrases to a really exciting piece of music, with Tracey pulling out all the colour from this piece.

There were lovely pieces played throughout the evening, but Felix Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, originally for orchestra, was perhaps the most enchanting. One was left wondering how this massive instrument could have the subtlety to paint this clear musical impression of mysticism and sprightliness.

Tracey's “devastating talent”, as it has been described, must be given much credit for bringing it to fruition.

In an organ recital, one must end in a big way. And so Tracey left us with Flor Peeter's Lied to the Sun. It “has its difficulties”, the organist explained, which is why you may not hear it very often. But he did play it and left us, as he promised, with an impression of sound, rather than a tune. It was dominating, and all encompassing - a glorious depiction of shimmering, pounding heat.