4 Part Music Blog

Last night I was in Bath for the last in this years series of Saturday evening organ recitals at Bath Abbey. This final recital was given by none other than the Abbey Organist and Director of Music Peter King. The combination of the Klais organ and the mastery of Peter King is an attraction that no lover of organ music should miss! The abbey was not surprisingly full for this occasion and with free admission (albeit with a £5 per head donation on exit) this recital series is excellent value!

The recital programme was as follows:

Excelsior! – Franz Liszt

Excelsior! is an organ arrangement of the prelude from “The bells of strasbourg minster” one of Liszts impressive choral works written in 1874. The theme from this short prelude was later used by Wagner in his opera Parsifal.

Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543 – Johann Sebastian Bach

This “Great” prelude and fugue of Bach’s cannot be dated with any certainty but most likely falls somewhere between the early improvisatory works and the later mature masterpieces. The prelude has a largely improvisatory flavour and forms a very grand introduction to the melodic fugue. Unlike some later works the fugue does not end with a final grand entry on the pedals but returns to the free style of the prelude.

Concerto in D minor, BWV 596, Antonio Vivaldi / JS Bach

This work was long believed to be an original composition of Bach’s son Friedemann but is infact an arrangement by JS Bach of the Concerto for 2 violins op.3, no.11 by Vivaldi. It begins with a lively canonic duet above insistent pedal notes, and then a few full chords lead into an energetic fugue. The slow movement is a lilting siciliano and the concerto ends in a vigorous finale with a pungent chromatic ritornello.

Two legends – Franz Liszt

St Francis of Assis preaching to the birds (arr. Saint-Saens)

St Francis of Paola walking on the water (arr. Reger/King)

Liszt’s two Franciscan Legends for piano date from 1863 which is when Liszt was increasingly preoccupied by religious subjects.  The first of these two pieces predates Messiaen’s musical aviaries by nearly a century and is an amazingly original piece of musical picture painting.

A Song of Sunshine – Alfred Hollins

This is one of Hollins’ most popular pieces which follows his usual ABA form.  His compositions appeal to a wide audience due to the inexhaustible melodies and effortless mastery of modulation.

Homage to Handel – Sigfrid Karg-Elert

This fantastic piece is based around a short four bar motif from the theme of Handel’s Seventh Harpsichord Suite and was written following Karg-Elert’s election as Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Organists in 1914.  In total there are 54 variations on this simple theme and monotony is avoided by the huge range of textures and colours which Karg Elert employs.    This piece was an excellent way of showcasing not only the mighty Klais organ but also the phenomenal skill of Peter King. In the words of David Gammie “the final page is very, very grand: Karg-Elert’s tempo marking is trionfante e gigantica.”

For the last few months I have been recording a monthly podcast with Lesley Anne Hornbogen of “On the Go”.   Lesley Anne is a virtual assistant and she see’s a monthly podcast as a means of communicating with her client base and new prospects.

However, a podcast is not simply an audio version of an email newsletter (at least not the traditional type of email newsletter which is often no more than a sales pitch!).  In the business world, a podcast is an opportunity for a business owner to “speak” to their clients or prospects and give an insight into not only their business but talk about their experience and current news items affecting their business as well.  I’ve so far recorded 3 podcasts with Lesley Anne and we have discussed a range of subjects including Networking, Social Media and the role of a Virtual Assistant.

Now, you would be forgiven for thinking that Lesley Anne and I presumably meet up in a recording studio to put together the podcast.  I think almost without exception every person that I meet and say I’m involved with a recording business immediately asks “wheres your studio?”.  But no, these podcasts are currently all recorded in Lesley Anne’s kitchen with us sat round the table.   Welcome to the world of on location recordings.

By doing this series of Podcasts with Lesley Anne, I am hoping to show that with the right equipment and setup you don’t actually need a “studio”.  After all, what exactly is a recording studio other than 4 walls, some microphones and other recording equipment?  Actually, there is a bit more too it than that, but the point is we carry everything needed to turn almost any space into an acoustically treated studio environment.  Luckily for me, Lesley Anne has agreed to be “experimented” on and we have tried various different setups.  I am particularly pleased with the 3rd podcast and would welcome any feedback.

You can listen to Lesley Anne’s podcasts by visiting the samples page of our website. Or alternatively for more information on our audio recording services please visit the main site here.

I have spent the last week singing the services at Durham Cathedral with the choir Schola Aquae Sulis.  This choir is made up of largely professional musicians or at the least extremely competent singers who get together once a year to spend a week in residence at a Cathedral. This year was the turn of Durham to be our host.

I will post seperately about the music later but in general it is a combination of fairly standard cathedral repertoire with a few challenges thrown in to the mix. We sang evensong every day with the exception of Friday which was our day off and gave us a chance to explore the Durham countryside.   On Sunday we sang 3 services, matins, eucharist and evensong.

Because the choir only meets once a year the rehearsals are extremely focused from the start although the musicianship of the choir means that there is very little “note bashing” with most of the time time being spent on “polish” as Dr Ben Cliffe (the choirs Music Director) likes to say! Despite this there is generally ample time to visit the Cathedral restaurant for tea and cake. As an aside I can say the cakes at Durham Cathedral are extremely good!

This forthcoming week see’s the annual festival of St Mary Magdalen.  At the chapel of the same name in Holloway, Bath, where I play the organ most weeks, we are celebrating this festival with 2 evening concerts. The first will be given by the Eberle String Quartet on Tuesday 21 July starting at 19.30.

The Eberle Quartet take their name from the leader’s violin which was made in Naples by Tomaso Eberle. The quartet consists of Daphne Moody (Violin), Jennifer Gibbs (Violin), Moira Alabaster (Viola) and Muriel Daniels (‘Cello).  The Eberle musicians travel extensively, giving recitals, workshops and master classes in Britain and Europe. All four string players are members of the Sarum Orchestra under whose umbrella they play many chamber works.

The second concert will be given by Adam’s Apple, a fabulous accoustic jazz trio who specialise in the performance of hymns with a jazz twist to them.  The trio is made up of Adam Biggs ­on Piano, Ben Groenevelt ­ on Double Bass and Rob Brian ­ on Drums.  The group play in churches for concerts, services and give workshops offering a variety of original arrangments of familiar hymn tunes.  This has introduced many new and stimulating dimensions to church music by using the breadth and posibilities of jazz.

Further details are available by contacting 4 Part Music or the Revd William Burman at Mary Magdalen Chapel on 01225 312140.

Today I took some time out to attend the lunchtime recital at Bath Abbey which today was given by Peter King, the Abbey Organist and Director of Music. As a former student of Dame Gillian Weir and Allan Wicks, Peter King was appointed as the Director of Music at Bath Abbey in 1986.  Along with Nicholas Kynaston, Peter was also responsible for the design and installation of the Abbey’s Klais Organ.

Peter King, Bath Abbey

In 1997 Peter started a girls choir at Bath Abbey which is now widely regarded as one of the finest musical ensembles in Bath.

Today’s organ recital included the following programme:

Prelude & Fugue in A minor – JS Bach

A Song of Sunshine – Alfred Hollins

Sonata in C Minor – Giovanni Battista Pescetti

In a Persian Market – Alfred Ketelbey

Voices of the Night Op 142 i – Sigfrid Karg-Elert

Entry of the Gladiators – Julius Fucik

Peter’s playing was as usual flawless throughout and I felt it was a particularly good rendition of the Bach Prelude and Fugue in A Minor.  This rather grand work is one of the most popular organ fugues, distinguished by its long and exceptionally tuneful subject, its unusually think textures and its relentless dynamic energy.

I also particularly enjoyed the Pescetti Sonata in C minor. “In a Persian Market” and “Entry of the Gladiators” gave Peter King, (ever the showman) an opportunity to use the fabulous Cymbelstern to great effect.  Overall it was another excellent recital.

Bath Abbey Lunchtime organ recitals are currently every Wednesday at 1.10pm until the end of August.  More information on Peter King can be found on his website.

Every now and again I like to keep people up to date with things that are happening at 4 Part Music.  This month we are working on the company website and there are two things of note which will be launched in the near future.

The first of these is a venue directory.  The idea behind this is to provide a comprehensive database of venues which can be used to make recordings.  These do not necessarily have to be venues we have used before and indeed we will be giving people the opportunity to upload their venue details onto the site free of charge.  It came about largely because there doesnt seem to be anything similar and it would help potential clients decide where they could record.

The second thing coming in a few weeks is an online forum for musicians.  We are still working out the details on this to see what would be most useful. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions as to the sort of thing we should incorporate then do please let us know.

Our final recording session at Prior Park last night went extremely well and was very productive. Highlights of the session included Weelkes Hosannah to the Son of David, Eric Whitacre’s Lux Aeternae and Tallis’s Salvator Mundi.

The session over ran slightly as we had a few recordings of people dropping pencils and banging doors which weren’t on the schedule but it has to be said, Dave and Andrew Sackett who were producing the recording for Prior Park did a great job of keeping the session under control and on time.  The next stage is to go through all the 12 hours worth of raw recorded data and start work on the edits which we hope to do in the next few days.

Here is a short excerpt taken from the Kyrie of Schubert’s Mass in C recorded last night.

The second day of recordings at Prior Park College included Bob Chilcott’s “Nova Nova”, Mozart’s Laudate Dominum and the Kyrie from Schubert’s Mass in C.  With the latter two pieces we were introduced to two of Prior Park’s stunning Soprano soloists and we were all amazed at the quality of these girls voices.

Prior Park College

In addition to the Director of Music, Roland Robertson, directing the choir, we also have 2 other teachers from the school who are acting as producers in the control room with myself and my sound engineer.  This has meant we have had to implement our talk back system which enables the producers to talk directly to Roland in the Chapel from our location approximately 50 metres away.  We are also able to offer play back both through multiple sets of headphones in the control room as well as through speakers into the chapel which means the choir are able to hear back the sections just recorded and therefore take on board the comments from the producer.

Technology aside, the most important aspect of all this is the quality of the actual recorded sound.  Luckily as the college chapel isnt being used at the moment we are able to mark the exact microphone positions as one of the key elements to multi session recordings is that microphone placement needs to be exactly replicated between each session.  This also means that when we go back and set everything up again later for this evenings session it takes less time to put up all the kit.

Having just delivered the rushes to the customer from our first two recording sessions yesterday I now have about half an hour to relax before heading back to the Chapel at Prior Park College in Bath for tonights recording session.

Yesterday’s highlights included “O Thou the Central Orb”, the Sanctus from Mozart’s Mass in C and a fabulous rendition of Buxtehude’s C Major Fugue. Recording in the chapel presented us with quite  challenge not least becuase the organ is located in a gallery at the West End and the choir are recorded from the floor.  It’s at times like this when our multi-mic technique comes into its own as it allows us to place microphones in strategic locations to ensure we can achieve the correct balance between choir and organ without relying on any sort of “fake” effect.

Having had a quick listen back whilst creating the rushes which we delivered to the Director of Music at Prior Park College this morning the microphone placement appears to be spot on to ensure we have sufficient clarity from the choir whilst also ensuring we have enough of the chapel’s 4 second accoustic.

I will report back again once we have finished tonights session which should include some solo’s as well as choir and organ.