THE USHER H LL ORG N VOL II
JOHN KITCHEN
1 Cecilia McDowall (b. 1951) Church bells beyond the stars* [5:25]
2 Alexandre Guilmant (1837–1911) Marche funèbre et chant séraphique (Fantaisie pour l’Orgue Op. 17) [10:13]
3 Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876) Holsworthy Church Bells [3:02]
4 Hamish MacCunn (1868–1916), arr. Jeremy Cull
The Land of the Mountain and the Flood [10:06]
5 Bernard Rose (1916–1997) Chimes [2:25]
6 Christopher Maxim (b. 1971) Toccata Nuptiale [3:47]
7 Clifton Hughes (b. 1946)
Dance Variations on ‘Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer’* [4:06]
8 Sherman Myers (Montague Ewing, 1890–1957) Johnny on the Spot [3:44]
Charles-Marie Widor (1844–1937)
Three movements from Symphony No. 5 Op. 42
9 I Allegro vivace [11:17]
10 IV Adagio [4:36]
11 V Toccata [5:44]
12 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 –1750) Passacaglia and Fugue BWV 582 [13:55]
Total playing time [78:27]
* premiere recordings
Recorded on 29-30 July 2014 at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Producer/Engineer: Paul Baxter
24-bit digital editing & mastering: Paul Baxter
Cover photograph © Usher Hall
Other photography © Delphian Records
Design: Drew Padrutt
Booklet editor: Henry Howard
Delphian Records Ltd–Edinburgh–UK www.delphianrecords.co.uk
Following the comprehensive restoration of the Usher Hall organ by Harrison & Harrison in 2002–3, we instituted a lunchtime recital series entitled ‘Get Organised’ at the Hall. This has now been running very successfully for over a decade, and attracts regular large audiences; the annual Christmas concert, with the Edinburgh University Singers, sells out the stalls. Particularly popular are those concerts which consist of audience requests. The repertoire played is extremely varied, and tries to cater for many tastes; as a result the concerts include a great number of transcriptions, as well as music specifically written for the organ. This is appropriate, given that the sort of ‘orchestral’ organ we have at the Usher Hall is designed partly for playing transcriptions, as well as for choral accompaniment and for supplying the organ parts in orchestral music. An eclectic repertoire has been chosen for this recording to reflect something of the variety of the ‘Get Organised’ concerts.
Those who know the sound of the Usher Hall organ may be surprised to hear more reverberation on this recording than they are accustomed to. This is because at the time of recording all the upholstered chairs in the stalls were removed; the flat expanse of empty wooden floor greatly enhances the acoustic.
commissioned an organ piece from Cecilia McDowall, who is a music graduate of the University of Edinburgh where she was a student of Kenneth Leighton. She responded with Church bells beyond the stars, the title a quotation from George Herbert’s poem Prayer. McDowall’s wonderfully evocative piece conjures up all manner of bell sounds, including the attractive irregularity of a descending peal. A gentle central section, characterised by a wistful melody, provides contrast; and the piece concludes with great joyful clashings of bells.
The Edinburgh Society of Organists celebrated its centenary in 2013, and to mark the occasion
The prolific Alexandre Guilmant’s Marche funèbre et chant séraphique dates from 1865 and was played by the composer at the inauguration of the Cavaillé-Coll organ in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, on 6 March 1868. This recital was jointly given by a number of organists offering a variety of repertoire; it seems that Guilmant had chosen his piece to demonstrate as wide a range of timbres and dynamics as possible. The funeral march itself – owing something to Siegfried’s Funeral March from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung – builds up inexorably to a tremendous climax, showing off the full resources of the organ. This is followed by a short, ghostly, chromatic linking section which depicts the journey of the soul from darkness to light, and on into the next world. (In this recording the linking section is given the other-worldly sound of the choir cor de nuit and unda maris). For the ‘chant séraphique’ which follows, the composer carefully specifies
the registration of voix celestes, gambe, voix humaine and tremblant on the manuals, depicting the angels’ harps, while the pedals provide both the bass line (played by the left foot) and the melody – the angels’ song itself – played by the right foot. The piece ultimately ends in a whisper.
Samuel Sebastian Wesley’s Holsworthy Church Bells is associated with the church of St Peter and Paul in Holsworthy, Devon; it was popularised by George Thalben-Ball’s famous 1931 recording from the Alexandra Palace. The present recording features the Usher Hall organ’s carillon, a set of tuned metal bars.
The nineteenth-century Scottish composer Hamish MacCunn won a scholarship at the age of only fifteen to study at the newlyopened Royal College of Music in London; his tutor in composition was Hubert Parry. Most of MacCunn’s music is sadly neglected now, although his descriptive concert overture written at the age of eighteen, The Land of the Mountain and the Flood, remains a firm favourite. (It was played by the Scottish Orchestra at the inaugural Usher Hall concert in 1914, and again by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at a special centenary concert on 6 March 2014.) Like much of MacCunn’s music, it was stimulated by a work of literature, in this case Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel ;
the title is a quotation from that poem. It also takes inspiration from the nineteenthcentury German tradition, in particular the concert overtures of Mendelssohn. On this recording we hear the work in a skilful organ transcription by the Edinburgh-based musician, Jeremy Cull.
Bernard Rose is best remembered as the distinguished Informator Choristarum of Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1957 to 1981. The short piece Chimes is based on the chimes at Magdalen, and is intriguingly written as an exact musical palindrome. Rose adds the rubric ‘Ma fin est mon commencement, et mon commencement est ma fin [My end is my beginning, and my beginning is my end].’
The piece was published in 1982 as one of the Hovingham Sketches; this set of pieces, composed by well-known British organists, had originally been presented in 1974 by the Royal College of Organists as a gift to HRH The Duchess of Kent.
The ‘Get Organised’ recitals in the Usher Hall include lighter music alongside more serious fare. The group of lighter pieces on this recording begins with Christopher Maxim’s witty and entertaining Toccata Nuptiale . He wrote it for the wedding of a friend who is a keen cyclist; it blends the French Romantic style of Vierne with a well-known musichall ballad. An annual Christmas favourite is Clifton Hughes’s Dance Variations on
‘Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer’ . The composer writes:
I was at an organ recital at Tilehouse Street Baptist Church in Hitchin. The compère finished: ‘The Christmas recital is given by Clifton Hughes. Knowing Clifton, he’ll probably give us variations on Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer!’ I had no intention of composing any such thing, but couldn’t ignore the challenge.
The variations feature the famous tune in a variety of dance forms: as tango, ‘hurdy-gurdy’ waltz, Viennese waltz, in witty and skilful counterpoint with the Sailor’s Hornpipe and finally in rock ’n’ roll guise. Johnny on the Spot, described as a ‘novelty piano solo’, dates from the 1940s and was written by the prolific Sherman Myers (a pseudonym for Montague George Ewing).
In their disparate range of styles from movement to movement, Widor’s first four symphonies Op. 13 (1872) resemble suites more than symphonies. The Op. 42 set, published in 1887 and containing the celebrated Symphony No. 5, are more integrated and unified, sometimes employing motivic development across several movements. In this recording the first, fourth and fifth movements are offered, the first being an extended and resourceful set of variations in which we hear several musical motifs (such as the octave leap) which will occur later in the celebrated Toccata. The gentle, mellifluous Adagio provides an oasis
of calm between the exuberance of the outer movements. Widor was organist for nearly 64 years in the fashionable church of St-Sulpice in Paris, where he played the great Cavaillé-Coll organ; he recorded the Toccata on that organ when in his eighty-ninth year.
The Usher Hall opened its doors in 1914, and on 6/7 March that year one of the three inaugural concerts included a performance by Thomas Collinson, then Master of Music at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh and consultant for the new organ, of what was billed as Bach’s ‘Grand Passacaglia in C minor’. At the centenary concert on 6 March 2014 I performed the same work (the Passacaglia and Fugue BWV 582), registered in Edwardian Romantic style as Collinson might have played it – totally ‘inauthentic’, to be sure, but suited to the particular resources of the instrument. This monumental work is written over an eight-bar ground bass, a repeated melody first heard in the pedals, upon which twenty variations are constructed. In these variations Bach explores a multitude of rhythms, textures and figurations with consummate fluency. This is followed by a wonderful double fugue, based in part on the passacaglia theme. The overall construction of the piece, and the impeccable control of every aspect, is a remarkable achievement, all the more so when we learn that Bach probably wrote it when in his early twenties.
©
2014 John Kitchen
Until August 2014, John Kitchen was a Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Edinburgh, where he continues as University Organist and conductor of the Edinburgh University Singers; he is also Director of Music at Old Saint Paul’s Church. Following the restoration of the Usher Hall organ in 2003, John was appointed Edinburgh City Organist with promotional and curatorial duties, a post he still holds. He gives many solo recitals both in the UK and further afield, and also plays regularly with several ensembles, covering a wide range of musical styles. In addition, he is much in demand as a continuo player, accompanist, lecturer, examiner, adjudicator, writer and reviewer.
John has recorded extensively for Delphian Records, including organ recordings from
the Usher Hall, Edinburgh (DCD34022) and the Church of the Holy Rude, Stirling (DCD34064); a highly-acclaimed set of the complete organ music of William Russell, played on the 1829 Bishop organ in St James’s, Bermondsey in London (DCD34062, 3 discs); a CD of Handel overtures and suites played on two of the harpsichords from the worldfamous Raymond Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments, housed at St Cecilia’s Hall in the University of Edinburgh (DCD34053); a recording of nine harpsichords, clavichords and early pianos from the Rodger Mirrey Collection, also at St Cecilia’s Hall (DCD34057); and two CDs of French harpsichord music, Music in the Age of Louis XIV (DCD34109) and Music in the Age of Louis XV (DCD34112), the latter recorded on the world-famous Taskin harpsichord (1769) in Edinburgh. John was also heavily involved in Delphian’s 2010 publication Organs of Edinburgh (DCD34100), which comprises recordings of 22 Edinburgh organs.
The Usher Hall Organ: Norman & Beard, 1914
This monumental organ was originally built by Norman & Beard in 1914 at a cost of approximately £4000; it was designed in conjunction with Dr Thomas Collinson, organist at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral from 1878 to 1928. By the 1970s it was beginning to prove unreliable – largely as a result of poor humidity and temperature control in the Hall, and despite the best efforts of those responsible for its care – and over the next twenty years or so it gradually fell into disuse. It was also considered by many at that time to be hopelessly unfashionable, but at least neglect spared it from ‘baroquisation’. Strenuous efforts by many in the early 1990s to have this noble civic instrument brought back into use were eventually rewarded when it was resolved to entrust Harrison & Harrison with a comprehensive restoration of the instrument; the consultant was the late David Sanger.
The pipework remains entirely unaltered, and now sounds much as it must have done in 1914. It is characterised by a predictably Edwardian opulence, fullness and richness of sound, as well as offering a huge variety of exotic colours. Both the swell and great departments are bold, yet with plenty of fire and pungency. The two mixtures contain
not only tierce ranks, but the flat twentyfirst harmonic; such mixtures were generally intended to be used with the reeds, not as chorus mixtures in the way we now expect. The pedal complements this well and contains a full-length metal contra violone 32’ (actually named ‘double open diapason’ on the stopknob), some of which comprises the display pipes. The choir offers some beautiful delicate sounds, including a seductive unda maris, and the solo and orchestral departments tempt with all sorts of exotic delights, including a kinuralike orchestral oboe, a small-scale orchestral trumpet (not the big solo reed that one might expect from such a name), a noble and not devastating tuba, and – most extraordinary of all – a family of strings from 16’ up to a cornet d’violes mixture. There is also a two-octave carillon, made of steel bars.
The actions have all been fully restored; within the organ these are electro-pneumatic, the couplers being purely pneumatic. At the console – a particularly handsome piece in Spanish mahogany – the drawstops are pneumatically actuated, but the original pistons are now controlled by a new setter system; an ample provision of general pistons, with a sequencer, has been discreetly added.
John Kitchen
The Usher Hall Organ Vol I
John Kitchen
DCD34022
The first ever recording of the newly refurbished Norman & Beard concert organ in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, from internationally acclaimed organist John Kitchen. In an eclectic selection of repertoire demonstrating the instrument’s sonic versatility and brilliance of tone, Kitchen ranges from transcriptions of popular orchestral works to the tortured ‘Weinen, Klagen’ of Franz Liszt.
‘Built in 1914, the monumental organ in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh has been restored to its former Edwardian glory. City Organist John Kitchen celebrates the aesthetic of that period. Three Handel marches are delivered in grand style, with irrepressible brio. Kitchen brings rhythmic swagger and élan to Hollins’ Triumphal March (complete with carillon), Walton’s Orb and Sceptre and Bach’s “St Anne” Prelude and Fugue’
— Evening Standard, May 2004
The Organ in the Church of the Holy Rude, Stirling
John Kitchen
DCD34064
Edinburgh’s city organist John Kitchen visits Scotland’s Mither Kirk and the country’s largest organ. Never before heard on disc, the 1939 Rushworth & Dreaper represents the zenith of British organ-building. Kitchen harnesses this king of instruments in a varied recital, revelling in its sheer magnificence. Includes works by Widor, Duruflé and Guilmant, Stanford, Parry and Elgar, and by twentieth-century Dutch composers
Feike Asma and Cor Kee.
‘On this stonking disc, wait till you hear Kitchen unleashed on Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance” March No 1’
— The Herald, May 2008
William Russell (1777–1813): Complete Organ Voluntaries
John Kitchen
The Bishop Organ of St James Church, Bermondsey DCD34062 (3 CDs)
Published in 1804 and 1812 respectively, William Russell’s two books of organ voluntaries date from a fascinating and neglected period in English music. For this premiere recording John Kitchen has carefully selected a restored 1829 instrument whose period qualities equip it perfectly to bring Russell’s music alive once more. The lavish booklet contains detailed information regarding Russell’s original performance instructions and the registrations adopted by Kitchen.
‘immaculately presented and superbly played’
— Classic FM Magazine, April 2009, FIVE STARS
The Merton Organ: the new Dobson organ of Merton College, Oxford Benjamin Nicholas DCD34142
Merton College’s new Dobson instrument is only the third Americanbuilt organ sent to the UK since the Second World War, a bold commissioning choice made with an eye to characterful versatility in both choral accompaniment and solo work. In his debut appearance on disc as a soloist, Benjamin Nicholas combines flair and intelligence as he presents the stunning instrument he helped mastermind.
‘lithe, supple and pleasingly nuanced performances … Delphian’s characteristically clear, focused and framed recording’
— Choir & Organ, May/June 2014, FIVE STARS
Organ music on Delphian
The Kelvingrove Organ: Overture Transcriptions
Timothy Byram-Wigfield
DCD34004
Timothy Byram-Wigfield, currently Master of Music at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, plays a variety of Edwardian transcriptions on one of the world’s finest concert organs, the Lewis organ in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Gallery.
‘Exhilarating … Never daunted by the fearsome difficulties of many of Lemare’s and Best’s arrangements, nor fazed by the limited 1901 controls of the chunky console, Byram-Wigfield delights in finding just the right sounds, textures and tempi to make these works sound like real organ music. There is delicacy, humour, drive, vigour, lightness of touch and heroic utterance here, to which these fine compositions respond by revealing their all’ — Organists’ Review, May 2004, EDITOR’S CHOICE
Alfred Hollins (1865–1942): Organ Works
Timothy Byram-Wigfield
The Organ of Caird Hall, Dundee
DCD34044
Designed by the blind organist Alfred Hollins, the Caird Hall instrument is one of the finest recital organs in the UK – as ideal a vehicle for Hollins’ own music as Byram-Wigfield is an exponent of it. Hollins effortlessly combines keyboard pyrotechnics with a quasi-orchestral approach to sonority. These works bristle with vigour, their swaggering confidence leavened with ingenuity and wit.
‘It is impossible to praise the choice of instrument or the performances on this CD too highly … It is made more valuable by being sonically one of the best recordings of an organ I have heard for some time’
— International Record Review, March 2007
Organs of Edinburgh
John Kitchen, Duncan Ferguson, Timothy Byram-Wigfield, Michael Bonaventure et al
DCD34100 (4 CDs + book)
Open this full-colour, large-format book and step into a world of glorious architecture and fascinating history. Edinburgh’s churches and concert halls are home to a rich variety of pipe organs, and twenty-two of the most notable are surveyed here, with extensive information on both the instruments and their venues. Meanwhile twelve illustrious players – all with deep-rooted Edinburgh connections – demonstrate the instruments’ full range and versatility on four accompanying CDs. The full gamut of the repertoire is here, and Edinburgh’s organs have the voices to match. Isn’t it time to lift the veil from some of the closest-guarded treasures of one of the world’s great cities? Includes extensive instrument and venue photography, and detailed specifications for all 22 instruments.
‘a masterpiece of publishing’ — International Record Review, January 2011
Adeste Fideles: Organ music for Christmas Thomas Laing-Reilly
The Walker Organ of St Cuthbert’s Church, Edinburgh
DCD34077
Situated in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, St Cuthbert’s was the first parish church in Scotland to hold candlelit services on Christmas Eve. The two-thousand-strong congregation was regularly joined by people standing in the aisles! Today, the organ continues to combine its role of supporting the singing with solo performance of varied repertoire. Director of Music Thomas Laing-Reilly has at his hands an instrument seemingly able to speak any language. Its vast colour palette is demonstrated with striking clarity on this disc, in a range of repertory which crosses national borders with disarming ease.
‘Streaks of brilliance … an illuminating experience’
— The Herald, December 2006
