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.”

Having missed the last couple of lunchtime recitals I managed to get along to todays performance at Bath Abbey and I am extremely glad that I did.

Steven Grahl has been Organist and Director of Music at St Marylebone Church since 2001 which houses a four manual Rieger Organ which was the result of a collaboration between St Marylebone and the Royal Academy of Music.  Since 2007 Steven has also held the post of Assistant Organist at New College Oxford where he plays for daily chapel services and accompanies the choir in a busy schedule of tours, broadcasts and CD recordings.

Today’s recital was a perfect illustration of why Steven was an award winning graduate of Magdalen College, Oxford and gained the coveted Limpus and Dixon prizes in his FRCO examination.  His performance was not only faultless throughout but he conveyed a wonderful sense of musicianship through his playing. The programme was as follows:

Steven Grahl

Allegro maestoso (Organ Sonata in G) – Edward Elgar

Fantasia in A – William Byrd

Scherzetto (Organ Sonata) – Percy Whitlock

Litanies – Jehan Alain

Recit de tierce en taille – Nicolas de Grigny

Scherzo – Maurice Durufle

Finale from Symphony no. 6 in G – Charles-Marie Widor

I particularly enjoyed the Widor – the last time I heard it was walking out of Mary Magdalen Chapel after getting married in May this year.  After the recital I went for lunch with Peter King – who knows maybe one day we might get to record in Bath Abbey.

I’m sorry it’s a little late in arriving but last week I attended the weekly organ recital at Bath Abbey which was given by Gary Desmond who is assistant organist there.

The recital opened with Hendrik Andriessen’s Theme and Variations.  Andriessen was a Dutch composer and organist, born in Haarlem in 1892.  He is remembered most of all for his improvisation at the organ and for the renewal of Catholic liturgical music in the Netherlands. Andriessen composed in a musical idiom that revealed strong French influences.

This was followed by Johann Gottfried Walther’s Concerto in B minor.  Walther ( 1684 – 1748) was a German music theorist, organist, composer, and lexicographer of the Baroque era. Not only was his life almost exactly contemporaneous to that of Johann Sebastian Bach, he was the famous composer’s cousin.

Following this we were treated to three movements from the ‘Suite’ by Malcolm Archer.  Archer is an English organist, conductor and composer. He is widely renowned as one of the foremost church musicians of his generation and combines this work with an extensive recital career. He was formerly Organist and Director of Music at St Paul’s Cathedral, and is now Director of Chapel Music at Winchester College.

Desmond concluded his recital with two movements from Symphonie de Boston by Pierre Cochereau.

Today’s task is to make the final preparations for our forthcoming recording at Prior Park College starting on Sunday running through to Tuesday evening.  Over the last few months we have streamlined our set up as far as is possible and whilst the majority of the recording rig is now housed in a single case it does take 2 people to manouvre it and we now have a plethora of ramps to deal with steps and simply getting it in and out of the van!

Prior Park College at Sunset

That aside the most important preparation work is taken up in deciding on microphone layouts.  The plan with this recording is to set up 24 microphones in the College Chapel which may sound to some like a case of safety in numbers but in actual fact each microphone has a specific purpose. A great deal of on location recording companies simply set up either  a Soundfield microphone or a “stereo pair” on the basis that if you were in the audience listening thats what you would hear.

Part of me agrees with this concept, so we too will set up a Soundfield and a stereo pair. But then we will set up another stereo pair a bit further back, some spot microphones on the choir, microphones on each soloist and a further bank of microphones on the organ. Then the few which are left over will be placed at strategic points around the chapel to capture the accoustic.

Is this over the top? Well yes quite probably, but the thing is, we only get one chance to record.  Whether or not we use all these microphones in the final mix doesnt matter, but the benefit of using such a wide array of microphones in such a variety of positions means we have the greatest possible flexibility when mastering the recording afterwards to create the sound the customer desires.  After all in many cases, it is not always our opinion which matters the most.  If the customer wants the choir to sound nearer then we need to be able to achieve this. If he then says can you reduce the organ balance or bring up the soloists, again we need to be able to do this. Whilst there are any number of technical ways of doing this using “effects” or various VST’s, it’s always best to start with the original recorded sound than to add “fake” reverb or acoustic.

I’ve heard it said before that Sunday is meant to be a day of rest. Well it seems not, certainly not if you’re a church organist. Now I realise that my small contribution to church music is probably nothing compared to the work that many people have to do at weekends so I do not propose to complain! Indeed I made the choice to be involved with church music and have been since a very young age.  The morning started like most Sunday’s for me with a trip to St Mary Magdalen Chapel in Bath where I play the organ most weeks.

Mary Magdalen Chapel - Holloway, Bath

The organ at St Mary Magdalen is a 3 manual Viscount, which means it is an electronic organ rather than a pipe organ. Now I know what many of you are probably thinking…. Church should have a pipe organ and any decent organist would want to play a pipe organ rather than some computerised “fake”.  A lot of me agrees with this sentiment and given the choice I would opt for a proper pipe organ any day. However, such instruments are expensive and therefore there is an additional choice to be made.

Whilst I may favour the pipe organ over its electronic counterpart, I favour even more an instrument which works.  Too many parish churches have pipe organs which have been poorly maintained or indeed not maintained at all and as such there is very little music which can be performed on such and instrument with any degree of accuracy.  Moreover this makes any performance subject to considerable compromise which also has an effect on the ability of the music to add to the worship.

Given the choice therefore where budget does not run to a properly maintained pipe organ I am converted to electronic instruments as the sound quality is fairly close to the real thing. More importantly than that, every stop works and everything is always in tune. This means that the organists choice of repertoire  is not limited by the instrument – simply, at least in my case, by ability – or perhaps lack of!

Has to be said I quite enjoyed the service this week – particularly when a member of the congregation came up to me afterwards and said he thoroughly enjoyed my rendition of the Frank Bridge, Adagio in E and said it reminded him of sunlight coming through an evening window.  Well I’m not entirely sure about the relation there but the fact that he recognised the piece from my playing was praise in itself!  He didn’t comment on the Toccata by Boellmann and didnt know the Vierne “Lied” which was played during communion.

For anyone interested, services at St Mary Magdalen are 10.30am every Sunday morning.