Cathedral Music: Autumn 2015

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CATHEDRAL MUSIC

CATHEDRAL MUSIC is published twice a year, in May and November

ISSN 1363-6960 NOVEMBER 2015

Editor

Mrs Sooty Asquith, 8 Colinette Road, London SW15 6QQ sooty.asquith@btinternet.com

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David Flood & Matthew Owens

Production Manager Graham Hermon grahamhermon@lineone.net

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Front Cover

Exeter Cathedral

© Alan Soper (nalamanpics@gmail.com)

Back Cover

The quire and organ pipes at King’s College Cambridge

© Hugh Taylor

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From the EDITOR

The sound of music. No, not the film or the musical, but the science of acoustics. Who knew that large stainedglass windows absorb bass notes, while in a reverberant environment (such as most cathedrals) the extreme treble is affected by the atmosphere? That Father Willis’s most famous saying was, ‘The most important stop on the organ is the sound of the building’? Today’s organ designers are able to work round the awkward shapes and the soundabsorbing structures of cathedrals and churches, but since the construction teams of our intriguingly shaped cathedrals were not able to benefit from modern-day technology and 21st-century know-how, acoustical challenges play a large part in John Norman’s informative article on p28

There is challenge of a different sort as the reader ventures further into the magazine: the trials faced by those who are beguiled or coerced into turning pages for their keyboardplaying colleagues. Practitioners of page-turning – long a neglected and undervalued profession – will welcome recent proposals to encourage the development of increased skills in all aspects of this art, with the ultimate goal of a universally recognised qualification. See p36 for more details.

In August and September of this year we lost two giants of the cathedral music world, two people who had spent all but their very earliest years working in and enhancing the

remarkable tradition of English choral music, John Scott (59) and David Willcocks (95). Readers of this magazine are by their allegiance to this tradition and to FCM confirmed supporters of our exceptional cathedrals, but those who choose to work in the profession, who frequently live in the glorious cloisters and who spend so much of their lives surrounded by the magnificent architecture of these special buildings are very often the finest exponents of an esoteric art. Our world is poorer for the loss of these two talented men, both consummate musicians and in so many ways the inspiration to so many people, but our thoughts will perhaps dwell more heavily and in greater sadness on the death of John Scott, a man at the top of his profession, and one whose third child was born very shortly after his death. We mourn the passing of both, but there is consolation in knowing that their work, their recordings, and their enormous contribution to the world of music will endure.

Next year is the 60th anniversary of the founding of Friends of Cathedral Music at St Bride’s Fleet St, following a meeting led by Ronald Sibthorp at which some 40 people came together to discuss their concerns over the quality of music in post-war cathedrals. In addition to two National Gatherings (Gloucester in May, Liverpool in October), there will be a Diamond Jubilee Gathering in London (24-25 June) with a celebration service at St Bride’s, and Evensong at Southwark Cathedral followed by a reception. It is to be hoped that as many members as possible will attend these events, bringing with them legions of friends to convert to the cause! Please spread the word as widely as you can.

Sooty Asquith

JOINING FRIENDS OF CATHEDRAL MUSIC JOINING FRIENDS OF CATHEDRAL MUSIC

How to join Friends of Cathedral Music

Log onto www.fcm.org.uk and fill in the form, or write to/email the address given on p3.

Member benefits include:

• welcome pack

• twice-yearly colour magazine and twice-yearly colour newsletter

• ‘Singing in Cathedrals’: a pocket-sized guide to useful information on cathedrals in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales

Opportunities to:

• attend gatherings in magnificent cathedrals

• meet others with a shared interest in cathedral music

• enjoy talks, master-classes, choral and organ performances etc.

Subscription

UK members are asked to contribute at least £20 per year (£25 sterling for European members and £35 sterling for overseas members). UK choristers and full-time UK students under 21 qualify for a reduced rate of £10. New members subscribing at least £30 (standing order) or £50 (single payment) will receive a free fulllength CD of cathedral music, specially compiled for FCM members.

FCM’s purpose is to safeguard our priceless heritage of cathedral music and support this living tradition. We strive to increase public awareness and appreciation of cathedral music, and encourage high standards in choral and organ music. Money is raised by subscriptions, donations and legacies for choirs in need.

Since 1956 we have given over £2 million to Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedral, church and collegiate chapel choirs in the UK and overseas; endowed many choristerships; ensured the continued existence of a choir school, and worked to maintain the cathedral tradition. Please join now and help us to keep up this excellent work.

John Scott

Photo: Bruce Parker

JOHN SCOTTAn appreciation

The sudden death of John Scott (1956-2015) in August was a profound shock to the world of church music. Mark Williams, Director of Music at Jesus College Cambridge, who worked with John as Assistant Organist at St Paul’s Cathedral, London between 2000 and 2004, discusses one of the towering figures in the organ world with those who encountered him professionally and personally.

y first day at St Paul’s Cathedral was a memorable one. It was a Sunday in early October and I had no responsibilities – I simply turned up to watch what happened. I was fresh out of Cambridge, with its intimate chapels and comfortable familiarity, and I found myself somewhat intimidated by the scale of the building, let alone what might be expected of me in the months and years ahead. I was also a little daunted by the prospect of working with somebody whose recordings I had listened to from an early age. Legend had it that John simply never played a wrong note and that his own pursuit of perfection made him quite a taskmaster – I subsequently discovered both to be true. During Evensong, I sat under the dome and was taken aback by the acoustic – the first hymn started and a great sound washed over me – overwhelming, but challenging from a musical point of view, and I wondered how the choir and organ could ever hope to achieve any kind of clarity in a more complex repertoire. And then the cathedral choir began to sing. I was immediately captivated, not only by the extraordinary expressivity of the ensemble (in particular the trebles) but also by the refined elegance of John Scott’s conducting. His gestures were controlled yet poetic and the acoustic, which had seemed to swallow everything up, suddenly revealed colours and shapes that I had never heard before, even in something as mundane . Following Evensong, John gave a recital as part of a series in which he was performing the complete organ works of J S Bach. It was revelatory. I had never heard anything quite like it. On a Romantic organ, in a building with an eight-second echo, I heard every note with crystal clarity. I knew then that I was encountering firstclass musicianship of a rare kind. There was a spontaneity that was somehow contained within – yet not constrained by – considered and disciplined playing, the sum of which was an experience that was both uplifting and deeply moving. For the next four years, it was a privilege to

Mark Williams

Jonathan Bielby, under whom John sang as a chorister at Wakefield Cathedral and who was John’s first organ teacher, observes that, “John, in this age of specialism, was supremely a non-specialist. Even as a teenager at Wakefield his breadth of knowledge and style was amazing. As my Assistant Organist he would play Frescobaldi, Titelouze and du Mage, but also Patrick Gowers and Kenneth Leighton; he played fistfuls of notes in Reger’s Hallelujah, Gott zu loben and Dupré, and revelled in the Baroque figuration of Buxtehude and Bach. What he learnt at Wakefield he was proud to share with the world.”

Benjamin Sheen was a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral under John, and at the age of 13 the youngest person ever to give an organ recital at St Paul’s. He went on to study at Christ Church Oxford and, in 2012, took up the post of Assistant Organist at St Thomas, Fifth Avenue: “To say that there was no greater influence than John in my musical career thus far is no exaggeration. From my first days as a chorister at St Paul’s, John’s enthusiasm, dedication and constant striving for perfection were humbling to all of us who worked with him. In the last few years, I have been privileged to become part of

his musical legacy in St Thomas, Fifth Avenue, where he was loved and revered by all. A shining light in the musical world has gone out but, despite passing from this life, he will never be forgotten and will remain one of the greatest mentors and influences in my life.”

Geraint Bowen, Director of Music at Hereford Cathedral, studied the organ with John in the early 1980s, and his two sons were later choristers at St Paul’s Cathedral. He invited John to give the celebrity recital at the 300th anniversary of the Three Choirs Festival at Hereford in July 2015, which sadly turned out to be his last UK concert and included the premiere of O Gott, du frommer Gott by Anthony Powers, part of the Orgelbüchlein Project. Geraint recalls: “I’ll always be grateful for the musical insights which I learnt from John at a formative stage in my musical development, which have stayed with me ever since. More recently, watching him work with the choir at St Paul’s was always an inspiration: there was a wonderfully relaxed elegance in his conducting which conveyed such a strong sense of line to the singers. He was as friendly and modest as ever on his last visit to Hereford – always a gentleman.”

Jonathan Bielby

Benjamin Sheen

Geraint Bowen

Photo: Harrison Linsey

Photo: Tim Symons

John Scott at St Thomas Church

Photo: Bruce Parker

David Hill, Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers and former Director of Music at St John’s College Cambridge, Winchester Cathedral and Westminster Cathedral, arrived at St John’s in 1976, as John’s junior organ scholar: “We were aware of each other even prior to meeting: he had been in Wakefield whilst I was at Chetham’s in Manchester across the Pennines. We had much in common, shared a benign rivalry, and Jonathan Bielby taught us both the organ. It was immediately clear to me that John’s capacity to absorb music was nothing short of astonishing, as was his ability to communicate, very clearly, what he expected from himself and others. We worked well together and have been close friends ever since. We grew to understand our similarities and differences: I owe him so much and rejoice in having known him.”

Canon Lucy Winkett, Minor Canon and later Canon Precentor of St Paul’s, remembers the profound impact John’s musicmaking had on her in her daily experience of Evensong: “John could be both spectacularly kind and protectively fierce in his pursuit of musical excellence. He always placed his incomparable skill at the service of the liturgy and I feel immensely privileged to have seen this, day after day, at first hand. What I found especially inspiring was his commitment to take the choir with him somewhere new, in the middle of Evensong, during, say, a Howells Magnificat or an Elgar anthem. The energy would change, the pace would quicken and the piece would simply take off in a way that was breathtaking. Musically, he had an intense commitment to the tradition at the same time as being daring in his interpretation of even the simplest psalm chant. He expressed something very profound about the spiritual life in his utter commitment to the piece in front of him; the ever-new and renewing presence of God within the context of the ancient wisdom of the centuries. John’s faith underpinned his performance of music in the liturgy and, by his skill, he helped others believe.”

James O’Donnell, who, for almost 20 years, worked alongside John in London, firstly as Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral and then as Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey, reflects: “In the early 1990s, St Paul’s and Westminster Cathedrals began an ecumenical exchange during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that continues to this day. The two choirs sang an evening office from their own tradition in the other church. John saw this as an important

opportunity on many levels – not least social. The parties after these services were legendary and truly ecumenical! As I got to know John better and better, his profound commitment to the importance of making excellent music in a liturgical context, and his love of the Anglican choral tradition, became ever clearer. John was also deeply supportive of, and generous towards, other musicians, in his characteristically understated way. He often made the effort, in his busy schedule, to attend organ concerts given by others – including me. To know that he would be in the audience at your recital was not necessarily the most calming of prospects, but you knew that he was there solely to support you and appreciate the performance. He was a masterful musician with astonishing facility. His every gesture as a conductor, and every note as a player, was considered, and effective: his performances always had a sense of authority and inevitability, yet also a compelling freshness and vitality. He was never ‘flashy’. I consider having known this gentle man to be one of the great privileges of my life.”

John Rutter CBE composed works for the choir of St Paul’s when John Scott was Organist and Director of Music. The two also worked together on a number of seminal recordings with the Cambridge Singers: “John always said ‘yes’ to anything he was asked to do if he possibly could; his work with me sometimes led to encounters with occasionally less than perfect organs, which he somehow turned into tonal jewels. He was a solid-gold professional and a lovely man, with an obliging-ness, a sense of duty, and a relish for musicmaking that was breathtaking in its reach. In addition to his extraordinary skills as a soloist, he was a perfect chamber musician who became part of any ensemble he played in. I remember a Fauré Requiem recording where he seemed to phrase and breathe at one with singers and instrumentalists alike.”

New York-based composer, Nico Muhly, knew John well, writing for the choir of St Thomas and for John as a solo recitalist. John’s choir at St Thomas became one of the finest ecclesiastical ensembles in the world, and Nico reflects on slipping into Evensong on Fifth Avenue: “To watch him conduct the choir for a random Thursday Evensong was to watch an essay in simultaneous restraint and spontaneity: centuries of performance practice reanimated, stylised, and tightened. I think of his influence as a form of epidemic:

David Hill

Canon Lucy Winkett

James O’Donnell

Photo: Clare Clifford

Photo: John Wood

John Rutter CBE

Nico Muhly

Sir Mark Elder

Photo: Matthew Murphy

Conducting the choir on the steps of St Paul’s

Photo: St Paul’s

Photo: Ingpen & Williams

St German’s Cathedral is the newest created cathedral in the British Isles, and the mother church of what is believed to be the oldest diocese in the Church of England (founded in 447). The original Cathedral of St German, inside the walls of Peel Castle, fell into ruin in the 18th century. The Bishop consecrated his chapel at the Bishop’s Palace as the pro-cathedral and instituted a chapter of canons with himself as Dean. The Bishop’s Palace was sold in 1980 and the Victorian Kirk German in Peel was elevated to the Island’s cathedral. More recently, in October 2011, Canon Nigel Godfrey, vicar and sub-dean, was officially installed as the Dean of the new cathedral.

Upon my arrival in 2012 there was only one service with music a week, sung by an ad hoc choir, which often consisted of only three parts (S, A, and men). For the ‘cathedral services’ (ordinations, Christmas Day, Easter Day) my predecessor had

invited a variety of Island singers to form a special choir. But in anticipation of change, a group of people had established the St German’s Cathedral Music and Arts Foundation, and I was appointed as Organist and Director of Music.

Initially, it was tempting to start with a blank sheet, but because the Island works in a very unusual and close-knit way, it was clearly more sensible to develop the status quo. So the ad hoc choir were rehearsed and regularised into a traditional SATB group of singers, and the repertoire was expanded slowly until they were singing a simple anthem each week. At the same time I was keen to bring in a group of child choristers. The city of Peel has a large primary school and that was to be my first port of call. My first visit proved fruitless – lots of interested children, but very uninterested parents! Not one to give up easily, I persisted with the local school, but also targeted two other smaller satellite schools, visiting each one armed with

The Cathedral Church of St German

Photo: Leigh Titman/Matthew Norman

AN ISLAND CATHEDRAL’S MUSICAL RENAISSANCE Peter Litman

a PowerPoint presentation and something to sing, hoping it might interest the children. It worked, and before long I had six boys and three girls interested in singing regularly.

In May the cathedral was to host a service of celebration for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee to be attended by the Lieutenant Governor. I wanted to include the new child choristers whose job it was simply to lead the hymns. For the occasion, I also formed the ‘Jubilee Singers’ (a community singing endeavour) which numbered around 60 amateur singers drawn from the Island’s choirs. They joined with the cathedral’s adult singers and sang Handel’s Zadok the Priest. The accompaniment was provided by the organist at King William’s College, allowing me to direct the choirs in a rousing service as befitted Her Majesty the Queen.

Success breeds success, they say, so the nine children decided they wanted to be the ‘Cathedral Choristers’ and a weekly

rehearsal was fixed, separate from the adult singers. To develop an identity for the children, the adult choir was renamed the Nave Choir and the children got their wish.

Up to this point Evensong on Sundays had been a said service, attended by the Dean and occasional members of the congregation. My suggestion was to introduce sung elements to this service by the new choristers, and happily the Dean agreed. So, gradually, using plainchant responses, single chants (for canticles and psalms) and simple melody songs for anthems, the choristers were taught music alongside literacy and meaning. As a result of introducing music to the evening service, the congregation began to embrace the concept of Choral Evensong and numbers slowly began to increase.

The next step was to propose a new pattern of music at Sunday services to the Dean and Precentor, and this was agreed for the

Peter Litman

Photo: Leigh Titman/Matthew Norman

new academic year. The Nave Choir were to sing on two Sunday mornings a month, with the choristers singing Evensong every Sunday. The plan also included a new SATB quartet of trained singers which would sing one Sunday morning service a month. By what I believe to be divine intervention, at this stage I received an email from a professional bass-baritone in Canada; it revealed that he and his family (all choristers) were moving to the Island for a year, and this family turned out to be absolutely pivotal in the development of the cathedral music programme.

With the start of the new choir year, the Dean and I launched our new proposed service pattern, and with the Canadian duo, now augmented by a soprano and a tenor, the first Sunday service of each month featured a Renaissance choral setting of the Eucharist. Meanwhile, the cathedral choristers, growing in confidence and ability, had started to produce a strong sound, although one or two had dropped out owing to the increased commitment. So I planned the first big outreach activity for October. I invited five of the local primary schools into the cathedral for a workshop/performance of a popular children’s cantata. Each school would have the opportunity to showcase their own choir before a massed performance of the cantata. This was very successful and caused a flurry of interest in the choristers, and by November I had six boys and seven girls, all now resplendent in brand new probationer-purple cassocks. A head chorister was voted in, and because this was a boy, we also appointed a head girl.

All energy was diverted to preparing the combined choirs (Nave, choristers and Schola) for the first serious Nine Lessons and Carols service in the cathedral. To ensure success, we adopted the traditional format with the descants and carols people wanted to hear, and generated a great deal of publicity.

The newly adopted service structure continued into 2013 although up to this point the cathedral choristers were

all probationers. Then in February 2013 five boys and five girls were formally admitted as full choristers, a significant historical event, since these were the first child choristers to be recorded in St German’s Cathedral since 1755, when the Island’s Bishop Hildesley recruited ten girls and ten boys to sing at the pro-cathedral. He also clothed and fed them. It is now generally believed that this act was more likely social philanthropy than musical education as they did not last very long! But could it be that Sodor and Man was the first diocese to have encouraged girls to be cathedral choristers, as early as 1755?!

Shortly after being admitted to the Peel choir, the son of the Canadian duo expressed an interest in becoming a professional chorister and, with my encouragement, he was auditioned and accepted by the Schola Cantorum at Tewkesbury Abbey.

In the summer term of 2013 the choristers received an invitation from the Mananan International Festival asking them to sing a Choral Evensong in the Summer Festival. This gave me the opportunity I needed to platform the new choristers, and also to add alto, tenor and bass lay clerks behind them. During the service we sang the Stanford in C canticles and Bairstow’s wonderful anthem Save us, O Lord. Sadly, this was to be the swansong for the Canadian family, who were returning home (minus the Tewkesbury chorister). With them they had brought stability and great musicality, and had opened up a network connection to other singers across the Island, all of which became integral to the development of the cathedral’s music department.

We are the only cathedral and indeed children’s choir (outside the school choirs) on the Isle of Man, and as such the choristers have little idea of what it is to be a cathedral chorister. To try to address this, I contacted Liverpool Cathedral and requested a joint venture. The result was that we were invited to join with their choir for a service of Choral

Peter Litman conducting Choral Evensong

Photo: Leigh Titman/Matthew Norman

Evensong. The whole experience gave my young choristers increased confidence and a great boost, so much so that in September the Nave Choir was finally dissolved.

At this time Bishop Robert informed me of a proposed visit from the BBC’s Songs of Praise team, who had asked to film two programmes featuring the cathedral choir. I was very cautious but agreed to the challenge, and the project was to become a catalyst for another recruitment strategy. My move was to retain a few of the former Nave Choir, combine them with members of the expanding Schola, and with two newly initiated choral scholars, form a new Schola of 12-16 singers who would also act as the back row for the choristers. With a grant from the Bishop’s funds, we purchased purple cassocks and white surplices just in time for Songs of Praise. Finally, the formal cathedral choir was now established.

The choristers now number 18 boys and girls (11 choristers and seven probationers) and recently, our boy head chorister has achieved RSCM Bronze with commendation, which is excellent considering he has no formal musical or vocal training. This year we have also formed a Key Stage 1 choir at the local primary school, which not only acts as a feeder for the cathedral choir, but also ensures a continuous involvement with the local school and the wider community. It rehearses each week and sings Evensong once a term. The back row numbers a total of 17 singers who sing on rotation. Though amateur, they are of sufficient ability to sight-sing quickly.

Easter Sunday 2015 saw the departure of a girl chorister to Durham Cathedral’s choir, and whilst challenging for me as choir director to lose talented recruits, I believe it does testify that the training, nurture, environment and experience created here enables children to take on professional choristerships, and potentially change their lives.

Being the only cathedral on the Island, we are also the national cathedral. In July earlier this year, we sang for the Tynwald Day church service (the ancient Manx Parliament)

in St John’s Chapel which was streamed live across the world, and in addition, we had a Royal visit from HRH The Princess Royal (Patron of the Cathedral Development Campaign). Such events are not only important for the expansion of the choir and music department, but I believe shape our unique identity as the Manx cathedral.

Of course, as other cathedrals well know, funding a developing music programme is a major task, and this is the ongoing objective of the St German’s Cathedral Music and Arts Foundation. Up until now, apart from initial funding for my own salary, the music department has been run on a shoestring. It is now the role of the Music Foundation to ensure that the department is permanently endowed so that in future the focus can be, as it should be, upon growth and development. But I can now say with confidence that any visitor to the cathedral would find a developing musical department similar to other cathedrals in the British Isles. My work here involves researching, testing and implementing innovative and creative ways to develop the cathedral’s music programme, and to encourage and re-examine the priceless heritage of Anglican church music alongside the Island’s talented children.

Peter Litman originally trained at Canterbury Christ Church College where he was organ scholar from 1996-1999. In 2003, he was appointed Director of the MA Choral Education course at Roehampton University. In 2009 he returned to church music and was appointed Organist and Choirmaster at St Peter’s Collegiate Church, Ruthin (North Wales), continuing his organ studies with Organist Emeritus of Chester Cathedral, Roger Fisher. Outside his cathedral work, Peter also conducts the Island’s premier chamber choir, the Tallis Consort, and is an assisting organist at King William’s College.

Cathedral choristers

Photo: Leigh Titman/Matthew Norman

Herbert Brewer in 1926 © National Portrait Gallery, London

SIR HERBERT BREWER (1865-1928) John Morehen

This year marks the sesquicentenary of the birth of Sir Herbert Brewer, one of the most energetic and versatile church musicians of his generation, and one of the most gifted of those whose professional lives were spent exclusively in the provinces. Herbert Howells, a pupil of Brewer, described him as ‘the greatest organist I have ever known’. Brewer was equally renowned as a composer, choirtrainer, adjudicator, examiner and teacher.

While still in his early teens Brewer was already undertaking organist engagements at such diverse locations as Gloucester Prison, Painswick Church, and Highnam Court (the Parry family seat). His first professional appointment, aged 15, was at St Catherine’s Church, Gloucester, for the choir of which he composed his first published setting of the evening canticles. Shortly afterwards, he moved to Gloucester’s medieval church of St Mary de Crypt. During these formative years he studied organ with C H Lloyd at Gloucester Cathedral, where he was head chorister.

When Lloyd was appointed Organist at Christ Church Oxford, he invited Brewer – still only 17 – to be his assistant. The following year, Brewer won an organ scholarship to the Royal College of Music, where he studied organ with Parratt, counterpoint with Bridge and composition with Stanford. His health was precarious, however, and the commuting between Oxford and London quickly took its toll. He was awarded the organ scholarship at Exeter College Oxford, enabling him to relinquish his RCM scholarship and concentrate his activities in Oxford.

In 1885 the Bristol Cathedral organist, George Riseley, was dismissed following disputes with the Bristol chapter, and Brewer, now aged 20, was appointed to succeed him. Unfortunately for Brewer, Riseley took the chapter to court, where he won his case and was reinstated. After only two months at Bristol Brewer was unemployed; he returned to Oxford to resume his recently vacated organ scholarship at Exeter College.

In 1886 Brewer was appointed organist of St Michael’s, Coventry, which later became Coventry Cathedral. He supervised the installation of a new Willis organ, and spent six happy years before being appointed music master at Tonbridge School. At Tonbridge, as at Coventry, his immediate priorities were securing a new organ (again from ‘Father’ Willis), improving the chapel choir, and founding a local choral society. After four years at Tonbridge, Brewer eventually gained the position which he so earnestly coveted – Organist of Gloucester Cathedral. He was still only 31, and was to occupy the post until his death in 1928.

Brewer’s early years at Gloucester were largely preoccupied with the celebrations for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee (1897), the completion of the cathedral organ (1899), and the founding of the Gloucestershire Orchestra Society (1901). He was also steadily composing and, as his reputation grew, he became increasingly involved in examining and adjudicating.

The most high-profile and demanding aspect of the Gloucester organist-ship was the responsibility every three years for planning and directing the Three Choirs Festival, the annual music meeting which takes place in rotation in the cities of Gloucester, Worcester and Hereford. Brewer oversaw eight such festivals, where he set out to champion new music, both British and continental.

At his first festival (1898), Brewer directed the English première of three of Verdi’s Quattro pezzi sacri, while ColeridgeTaylor, whose ethnicity created a sensation, conducted his newly commissioned orchestral Ballade. The commission was almost entirely due to Elgar, who interceded with Brewer on Coleridge-Taylor’s behalf. Its success prompted Brewer to offer Coleridge-Taylor a commission for the 1901 festival too, which also included premières of music by Parry and Bridge.

Brewer’s projected programme for the 1904 festival included Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, but this was roundly vetoed by the dean of Gloucester (although it had already been performed at both Hereford and Worcester). Brewer invited Richard Strauss and Parry to compose new works for the 1907 festival, though both declined. He also invited Glazunov to conduct his Symphony No. 6, but the Russian composer was unable to obtain leave from his post at the St Petersburg conservatory. The only première at this festival was Bantock’s Christ in the Wilderness, part of a projected (but uncompleted) larger work.

This year marks the sesquicentenary of the birth of Sir Herbert Brewer, one of the most energetic and versatile church musicians of his generation, and one of the most gifted of those whose professional lives were spent exclusively in the provinces.

The talking point of the 1910 Gloucester Festival was the legendary première of Vaughan Williams’s Tallis Fantasia In a rare lapse of judgment, Brewer described the piece to Herbert Howells as ‘a queer, mad work by an odd fellow from Chelsea’.

The 1913 festival was notable for the presence of Saint-Saëns who, nigh on 80, not only conducted his new oratorio The Promised Land but also performed a Mozart piano concerto. This festival was noteworthy, too, for the first performance of Sibelius’s tone poem Luonnotar, which Brewer conducted. There was also the première of Stanford’s substantial unaccompanied double-choir work Ye Holy Angels Bright

Brewer resolved to make the Gloucester Festival of 1922 essentially British, and there were 27 such pieces. The scale of some concerts was breathtaking. One comprised Scriabin’s The Poem of Ecstasy, Parry’s Ode to Music and There is an old belief, Bliss’s Colour Symphony (first performance), Eugene Goossens’ Silence (choir/orchestra, first performance), Holst’s Two Psalms, and – to round off the programme – Verdi’s Requiem!

The 1925 Gloucester Festival was destined to be Brewer’s last. Dame Ethel Smyth took up the baton for two of her own compositions, in the first festival concert to be conducted by a female. Regrettably Sibelius failed to fulfil his commission, which should have been his elusive Symphony No. 8. Following the festival, Brewer’s health began to fail, and although he had provisionally planned the 1928 festival – including invitations to Ravel and Honegger to write new works – he died on 1

commissioned for the 1895 Gloucester Festival, when it was performed with orchestral accompaniment. This was the year before Brewer’s appointment to Gloucester, and its reception may well have been influential in securing his appointment.

Brewer wrote only about ten bona fide anthems, some of which might more appropriately be described as introits. However, three anthems – Blessing, Glory, Wisdom and Thanks, the Easter anthem O death, where is thy sting, and God is our hope and strength – are more substantial. Brewer’s most extended anthem, God within, was one of his last compositions, and he was never to hear it performed. It was composed for the 1928 Festival of the Sons of the Clergy in St Paul’s Cathedral. Scored for full orchestra and organ, its style is redolent of Elgar, whose favourite performance direction – nobilmente – it carries.

Brewer is particularly comfortable when writing for his own instrument, the organ, where his 20 or so pieces show him to be equally adept at diatonic and chromatic writing and in both free and strict forms. He is perhaps at his best in the more extrovert postludes, such as his Triumphal Song, A Thanksgiving Processional, and Marche héroïque, though several of his reflective character pieces, such as Interlude in F and Cloister garth, have an undeniable charm. Special mention might be made of the Meditation on the name of BACH, which has an unusual harmonic adventurousness in keeping with the chromaticism of the BACH motif itself.

and part-songs. His most substantial works are his cantata Emmaus and his oratorio The Holy Innocents, written for the Gloucester Festivals of 1901 and 1904 respectively. Much of the orchestration of Emmaus is the work of Elgar, who at the time was concerned about Brewer’s health. Brewer later modestly admitted that ‘… what measure of success Emmaus has attained is largely due to the effective orchestration’.

Surprisingly, only a small proportion of Brewer’s music is for regular church use. As a church composer his reputation rests today upon his canticles in E flat and D, the latter written the year before his death for the 1927 Hereford Festival. Both are sturdy pieces, and fully deserve their place in the repertory. Of the remaining three Evening Services, the early setting in C major is perhaps undeservedly neglected. It was

Although Brewer was not a composer of the top flight, he was certainly more than merely competent. He is a master of the grand ceremonial style, very much at ease when writing for the ‘big occasion’. Much of his church music demonstrates the potential of unison and octave writing, though he also exploits imaginative choral textures. His church compositions are well structured, and are marked also by a strong sense of tonal direction, imaginative modulations, and an effective use of sequences. In his word-setting he avoids the tyranny of the four-bar phrase, and he is rarely guilty of false accentuation. His organ introductions and interludes are never routine, but invariably have something to say.

Brewer’s informal autobiography, Memories of Choirs and Cloisters, was published three years after his death. This retrospective collection of reminiscences was assembled towards the end of his life, probably in the early 1920s. Brewer recalls S S Wesley’s amusing eccentricities, and he also provides an absorbing account of his relationship with Elgar and Parry. From Brewer’s reflections emerges a scrupulous and warm-hearted musician who was also a keen practical joker; his text is enlivened by countless anecdotes which reveal him as one whose natural seriousness is frequently relieved by mischievous touches of humour.

This is an edited version of a talk given to the Church Music Society in September 2015.

Herbert Howells, a pupil of Brewer, described him as ‘the greatest organist I have ever known’.

St Mary de Crypt, the church outside Gloucester where Brewer was organist while still a teenager

John Morehen was Organ Scholar at New College Oxford, and a research postgraduate at King’s College Cambridge. In 1967 he joined the music staff of Washington National Cathedral, and he also taught at the American University in Washington DC. He returned to England in 1968 on his appointment as SubOrganist at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, where he played the organ for many royal and state occasions. From 1973-2002 he was on the staff of the music department of Nottingham University, where he is now Emeritus Professor of Music. He was a regular BBC Radio 3 continuo player and recitalist for 25 years. His main area of scholarly expertise is English church music of the 16th and 17th centuries. He is a past president of the Incorporated Society of Musicians, and he was Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 2012-13. John’s new edition of Brewer’s Memories of Choirs and Cloisters is published by Stainer & Bell at £14.99 plus p&p.

Informal Pre-auditions any time by arrangement

All children are educated at Salisbury Cathedral School Scholarships and Bursaries available

Photo: Stephen Woodcock

COME & SING L ANGLAIS HE WAS BORN Brenda Dean

40 years, and also taught at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, where between 1961 and 1976 he helped both French and foreign students. His reputation as a pedagogue, important composer and concert artist drew pupils and audiences of many nationalities, especially from the USA, where he gave 300 recitals and countless masterclasses.

In 1945 he became organist at the church of Sainte-Clothilde in Paris, the successor to César Franck and Charles Tournemire. He remained there as titular for 42 years, retiring at the age of 80. He died four years later.

A prolific composer, his catalogue of works comprises vocal and instrumental sacred music (among them the famous Missa salve regina, the Messe solennelle and the Missa in , very often performed in concert), secular music and numerous organ pieces, some of which are considered

Langlais went blind from glaucoma at the age of two, despite this handicap, became one of the most respected organists and composers of the 20th century.

Jean Langlais at the house of his birth 1984

Photo reproduced courtesy of Marie-Louise Langlais

IN THE TOWN WHERE writes on the annual Langlais Festival

How the Langlais Festival started

In 2002 I bought my house in La Fontenelle, a village halfway between the Mont St Michel and Rennes. It was un coup de foudre – I just fell in love with it. The house dates from the 17th century and possibly at one time belonged to a nobleman. It certainly has lots of character and I spent about eight years renovating it. Now there are excellent facilities for groups of up to 40 people in a large rehearsal room, with other rooms around it which can be used for small group work etc. Two months after I’d bought the house, I discovered that the village was Jean Langlais’s birthplace. There was a plaque on the wall of the little cottage in which Jean Langlais was born, just round the corner from my house, and I recognised the name because I’d heard organists playing his music in cathedrals in England. It was, as the French would say, un hasard heureux.

I sang then (and still sing) with the Wingrave Singers, a Buckinghamshire choir which replaces cathedral choirs when they are on holiday. When I went back to the UK and spoke to our choir director, Colin Spinks, he was very interested because

he’d trained with David Briggs at Gloucester Cathedral and Briggs had been one of Langlais’s pupils. Between us, Colin and I devised the idea of a Langlais Festival, the first of which, a series of three concerts by the Wingrave Singers, took place in August 2005. The mayor and town council of La Fontenelle were enthusiastic because they wanted to raise the profile of both Langlais and their village, and also because the centenary of Langlais’s birth was fast approaching. They wanted to mark the occasion in an appropriate way – why should this not be the solution? The festival was an immediate success as it both met with the approval and support of the Langlais family and also began an enduring collaboration with the local French population.

Shortly after this, the Association Les Amis de Jean Langlais was created and I became its first president, a position which I continue to hold. Subsequent festivals have also had the financial support of the Communauté de Communes, la Region de Bretagne and the EU, as well as sponsorship by local businesses.

Choeur de l’Académie 2012

Photo: Alexandra Brugalé

How the choral course evolved from this

It was Colin’s idea to involve David Bednall, who’d been a colleague of his at Gloucester Cathedral. Colin invited him to provide organ accompaniment for the Wingrave Singers in the first three Langlais Festivals, and David, having been assistant to Malcolm Archer at Wells, then suggested that Malcolm might be interested in directing a choral course. I was thrilled when Malcolm accepted my invitation and came on board in 2008. Since then there have been eight annual choral weeks, and Malcolm, David and Colin have continued to be pivotal in making them the huge success that they are. The focus is on a mixture of French and English choral music: Jean Langlais to be sure, but also those who influenced him, including Franck, Fauré, Widor, Vierne, Duruflé, Poulenc, Guy Ropartz (1864-1955) and Villette, and music from the Anglican tradition including works by Malcolm and David. In 2008 Daniel Roth attended the festival to hear us sing his Messe brève. We also usually sing a little Handel, because it goes down well with our French audiences!

Rehearsals are held in my house and in the church just across the road. On the second day of the course, participants sing a church mass in La Fontenelle together with the local French choir, and there are two concerts at the end of the week, the first in a prestigious venue, e.g. the Basilique de Pontmain, l’Abbatiale de Saint-Melaine in Rennes, the church of SainteCroix, Saint Servan (St Malo) and the Abbaye aux Hommes in Caen, with the final concert in La Fontenelle.

listened to each section in turn and moved the singers around until the balance sounded right. Finally, she assembled all the sections and handed over to Malcolm a choir, not just a collection of disparate voices. This was particularly instructive to the choir conductors who were participating as singers.”

There are normally 45–52 singers aged between 18 and 80, mainly from the UK (and a few from France), but there have also been participants from Hong Kong and Morocco. Reasonable sight-reading skills are expected, and a singing reference is essential. The music is issued two months in advance so that people are generally able to arrive note-perfect. The course recruits through Brittany Music Workshops in the UK, and there are many regulars who have attended all eight courses. Of course we also recruit and welcome new singers every year. We are able to provide choral scholarships for young singers – this year there were nine choral scholars – and this certainly improves the quality of the sound. These young people have generally had previous choral experience in cathedral or university college choirs, but any young person over the age of 18 is welcome to apply if they have a good reference from their musical director or singing teacher.

Accommodation and food

The choral week also works well socially. Every year is like a big family reunion and there is ample opportunity for convivial gatherings. There is a friendly restaurant in La Fontenelle where we have lunch. Most people stay in B & Bs or gites in La Fontenelle or neighbouring towns, and many of the local French population are happy to provide accommodation for the week. Indeed, the Association’s French committee and the local choir, la Chorale Les Amis de Jean Langlais, have made good friendships with the choral week’s participants, particularly at Association lunches and at the mayor’s vin d’honneur which follows the final concert every year.

Other events in the Langlais Festival

What makes the Langlais choral week unique

Apart from a series of entertaining lectures which Malcolm, David and Colin give every year, and the fact that participants are able to work with highly regarded composers on their own pieces, a further and very special addition to the choral week is vocal coach Hilary Jones, who gives all the singers an individual lesson and runs a solo singing masterclass with Colin as accompanist. Hilary is widely known as a trainer of cathedral choristers in the south of England, and she is expert at improving the quality of the choir’s sound. As Rupert Street, a participant in 2010, says in his appreciative report: “Everybody was intrigued by Hilary ‘voicing’ the choir. She

Malcolm Archer’s choral week is only one half of the festival’s activities and there is always a further week of concerts. The festival has attracted top quality international organists over the years, e.g. Marie-Claire Alain, who gave one of her final organ recitals in Dol Cathedral in 2007 to honour the memory of her friend Jean Langlais, Marie-Louise Langlais, widow of the composer, French organists Sylvie Mallet, Véronique Le Guen, Loïc Georgeault and Florence Rousseau, Luca Massaglia from Italy, Martina Ziegert from Germany, Frantisek Vanicek from the Czech Republic, Jane Watts from the UK and of course Malcolm and David, who give annual recitals of French and English music as well as their own inimitable improvisations. Malcolm also brings his very talented organ pupils from Winchester College to take part in his recitals. Among them this year was Henry Websdale, who will take up his position as organ scholar at King’s College Cambridge in October 2016.

In 2012 Colin gave a memorable concert of music by Langlais and Dupré for organ and piano with Claude Langlais, Jean Langlais’s son, and choirs and orchestras have come from Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK to pay homage to the memory of Jean Langlais. The men of Royal Holloway sang for us with Rupert Gough in 2007, Malcolm Archer brought his quiristers from Winchester College to visit us in December 2012, and we welcomed Katherine Dienes-Williams and the girls’ choir of Guildford Cathedral last summer.

Hilary Jones

Pontmain, the church of Saint-Léonard, Fougères and the church of Saint-Méen in Cancale. More modern organs can be found at the church of Saint-Martin in Vitré, the church of La Bouëxière and the church of Notre Dame in Pontorson.

What participants have said about the choral workshops…

There is no doubt that so many singers return to La Fontenelle because they have such a good time. They love the countryside, the fresh air, the food and drink, and the welcome from the local population. They like the marriage of English and French music. They enjoy singing both with the local choir in La Fontenelle, and also in the prestigious and beautiful churches and cathedrals in the surrounding area. They really appreciate the quality of the musical experience they have under Malcolm’s expert guidance,

Hilary’s encouraging teaching and David’s and Colin’s superb accompaniments. As one participant said recently: “The workshop is exceptionally well planned and organised. The bringing together of a choir of people who have not sung together before and shaping them into concert standard after five days is a remarkable achievement, and it was hugely rewarding to be a participant.”

And the icing on the cake? This July, for helping to make Jean Langlais more widely known and for putting La Fontenelle on the map, I was made a citoyenne d’honneur (honorary citizen) of La Fontenelle, and presented with a medal by the mayor!

For further details about the festival and the choral week, please see www.brittanymusicworkshops.eu and www.jeanlanglais.eu. For Rupert Street’s report see choralsociety.org.uk/html/rupertstreet1.html.

The Langlais Festival in 2016 takes place from 16th July to 5th August, with the choral week running from 16th to 22nd July.

Malcolm Archer

Photo: Tom Kuglin

David Bednall

Photo: Iain MacLeod Jones

SIR DAVID WILLCOCKS Thoughts and Reminiscences

Sir David Willcocks

Photo: A C Barrington Brown & King’s College Cambridge

WILLCOCKSReminiscences by Stephen Cleobury

With the death in September of David Willcocks, the world of cathedral music lost one of its finest musicians, one whose achievements made him a legend in his own lifetime, and one whose influence will continue to be felt for a very long time. His broadening of repertoire, and his broadcasting, recording and touring, helped to bring sacred choral music to a much wider and larger audience than ever before; the quality of his performances inspired a widespread rise in standards and expectations.

I first heard his name in Worcester, where I became a chorister in 1958. This was shortly after David had relinquished his position as Organist there to return to King’s College Cambridge. He had become Organ Scholar of King’s in 1939 under Boris Ord, and was now to succeed him as Organist and Director of Music. I could not possibly have imagined then that I would become one of his successors at King’s, that he and I would become colleagues, and that he would be such a huge support and inspiration to me. I often wonder, when reflecting on a performance I have given, what David would have thought of it. I always hope that it will have to some degree approached his own exacting technical standards, but also that it might have communicated something of his ever-present desire to convey the meaning of the text in a choral work. Like so many of the 20th-century composers with whom he was associated, Vaughan Williams, Howells and Britten, for example, David was not a religious man in any conventional sense, but he had the keenest response to words (and was clever with words too, Scrabble being something he excelled at – as undergraduates, we often found ourselves playing this game in French after a lunch party at the family home). In particular, he valued the psalms of David (appropriately named), and his own copy of the psalms was heavily annotated with marginal notes. He found in them, I think, poetic depictions of ‘all sorts and conditions of men’ which informed many of his personal relationships.

Since his death, very many of his former pupils have spoken of his sympathetic and understanding approach to them, and of the ways in which he was supportive of their needs in whatever situation they found themselves. He had a strong sense of justice and fair play. He was also possessed of a joie de vivre, an enthusiastic and energetic approach to all that he did, which inspired those who sang under his direction. He had an enviable ability to produce a quick-witted response to a given situation or remark. Upon receiving a letter complaining that his choral scholars wore their hair too long, he replied that he had it on the best authority that Jesus Christ had had long hair. When the Dean and Chapter of Worcester tried to forbid a performance of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast on account of its

alleged profanity, he observed that the libretto was drawn from the Old Testament which was read out in services; and when the Dean of Salisbury complained that David was, during Holy Week, rehearsing the hymn ‘Jesus Christ is risen today’ with its ‘Alleluia’, he immediately asked the choir to replace that word with ‘fa-la-la-la’.

These days there is much more specialisation than there used to be. David came from that great tradition of the all-rounder. The expression ‘jack-of-all-trades’ has a pejorative aspect, but it can be truly said that David was not just a ‘jack’ but a master of them all. As a musician, he possessed an acute perception of pitch and an unerring rhythmic sense. These qualities enabled him, as a conductor, to place the achievement of excellent intonation, good balance, blend and ensemble at the top of his technical agenda, to which was added that special expression and enunciation of text that made his performances so compelling.

He was a fine administrator and leader, as his work as Director of the Royal College of Music showed. He was an excellent organist too, capable of giving impeccable performances of Bach from memory. He worked with professionals, amateurs and the young alike in orchestras and choirs, drawing the best from them with appropriate combinations of encouragement and cajolery. He could be demanding, but always with a twinkle in his eye, and with a humorous remark never far away. Everyone performing for him knew that if he was tough on them, he applied the same rigorous standards to himself.

I remember listening to the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s in my chorister years. I once heard David

With the death in September of David Willcocks, the world of cathedral music lost one of its finest musicians, one whose achievements made him a legend in his own lifetime, and one whose influence will continue to be felt for a very long time.

interviewed about his work with a choir. His answers to the various questions imparted the wisdom, experience and insight of a master musician, and I remember in particular

is something all of us do well to heed.

Each Christmas at Worcester, the cathedral choir took part in a seasonal concert with the Festival Choral Society, and I remember the enjoyment we all derived from using the ‘green book’ for the first time. This, of course, is now known as Carols for Choirs I. David was to publish many more arrangements of carols and hymns, but already in this book his seemingly effortless ease in producing soaring descants and skilfully varied harmonies was plain for all to hear. He also had great facility in writing these. Members of King’s choir from his time have told me how a descant would often be written in the lunch break on a recording day, something which he wished to conceal from the record producer. The choral scholars would readily go along with David’s little deception when he handed out copies of music they had never seen before, saying, ‘Now, gentlemen, you will recall when we were rehearsing this yesterday….’!

The Worcester years were highly formative for me, and we were lucky in that the Three Choirs Festival introduced us to most of the major choral works with orchestra. One of the early performances of Britten’s War Requiem was given in the 1963 festival (Douglas Guest, David’s predecessor as Organ Scholar at King’s, and then Organist at Worcester and another great mentor to me, was very ‘up to date’ in his programming), and, if memory serves correctly, David conducted the chamber orchestra on that occasion, with Douglas directing the main forces. David subsequently conducted this work many times, and I was later to be involved in some of these, mainly during my time at Westminster Cathedral, playing the organ and providing the boys’ choir.

those visits to Evensong gave me a chance to experience his expertise in that area, too. In those days, of course, organists accompanied their choir far more often than is the case now, and David was a superbly sensitive psalm-player, as the famous recording of The Psalms of David from King’s shows, and his highly developed sense of rhythm was a feature of his anthem accompaniments.

During my second and third years as a student at Cambridge I was the accompanist to the CUMS chorus. David was a superb trainer of large amateur choruses, and seemed especially to relish this side of his work. He was particularly concerned that singers should not bury their heads in the copy, and he had two games which he played to try to catch out the inattentive. If he placed his handkerchief on his head while he was conducting, you certainly wanted to be among the first to raise your hand to show you had noticed. Behind him in the rehearsal hall was a blackboard, and he was often able to complete the matrix of a noughts and crosses board before everyone had become aware of this. These rehearsals were my main opportunities to see David at work, and I learned a huge amount from them. His acute ear enabled him to spot errors quickly and to rectify them speedily, this ability being one of the most important for the conductor to cultivate. In those days many of the organ scholars sang in the chorus, and through this, as well as his work at King’s, David’s methods and skills were passed on to future generations of organists and choir directors.

After Cambridge, I next encountered David in my time as Sub-Organist at Westminster Abbey, he being an old chorister of the Abbey. By that time Douglas Guest was Organist there, and I remember a concert given jointly by the Abbey choir and

Stephen Cleobury and David Willcocks

Photo: Gerald Place

Street. He was always most welcoming. I also played for Bach Choir concerts, of which he was Musical Director. One of the most memorable experiences for me was to play the keyboard continuo in a performance of Bach’s St John Passion which was to be the last occasion on which Peter Pears sang the role of Evangelist. To be in such close proximity to an artist of that calibre is a huge privilege. The Bach Choir connection continued through my time as Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral. Another aspect of David’s musical prowess was on show at after-concert parties, when he would play Chopin’s Minute Waltz, hands crossed, lying underneath the piano.

Then, for me, King’s. No pressure at my first Evensong. That day there was a dinner in Hall for alumni from the ’30s and ’40s, and Douglas and David had both been invited. The reader can only imagine my feelings as I directed the choir for the first time under their watchful eyes! But they were wholly behind me and, as they say today, affirming. And that was the case with David for over thirty years. Others can, and do with great affection, often very amusingly, retell countless stories about David. For me the outstanding thing was his unstinting support over this long period in what is a not unchallenging job. Always willing to advise, never interfering, he was the perfect predecessor.

He is generous in his encouragement of other performers: my wife (a former member of his Bach Choir) and I treasure his verdict on her singing of the responses when she was chaplain of King’s – ‘exactly an octave sharp’. Notice that word ‘exactly’. No greater compliment could have come from that source.

I join the musical world and countless others in paying tribute to this remarkable man, whose memory we revere.

MATCHING THE ORGAN TO THE BUILDING

ACOUSTICS - THE VITAL INGREDIENT John Norman

A major difficulty is that visual issues usually receive priority attention. This is at least partly caused by a general ignorance of acoustic principles, not only in the general public but also, sadly, amongst architects. In the Royal Festival Hall, the distinguished musician Ralph Downes fought a long battle over the location of the organ, where original proposals put the instrument in the roof-space! It took support from Sir Malcolm Sargent for him to win the day.

The organ has the widest range, from soft to loud, of any musical instrument. It is also the only instrument to have its design varied according to the acoustic of the building where it is housed. Other instruments either rely on some temporary method of adjusting their sound, such as the raising of the lid of a grand piano, or are present in greater or smaller numbers, as in the contrast between a string quartet and a full orchestra. Not for nothing does St Paul’s Cathedral, with its enormous dome taking sound from the nave, have more choristers than any other English cathedral. And the notorious acoustic of the Royal Festival Hall, before it was altered, required leading orchestras to augment their double-bass players to 12 – the original acoustic designer, Hope Bagenal, once explained to my father that he had a horror of bass sound!

Organ Position

As the largest piece of furniture in the building, the placement of an organ is subject to both liturgical and architectural fashion. In the 17th and 18th centuries the standard position for an organ in Anglican churches was at the west end and, in cathedrals, on a screen between quire and nave. After 1850, it became the fashion in parish churches to dress the choir in cassocks and surplices and to seat the singers in the chancel instead of at the back, which led to organs being moved from the west end to positions at the east end. As a result, many organs were placed sideways, often in separate organ chambers with poor acoustical projection.

To some extent, the problem lies in the organ’s very wide range. Cathedral instruments typically go down to 32ft C. This pitch will ‘go round’ most obstacles in the interior of a building without significant loss, but the musically important higher notes will be seriously reduced unless redirected by a hard reflective surface. That is why organ position is less important in a very reverberant building, where much sound is heard by reflection anyway. On the other hand, organ position is all-important in a non-reverberant venue with a low ceiling and where reflected sound is absorbed by soft furnishings and carpets. In such surroundings most sound has to be direct.

Player Position

Although the location of the player has no direct effect on the sound of an organ, it may well affect the way in which it is played. It is practical to have the player located close to the choir, which can give rise to a conflict between visual and architectural considerations on the one hand and musical requirements on the other. Developments in organ mechanism towards the end of the 19th century allowed the separation of the player from the body of the instrument, leading to the possibility of placing the organ at the opposite end of the building from the player.

This arrangement proved highly unsatisfactory. God’s physical laws decree that it takes nearly a tenth of a second for sound to travel 100ft (30m). Try playing a really fast piece such as the final bars of the William Tell overture with that amount of lag! But the real problem is one of balance. If a player, however experienced, hears the organ too softly, he will tend to make more sound than really required. If the congregation is placed between player and instrument, one can almost guarantee that they will think he plays too loudly. The problem is less acute in reverberant buildings, such as most cathedrals, where the sound level diminishes less with distance. It has also been found that a 40ft (12m) separation of pipes and keyboard is

John Norman

Photo: Gary Williams

acceptable when combined with a fast all-electric key action, as in the new organ in the quire of Worcester Cathedral.

Reverberation

It was the distinguished Victorian organ-builder Father Willis who coined the phrase, ‘The most important stop on the organ is the sound of the building’. And it is obviously more satisfactory to perform music in the same acoustic ambience as was expected by its creator: listening to a Bach cantata in Leipzig’s St Thomas’s Church is an unforgettable experience.

Acoustic absorption is the other side of the coin of reverberation. The greater the absorption, the louder the organ will have to be to create the same musical effect, since the direct sound will have less reflected sound to back it up. This can cause problems. In the case of new buildings, late changes in the specifications of surfaces can upset the design of organs already under construction. At the Royal Festival Hall the ceiling proved to be more absorbent than the acoustician had originally planned.

The opposite phenomenon can result from a change to the building many years after construction. The large and cavernous chapel of the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook, Ipswich, has a cathedral-sized organ with a considerable reputation for its abilities in the performance of late 19th and early 20th-century music. The chapel was originally lined with an acoustic finish, which has become clogged up with paint. We may all love the five-second reverberation, but the organ tutti is now overwhelming. The musical problem is that one cannot have the artistically favourable five-second reverberation without the reduction in sound absorption that has led to the organ needing to be played with discretion.

One also has to think about the relationship between treble and bass. Organ-builders have long known that large leaded windows absorb bass; the better organ-builders have allowed for this in their calculations. A different problem is that caused by the 1970s’ fashion of covering tiled or wooden parish church floors with carpet, particularly if this is placed immediately in front of the choir and organ. This reduces the reinforcement of sound by reflection, and also introduces a substantial skew to the treble-to-bass balance. The problem normally affects organs already installed, where there is no corrective action that can be applied to the organ itself. The only solution is the removal of the offending carpet! Since the carpet at St John’s Church, Notting Hill, was removed, the church has been used for rehearsal by the Monteverdi Choir.

There is an important but more subtle effect on the tone of an organ which results from the absorption of sound in the extreme treble by the atmosphere. The effect of this ‘top note’ filter is virtually absent from venues with a dry acoustic, but very significant in buildings with long reverberation times such as cathedrals. The musical result is that a style of voicing appropriate to a reverberant cathedral will sound hard and aggressive in a more intimate environment. This occurred in the 1972 organ in the tiny chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster. Unpleasant at Westminster, the instrument proved perfectly satisfactory in a more reverberant church elsewhere. The replacement organ at Westminster was designed to have a deliberately less aggressive sound and has been widely praised.

Worcester Cathedral. Kenneth Tickell 2008. Keys approx 12m from pipes.

Photo: John Norman

What can the organ designer do to achieve the best result?

THE EFFECT OF A CASE ROOF

Organ-builders design cases with the minimum of panelling in order to maximise sound transmission, which can result in difficulties: one hardly dare place a ladder against Dr Arthur Beverley Minster. The equally solid-looking case designed by Father Smith 300 years ago for the Chapel Royal at Windsor (now in St Mary’s, Finedon, Northants) is much more open when looking out from the inside. Architect-designed cases are

Up to about 1820, it was usual for organ cases to be roofed in. Although originally provided more to keep out dust than for have been found to have important acoustical effects when an organ is freestanding. For this reason some present-day organ-builders now provide case roofs whenever possible and replace them on old organs where they have been removed. The roof provides early reflection of sound emitted vertically from the tops of the pipes, eliminating the time delay of sound travelling up to the ceiling structure and then down again. For example, the Oxford retains the Victorian appearance of its predecessor and thus has no case roof. Sound travelling up nearly 10m to be reflected from the arch above will arrive at the ears of the listeners on the floor below about 1/15th of a second after sound coming directly through the front pipes. This considerably reduces the precision of sound in a building with a long reverberation time and where the ratio of direct to reflected sound is quite low. Better for Bruckner than for Bach.

Beverley Minster. Organ case designed in 1916 by Dr Arthur Hill (of Hill & Son, organ-builders). Drawing by Herbert Norman.

Drawing: John Norman

Voicing

In a reverberant building like a cathedral, the acoustic absorption of the air starts to become significant in the treble, so an organ needs to put out extra energy in the upper range, whereas in an acoustically ‘dead’ building one needs to hold back the upper harmonics or they will ‘scream’. A skilled voicer does this in two ways. Firstly by varying the ‘scale’ (diameter) of the pipes and secondly by varying the

height of the pipe mouth, the ‘cut-up’. A low cut-up gives a ‘sweet’ but non-aggressive sound, suitable for intimate and non-reverberant venues. A higher cut-up gives a harder sound which seems better able to cut through in a more reverberant environment. This can lead to trouble when an organ-builder used to reverberant abbeys on the Continent fails to modify his technique when confronted with a less reverberant venue in this country.

Out of tune-ness of major thirds with differing tuning temperaments.

Graph: John Norman

Tuning temperament

The musical scale poses a problem with major thirds, which particularly affects the organ because an Equal Tempered third is 1/7th of a semitone sharp, creating a dissonance in chords that incorporate a major third – the ‘Angry Thirds’ dissonance. Unequal temperaments reduce the dissonance in the common keys, but Equal Temperament is favoured by organ tuners in cathedrals where the treble filter imposed by the absorption by the air tends to blunt the aggressiveness of the chord. On the other hand, organ-builders whose main work is in more intimate buildings find the Angry Thirds intolerable and refuse to use Equal Temperament.

Number of stops

When John Goss was appointed organist of St Paul’s Cathedral in 1838, he had the temerity to enquire about the possibility of adding another stop to the 1697 Father Smith organ. Sir Sydney Smith, a very grand canon, was determined to put down the young upstart: “What a strange set of creatures you organists are! First you want the bull stop, then you want the tom-tit stop; in fact you are like a jaded cab-horse, always asking for another stop.” The plain fact is that the more stops there are, the more fun the instrument is to play. But, in practice, we also need to relate the size of the organ stop-list to the acoustic power needed.

The ideal size of an organ can be roughly calculated by relating the number of stops to the total acoustic absorption of the building. The latter figure can be calculated from the volume of the building and the measured reverberation time – the time required for a loud chord to die away to inaudibility. Additional manuals add tone possibilities and flexibility in

performance but relatively little volume. An organ in an open position needs less power than one entombed in an ‘organ chamber’. Only the number of stops on the Great organ are counted.

To sum up, the acoustic space inhabited by an organ can vary within very wide limits, and these variations will have a major effect on the musical result. Some effects can be taken into account in the design of the instrument but bad placement, for example, is difficult to mitigate, especially if poorly placed absorbent surfaces (i.e. carpets) are added after the organ has been made. Knowledge of the effect of atmospheric sound absorption at high frequencies on pipe scales, voicing treatment and tuning temperament is a relatively new development. Hopefully, however, improved acoustical knowledge amongst professionals will help to avoid future mistakes.

The above article has been adapted from a lecture given by John Norman at the Royal Academy of Music for the Institute of Acoustics in 2014 and repeated this year at Winchester Cathedral.

John Norman studied organ under H A Roberts and acoustics under Dr R W B Stephens, the latter as part of his degree at Imperial College London. He studied voicing and tonal design under Robert Lamb and Mark Fairhead at Hill, Norman & Beard. John has been consultant for 17 new organs and is a former member of the Cathedrals Fabric Commission. He now sings bass at Friern Barnet Parish Church.

A MAN OF MANY PARTS

Photograph of Exeter Cathedral reproduced courtesy of the dean and chapter

Carl Turner writes on Andrew Millington, who retires after 16 years at Exeter Cathedral

“How do I get into the boys’ vestry, Andrew?”

“You need the code – it’s 1957–Y.”

“Is that a significant date?”

“Yes, it’s the last time Aston Villa won the FA cup!”

Thus began my 13 very happy years working with Andrew Millington at Exeter Cathedral.

Andrew is a man who never takes things lightly. Not only does he prepare the choir for every service as if it were the first he has ever directed, he can also be moved even to tears by the simplest and most beautiful of things, such as a particular hymn tune in procession. He has an eye for detail and a breadth of experience. To put it simply, Andrew Millington lives and breathes music and, because his whole life is immersed in it, others capture and are inspired by his energy and enthusiasm.

Andrew is also extremely modest; he is the first to admit that he came from humble beginnings, and it is clear that he has worked hard throughout his life. Born in 1953, he grew up with village life and then the family moved to Malvern where he attended a local grammar school. Perhaps that is where his love of walking and of the countryside comes from. The bass section of many a choir has heard their singing described as ‘distinctly agricultural’. His father was a good singer and the young Andrew joined Malvern Priory Choir as a boy, thus beginning his long association with church music.

He first studied the organ under Harry Bramma and Christopher Robinson at Worcester Cathedral. Because of his exceptional ability he gained a special place at the King’s School, Worcester, in the sixth form, where he first met Madeleine, the daughter of a priest, his wife and lifelong soul mate. Madeleine remembers her first encounters with Andrew – the ‘quiet, shy boy clutching his organ scores’. King’s School, at that time, was producing some fine musicians and it was there that Andrew studied alongside Stephen Cleobury and Stephen Darlington. Although there was some friendly rivalry, they became close friends and Stephen Darlington later on became his best man when Andrew married Madeleine in 1978.

Cleobury, Darlington and Millington were taught in Cambridge by John Rutter, where their obvious talent was noticed by a number of people. Andrew was organ scholar of Downing College. The trio continues to encourage each other: when I asked them what they thought of Andrew the response came swiftly:

“Andrew Millington has been outstanding in his career in cathedral music. He is a modest, unpretentious person with

Andrew Millington lives and breathes music and, because his whole life is immersed in it, others capture and are inspired by his energy and enthusiasm.

a true generosity of spirit, but above all he is a brilliant allround musician, whose devotion to church music has enabled him to touch the lives of vast numbers of people,” said Darlington.

Whilst Andrew was in Malvern he began his conducting career with the Aldwyn Consort of Voices, which competed in the European competition ‘Let the People Sing’. Other ensembles included the St Cecilia Singers in Gloucester, the Birmingham Bach Society and the Kidderminster Choral Society. Madeleine recalls that when they were first married he had choir rehearsals every night of the week. “I wondered when he had time to perform the concert!” she said.

Andrew has a hearty appetite for large-scale choral works and loves the music of Elgar and Mendelsohn, with performances of Elijah in particular thrilling him. He also has quite an appetite for sandwiches and many a choir member remembers the shout when they take a break, “Get to the sandwiches before Mr Millington!”. One of his favourite phrases is, “I can’t stand waste”, but this is also translated into his musical expertise: as a cathedral director of music he is methodical, careful in his choice of repertoire. He knows how to get the best from a group of singers in rehearsal regardless of how much time is left.

After Cambridge, Andrew was appointed Assistant Organist at Gloucester Cathedral. From 1983 until 1999 he was Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral, and in 1999 he was appointed Director of Music at Exeter Cathedral. Since 2003 he has also been (and remains) Director of Music of the Exeter Philharmonic Choir, and continues to be in great demand as an international recitalist and as an examiner for the ABRSM.

His first love, though, continues to be the nurturing of children in the great cathedral choral tradition. Scores of boys and girls have benefited from his skill and his encouragement, and have enjoyed his quick wit; nobody will ever forget his description of the organ interlude in the Agnus Dei of Langlais’s Messe Solennelle as sounding like ‘a constipated goat’. When he is

unhappy with the balance of singing from the altos in the back row he has been heard to say, “Give it some handbag!”

Choristers have loved working for him, and many have been inspired by him to continue their musical training, some to professional level. I remember asking one junior chorister what they wanted to be when they left school, and “I want to be a Mr Millington,” came the reply!

Andrew’s enthusiasm for children singing led to his huge involvement in the Sing Up project with Exeter Cathedral and its choir school. The project committed the chapter to significant funds over several years, but Andrew felt that the policy would bear fruit, and it has; Exeter is one of the few cathedrals that is in partnership with the local education authority in the provision of music in state schools. Andrew encouraged his colleagues to make a number of visits to Devon schools on a regular basis, sometimes with the choristers, to work with choirs or whole schools in singing. Each term has ended with a superb concert for all the participating schools in Exeter Cathedral, which overflows with parents, many of whom have never visited a church before, let alone a cathedral. Just before I left Exeter in 2014, we were astonished to discover that over Andrew’s tenure as Director of Music nearly 75% of Devon schools had been visited – a lasting tribute to the commitment of a man who believes that music changes lives, and in particular children’s lives.

Andrew’s skills as a composer have also not gone without notice. He was commissioned to write an anthem to celebrate the beginning of H M The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Tour.

Andrew in the choir stalls at Exeter Cathedral

Photo: Matt Austin Photography

His enthusiasm for the RSCM saw him awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the RSCM in a packed cathedral during a Diocesan Choral Festival. Indeed, Exeter diocese still has one of the most active RSCM committees in the country and Andrew’s hands-on approach has borne fruit many times.

His career as an international recitalist is well documented; he has performed extensively in Europe and the Far East. But his numerous choir tours have been his joy – show-casing the best of the English choral tradition in Italy, France, Cyprus, Norway, Holland, Belgium and the USA. A former senior lay clerk of Exeter recalls a remarkable tour of Russia and of a concert in St Petersburg, when Andrew’s back gave way in the middle of a piece. Despite the excruciating pain, the choir managed to get him lying flat across three or four chairs before continuing with the concert. “Every so often a ghostly arm would slowly appear just to bring in the choir at crucial entries, before returning once again to its place of repose,” the lay clerk remembers.

Andrew’s skills as a composer have also not gone without notice. He was commissioned to write an anthem to celebrate the beginning of H M The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Tour. His Missa Alma Mater, based on the plainsong theme of the mass, is very much in the style of Duruflé with an expressive and lyrical organ accompaniment. His setting of the Responses is bright and bold and with just the odd little surprise in chord progression to maintain the interest; he often says that there is only so much one can do with Responses and, for that reason, he has always avoided some of the more recent compositions which he felt were a little ‘fussy’. Some of his small-scale anthems are exquisite – his set of four introits on psalm texts are well-crafted liturgical pieces and fun to sing, and his wonderful and so carefully composed Epiphany anthem Eastern Monarchs is thrilling to hear and worthy of a place among the carols sung by King’s College Choir on Christmas Eve. He has a very natural instinct for getting the right mood, and his setting of Tristis est anima mea for use after communion on Maundy Thursday makes the hairs stand up on the back of one’s neck.

Ever the professional, Andrew takes preparation for singing very seriously, and I remember a terrible Sunday when the newly installed choral scholars came over for a drink after Matins. Unbeknown to me, a certain lay vicar then took them out for a beery lunch to the local pub before bringing them back to his flat in the cathedral close to drink port! The alcoholic haze over the Magnificat was not pleasing and, shall we say, it was pretty obvious that one or two scholars were the worse for wear. “What on earth did you give them?” asked an irate Andrew Millington. -- “They only had one gin,” came my puzzled reply. -- “Gin!” exploded Andrew. “Gin is strong!” It was a few days before the truth of the beer and port came to light, to the embarrassment of the lay vicar offender.

Andrew’s careful direction of the choir has always come across, especially on CD recordings and the annual broadcasts of Choral Evensong. After one such broadcast early in my time at Exeter Andrew received a large number of emails congratulating him and the choir. His favourite, however, was from Richard Lloyd who said that he particularly enjoyed the Creed – which, of course, had been said! His attention to detail is consistent: rehearsals for Christmas, Holy Week and large festivals are carefully structured with all the right

choreography and movement. He keeps paper files with all his old orders of service on which he would write the length of the service, the length of the sermon and the things he didn’t like such as what he called VAT – ‘Vicar’s added titbits’. (He never liked a surprise in the liturgy.)

Andrew now begins a well-earned retirement with his beloved Madeleine, surrounded by his many friends and devoted followers. He may have exchanged his music lists for work in their allotment – something else that he nurtures methodically – but his legacy to the world of music is huge and he will be sorely missed at the helm of one of England’s great cathedrals. As Stephen Cleobury so appropriately says, “I have known Andrew since we were at the King’s School, Worcester, back in the sixties, learning from Christopher Robinson and Harry Bramma. Throughout a long and distinguished career, Andrew has built on that very solid grounding, and has made an immensely strong personal contribution to the tradition at Exeter and at the other foundations where he has worked, as well in the wider field of church music. He has done this with integrity and good humour, and many have cause to be grateful to him.”

And grateful we are. Andrew may be retired but we all know that the world of cathedral and parish and community music will still continue to benefit from his presence, we hope for many years to come.

Canon Carl Turner was born in East Yorkshire. His love of music was fostered by ‘some amazing music teachers’ at school, where he learned to play the French horn. He sang in a parish church choir as a boy treble, then as a tenor in school, and, later, in university choirs and ensembles. Ordained in 1985, he served in several parishes in Essex and East London before being appointed Canon Precentor of Exeter Cathedral, working closely with Andrew Millington from 2001-14. As head of the department of liturgy and music he was responsible for all the cathedral’s worship and music, for the choir school, and for diocesan liturgical formation. He was Acting Dean during the Occupy movement, which saw a four-month encampment outside the cathedral. In 2014, Father Turner was appointed Rector of Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York – the only North American church to have its own residential choir school and where, until his sudden death in August, John Scott was Director of Music.

Photo: Ira Lippke

A FRIEND AT THE CONSOLE

ext time you attend a church service, spare a thought for the unsung heroes and heroines of the organ loft. By that I mean not organists (who receive more than enough of the limelight), but rather their page-turners, whose work often ranges far beyond the mere turning of pages (hard enough in itself, of course) to include a host of other tasks. Even though in this country we have no tradition of registrants, and many organists pride themselves on managing the registration unaided, the turner will sometimes be called upon to help with stops, either in a planned capacity or in an emergency. Many a turner has averted disaster by quick thinking and prompt action with a coupler or a Tuba stop. In addition, turners may be asked to play unreachable notes, to relay the beat, and even to defend the console area from intruders. And if that last claim seems rather extreme, it is certainly true that turners act as intermediaries between the organist and the outside world. Many players have someone they call upon regularly and with whom they develop a close rapport. It is a musical partnership, rather like that of singer and accompanist and equally dependent on subtle forms of communication.

This demanding musical role rarely receives the recognition that it deserves, so it is heartening to hear of plans by the ABRSM to introduce exams in organ page-turning. These proposals are going to be formally unveiled at the beginning of April, but the Board has allowed Cathedral Music access to a draft, in the hopes of attracting constructive comments from interested parties. This draft is printed opposite.

The reader will see that there are four grades (II, IV, VI and VIII) and that broadly each exam falls into two parts. Part I tests the classic requirements of good page-turning, namely an assured turning technique and the correct demeanour of discreet helpfulness. Organists want to be able to concentrate on playing the music, confident that the turning and other ancillary tasks will happen smoothly and without fuss. They want someone who will follow the score without appearing to read every note, which can be intimidating, particularly if the performance is not going well. Accordingly, at each of the four proposed levels, there are set pieces for which the candidate will prepare, in an ascending level of difficulty. Meanwhile, Part II tests the ability to manage a previously unseen score and to cope with the unexpected. Here again, candidates will be tested in increasingly challenging situations.

NGRADE II:

Part I: Prepared Work. Candidates must choose one piece from each list.

Editions are specified, but this is to enable candidates to prepare and there is no need for them to bring copies with them.

List 1:

François Couperin: ‘Plein Jeu’ from Mass for the Parishes (Two Masses for Organ, Dover, p.11)

Buxtehude: ‘Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland’ (Sämtliche Orgelwerke, Band IV, Hansen)

Bach: ‘Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ’, BWV 639 (from the Orgelbüchlein, Bärenreiter, Vol. I)

List 2:

Whitlock: ‘Scherzo’ (Five Short Pieces, OUP)

Mendelssohn: ‘Andante Religioso’ from Sonata No 4 (Orgelwerke, Band I, Breitkopf)

List 3:

Diana Burrell: either ‘Fragment I’ or ‘Fragment II’: (Unbeaten Tracks, Faber)

Hurford: ‘Fanfare on Old Hundredth’ (Ceremonial Music for Organ, OUP)

Mathias: ‘Chorale’ (Easy Modern Organ Music, Book 1, OUP)

Observant readers will notice that none of these pieces actually includes a page turn. The examiners will be judging the smoothness and efficiency with which candidates place the score on the music desk (and then remove it) and assessing their demeanour, which should vary according to the period, style and character of the piece. As with the instrumental exams, success will depend as much on expression as on technique.

Part II: Unprepared Work

Candidates will be required to place a piece of previously unseen music on the music desk. There will be no turns, but during the performance the second examiner, posing as an interested member of the public, will approach the console and try to engage the candidate in conversation, with an opening gambit such as: ‘What do the foot pedals

The proposed AB syllabus in organ page-turning

do?’ or ‘Does he take requests?’. Candidates must turn the intruder away, and will be marked on the firmness and tact with which this is accomplished.

GRADE IV:

Part I: Prepared Work. Candidates must choose one piece from each list.

Editions are specified, but this is to enable candidates to prepare and there is no need for them to bring copies with them.

List 1:

Bach: ‘Adagio e dolce’ from Sonata 3 (Organ Works, Vol. 7, Bärenreiter)

Handel: ‘Air’ from the Water Music, arr. O. H. Peasgood (Novello)

In each case, the candidate will be informed which repeats are to be observed just before the performance begins.

List 2:

Parry: ‘Tranquilly’ (A Little Organ Book in Memory of Hubert Parry, Ascherberg, Hopwood and Crew)

Reger: ‘Ave Maria’, Op. 80, No 5 (Peters)

Stanford: ‘On a theme of Orlando Gibbons (Song 34)’ (Six Short Preludes and Postludes, Second Set, Stainer and Bell)

List 3:

Alan Ridout: ‘Dance’ (A Second Album of Preludes and Interludes, OUP)

Francis Jackson: ‘The Sweet Rivelet’ (Hovingham Sketches, Banks)

Leighton: ‘Fanfare’ (Easy Modern Organ Music, Book 1, OUP)

The examiner will indicate clearly when the pages are to be turned.

Part II: Unprepared Work

1. The examiner will play three verses of a hymn, conducted by the second examiner who will be out of the player’s sight. The candidate will be required to relay the beat throughout, interpreting gestures which may not always be entirely clear.

2. The examiner will begin one of the great fugues of Bach. After a few bars the second examiner, impersonating a verger, will approach the console and explain that one of the clergy wishes to give out some notices. The candidate needs to convey the bad news tactfully to the player and look sympathetic once the music has been brought to a premature close.

GRADE VI:

[Note that for this grade candidates will be given five minutes before the examination begins in which to acquaint themselves with the instrument.]

Part I: Prepared Work. Candidates must choose one piece from each list.

Editions are specified, but this is to enable candidates to prepare and there is no need for them to bring copies with them.

List 1:

Handel: ‘Hornpipe’ from the Water Music, arr. O. H. Peasgood (Novello)

This includes a da capo

List 2:

Erollyn Wallen: ‘Tiger’ (Unbeaten Tracks, Faber)

Widor: ‘Toccata’ from Symphony V (Hamelle)

Messiaen: ‘Le banquet céleste’ (Leduc)

In each of these pieces one or two stop changes will be required of the candidate. These will be explained before the performance begins and marked in the copy.

List 3:

Here, in addition to turning pages, candidates will be required to assist the player in some way.

Bach: ‘Pièce d’Orgue’ BWV 572 (Bärenreiter, Vol. 7). Candidates will be required to add the 32’ for the bottom B in bar 94.

Karg-Elert: ‘The Reed-Grown Waters’ (from Seven Pastels from the Lake of Constance, Novello). Candidates must take over and hold down the bottom F sharp in the last two bars.

Dubois: ‘Marche des rois mages’ (from Douze Pièces,

Leduc). Candidates must depress the high B where indicated and hold it down throughout.

Franck: ‘Cantabile’ (Peters Edition, Vol. 4). Candidates will be required to play the top notes of the chords in bars 50, 62 and 64.

In this grade, indications to turn will be more subtle: a smile or the raising of an eyebrow, perhaps.

Part II: Unprepared Work

1. The examiner will play a work that the candidate is unlikely to know.

At exactly the moment the candidate is preparing for a turn, the second examiner will appear behind the candidate with a message such as: ‘Tell the organist that in the second hymn we will omit verse 3’. This message must be accurately relayed to the player (though not necessarily verbatim) once the piece has finished.

2. The examiner will play a work of scherzo character from a manuscript copy which is only just legible.

GRADE VIII:

[Note that for this grade candidates will be given 15 minutes before the examination begins in which to acquaint themselves with the instrument.]

Part I: Prepared Work. Candidates must choose one piece from each list.

Editions are specified, but this is to enable candidates to prepare and there is no need for them to bring copies with them.

List 1:

Handel: ‘Polonaise’ from Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 3 in E minor (Lea Pocket Score). The examiner will play from free-standing photocopies of the miniature open score. There will be repeats but these will be communicated to the candidate only at the very last moment.

Bach: ‘Ricercare a 6’ from Musical Offering (Boosey & Hawkes miniature score). The pages will not be securely fixed in the copy.

List 2:

Here candidates will be required to carry out elaborate registrational changes, discussed in advance with the examiner and marked in the copy with the candidate’s initials.

Messiaen: ‘Joie et clarté’ from Les corps glorieux (Alphonse Leduc)

Reger: ‘Dankpsalm’ (Breitkopf)

Martin: ‘Passacaille’ (Universal)

Indications as to where exactly to turn will not be reliably given and candidates must use their own judgement.

Part II: Unprepared Work

1. The examiner will play a work of toccata-like character from manuscript sheets placed on top of each other. The candidate is required to arrange the sheets and remove them in a way that is as helpful as possible to the player. The sheets will be numbered but two of them will have been interchanged. The mistake must be spotted and rectified in time.

2. This simulates the experience of turning for a foreign organist whose plane has been delayed and who arrives with only half an hour to prepare for a recital on a kind of instrument with which he or she is totally unfamiliar. Two pieces will be played and the organist will require frequent help with the registration, giving instructions in either French, German, Italian or Spanish. Candidates will be marked on their unflappability and their capacity to respond appropriately to instructions and anguished exclamations. The candidate will be informed of the language to be used just before the performance commences and instructions will be taken from a glossary available to candidates on application to the Board (and published on the website).

3. This is an aural and memory test similar to that in the previous grade but more involved. At an inconvenient moment, while the candidate is turning a page, a message will be passed on by the second examiner in a loud voice. The candidate must attempt to quieten the speaker and then relay the substance of the message once the performance is over. Here is a specimen message:

‘Please tell the organist that the third hymn will not now be AMR 573 but instead NEH 477 to the tune Hyfrydol and omitting the third, fifth and seventh verses.

Psalm chants in F sharp and B please, verses 5 and 6 unaccompanied and with the second part at verse 8 instead of as marked. Diminuendo in the Gloria. We will do the Attwood up a semitone.’

These examinations are to be warmly welcomed. Quite apart from providing useful qualifications at various levels of attainment, the proposed syllabuses will help to define tasks and set standards, as they have done in all other examined subjects. They will encourage turners to study systematically and progressively. Above all, they will give this art, for too long one of the most neglected of musical accomplishments, something of the status it deserves.

Tom Corfield has long experience of page-turning at the organ console. His proudest moment was playing three top notes in a live broadcast of the Franck Cantabile, and his most harrowing experience was turning for a famous foreign organist who could make no sense of the instrument whatsoever. This article is dedicated to two people who have turned for him and whom he rates the best turners in the world, Wendy Bateman and Rosemary Corfield. Mention should also be made of Matthew Gibson, whose own pages the author will one day count it an honour to be allowed to turn.

Cartoon: Pat Nash

The Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich

Photo: Kestas Balciunas

WE SING WHAT WE LIKE! Ralph Allwood on the music at Greenwich’s famous chapel

Greenwich Hospital, which operated from 1692 to 1869, was a permanent home and also a hospital for disabled sailors of the Royal Navy housed in Sir Christopher Wren’s twin-domed riverside masterpiece. Its buildings were later used by the Royal Naval College until a shrinking navy caused its closure in 1998. The foundation which operated the hospital for the benefit of former Royal Navy personnel and their dependants still exists, but it now provides sheltered housing elsewhere. The site was once occupied by the medieval Palace of Placentia, or ‘Palace at Greenwich’, begun by the Duke of Gloucester in 1428.

The hospital was created on the instructions of Queen Mary II, who had been saddened by the sight of wounded sailors returning from the Battle of La Hogue (Normandy) in 1692. She ordered the King Charles wing of the palace – originally designed by architect John Webb for King Charles II in 1664 –to be remodelled as a naval hospital to provide a counterpart to the Royal Hospital for soldiers in Chelsea. Sir Christopher Wren and his assistant Nicholas Hawksmoor gave their services

as architects free of charge; they were succeeded by Sir John Vanbrugh, who completed the complex to Wren’s original plans.

Queen Mary Court houses the hospital’s chapel. Its present appearance dates from 1779-89, when it was rebuilt after a devastating fire to a design by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart in the Greek revival style, and today is a wonderful example of a complete neoclassical interior. King William Court is famous for its baroque Painted Hall, which was decorated by Sir James Thornhill in honour of King William III and Queen Mary II (the ceiling of the Lower Hall), of Queen Anne and her husband, Prince George of Denmark (the ceiling of the Upper Hall) and George I (the north wall of the Upper Hall). The Painted Hall was deemed too magnificent for the pensioned seamen’s refectory and was never regularly used as such.

Trinity College of Music, which has subsequently joined with the dance college to create Trinity Laban, moved to these beautiful buildings in 2001 from Mandeville Place in central

Ralph Allwood outside the Old Royal Naval Chapel, Greenwich

Photo: Timothy Teague

London, where it had been for over a century. It now occupies King Charles Court. Recognising that the glorious chapel was a fine location for a first-class choir, Gavin Henderson, Principal of the college, had the brilliant idea of giving choral scholarships to suitable students at the college, and employed Sean Farrell, previously Assistant Organist at Wakefield, Ely and Rochester, to become the chapel’s first director of music. Sean combined singers from the long-established and highly thought-of voluntary choir with students from the college – all volunteers in the first instance – and the first organ scholar was appointed in partnership with the University of Greenwich.

In 2002 the first five choral scholarships were introduced, funded by Trinity. A year later Sean created the Greenwich Baroque Orchestra, which performed with the chapel choir three times a year, giving choir members the opportunity to sing choruses and solos in the oratorio repertoire, and the number of choral scholars was increased to 12. Shortly after, the Dame Susan Morden Trust started funding two choral scholarships, and in 2005 a choral conducting scholarship was established. Choral Evensong in the chapel began in 2009, initially for a single voice per part, sung by the choral scholars. Now the choir sings a Sunday Eucharist and a Monday Evensong, with extra events such as the Holy Week services, Ash Wednesday, Ascension Day, etc. The chapel’s acoustic works well with the size of the choir, and the organ is a historic Samuel Green instrument dating from 1789. It is housed in a gallery at the west end of the chapel, which creates quite a challenge for an accompanying organist, who must significantly anticipate the conductor’s beat.

Richard Tanner from Blackburn Cathedral was appointed director of music in 2010. During Richard’s time, the choir took part in 18 BBC broadcasts: one Choral Evensong, two Sunday Worship services (one for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and another for the Olympics), three Songs of Praise broadcasts (one for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations and another for the Olympics), four Sunday Half Hour broadcasts, and eight for the BBC Radio 4 Daily Service. There was also a BBC Radio 2 Sunday Half Hour recording for Remembrance Sunday in 2012.

Using the resources of Trinity Laban, Richard scheduled much instrumental accompaniment for services with the Athenian Ensemble (set up in 2011 but now no longer in existence), and gave many opportunities to student composers, including a workshop and concert as part of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music in 2012. A performance of Bach’s St John Passion with a student period instrument ensemble followed during Holy Week in 2012, as well as Handel’s Messiah. Student ensembles are regularly used to accompany the choir, and they vary in size and style in accordance with the needs of the repertoire. There is often scope for incorporating unusual instruments, and new works by composers from Trinity Laban.

When I took over in September 2012 I was delighted by the warm, vibrant (but non-vibrato!) sound, and the ability of the choir to sing a challenging repertoire in which no era or nationality predominates; congregation and chaplains enthusiastically encourage us to sing what we like. The choir’s

The organ in the Old Royal Naval Chapel

Photo: AAron Metcalfe

sound comes from the high proportion of good, strong singers, about half of them choral scholars studying at Trinity Laban, who use their vocal skills and musicianship to blend with the ensemble without compromising the excellent individual tone they can produce. Choral scholars often go on to become members of such groups as Genesis Sixteen or apprentices for the Monteverdi Choir. They are ably supported by a range of talented volunteers, some of long standing and many from the local community. Occasionally, excellent young singers straight out of school come and join us for a gap year. In one current case, we have an excellent tenor who is still at school. Some former choral scholars, reluctant to lose their first-class singing opportunities, join us as volunteers when they start their new jobs.

Sinfonia in a single-row semicircle. Other events later on included a summer concert, partly as a culmination of the year, and partly to raise money for the choir’s activities. We packed the chapel with Messiah before Christmas, again with the Southern Sinfonia, and again using soloists exclusively from the choir.

We have many plans for this (academic) year, as we continue to expand the breadth and variety of the choir’s repertoire. We have another Messiah at Christmas, and a recording on the horizon too, possibly of Handel’s Dixit Dominus (I’m sure we’ll find a naval connection with that: too many have already recorded the Nelson Mass!) and a tour of Malta. Why Malta? Well, for one thing, the chapel is graced with Benjamin West’s enormous and wonderful painting of St Paul’s shipwreck at Malta, which provides us with weekly inspiration. But, in addition, I know that Malta has some excellent churches and some enthusiastic audiences, the sun usually shines there and . . . er. . . I’ve never toured there with a choir before!

Ralph Allwood MBE is Director of Music at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich and is well known as a choral director, composer, arranger, public speaker, teacher, writer and adjudicator. He was Director of Music at Eton College for 26 years, is the founder and director of the Rodolfus Choir and a conductor of the National Youth Choir of Wales. In 1980 he started the Eton Choral courses, which have brought choral singing to 7000 16-20 year olds over the last thirty years. In 2011 Ralph jointly founded Inner Voices, which

When I took over in September 2012 I was delighted by the warm, vibrant (but non-vibrato!) sound, and the ability of the choir to sing a challenging repertoire in which no era or nationality predominates; congregation and chaplains

Ralph Allwood and the Trinity Laban choir in the ORNC chapel.

THE FUTURE OF CATHEDRAL MUSIC - IN ALL OUR HANDS

In CM 1/15 you may have seen the article ‘Supporting a Living Heritage’, concerned with legacies, and the fact that if 10% of the value of a person’s estate is left to charity, inheritance tax is reduced from 40% to 36%.

FCM is now, for the first time, actively canvassing for donations in members’ wills. This is because:

• cathedral music finances are under increasing strain;

• applications for FCM grants continue to outstrip income, and the gap is widening;

• it may not feel like it, but the generation born after the Second World War and now in retirement is the wealthiest ever.

• no other body of comparable size is taking steps to safeguard the unique heritage of cathedral music across the nation;

• charities with far-seeing ambitions, like FCM, repay longterm support from legacy donors. What better way to leave a permanent memorial to the music you love?

• cancer research receives nearly £3 million a week from legacies. Whilst FCM are not aiming to match that figure, it makes good sense to increase legacy income as a proportion of our income; and of course we can all afford to leave more in our wills than during our lifetime. A small number of

legacies can generate a considerable amount of a charity’s income;

• people often feel that donating an increased percentage to charity in their will means that their beneficiaries will receive proportionately less, but this is not the case. As the article in CM 1/15 showed, beneficiaries of a £500,000 will would receive under 1% less from a will which left 10% to FCM or other charities than from a will without any charitable bequest at all. Few people realise that it’s the taxman who takes the biggest hit, not our beneficiaries. Furthermore, you can arrange your will so that your bequest only takes effect after your surviving spouse’s death;

• currently, FCM is one of the few charities not asking its members to leave it a legacy. While some might say this is admirably restrained, it does mean we are foregoing an increasingly important source of support. UK legacy income has quadrupled since 1988, and is currently worth over £2.1 billion p.a. We would be failing in our duty if we did not alert members to this opportunity to make a huge difference to the outlook for cathedral music in this country.

Calculations show that if just 10% of FCM members bequeathed 10% of estates worth £500,000 to FCM, this would raise no less than £6.65m which, together with FCM’s current resources,

Maurice Kenwrick-Piercy

Newport Cathedral Choir at Westminster Abbey

would generate sufficient funds to meet all the applications for grants we receive instead of the half we are able to satisfy at the moment.

If one-third of members donated 10% through their wills, that figure would rise to £20m – more, if their estates were larger – and cathedral music would be secure for many decades to come, if not for ever. It’s quite a thought!

So the future of cathedral music lies very much in all our hands. Please give serious consideration to remembering FCM in your will so that the good work generated by your subscription to FCM can be built upon for the long term. other Council members are all making generous provision for FCM in their wills, taking maximum advantage of this tax-efficient giving. The more of us who follow their lead, the greater our ability to sustain this priceless heritage for future generations. I for one will be following suit.

Of course, not everyone may wish to leave 10% of their estate ( minimum that can be gifted to charity to obtain the tax relief) to charity, but all legacies are greatly valued, however small.

If you would like to discuss a bequest to FCM in confidence, please do get in touch with our Future Resources team (legacy@fcm.org.uk) giving your name, telephone number and the best time of the day to call you (if appropriate), and one of us will contact you

Maurice Kenwrick-Piercy, a former chorister at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, is now retired from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. He is a member of the FCM’s Future Resources team, and was instrumental in setting up the Diamond Fund for Choristers (details of which can be found on the FCM website).

VOCAL TRAINING Jenevora Williams PhD Illustrations by

Children have contributed to choral music in churches and cathedrals since the early days of Christianity. Music-making in the Church has had its ups and downs through that time, coping with invasions, civil war, the Reformation and neglect; current challenges are more likely to be political or financial, and yet musical standards today are probably higher than they have ever been. It is interesting to speculate why this might be. Undoubtedly it will be related to higher overall standards of education, as well as greater access to bursaries and scholarships. There is more rigour in the training of teachers as well as curriculum content. Perhaps the highly competitive nature of a career in music has led to an increase in enthusiasm and commitment as well as standards. Choristers have traditionally learnt to sing the cathedral repertoire, the psalms, anthems and canticles, from their peers and from their choir directors, usually the organist or assistant organist at the cathedral. Increasingly, they are also instructed in vocal technique by singing teachers mostly provided by the cathedrals in which they sing. But how should choristers best be taught to sing? Let us look at the physical and developmental welfare of young voices.

Until recently, professional singing teachers would only have worked with adult singers, to prepare them for a career in

opera or recital. Training for children by the directors of music would have been primarily concerned with sight-reading and learning musicianship. If the means of voice production had been touched on at all, it would likely have been imparted by means of descriptive imagery rather than specific technical exercises. Now, however, a more technical training for young singers is considered to be of great value, so perhaps the teaching methods suitable for singers both pre-teen and postuniversity have more in common than we had thought. It makes sense to start with the same basic approach and then address specific needs.

When I began teaching vocal technique to choristers in the 1980s almost no one else was doing so. Although I had no specialist knowledge at all, I became an ‘expert’ overnight, and I carried out my own reading and research in order to work out what I was and should be doing with these young singers. Now, 30 years later, there are many opportunities for singing teachers and choral directors to attend courses and learn from their colleagues. Any teacher working with choristers has ready access to the right level of training and experience.

FOR CHORISTERS Harry Venning

Why should we teach singing technique to children?

Many children involved in traditional choral settings as well as in musical theatre sing to a high level of performance, but there is some debate surrounding the nature of their training. On the one hand, there is an argument that singing is a natural process and children will do this to the best of their ability if they are left unencumbered by technical information that stems, after all, from an adult model. On the other hand, we can look at the way in which children are trained in other physical skills such as sports and dance; the accepted practice in these fields, often based on research, may give some insight into vocal training suitable for young voices.

Any person training to perform a physical activity to a high level of achievement will be stretching the capabilities and limitations of their body. Whether it is gymnastics, piano playing, swimming, ballet, choral singing, football, musical theatre performance, skateboarding or rugby, there is a link. The key here is that in sports training we know that the acquisition of an appropriate technique is essential in order to progress properly as well as to prevent injury.

This fact is central to all athletic and dance training in children, so why should singers be any different? We would not consider teaching advanced ballet to a child who had not undergone rigorous and lengthy training in how to use his body correctly. We would not expect a child to be able to swim 50m freestyle in well under a minute unless they had been coached in a

precise and detailed way. This training process has at its core the learning of skills, and it is crucial if we want the child to achieve an effective and balanced physical performance. As teachers, if we don’t train effectively, or we get it wrong, then at best the performer is not achieving his optimum in the skill; at worst he may suffer injury.

Some basic information on how voices work

In order to appreciate what is meant by vocal technique, it is useful to have a look at the structure and function of the human voice. Voice production for singing and speaking can be divided into three parts: breathing (lungs), voice source (larynx) and resonance (throat and mouth). Normally when we exhale the air comes out fast and then slow. If we want to sing, we have to produce a steady flow of air from the lungs. This means we have to use muscles to gently control the movement of the air – this is most effective when we use the muscles in the lower abdomen. Although it is an intuitive action for laughing and coughing, it generally has to be taught to singers as a conscious process. If this skill is not addressed, the young singer will generally use too much effort for the task. He may over-elevate the upper ribs or over-tense the abdominal region. Any excess tension will result in problems.

Voicing happens in the larynx, the part you can feel in the front of your neck – it buzzes when you speak. It is a very mobile container made of several cartilages, and within these are the vocal folds (also known as the vocal cords), two tiny flaps of membrane about 10-15mm long in children. As the air comes up from the lungs through the larynx, these vocal folds collide and wobble. A lot. If you sing a middle C, the folds are colliding 260 times a second. To alter pitch and basic voice quality, the muscles within the larynx move the cartilages around, changing the length and thickness of the vocal folds. Singing also means that many of the instinctive functions of the larynx need to be over-ruled. The larynx is, after all, primarily a protective valve for the airway; we cannot swallow without completely closing it. Its secondary function is to enable us to use a high level of muscular exertion in the torso (we cannot engage muscles to lift or push if they have a leaky bag of air in the middle; the valve must be closed off); this again requires complete closure of the larynx. In order to be able to sing we need to consciously override these instinctive actions and maintain balance and flexibility in the laryngeal muscles. If the experienced ear of a singing teacher hears breathiness, constriction or register breaks, all of which are to do with laryngeal function, he or she will be able to suggest exercises to reduce these.

The sound coming directly from the larynx can be described as a buzz; in order to refine this into either intelligible speech or beautiful singing we rely both on the shape of the throat and mouth, and the position of the tongue, jaw and soft palate. All of these alter vowel sounds and the qualities of resonance – such as brightness or roundness – in the tone. If the tongue is raised in the mouth with the lift towards the front, you will create an ‘ee’ vowel. Flattening the tongue gives you an ‘ah’, and raising the back produces an ‘oo’. If you purse your lips forward, you lengthen the vocal tract (the resonant tube), resulting in a darker sound; if you widen them in a cheesy grin, you shorten the vocal tract, resulting in a brighter sound. If you tense the jaw, the tongue is less able to move to the best position; if you over-open the jaw, there is a pull on the larynx and the soft palate. The soft palate is a mobile plug which seals the space between the mouth and the nose so that when you swallow, your food goes into your stomach, not into your nose. If you raise the soft palate when you sing, you get a bigger resonant space for the sound; if you drop it when you sing, you get a nasal sound. The tongue and the soft palate are very active in both swallowing and yawning; neither of these actions is any help in singing, so, again, their primary function needs to be consciously over-ridden. It is very common for children to have excess tension in the base of the tongue (felt under the chin, behind the jaw-bone) and weak articulatory habits (‘r’ and ‘s’, for example). These can be helped with the right sort of exercises and awareness.

It is important to note that none of the above will work very well unless the whole body is aligned in a balanced and flexible way. This is also a learned skill that needs continual repetition and reinforcement. Young singers will either ‘zone out’ or overwork in both practice and performance; both of these will result in poor physical alignment, which needs to be addressed.

The vocal set-up of young singers is not like that of an adult because children have different proportions and abilities, but the young singer is able to learn a great deal of adult technique that is in fact applicable to singers of all ages. The limitations for young voices are mainly to do with the more extreme vocal

Vocal tract

gestures: these tend to be ones that are high, loud, fast or long. In other words, younger singers should avoid extended singing at a high pitch, or singing too loudly, or passages of fast notes, or singing long phrases, or any combination of the four. The experienced trainer will know what is too much for each singer. If they are required to sing to their extremes due to the particular repertoire selected, the amount of repetition and overall pacing within rehearsal and performance can help to reduce any potential overloading of their voices.

The specific requirements of cathedral music

Much of the repertoire performed by children in cathedrals has been written for adult voices in an SATB structure. Children in UK choirs are generally singing the upper (soprano) line, with adult singers providing the ATB sections. For some young singers, for example experienced boys aged 11-12 or girls aged 15-17, this repertoire may be absolutely right for them. For others, it may not. Younger singers (under the age

of 10) in general will have a reduced pitch range, and may not be able to reach the extremes for as much of the time.

Both girls and boys will experience changes as they go through adolescent development, and this limits their vocal abilities temporarily. It’s important for all singers in a choir to be assessed individually on a regular basis, so that they are not expected to achieve vocal tasks that may be too demanding for them. Of course, it’s part of their education to be challenged and to learn difficult tasks, but this should be tempered with realistic expectations, otherwise the singers may attempt compensatory vocal gestures that will lead to bad habits in the longer term.

In a follow-up article I will look at how to manage vocal problems, not only those caused by poor singing habits but those with other etiology. It will also address the vocal changes occurring during adolescence for both boys and girls.

Jenevora Williams is a singing teacher based in Guildford, Surrey with a busy private practice for students and professional singers. She is Singing Consultant and teacher-in-residence for the National Youth Choir and teaches at the Yehudi Menuhin School. Recently, Jenevora has taught singing at The Royal College of Music Junior Department, Guildford School of Acting Conservatoire and Surrey University. She has been the singing teacher for the choristers at St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, as well as a consultant teacher for many other British cathedral foundations. In her specialist areas of vocal health and the teaching of young voices, she has given papers at international conferences and provides training for singing and voice teachers throughout Britain and Northern Ireland. She has an extensive list of publications in this area, and is the author of Teaching Singing to Children and Young Adults (Compton Publishing). For further information, please visit www.jenevorawilliams.com

GLOUCESTER 2016

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DR ARTHUR HENRY MANN 1850-1929

King’s

College Cambridge Chant Book 1884

Edited by W H D Boyle and Dr Arthur Henry Mann

A collection of 400 chants in manuscript

Dr Arthur Henry Mann was born in Norwich on the 16 May 1850. Whilst a chorister at Norwich Cathedral under Dr Zecharia ‘Thrasher’ Buck (1798-1879), he became his assistant organist. He took his BMus (1874) and DMus (1882) at New College Oxford, later taking his MA at the university of Cambridge.

He was organist of St Peter’s Church, Wolverhampton 1870-1871, Tettenhall Parish Church, Staffordshire 18711875 and of Beverley Minster, Yorkshire 1875-1876. The same year, he took the position of organist at King’s College Cambridge (1876-1929). He raised the standard of music significantly and established a choir school, replacing his lay clerks with choral scholars. From 1897-1929 he was organist to the University of Cambridge and also for a long period of time music master of The Leys School in Cambridge.

He wrote around 15 Single chants, 23 Doubles, 1 Triple and 1 Quadruple chant.

He died on 19 November 1929 in Cambridge.

The National Archive of Anglican Chants contains 17340 chants. Look out for my new web page in the near future.

BOOK REVIEWS

AT CROSS PURPOSES

Dr Michael Smith

ISBN 978-1-50273-527-0

Amazon £12.99

Dr Smith was at Llandaff Cathedral for 26 years. In this predominantly sad book he gets off his chest the problems, unhelpfulness and sheer cussedness he encountered, very often from clergy who ought to have been better behaved and, frankly, more Christian towards a senior employee (or indeed anyone, for that matter). Inevitably much of the trouble was about money, whether for stipend, music or organ restoration, but there was clearly a deeper problem enshrined in the apt words of the title – a lack of any real meeting of minds or sense of common purpose. Indeed, the dual function of parish church and cathedral seems to have bedevilled relationships and objectives.

Michael Smith seems to have taken as his beau idéal the English cathedral model, in terms of values, reference points and professionalism, though Llandaff’s apparent uniqueness in the Church in Wales, and the absence of comparable problems in English parish church cathedrals, would suggest that this would be a facile starting point in trying to understand his plight. Sensibly, he did try to move away but was unsuccessful despite his impressive qualifications and the quality of results he achieved. What sort of references did he get? His longtime friend and colleague, Canon Jeremy Davies, in his introduction, says it would be interesting to hear the other side of the story.

Admittedly, if a parish role is part of an institution’s raison d’etre then the cure of souls may well weigh more heavily than the additional, and different, cathedral music (and other) burdens with the responsible clergy. (Perhaps this is why so many English cathedrals have someone dedicated to the pastoral needs of those who treat their cathedral like a parish church – and even this solution is sometimes uneasy, in my personal experience.) None of this explains why it appears to have been structurally necessary to have rival cathedral and parish choirs. Without saying so directly the author seems to blame the clergy, and at the end of the day they do have the ultimate responsibility for the smooth and Christian running of their establishments; this should include making sure everyone is signed up to the same objectives and sense of purpose.

The book is fluently written, but an annual catalogue of slights and difficulties makes for slightly heavy reading (whatever the target readership), even when interspersed with domestic details and travelogue. The overall feeling is one of sadness, not just for the fact that Michael Smith was widowed so early

in his retirement but for what he describes as his progressive alienation from the Church and religion in general after a lifetime of endeavour. Even more sadly, problems at Llandaff have continued. Indeed, I wonder whether those who have done so much to help in recent years would have done so if they had read this book before they acted.

Richard Osmond

MEMORIES OF CHOIRS AND CLOISTERS – Fifty Years of Music

A. Herbert Brewer, edited by John Morehen Stainer & Bell. ISBN 978 0 85249 946 7. £14.95 + p+p

This is a book which I desired but never expected to own, for secondhand copies of the first edition were scarce and very expensive. Never can the reissue of a classic memoir have been so timely and welcome; at last we can find out more about the composer of Brewer in D and Brewer in E flat, at a remarkably modest price and with the added benefit of Professor Morehen’s footnotes.

These ‘memories’ were published by Brewer’s widow in 1931, three years after the composer’s death. Describing them as his ‘recollections and anecdotes’, she presented them much as he had left them, merely adding a final chapter to complete the narrative to the end of his life. Though it is not a formal history of its period, there is much herein to delight the student whether of cathedral music, or of the Three Choirs Festival, or of late 19th- and early 20th-century life in a provincial cathedral city, Gloucester, which in 1922 honoured Brewer with the office of High Sheriff.

A native of that city, Alfred Herbert Brewer was born in 1865. He showed an early ability in music and became an accomplished pianist; he joined the cathedral choir in 1876 as a somewhat elderly probationer, ostensibly to look after his younger brother who seemed to have a promising voice. In the event, it was the older brother who became solo boy and head chorister within a year, serving in both capacities well into his 16th year. He had narrowly avoided becoming one of S S Wesley’s choristers, for the great man played his last service on Christmas Day 1875, died in April 1876 and was immediately replaced by Charles Harford Lloyd, 27 years old and an Oxford graduate who just happened to be in Gloucester already, teaching Classics. The cathedral choir was in a somewhat parlous state after Wesley’s long decline and final illness; Lloyd must have been delighted to audition and appoint an 11-year-old boy of unusual musical promise, and young Brewer’s abilities would have added considerably

to the other boys’ confidence as Lloyd set about the task of improving the cathedral’s music. I think the editor could have told us more of this, perhaps in a prefatory chapter; as it is, Brewer’s narrative does not even begin by telling us the year of his birth, though one can search this out in an appendix.

Brewer tell us much about Lloyd, whose articled pupil he became together with George Robertson Sinclair, who achieved fame as Organist of Hereford Cathedral and owner of the bulldog immortalised in Elgar’s Enigma Variations. In 1882 Lloyd forsook Gloucester for Christ Church Cathedral Oxford, taking with him as his assistant Brewer, who also contrived briefly to hold scholarship at the Royal College of Music before serving as Organ Scholar of Exeter College. Next came a brief and unsatisfactory association with Bristol Cathedral, where he took the place of an organist who had been dismissed but won his appeal and was reinstated, thus displacing Brewer who had to return to Oxford. There ensued appointments to St Michael’s, Coventry (which became the cathedral destroyed in WWII) and to Tonbridge School. In 1896 came the call to return to Gloucester and begin his life’s work as Organist of the cathedral, Lloyd’s successor Lee Williams having retired through ill health, though he managed to outlive Brewer.

From this point interest shifts to the Three Choirs Festival, though Brewer’s enthusiasm for his work with the cathedral choir never wavered; the daily routine was shared with a

succession of articled pupils, amongst whom he makes special mention of Herbert Howells and Ivor Novello. The editor notes with some surprise Brewer’s omission of Ivor Gurney and Herbert Sumsion, and he might well have added the name of John Dykes Bower also. Brewer’s first Three Choirs Festival was in 1898, so mercifully he had a couple of years in which to prepare for it. Standards had risen since S S Wesley put down his baton and went to sleep in mid-concert, but there was still work to be done, and Brewer tells how it became possible to dispense with choral reinforcements from Leeds, and how the programme of works performed became more inventive and up-to-date. We rub shoulders with Elgar, Parry, Stanford and Vaughan Williams, and make occasional contact with Coleridge-Taylor, Saint-Saëns, Sibelius and Verdi. We are told the complete story of how Elgar saved the day by orchestrating the cantata Emmaus which Brewer composed for the 1901 festival but, through no fault of his own, could not complete in time. The award of a knighthood in 1927 was a just recognition of his work.

So we meet a man fully content with his chosen profession, kindly but sometimes stern, and possessed of a lively if somewhat unsubtle sense of humour. He tells us much about himself and also opens a window onto a fascinating era in our musical and social history. Add this delightful book to your Christmas list, and buy a copy for a friend.

Timothy Storey

DVD REVIEW

THE GRAND ORGAN OF COVENTRY CATHEDRAL

Kerry Beaumont

PRIORY PRDVD12

(includes Blu-ray & standard format discs) + stereo CD. Recorded in 16.9 widescreen PAL colour, with 5.1 surround sound

Lemmens Fanfare

Holst ‘Mars, the bringer of war’ from The Planets

Bach (arr. Virgil Fox) Komm, süsser Tod, komm, sel’ge Ruh

Mendelssohn Prelude & Fugue in C minor Op. 37 No. 1

Handel ‘For unto us a child is born’ from Messiah

Messiaen ‘Jesu accepte la souffrance’ from La Nativité

Walton Orb and Sceptre (arr. Robert Gower) (Coronation March, 1953)

Boëllmann Toccata from Suite Gothique

Beethoven Moonlight Sonata, 1st movement

Walford Davies RAF March Past

Brewer Triumphal Song

Duruflé Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d’Alain, Op. 7 Cholley Rumba sur les grands jeux

After Coventry Cathedral was reduced to ruins in an air raid in 1940, plans were immediately put into place to build an iconic replacement. It was as early as 1952 that Harrison’s was awarded the contract for the proposed new organ. The specification was agreed in 1959 and drawn up by Sidney Campbell in conjunction with Cuthbert Harrison, and plans bear a striking resemblance to the instrument built for the Royal Festival Hall which had the decided influence of Ralph Downes. However, a cathedral organ requires far more versatility than one designed solely for the concert hall, and the new Coventry instrument has certainly displayed this for over fifty years. The organ was overhauled and upgraded to include solid-state technology in 1986-87.

The latest Priory release does fine justice to a superb instrument, with a diverse programme appealing to both organists and non-organists alike. The production is consistently excellent and the creative and imaginative video editing by Richard

Knight complements Paul Crichton’s finely balanced sound reproduction and allows the viewer to enjoy the sound of the organ within the space of the building without any significant loss of detail. The four camera positions, most evident in the spoken analysis of the Cholley, reveal Kerry Beaumont’s dexterity, to say nothing of his page-turning abilities!

The bonus features are extremely welcome, and watching ‘The Programme’ enhances the overall viewing experience. Sitting in the choir vestry with musical illustrations, Kerry Beaumont steers us through his recital, explaining the reasons for the choice of repertoire. This is especially significant in his adaptation of the first movement of the Beethoven sonata, because ‘Operation Moonlight’ was the code name given to the devastating Coventry air raid by the Luftwaffe. His melancholic interpretation and arrangement seems so appropriate, and the use of three of the four manuals with the necessary thumbing down necessary to bring out the melodic line demonstrates his admirable technique. The choice of Virgil Fox’s arrangement of the Bach Chorale Prelude is, however, questionable, bearing in mind the overall neoBaroque nature of the instrument. Nevertheless, it reveals the true versatility of the instrument and, in this instance, the way various stops can be combined to create a cinema organ effect, although I do wonder whether this might be a little over-indulgent. The inclusion of an arrangement of a choral excerpt from Messiah is possibly a little eccentric, although Beaumont’s comments about the use of the organ within the intervals of Handel’s operas do (just about!) hold water. Cholley’s lightweight Rumba, played with style and panache, very much reflects the positive side of a cathedral having risen from the ashes.

Within the bonus features there is an extremely comprehensive and fascinating tour of the organ lasting over 40 minutes. The ‘Norwegian Organ’ and small chamber organ built by Peter Collins in memorial to David Lepine are also included on the disc.

I would not hesitate to add this to my collection of DVDs or Blu-ray discs. Much of the playing is quite electric, and the technical quality easily matches that of a far more complicated and expensive rig required for a recorded TV outside broadcast, the benefit to the consumer being the very reasonable price of this release.

David Thorne

COMPOSITION COMPETITION

DIAMOND JUBILEE COMPOSITION COMPETITION CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

In celebration of their Diamond Jubilee, Friends of Cathedral Music are proud to announce a composition competition.

There are two strands:

1) A competition for composers of all ages to write a short Festal Introit for SATB choir, with or without organ.

The Festal Introit should be suitable for cathedral and church choirs. The hope is that this piece will be performed frequently by choirs – composers should bear in mind the restrictions on rehearsal times when determining the difficulty and length of their piece.

The winning introit will be premiered at Southwark Cathedral by the cathedral choir as part of a Festival Service for the Diamond Jubilee of the Friends of Cathedral Music. Copies of the music will be sent to every cathedral choir and corporate FCM member choir in the British Isles.

2) A competition for composers of all ages to write a Recessional Voluntary for organ, of between three and four minutes.

The organ voluntary should be based to some extent on the notes F-C-F-D-E, a musical equivalent of the abbreviation ‘FCM-LX’. The method by which the notes are used is left to the discretion of the composer.

The winning organ voluntary will be premiered at Southwark Cathedral as part of a Festival Service for the Diamond Jubilee of the Friends of Cathedral Music. A copy of the organ voluntary will be sent to every cathedral choir and corporate FCM member choir in the British Isles.

The competition will be judged by the composer Bob Chilcott; Christopher Robinson, former director of music at St John’s College Cambridge; and Christopher Gower, former director of music at Peterborough Cathedral.

Deadline for entries is 29 February 2016.

To view the complete rules and regulations, please visit the FCM website: www.fcm.org.uk

CD REVIEWS

CHORAL CDs

BOB CHILCOTT

St John Passion

Wells Cathedral Choir

Director: Matthew Owens

Organ: Jonathan Vaughn

Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle; The Garden; Peter’s Denial; Miserere, my Maker; The Judgement Hall I; Christ, my beloved; The Judgement Hall II; Away, vain world; Jesus is crucified; The crucifixion; Jesus, my leman; Jesus dies on the cross; When I survey the wondrous cross.

SIGNUM SIGCD412 TT 67:46

Mr Chilcott is justly celebrated as the composer of wellcrafted and highly effective anthems, carols and part-songs. We now find him responding to the challenge of setting a demanding and lengthy text, and the result is a work of real quality and substance. The St John Passion for soloists, choir and congregation is his response to a commission from Wells Cathedral for a setting of the traditional Gospel narrative from the King James Bible, and it has become an established part of the Palm Sunday liturgy at Wells. The scoring is notably economical, requiring in addition to the organ only a small brass ensemble, timpani, viola and cello. Small choral societies might do well to give the work more than a passing glance, for this reason if for no other. The tenor soloist takes the traditional role of evangelist; his lengthy passages of recitative are set in arioso style with instrumental accompaniment, as are the words of Christ, Pilate etc.; the choir takes the part of the crowd in traditional fashion and also is assigned several settings of non-Biblical words reflective of the scenes being narrated. The composer’s own tunes to well-known hymns are a notable inclusion, perhaps the most immediately attractive part of the work; they are admirably sung in this recording by the cathedral’s choral society and special choir. It scarcely needs saying that the cathedral choir (boys and girls together) is as excellent as ever, and great praise is owed to the various soloists whether vocal or instrumental, especially to the Evangelist (Ed Lyon), whose singing is notable for its control, expressiveness and clarity of enunciation. This is a fine CD, well worth your attention.

Timothy Storey

O SACRUM CONVIVIUM!

French Sacred Choral Works

Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge

Dir: Andrew Nethsingha

Organ: Edward Picton-Turbervill

Vierne Messe solennelle; Poulenc Quatre petites prières de Saint François d’Assise; Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence; Messiaen O sacrum convivium; Langlais Messe solennelle.

CHANDOS CHAN 10842 TT 64:25

I have to say, at the outset, that this is a wonderful recording. The three sets of a cappella pieces, two by Poulenc and one by Messiaen, are beautifully performed. It is a total joy to listen to these, and marvel at the choir’s perfect blend and tuning. Especially so in Poulenc’s penitence motets, which are a huge challenge, and one that Nethsingha’s young musicians meet with total confidence – listen to the unanimity of attack in Timor et tremor and Tristis est anima mea, for example.

The two Masses with organ sound absolutely splendid. The organ parts are delivered with panache by Edward PictonTurbervill, with an extra pair of hands in the Vierne Mass supplied by Joseph Wicks. The latter also features as tenor soloist in Poulenc’s Petites Prières; thus, he makes his recording debut as both singer and player on the same disc!

As I said, a delight throughout, and a reminder of those distant days when George Guest introduced us all to the glories of Langlais and Poulenc. How excellent that that tradition lives on in Andrew Nethsingha. Warmly recommended.

Roger Judd

NORTHERN LIGHTS

Ēriks Ešenvalds

Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge

Dir: Stephen Layton

O salutaris hostia; The new moon; Psalm 67; Trinity Te Deum; Northern Lights; The heavens flock; The earthly rose; Merton College Magnificat & Nunc dimittis; Rivers of light; Ubi caritas; Amazing grace; O Emmanuel; Who can sail without the wind?; Stars; Only in sleep.

HYPERION CDA68083 TT 67:48

The Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds spent three years attached to Trinity College Cambridge and forged a fruitful partnership with Stephen Layton and the college choir. Some of the results of this partnership are to be heard on this CD, others were written for American and other British choirs. Ešenvalds, himself a tenor, sang with the excellent State Choir Latvija for several years, and this experience clearly colours his writing.

Ešenvalds’ musical style is immediately appealing, but that is not to say it is either bland or unadventurous – it is neither. The composer draws the listener into his sound-world, and a feeling of trust quickly develops. He clearly has an innate feeling for words and how to set them, and throughout this CD there is a richness in his music that I enjoyed immensely. Much of it is a cappella, and the tuning of the choir is faultless. The Te Deum is recorded in Ely Cathedral and uses organ, harp, brass and percussion. The harp is used elsewhere, as is the jaw harp, and on three tracks the choir members play tuned wine glasses.

No composer could wish for more committed performers

than this group, and Ešenvalds’ music is wonderfully realised by Layton and his singers and players. It must be said too that there is some glorious solo singing. Fellow composer Gabriel Jackson has written the excellent booklet, and the whole production is typical of the very best of Hyperion. Do explore this music – warmly recommended.

Roger Judd

PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE

New Chamber Singers

Dir: Andrea Cappelleri

Harmonium: Riccardo Bonci; Pianists: Filippo Farinelli and Sabina Belei

2 CDs

Petite Messe Solennelle. Appendix O salutaris de campagne

BRILLIANT CLASSICS 94459 TT 95:27

I have long held the view that had some form of the Trades Description Act existed when Rossini first composed this work then he would surely have been prosecuted! At almost 90 minutes long, the Mass is not short and is certainly some way from being solemn, having a mostly joyful and upbeat character. In reality, the name is derived from the fact that the work can be performed in a small venue, as the (original) instrumentation consists of two pianos and a harmonium and the composer’s inscription on the original score indicates that 12 singers will be enough for a performance: three soloists, three men, three women and three castrati! Rossini later orchestrated it, but this recording uses the original version, which dates from 1863.

On this recording, the New Chamber Singers, consisting of 14 men and 21 women, are joined by four soloists and three instrumentalists, directed by Andrea Cappelleri. The choir is based in Rome and is made up mainly of English speakers. The length of the work largely precludes its liturgical performance but as a concert work it is both exciting and a little bit away from the mainstream. On this recording the soloists (all of whom are opera singers) and the choir enter into the spirit of the work, whilst the keyboard players faithfully reproduce Rossini’s accompaniment. Readers who have not discovered this work will do well to do so.

Tim Rogerson

MUSIC FOR REMEMBRANCE

The Choir of Westminster Abbey

Conductor: James O’Donnell

Organist: Robert Quinney

Christine Rice mezzo-soprano Roderick

Williams baritone Britten Sinfonia

Duruflé Requiem; Vaughan Williams Lord, thou hast been our refuge; Moore Three prayers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Howells Take him, earth, for cherishing; Tavener The peace that surpasseth understanding.

HYPERION CDA68020

This recording from Westminster Abbey offers a diverse range of musical styles. Duruflé’s setting of the requiem is performed in the version for choir and small orchestra, ideal for the choral forces. The choir is on top form throughout and the orchestral playing superb. The organ part is integral to the score, and Robert Quinney’s playing is outstanding, with every nuance observed to the letter. The performance reflects James O’Donnell’s seemingly intuitive approach to Duruflé’s writing. Roderick Williams’ dramatic account of the score and Christina Rice’s passionate interpretation of the Pie Jesu are both highly moving. The Hyperion recording

is skilfully engineered. Readers who already possess Matthew Best’s performance with the Corydon Singers will notice some subtle differences in that O’Donnell occasionally uses the trebles to sing in the alto part. The timbre of the two treblepart writing is most effective in the Christes, adding poignancy in a most moving interpretation of the work.

Vaughan Williams’ Lord, thou hast been our refuge is less well known. It is rare to encounter such a convincing and unified performance of this rather fragmented piece. The reflective and pianissimo unison line at the beginning, sung by a semi-chorus against the hymn ‘O God our help in ages past’ performed by the main chorus, is as passionate here as in the triumphant recapitulation when the material is heard fortissimo with the addition of an obbligato trumpet part played by Paul Archibald.

Philip Moore’s prolific and profound writing is beginning to receive wide acclaim, and the three pieces enrich Bonhoeffer’s text to great effect. The Westminster choir gives a passionate reading of Take him, earth where the juxtaposition of Howells’ tender melodic lines contrasts starkly with his tense harmonic language. These tracks were recorded in the more intimate setting of St Alban’s, Holborn.

Tavener’s The peace that surpasseth understanding was commissioned by the Abbey in 2009 to commemorate the fallen in both World Wars. This is a powerful performance and the four massive organ chords towards the end, representing the Four Angels before the Throne of God, give a wonderful sense of theatre within the resonance of the Abbey’s acoustics.

There is no shortage of substantial works on this disc, and I am happy to suggest that readers who enjoy 20th-century choral music should make it a priority to add this to their library.

David Thorne

OUT OF DARKNESS

Music from Lent to Trinity

The Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge.

Director: Mark Williams

Organists: Benjamin Morris, Bertie Baigent

Byrd Cunctis diebus; Purcell Remember not, Lord, our offences; Bairstow The Lamentation; Laloux Tantum ergo; Casals O vos omnes; Stanford Ye choirs of new Jerusalem; L’Heritier Surrexit pastor bonus; Britten Festival Te Deum; Langlais Incantation pour un jour saint; MacMillan Sedebit Dominus Rex; Hurford Litany to the Holy Spirit; Tallis If ye love me; Ives Listen, sweet dove; Rorem Breathe on me, breath of God; Elgar The Spirit of the Lord; Sheppard Libera nos; Stainer I saw the Lord.

SIGNUM SIGCD409 TT 75:45

This anthology is a skilful mixture of popular favourites and a few welcome novelties both ancient and modern, among which I especially enjoyed the works by Byrd, L’Heritier and Ned Rorem. The performances are of a very high standard, with the exception of a curiously sluggish and wooden rendition of Bairstow’s Lamentation, a full minute and a half longer than that on a recording (Priory PRCD 365) by the choir of York Minster, where they are surely not in the habit of rushing things! The college choir’s undergraduate sopranos and the chapel choir’s boys are heard separately and in combination, both ‘top lines’ being supported by the same group of alto, tenor and bass choral scholars. All sing very well; the boys sound so delightful in Peter Hurford’s Litany and Bill Ives’s lyrical Listen, sweet dove that I wish they had been given more to do; but they surely will have enjoyed joining the ladies in Ye choirs of new Jerusalem and The Spirit of

the Lord, and in I saw the Lord, where the ‘verse’ singers include a perfectly blended combination of two boy trebles and a soprano, unusual but effective. Great credit is due also to both the organ scholars for their admirable accompaniments; Benjamin Morris also contributes a solo performance, the Langlais Incantation, well played and an apt demonstration of the chapel’s fine new (2007) organ. A first-rate CD, strongly recommended.

Timothy Storey

MAGNIFICAT

Sacred Choral Music by Nicholas Wilton

Recorded at St Michael’s, Highgate Dir: Philip Cave Organ: Matthew Martin Ave in aeternum; Requiem aeternam; Optimam partem I; Ave Maria; O salutaris; Ave verum; Tantum ergo; Panis angelicus; In manus tuas, Domine; Cor meum; Beata viscera Mariæ; Ave Maria; Optimam partem II; Felix namque es. PHILANGELUS (from tutti.co.uk) TT 29:55

Just to avoid (or increase) confusion, Magnificat does not refer to any of this music but is the name of the group of singers who perform it. They are extremely good, and it is a very great delight to listen to them. Nicholas Wilton (b.1959) is an avowedly Catholic composer, and it has been said that much of his work has been inspired by the great Catholic composers of the 16th century, but (rather more fittingly) that he moves into harmonies more reminiscent of the 19thcentury Romantic composers, which is hardly surprising as he grew up to the sound of Mozart and Schubert sung by his mother. Much of the music on this disc is written in this agreeable and undemanding style, pleasant to hear and, as I said earlier, very well performed by Magnificat

Timothy Storey

THE CHURCH MUSIC OF SAMUEL SEBASTIAN WESLEY

Choir of St Peter’s College, Oxford Dir: Roger Allen

O give thanks unto the Lord; Thou wilt keep him; Blessed be the God and Father; M&N in E major; The Wilderness; Wash me throughly; Praise the Lord, my soul.

OXRECS OXCD-129

Many readers will already be aware that Samuel Sebastian Wesley was one of the prime movers in the revitalisation of music and worship in cathedrals in the 19th century. Wesley served at no fewer than four English cathedrals – Hereford (from 1832), Exeter (from 1835), Winchester (from 1849) and Gloucester (from 1865) – and also did a seven-year stint running the music at Leeds parish church (from 1842). The earliest two works (The Wilderness and Blessed be the God and Father) on this disc date from Wesley’s time at Hereford and almost certainly reflect the standard of performance that Wesley encountered in his three years there, as both pieces feature significant amounts of solo work for a small number of singers with a relatively limited part for the full choir. Wash me thoroughly dates from Wesley’s time in Exeter, whilst the evening canticles were written when Wesley was in post in Leeds. The most recent (1861) work on this recording is Praise the Lord, my soul, (rather irritatingly titled Praise the Lord, O my soul on the CD), was written for the opening of the organ at Holy Trinity

Church in Winchester (where the reviewer has occasionally played for services albeit now on an electronic organ).

The choir of St Peter’s consisted of 12 sopranos, five altos, five tenors and ten basses together with two organ scholars (who share the playing) for this recording. Overall, the balance among the singers, and between the singers and the organ, is good, with the sopranos avoiding too much vibrato. The organ scholars put in splendid performances, especially Mary Ann Wootton who dispenses the intricate accompaniments to The Wilderness and Praise the Lord with great aplomb. One particularly striking feature of Wesley’s anthems is his habit of taking the texts from a variety of sources. Blessed be the God and Father is unusual in that the text comes entirely from the first Epistle of St Peter (although not using consecutive verses), whilst even a short anthem such as Thou will keep him uses verses from three different books of the Bible including two separate psalms. Wesley’s longer anthems do not feature on every cathedral’s music list so it is good to have this recording available. Recommended.

Tim Rogerson

A YEAR AT MANCHESTER

Choir of Manchester Cathedral

Dir: Christopher Stokes

Organ: Jeffrey Makinson

Mendelssohn I waited for the Lord; Jeffrey Makinson The Spirit of the Lord; Trad arr Simon Preston I saw three ships; Crotch Lo!

Star-led chiefs; Christopher Stokes Breathe on me, breath of God; How awesome is this place; Joubert O Lorde, the maker of al thing; Tallis In ieiunio et fletu; John IV of Portugal Crux fidelis; Byrd Haec dies; Vaughan Williams O clap your hands; Bingham Corpus Christi Carol; Johnson Manning Salve Regina; Harris Strengthen ye the weak hands; Robert Ashfield The fair chivalry; Brahms Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen; Mathias Festival Te Deum.

REGENT REGCD443 TT 65:26

I was very taken with this CD, and I have been telling my friends all about it. Most impressive is the sheer quality of the singing by Manchester’s 14 trebles (3 boys and 11 girls, very well trained) and 12 lay clerks; they produce a free and relaxed sound which is strong and full-bodied but never strident, more than a match for the cathedral’s dry acoustic and robust Harrison organ. A year’s music at Manchester cannot draw on the compositions of Great Former Organists; I cannot call to mind forgotten gems by Kendrick Pyne, J Frederick Bridge, Sydney Nicholson, Archibald W Wilson and Norman Cocker, though perhaps Ernest Bullock (Nicholson’s assistant) could have been included, but the cathedral’s present-day musicians Messrs Stokes and Makinson (the latter now translated to Lincoln) have most ably enriched the liturgy with the music included in this anthology; the former’s How awesome is this place is especially fine. Special to Manchester also are the excellent commissioned works of Judith Bingham, Sasha Johnson Manning and the late and much-missed William Mathias, whose sprightly Festival Te Deum concludes in fine style a programme which is notably successful in matching suitable music to the liturgical year. The works by Ashfield, Harris, Mendelssohn, Preston and Vaughan Williams are a welcome inclusion and deserve to be more widely performed; it was also good to hear Brahms in his own version with piano duet accompaniment. And where would we be without Tallis (sung here by the lay clerks alone), John IV and Byrd? As you may have gathered, I am very enthusiastic about this CD. Buy it now!

Timothy Storey

CHORAL EVENSONG FOR EASTER DAY

Durham Cathedral Choir

Dir: James Lancelot

Organ: Francesca Massey/ David Ratnanayagam

Howells Rhapsody in D flat Op. 7 No. 1; Eden Easter Acclamations; M Berkeley

First the sun, then the shadow; F Jackson Preces & Responses, Lesser Litany; John Casken M&N, Wesley Blessed be the God and Father; Tournemire/Duruflé Choral improvisation sur le victimae paschali.

PRIORY PRCD1126

There have been a number of recordings of Choral Evensong issued over the years, and this service for Easter Day is a welcome addition to the genre – effectively putting cathedral choirs in their natural habitat of singing the daily office. The intention is, of course, to present the music that might be sung in the cathedral on a particular day together with the lessons and prayers that also form part of the service, with organ music before the service and the final voluntary completing the service.

Full marks to Durham for including the longer of the two Common Worship psalm choices (ps.105) for Easter Day evensong on the recording rather than the more frequently chosen 11 verses of Psalm 66. No fewer than four chants are used and the choir makes the most of the psalmist’s wonderfully descriptive words including, ‘Their land brought forth frogs : yea, even in the King’s chambers’ with suitably colourful accompaniment.

Three of the works are associated with Durham. Conrad Eden’s splendid Easter Acclamations are sung before the introit (Eden was organist at Durham for almost 40 years in the last century), whilst First the sun, then the shadow was commissioned by the cathedral using a text written by Rowan Williams as were Casken’s canticles, to mark the return of the Lindisfarne Gospels to the north-east of England in 2013. The introit recorded here is rather long as an introit, but it’s fair to assume that it is included in this position because this is a recording and not a live service. Francis Jackson’s Responses are not widely performed but provide a refreshing change from some of the more frequently used settings.

The highlight of the disc for me was the Wesley anthem, which had a certain ‘Rolls Royce’ quality to it, with a splendid soloist, perfectly matched accompaniment (faithfully following Wesley’s markings) and a sense of absolute commitment. Some readers will be interested to know that the girls sing the office hymn, the psalm and the canticles, the boys sing the introit and anthem, and the other parts of the service are sung by boys and girls (and men). Overall, a successful disc.

Tim Rogerson

GAUDEAMUS OMNES –celebrating

Warwick 1100

Choirs of St Mary’s Collegiate Church, Warwick

Dir: Thomas Corns

Organ: Mark Swinton

Bairstow Blessed City; Vaughan Williams O how amiable are thy dwellings; Harris Behold, the tabernacle of God; McKie We wait for thy loving kindness; Walton Jubilate; Moore M&N in A; F Jackson Exultet; Parry I was glad; MacMillan Gaudeamus; plainsong Gaudeamus; Briggs Gaudeamus; Shephard And when the builders.

REGENT REGCD461 TT 60:25

This is an ingeniously-chosen programme, somewhat loosely knit by the general theme of dedication, well performed by an excellent choir (boys, girls and men) singing the kind of music which suits it best and with which it is entirely comfortable; it has the happy gift of making rather ordinary music such as the anthems by Vaughan Williams and Harris sound much better than it really is. If much of this anthology is firmly on the beaten track, it includes also new works of great merit composed for the Warwick choir, Philip Moore’s lyrical and attractive evening canticles commissioned by the Friends of St Mary’s Girls’ Choir in 2004 and sung on this disc by the girls alone, and Gaudeamus omnes, a striking setting by David Briggs of the introit for the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The organ pieces by Francis Jackson and James MacMillan allow Mark Swinton and Thomas Corns respectively ample scope to display their considerable talents and to reveal the fine qualities of the church’s large and resourceful Nicholson organ. A very good CD, well worth your attention.

Timothy Storey

EVENSONG LIVE 2015

The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge

Conductor: Stephen Cleobury

Organists: Douglas Tang; Tom Etheridge Tallis Loquebantur variis linguis; Tallis Videte; Parsons Ave Maria; Swain Magnificat; Górecki Totus tuus; Poulenc Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël; Mendelssohn Hear my prayer; Parry Hear my words, ye people; Vaughan Williams Antiphon (from Five Mystical Songs); Alain Litanies. KGS0011 TT 78:26

The title of this disc is confusing. It is not a recording of a live Evensong but a compilation of anthems performed within services during 2013 and 2014. The only canticle setting is the Magnificat by Giles Swayne, sung with great alacrity and panache.

The singing is of the quality associated with King’s. The opening track contains highly intricate contrapuntal writing sung by the choral scholars and is noticeably soloistic. There are inevitably occasions here where the recorded sound is somewhat claustrophobic. In fact, there is no indication whether any of the tracks were balanced or monitored, although comment is made in the extensive inlay notes regarding the high-tech equipment used, and there is also a comprehensive description of the microphone placing, which in itself might account for the variability in ambient sound.

There are some fine interpretations, notably in the Parsons and Górecki, where the dynamic range is well captured. Poulenc’s colourful and idiomatic style is most convincing in the performance of his Christmas motets. The interpretation of the Mendelssohn reveals true musicality from the treble soloist Tom Pickard, although there are some rather odd vowel sounds! Parry’s Hear my words is arguably the highlight of the disc and reflects an element of enjoyment from both singers and organist alike. Douglas Tang’s accompaniments throughout are of an impeccably high standard, and Tom Etheridge’s performance of Litanies is more than safe.

I wish King’s had produced an Evensong specifically made for CD. However, this disc is a cross section of everyday musicmaking at King’s; Henry Hawkesworth remarks in the liner notes that having heard the CD, newcomers to the world of Evensong might be tempted to sample the services for themselves, either at King’s or at their local cathedral. His last sentence is especially welcome. ‘Listeners will undoubtedly

find it [Evensong] to be one of the jewels of our national heritage, but also, and more importantly, very much alive.’

David Thorne

SIX ANTHEMS

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge

Dir: Stephen Cleobury

David Goode: Anthems for All Saints’ Day; St Catharine’s Day; St Cecilia’s Day; St Peter’s Day; Anthem for the Visitation; Anthem for Christ the King; Variations on a Theme by Francis Warner.

OXRECS DIGITAL OXCD-123

There is a real shortage of anthems for saints’ days, so this collection of six anthems by David Goode is much to be welcomed. They certainly require a choir and organist of a high calibre. Few, if any, can match the superb standard of the choir of King’s College Cambridge which, under their director Stephen Cleobury, performs the anthems most convincingly. David Goode was a former organ scholar of King’s himself and has been Organist of Eton College since 2005. The stimulating texts of the anthems, written by the musician, poet and playwright Francis Warner, lend themselves well to musical treatment.

Goode tends to favour contrapuntal treatment, which aids structural unity; but inevitably the words can get a little lost. His illustration of the words is often colourful and he achieves effective climaxes at appropriate moments. Solo voices are used in places with the role of the organ varying according to the needs of the text. The Anthem for the Visitation is a cappella whilst the Anthem for Christ the King has three trumpets and two trombones in addition to the organ, which adds a truly festive atmosphere.

In between the six anthems there is the enjoyable Variations on a Theme by Francis Warner. Different musical styles are introduced, from a medieval dance through to a Bach chorale prelude and an 18th-century English voluntary to German and French Romantic styles. Here there is a lighter touch, displaying the colours of the King’s organ and the excellent playing of David Goode.

Fortunately, the notes give the text of the anthems and some biographical detail, but it would have been helpful to have something about the music, the names of the vocal soloists, and which organ scholar is playing. Overall, it is a well worthwhile CD.

Paul Morgan

HYMNS TO SAINT CECILIA

Choir of Royal Holloway with Dame

Felicity Lott (soprano)

Dir: Rupert Gough

MacMillan Cecilia Virgo; Vaughan Williams

Silence and Music; G Jackson La musique; Bernard Rose Feast Song for St Cecilia; Rodney Bennett Verses on St Cecilia’s Day; Elgar There is sweet music; Britten Hymn to St Cecilia; Howells A Hymn for St Cecilia; Dyson Live for ever, glorious Lord; Gardner A Song for St Cecilia’s Day; Bliss Sing, mortals! HYPERION CDA68047 TT 70:32

My initial reaction to this CD was one of surprise that until now no one had come up with such a splendid idea. Many of us will have heard of much of this music but never actually listened to it; now is our chance! The net has been cast wide to include works which celebrate music in general in addition

to those addressed to its patron saint; in the former category one would place most of the works herein included, be they sacred or secular. Special mention must be made of Elgar’s There is sweet music, his ingenious choral test-piece in which the lower voices sing in G major while the upper voices sing in A flat. It works! Then there is La musique, specially conceived by Gabriel Jackson as a showpiece for the voice of Felicity Lott who studied Modern Languages at Royal Holloway and of whom the college is quite justly proud; she sings (most wonderfully) in French while the choir offers a kind of simultaneous translation. The other commissioned work recorded here is Cecilia virgo, James MacMillan’s setting for unaccompanied double choir of a 16th-century prayer to the saint, a sparkling opening to a very fine programme; Cecilia is very definitely and directly addressed here as in Bernard Rose’s lovely Feast-Song and in the warm and friendly Hymn by Herbert Howells. I am never sure who is being addressed in Britten’s magical setting, which is certainly not church music, though some folk will insist on singing it as an anthem. The choir and organists are very much at home in this wide mixture of styles, and the performances are never less than excellent; I just wish these talented young singers would throw caution to the winds sometimes and sing with a little more freedom. For example, the opening of the Britten is somewhat earthbound, and surely more could have been made of the passage near the end where the singers are required to imitate various instruments; is it also too mischievous to suggest that vibrato is impossible on the open strings of a violin? Despite such very minor quibbles I regard this as a recording of the greatest interest and significance, a ‘must’ for any serious enthusiast.

Timothy Storey

CHORAL EVENSONG FROM SALISBURY CATHEDRAL

Choir of Salisbury Cathedral (men & boys)

Dir: David Halls

Organ: John Challenger

Howells Rhapsody Op. 17 No. 1; Rhapsody

Op. 17 No. 3; Alcock For Thou, Lord, art holy; Ayleward Preces & Responses; Alcock M&N in A; Elgar Light of the World; Sumsion Te Deum in G. PRIORY PRCD1118 TT 75:00

Although it is good to have a recording of a complete Evensong with readings and prayers, it is most unusual for such a service to last 75 minutes without a sermon. However, the recording includes both Psalm 78 with all its 73 verses (which, as all cathedral choristers will know, is the psalm appointed for the 15th evening) and a Te Deum before the final voluntary.

Although all the words are printed in the booklet, there are unfortunately no notes about the music. Not everyone would know that Sir Walter Alcock was appointed Organist of Salisbury Cathedral in 1916, retiring at the age of 85 in 1947. It is therefore appropriate that the introit and the canticles were composed by him; both are fine works but rarely heard. The ethereal opening of the Nunc Dimittis is one of the highlights of this CD.

Herbert Howells was briefly Alcock’s assistant at Salisbury, arriving in 1917 but staying only six months due to ill health. He may well have played his Rhapsody Op. 17 No. 1 whilst there, since it was composed in 1915, but not Rhapsody Op. 17 No. 3, which was composed six months after he left. John Challenger skilfully displays the distinctive colours of the historic Salisbury organ in his playing of these inspired works.

Elgar’s anthem Light of the World is given a convincing performance, although very occasionally spoilt for me (as elsewhere in the CD) by a slight unevenness in the choral blend. The Te Deum in G by Sumsion starts at a cracking pace which is balanced by several lovely restful moments. What shines throughout the recording is how well Sumsion, Howells, Elgar and Alcock understood the wonderful tradition of English cathedral music. This recording of their music is most welcome.

Paul Morgan

HYMNS from BATH ABBEY Choir of Bath Abbey

Dir: Peter King

Organ: Marcus Sealy

Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven; Dear Lord and Father; Ye holy angels bright; Lo, he comes with clouds descending; A great and mighty wonder; Brightest and best; The day thou gavest; Breathe on me, breath of God; All for Jesus; When I survey the wondrous cross; Praise to the holiest in the height; Alleluia, Alleluia, hearts to heaven; Abide with me; All hail the power of Jesus’ name; There’s a wideness in God’s mercy; Thou, whose almighty word; Crown him with many crowns; O worship the King; Jesus shall reign; O thou who camest from above; Immortal, invisible; Angel voices ever singing; Come, labour on; Lord of all hopefulness.

REGENT

REGCD445 TT 70:26

If you like traditional hymns sung with admirable clarity of enunciation at a sensible speed and largely without gimmicks apart from an over-indulgence in last-verse descants, this is the CD for you. Sometimes the Abbey’s congregation joins the choir’s excellent boys, girls and men, with splendid effect. Of special interest are the not-so-familiar but extremely beautiful tunes to Brightest and best and Breathe on me, breath of God; Thomas Tertius Noble’s stirring tune to Come, labour on may also be unfamiliar to many. It is also good to have Dear Lord and Father in Parry’s original through-composed version of the tune from his oratorio Judith, and to encounter Arthur Somerville’s tune to Praise to the holiest in the height in its extended version with varied organ harmonies, as in his cantata The Passion of Christ. Perhaps we could have heard more of the organ here, but otherwise its balance with the voices is beyond reproach, and the recorded sound is up to Regent’s usual excellent standard.

Timothy Storey

A KNIGHT’S PROGRESS

The Temple Church Choir

Dir: Roger Sayer

Organ: Greg Morris

Parry I was glad; Walton The Twelve; Muhly Our Present Charter; Tavener Mother of God, here I stand; Vaughan Williams Valiantfor-Truth; Bairstow Blessed City; Haydn Te Deum in C major.

SIGNUM SIGCD410 TT 58:45

This is an excellent recording of mostly 20th-century English music sung by the Temple Church Choir under their new director Roger Sayer. The boy choristers sing particularly well, ably supported by a large set of choirmen. Twenty-six men are named in the accompanying booklet (compared to just seven listed on the Salisbury Cathedral Evensong recording!). Throughout, the choir sing enthusiastically and confidently, and Greg Morris’s colourful organ accompaniment is faultlessly in time with the choir.

At the heart of this CD is the first recording of the cantata Our Present Charter by the American composer Nico Muhly. The work was commissioned for the Temple Choir to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta. Two of the four sections use words from the Magna Carta, while the other sections take as texts the Beatitudes, and the hymn Thy Kingdom Come. The music is melodious and immediately approachable, with a number of contemporary ideas highlighting the text in an original and imaginative way.

Parry’s I was glad and Bairstow’s Blessed City are beautifully sung, and I particularly enjoyed the sparkling performance of Walton’s The Twelve. Tavener’s Mother of God, here I stand is from his seven-hour-long vigil The Veil of the Temple, first performed in the Temple Church in 2003. Its inclusion brings some quietness and reflection into a mainly vigorous programme as does much of the motet Valiant-for-Truth by Vaughan Williams, which sets words from Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress

Haydn’s Te Deum in C brings this highly recommended CD to a lively and uplifting ending.

Paul Morgan

ORGAN CDs

AVE MARIS STELLA

Anne Page plays the organ of Little St Mary’s, Cambridge Scheidemann Magnificat quinti toni; Bach Prelude in G BWV 568; ‘Gigue’ Fugue in G BWV 577; Choral Fantasia on ‘Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält’; Mendelssohn Allegro in D minor/major; Aprahamian Liddle English Organ Mass; Bull Salve Regina; Ian de Massini Ave maris stella; Peeters Toccata, Fugue et Hymne sur ‘Ave maris stella’; Buxtehude Magnificat primi toni.

REGENT REGCD436 TT 75:15

This recording is dedicated to the memory of Kenneth Tickell, whose sudden death last year took from us one of our finest organ builders. He built the organ of Little St Mary’s, Cambridge in 2007, and Anne Page has cleverly taken the theme of the Virgin Mary to devise a programme which demonstrates the versatility of this relatively small 2-manual organ with music dating from around 1600 to the present day. Her organ-playing is a delight throughout, the music being conveyed with great clarity and attention to detail. She writes useful notes about the pieces and gives details of the registration used.

Bach is represented by three works, one of which (the Choral Fantasia ‘Wo Gott der Herr’) has only recently come to light. Pieces by Scheidemann and Buxtehude based on the Magnificat are included which, like the five verses of Salve Regina by John Bull, allow a variety of registrations to be used. The 19th century is represented by Mendelssohn’s Allegro (Chorale, Fugue) in D which demonstrates the composer’s dedication to the music of Bach. A highlight of this recording is Anne Page’s performance of Flor Peeters’ Toccata, Fugue et Hymne sur ‘Ave maris stella’ where she captures the full exhilaration of the music.

Two contemporary works by composers with Cambridge connections are included. Although I enjoyed parts of David Aprahamian Liddle’s English Organ Mass Op. 6, I have to confess that some of the more austere moments were rather heavy going. By comparison, Ian de Massini’s Ave maris stella was certainly easy listening.

The recording ends with Buxtehude’s splendid Magnificat primi toni, another highlight of this recommended CD.

Paul Morgan

THE COMPLETE ORGAN WORKS OF THOMAS TERTIUS NOBLE

John Scott Whiteley plays the organ of York Minster

Preludes on Dundee, Rockingham, St Anne, St Kilda, Aberystwyth, Tallis’s Canon, Watchman; A Highland Sketch; Desert Lament; An Elizabethan Idyll; Fantasy on Leoni; Pastorale-Prelude on a Chinese Christmas Carol; Revery; Prélude solennel; Intermezzo in A flat; A Summer Idyll; Two Traditional Hebrew Melodies; Introduction and Passacaglia.

PRIORY PRCD1116 TT 79:56

T. Tertius Noble will be known to many readers for his set of evening canticles in B minor, and probably not much else. He was organist of York Minster for 15 years (1897-1912), and then moved to St Thomas, 5th Avenue, New York where he worked for 30 years (1913-43) – he died in 1953. John Scott Whiteley, having worked at York Minster for 35 years and now Organist Emeritus, has researched the work of his predecessor, and this CD is the first of three to record Noble’s complete œuvre. Whiteley’s booklet is full of fascinating insights into the composer’s life and work. The repertoire of the first disc displays a rich variety of the styles. We move from salon music (An Elizabethan Idyll) through a group of hymn preludes to the magisterial (Introduction and Passacaglia of 1932).

Whiteley is a splendidly persuasive guide through all the pieces. Of course, no one knows the York Minster organ better than he, and his use of its myriad colours, always at the service of the music, makes for most enjoyable listening. Neil Collier’s recording allows all this to be heard perfectly. I, for one, am looking forward to Vols II and III to explore more of this repertoire. Warmest congratulations to John Scott Whiteley for bringing this neglected composer to wider notice.

Roger Judd

WILLIAM FAULKES

Duncan Ferguson plays the organ of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh Festival Prelude on ‘Ein’ feste Burg’; Fantasia; Scherzo symphonique concertant; Theme (varied) in E flat; Barcarolle in B flat; Concert Overture in E flat; Fantasia on Old Welsh Airs; Légende and Finale; arr Faulkes Mélodie in F. DELPHIAN DCD34148 TT 75:26

Well – I wonder how many readers know of William Faulkes. Before the arrival of this CD I certainly didn’t, and having listened to it, I much regret that ignorance. The music is utterly engaging, and Duncan Ferguson has brought it splendidly to life. Perhaps the easiest way to give a handle to this music is to say that Alfred Hollins springs quickly to mind. It is crafted with the same flair, imagination and compositional skill as Hollins has, and is immediately appealing. For the performer, the technical demands are considerable, but Ferguson makes light of them. His management of the fine instrument in St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh is exemplary, and the Willis organ suits the music perfectly.

Delphian’s recording is admirable – all the detail is there, but so also is the sense of a large building surrounding the sound. All round a fine production, and one to be warmly applauded.

Roger Judd

GREAT EUROPEAN ORGANS No. 93

Konstantin Volostnov plays the Walcker organ of Riga Dom, Latvia

Glazunov Prelude & Fugue in D major Op. 93; Prelude & Fugue in D minor Op. 98; Vyancheslav Karatygin Prelude & Fugue ‘A la Russe’; Bach Prelude & Fugue in D major BWV 532; Georgy Catoire Prelude & Fugue Op. 16; Alexander Goedicke Prelude & Fugue in C minor Op. 34 No. 1; Prelude & Fugue in E flat major Op. 34 No. 2 PRIORY PRCD 1111 TT 73:20

The highly impressive and formidable 4-manual Flentrop organ dates from 1984, although there is reliable evidence of an organ in the St Maria Cathedral dating from 1601. This particular disc is very much designed for the organ connoisseur, with the only well-known work being the Bach Prelude and Fugue. Here, Konstantin Volostnov’s virtuosic technique is displayed to the full. Much of the programme is a little dry and does not lend itself for easy listening. The Glazunov pieces do not match the quality of his orchestral writing although the Karatygin Prelude and Fugue makes an enjoyable listen with references to Russian folksongs. The Catoire is a dark and intense work but the power of the organ is certainly felt towards the end of the piece. The Goedicke Preludes and Fugues very much reflect the composer’s Germanic background although the harmonic language is surprisingly very much Baroque in style. The programme notes are highly informative, and despite these recordings being more for a niche market, Neil Collier should be congratulated on this enterprising project of building a massive recorded archive of some of the finest organs throughout Europe.

David Thorne

THE ENGLISH CATHEDRAL Series

Vol XIX

David Humphreys plays the organ of Peterborough Cathedral Parry Fantasia and Fugue in G; Bull Salve Regina I; Schumann Study for the Pedal Piano; Reger Toccata in D minor & Fugue in D major; Buxtehude Choral Fantasia on ‘Wie schön leuchtet’; Elgar trans Lemare Sursum corda; Mozart Fantasia in F minor; Moore Andante tranquillo; Dupré Final from Sept Pièces.

REGENT REGCD459 TT 63:07

The large Romantic organ of Peterborough Cathedral is excellently displayed in this recording by David Humphreys, the Assistant Director of Music there since 2011. The 1894 William Hill organ was restored by Harrisons in 1981 but a fire in 2001 necessitated another rebuild, and work is currently being carried out to bring the organ down to concert pitch.

David Humphreys gives excellent accounts of Parry’s wonderful Fantasia & Fugue in G, Schumann’s Canonic Study in B minor and Reger’s Toccata & Fugue in D, all of which suit the organ so well. His playing displays fine technical ability with an assured sensitivity to musical style. Incidentally, I also enjoyed his informative programme notes.

Although no music of J S Bach is included, his influence is greatly felt in the contrapuntal pieces by Reger, Mozart, Schumann and Parry. Bach himself was influenced by a journey to Lübeck to hear Dietrich Buxtehude. David Humphreys plays Buxtehude’s Choral Fantasia on ‘Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern’, which reveals the exuberance and rhythmic vitality of the composer’s style.

John Bull’s Salve Regina features some of the organ’s more delicate stops and requires the Tudor composer’s legendary virtuosity in a couple of the five verses. Also included is Lemare’s transcription of Elgar’s Sursum Corda for strings, brass, timpani and organ which brings into play some of the orchestral tones of the Peterborough organ. This rarely heard work was composed in 1894 for a performance in Worcester Cathedral.

After an energetic performance of Mozart’s Fantasia in F minor, the reflective slow movement of Philip Moore’s Organ Sonata brings some peace and calm before David Humphreys launches into the rousing Final of Marcel Dupré’s Sept Pièces to conclude this fine CD.

Paul Morgan

GREEN AND PLEASANT LAND

Kevin Bowyer plays the organ of Woburn Parish Church

Frank Heddon Bond Chorus in E flat; Ernest Halsey Cantilena in A flat; Toccata in C minor; Chant joyeux; Guy Michell Chant pastorale; Henry Holloway Novellette No. 1; Oliver Arthur King Intermede; Marche funèbre; Owen Henry Powell Toccata; Grand Choeur; Bernard Johnson Lullaby; George Whitfield Andrews March in C minor; Maurice Burgess Allegro pomposo; William Filby Calm in Sorrow; Bernard Jackson Nocturne; Charles Montague Birch Processional March; Julius Harrison Notturno; Albert Renaud

Melodie in E.

PRIORY PRCD1131

This is a delightful CD. Don’t be put off – almost certainly you will have never heard of any of these composers, or these pieces. In the notes, Kevin Bowyer explains that he was bowled over by the 1904 Norman & Beard organ and the excellent acoustics of Woburn parish church and felt it ought to be preserved on disc. To display the instrument, he has selected 18 pieces from The Organ Loft, a monthly periodical of organ music issued between 1900 and 1915. The large 3manual organ of Woburn remains unchanged from 1904, although it has naturally been overhauled a couple of times. This organ is, therefore, just right to resurrect this ‘forgotten’ music.

It comes as a surprise to hear the high quality of the music from so many obscure composers. Ernest Halsey is represented by three enjoyable pieces which are tuneful and witty. Apart from being an organist, he was apparently a stockbroker, humourist and novelist (under the name Ashley Sterne – think about it). The music ranges from a charming Lullaby by Bernard Johnson of Bridlington Priory, to an impressive Processional March by Montague Birch, conductor of Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra and friend of Percy Whitlock. Incidentally, this detail comes from the excellent CD notes written by Kevin Bowyer. Whilst thinking of the CD, it is a pity that the cover photograph is of St Bees, Cumbria. There’s plenty of green around Woburn and its lovely church.

The organ is a true delight, with a rich diapason chorus and full pedal, delicate flutes and strings, excellent reeds, and even a fine Vox Humana. Kevin Bowyer plays the programme

with great artistry and is to be congratulated on producing such a worthwhile CD.

Paul Morgan

ON A LIGHTER NOTE

Frikki Walker plays the organ of St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow

Oliphant Chuckerbutty Paean; Mozart Eine kleine Nachtmusik; Peeters Aria; Verdi Grand March from ‘Aida’; Giazotto/Albinoni Adagio in G minor; Charles Callahan The Rejoicing; Elgar Salut d’amour; Vaughan Williams Rhosymedre; David Llewellyn Green Vivo; Bach Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier; Christopher Tambling Trumpet Tune; Andrew Carter Aria; Walton March, Elegy and Scherzetto from film ‘Richard III’; Frikki Walker Aria; Williams Star Wars; Ogden Penguins’ Playtime; Piers Kennedy A Scottish Fancy; Max Steiner Theme from ‘A Summer Place’; Lefébure-Wély Sortie in E flat. OXRECS OXCD-128 TT 72:11

This is a curious affair, which leaves one pondering the precise meaning of ‘lighter’ in this context. The original compositions by Messrs Callahan, Kennedy, Lefébure-Wély, Llewellyn Green and Tambling are of a cheerful disposition but are hardly hilarious, and even Penguins’ Playtime seems a somewhat lugubrious occasion. The opening Paean does not precisely raise a laugh, although the composer’s name — Soorjo Alexander William Langobard Oliphant Chuckerbutty — is certainly unusual. The other genuine organ works, Liebster Jesu, Rhosymedre and the three Arias are beautiful and profound, but lighter? lighter than what? As to the Giazotto/Albinoni Adagio, when played on the organ it carries the ineradicable whiff of the crematorium. It and the other transcriptions, not least Star Wars and Theme from ‘A Summer Place’ left this listener much as it found him. Frikki (recte Friderik) Walker is a capable player who draws a variety of pleasant sounds from the cathedral’s large and colourful 3-manual, a fine old Harrison sadly not improved by a typical 1960s’ rebuild. If you enjoy this sort of programme, do not let me discourage you from adding it to your collection.

Timothy Storey

CAPE TOWN EXPERIENCE

Grant Bäsler plays the organ of St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town Whitlock Organ Sonata in C minor; Henk Temmingh Three Pieces for Organ; Franck Choral No. 2 in B minor; Elgar Organ Sonata in G major.

WILLOWHAYNE RECORDS WHR034

TT 63:57

Although the 1883 Hill organ of St Margaret’s Westminster was installed in the new St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town in 1909, this is the first recording that has been made of the large 4-manual instrument. Grant Bäsler, who has been Organist and Master of the Choristers there since 2013, very ably plays music which displays the Romantic character of the organ.

The recording begins with just the first movement of the Whitlock Organ Sonata. It is played with great gusto and the organ generally comes up with just the right timbre. One exception to this is where a Horn is required. As such a stop is not available, a substitute is found – probably a Harmonic Flute – which unfortunately sounds more like a distress signal coming in from the Cape! That apart, the organ does the job really well as it has a large diapason chorus with a weighty pedal (so frequently lacking on modern organs), delightful strings and a powerful Tuba.

Like myself, I doubt whether many readers will have heard of Henk Temmingh who was born in Amsterdam in 1939, later moving to South Africa. His short and attractive Three Pieces for Organ add a more contemporary style to the programme. After an enjoyable performance of César Franck’s Choral No. 2, the concluding work is a complete performance of Elgar’s magnificent Organ Sonata in G. The organ is very suitable for the work and Grant Bӓsler’s enthusiasm for the music shines throughout the performance, which is full of vigour and colour. It is good that the fine Cape Town Cathedral organ and its talented organist are brought to a larger audience through this recording and I would encourage you to listen to it.

Paul Morgan

IN TROUBLE AND JOY

Organ and Piano music by Martin How

Piano: Martin How

Organ: Tom Little

Organ music: Exultate; May Song; Winter Moonlight; Rhapsodie; Midsummer Serenade; Solemn Occasion; Assurity; Make a Cheerful Noise; Lament; Song of Thanksgiving; Poignant Memories; Playfulness; You Brought us Home; Finale. Piano music: Hilariter; Thoughts of Home; Rhapsody; Interlude; Reflections; Epilogue; Finale Appassionata. www.croydonminster.org

Martin How is best known for his work with the RSCM over many years and then for his choral compositions. Here, his organ and piano music is presented on the Hill organ and Broadwood piano of Croydon Minster (previously known as Croydon parish church). The organ music, played competently by Tom Little, sub-organist at Croydon Minster, uses the whole of the wide tonal spread of the Hill organ and is in a variety of styles. Martin How plays the piano music himself, which, as he explains in the notes accompanying the CD, ‘express the composer’s joy in having time in his retirement to play the vintage Broadwood grand piano early each morning at Croydon Minster’. Easy listening, in the best sense.

Tim Rogerson

SIGFRID KARG-ELERT

The Complete Organ Works Vol 12

Stefan Engels at the Marienkirche, Landau/Pfalz

Trois impressions Op. 72; Homage to Handel Op. 75; Partita for organ Op. 100

PRIORY PRCD 1088 TT 76:13

This is a remarkable disc; whichever way you look at it, it is totally extraordinary. The sheer scale of an undertaking that sets out to record every note Sigfrid Karg-Elert wrote for the organ is mind-boggling. Then to find instruments that will realise the composer’s acute ear for colour must have been a challenge. Finally, to find one player to bring this project to life – one would imagine this almost an impossibility. Along comes Stefan Engels, and the realisation of the music is sorted!

Volume 12 has now been reached, in partnership with the splendidly restored Steinmeyer organ in the Marienkirche, Landau in Germany. The instrument has the huge palette of colours demanded by the music, and a warm acoustic surrounds the sound, so that player, music and organ fit each other perfectly.

On this disc I suspect that, for most people, like me, the one familiar work will be the Homage to Handel, dedicated to the Royal College of Organists, and published in 1914. This piece is huge fun both to play and to listen to, and is based on the final movement of Handel’s Suite in G minor for harpsichord. Karg-Elert’s full title for this piece tells you what you can expect – 54 Studies in Variation Form on a Ground Bass of Handel

No less demanding are the Trois Impressions ; more French impressionism than German, receiving from Engels performances full of subtlety and colour. The seven-movement Partita of 1927 stretches player and instrument to the limit.

This CD is an exceptional achievement, both in the context of the overall project, and on its own terms. I am full of admiration for Stefan Engels’ championing of Karg-Elert, and Neil Collier’s recording of this larger-than-life music. Warmly recommended.

Roger Judd

GREAT EUROPEAN ORGANS No. 95

Rudolf Müller at the Monastery

Church, Mariannhill, Würzburg

Bach Prelude & Fugue in G BWV 541; Rütti

An fließenden Wassern; Gárdonyi Hommage

à F. Liszt; Pierné Trois pièces; Duruflé Scherzo Op. 2; Langlais Hymne d’action de grâce Te Deum; Reuchsel Recueillement et Béatitude; Jongen Scherzetto Op. 108; Reger Fantasie und Fuge über BACH.

PRIORY PRCD 1127 TT 69:48

Rudolf Müller was born in Würzburg, and has been associated with the music at the Monastery Church in Mariannhill since 1994. Therefore he is ideally suited to showcase this instrument, and he does so in an eclectic programme which takes us from Bach to Reger on BACH, via Rütti, Gárdonyi, Pierné, Duruflé, Langlais, Reuchsel and Jongen. The more familiar French and Belgian items in this repertoire are decently enough played, though I’m not sure that they are loved, but crucially, the instrument, to my ears anyway, simply doesn’t make the ‘right’ sounds. I feel that the music which works best, and suits the organ, are the Rütti, Gárdonyi and Reger pieces. The latter is a tour de force, and is splendidly delivered; ideal repertoire for this 2012 restored Steinmeyer instrument.

I’m afraid that I can’t give this CD an unqualified recommendation. As far as I can judge, the instrument is well recorded, as you’d expect from Neil Collier, but a Great European Organ – I’m not persuaded.

Roger Judd

JOHN KITCHEN

THE USHER HALL ORGAN Vol II

McDowall Church Bells beyond the Stars; Guilmant Marche funèbre et chant séraphique; S S Wesley Holsworthy Church Bells; MacCunn arr Cull The Land of the Mountain and the Flood; Bernard Rose Chimes; Christopher Maxim Toccata

Nuptiale; Clifton Hughes Dance Variations on ‘Rudolph, the red-nosed Reindeer’; Sherman Myers Johnny on the Spot; Widor 3 movements from Symphony No. 5; Bach Passacaglia & Fugue BWV 582.

DELPHIAN DCD34132 TT 78:27

Who else but John Kitchen would or could programme the great Passacaglia of Bach alongside Rudolph, the red-nosed Reindeer? Brilliant.

Kitchen is a wonderful communicator, and everything on this CD is played con amore. Edinburgh’s Usher Hall instrument is ideally suited to his programme, and even the Bach works splendidly when registered in an un-Baroque style. After all, great music will survive just about any treatment, with the possible exception of Cameron Carpenter’s – discuss!

I especially enjoyed Jeremy Cull’s realisation of Hamish MacCunn’s The Land of Mountain and Flood. Cecilia McDowall wrote Church Bells beyond the Stars as a centenary commission for the Edinburgh Society of Organists in 2013, full of a myriad bell sounds, and an excellent addition to the organ repertoire. Bells also feature in Wesley’s Holsworthy piece; in fact the organ’s own Carillon is brought into play, and Bernard Rose’s Chimes are based on the Magdalen College chimes – they also feature in his famous set of Responses.

The three ‘novelty’ numbers in the middle of the CD are delivered with panache, and clear the air for a substantial chunk of Widor’s Fifth Symphony (Movements 1, 4 & 5). One can well imagine that these movements go down a storm with Kitchen’s audience at the Usher Hall. He closes the disc with a magisterial performance of Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue

Delphian have produced a fine recording, unexpectedly enhanced by the temporary removal of all the seating, and I just love the extravagant flower display above the console on the booklet photograph – somehow so appropriate!

Go on, buy it, you know you want to!

GREAT EUROPEAN ORGANS No. 92

Andreas Jost plays the organ of the Grossmünster, Zurich

Roger Judd

Buxtehude Toccata in F major; Bach Canonic Variations on ‘Vom Himmel hoch’; Contrapunctus I and XI from ‘The Art of Fugue’; Chorale Prelude ‘Dies sind die heilgen’; Toccata in E major; Vollenweider Fantasie; Schoenberg Variations on a Recitative.

PRIORY PRCD1109 TT 74:16

Priory’s ‘Great European Organs’ series started in King’s College Cambridge almost 30 years ago and has now reached the Grossmünster in Zurich, which houses a 4-manual instrument by the celebrated Swiss organ-builder, Metzler, dating from 1960. The church itself was without any organ from 1524 until 1876 at the behest of Ulrich Zwingli, who banned anything that wasn’t sanctioned by the Bible, including pictures, altars, sculptures and organs. One presumes that the particular translation of Psalm 150 favoured by Zwingli did not include a reference to organs or pipes as most English ones do! The organ itself is typical of the output of its builder in the 1960s, which means a wonderfully bright and immediate sound with no attempt at smoothness, but never sounding brash.

Both the Vollenweider Fantasie and the Schoenberg Variations are 20th-century works based on the 12-tone system, the former in three sections, whilst the latter takes the form of ten variations on a recitative. The Bach and Buxtehude works allow the listener to hear the brilliant principal choruses, the delightful flute ranks and the characterful reed stops played at well-judged tempi, and are generally more approachable. Andreas Jost has been organist at the Grossmünster since 2007 and plays his programme of music with commitment and flair.

Tim Rogerson

ELGAR FROM SALISBURY Transcriptions for Organ

John Challenger

Arr Challenger Prelude to ‘The Kingdom’; Jerusalem; Meditation from ‘The Light of Life’; arr Alfred Redhead Une Idylle; arr George Clement Martin Imperial March; arr Brewer Coronation March; Prelude and Angel’s Farewell from ‘The Dream of Gerontius’; arr Caleb Henry Trevor Larghetto from ‘Serenade for Strings’; arr Harvey Grace For the Fallen; arr Tom Winpenny Empire March.

REGENT REGCD463 TT 77:56

This debut CD recording opens in splendid style with the performer’s own arrangement of the Prelude to Elgar’s oratorio The Kingdom. The playing and the realisation of this score set the benchmark for the whole disc. Here is a musician totally at one with the programme and the instrument. John Challenger has been Assistant Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral since 2012, and his evident love both of the music of Elgar and the Willis organ shines through every piece. His handling of the demands placed on performers of orchestral arrangements is wholly assured, and a kaleidoscope of colours are put at the service of the music.

Some of the arrangements will be familiar: Herbert Brewer is responsible for the 1911 Coronation March and the final two tracks, the Prelude and Angel’s Farewell from The Dream of Gerontius, and George Martin’s excellent arrangement of Imperial March. An early piece for violin and piano (Idylle, Op. 4) transfers beautifully to the organ in Alfred Redhead’s arrangement, while Tom Winpenny’s realisation of the 1924 Empire March makes you wonder why it hadn’t been done before. Challenger has also reworked the prelude of The Light of Life into a splendidly colourful Meditation

It has been a great pleasure to listen to this distinguished recording, and congratulations are due to Gary Cole (Regent Records) for capturing the spirit of the Willis and the Salisbury acoustic so well. It would be difficult to imagine a more auspicious debut CD, and warmest congratulations to John Challenger – thoroughly recommended.

Roger Judd

Could any member with knowledge of Eric Thiman, and in particular Thiman’s life in the period from 1919 to 1939, please be in touch with David Dewar (david.dewar@bristol.ac.uk), post-graduate researcher at the University of Bristol, who would be very grateful for any reminiscences.

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Christ Church Cathedral School

Be a Chorister

for

the Day

Saturday 30th January 2016

If you have a son aged six to eight who would like to attend the day or come for a voice trial, please contact Mrs Clare James on 01865 242561 registrar@cccs.org.uk; www.cccs.org.uk

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‘...the most superb recordings of choral and organ music from some of the world’s finest musical institutions...’ Sydney Organ Journal

THE ARMOUR OF LIGHT

The Choral music of Gar y Davison

Wells Cathedral Choir directed by Matthew Owens, Jonathan Vaughn (organ)

Steeped in the rich Anglican choral tradition, Gar y Davison is one of the US’s leading composers of sacred choral music, embracing many of the modal and tonal techniques of Western music to inform his own writing This is the first disc entirely devoted to his choral music, and all the works are receiving their first commercial recording ‘ one of the top cathedral sounds outside London’ BBC Music Magazine

ILLUMINE ME

Choral works by Richard Lloyd

The Bede Singers directed by David Hill, Ian Shaw and Daniel Hyde (organ) Richard Lloyd’s music is a joy to perform and a delight to hear This personal selection of works made by the composer spans an impressive 60 years of compositions Beautifully performed by the Bede Singers, under the direction of renowned choral conductor, David Hill

December releases

A YORK YULETIDE

The Choir of York Minster directed by Robert Sharpe, David Pipe (organ)

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REGCD467

Continuing its relationship with Regent Records, this fine choir presents a programme of Christmas music from the past 100 years, with plenty of established favourites alongside newer works by Howard Skempton, Francis Pott, Grayston Ives and Matthew Martin

New DVD THE STORY OF NINE LESSONS AND CAROLS

Film of the 2014 ser vice in Truro Cathedral CD of the reconstructed 1880 (first ser vice)

The choir of Truro Cathedral directed by Christopher Gray, Luke Bond (organ)

REGDVD004

The ser vice of Nine Lessons and Carols was the brainchild of Edward White Benson, the first Bishop of Truro, in 1880 Since its birth it has travelled all over the world, not least due to the annual broadcast from King’s College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve This release records the stor y of the ser vice in Truro, with an audio-only recording of the reconstruction of the 1880 ser vice, a documentar y, presented by Jeremy Summerly, about the histor y of the ser vice, and a full DVD recording of the Nine Lessons ser vice as it took place on 23rd December 2014