The Edinburgh festival 2004 -- Reviews -- Music -- (O) -- 8 out of 50

(O) 8 out of 50

Rating Guide
None = Unmissable

= Unwatchable
Page number refers to the Fringe programme

Organ Recitals (page111)
Philip Sawyer
Drams

Music Buxtehude: Ciacona in C minor BuxWV159; Sweelinck: Seven variations on the melody 'Est-ce Mars'; Bach: Trio sonata No.1 in E flat major BWV526 and Prelude on the chorale melody 'Von Gott will ich nicht lassen'; Mendelssohn: Sonata in F minor Op.65 No.1
Organist Philip Sawyer, Organist at St Michael's Church, Tollcross, Edinburgh
Venue St Andrew's & St George's Church. (Venue 111)
Address George Street
Reviewer Charlie Napier

St Andrew's & St George's Church organ
© C. Napier

The opening organ recital of the St Andrew's & St George's at Festival Time programme was introduced by today's performer, Philip Sawyer, a frequent visitor to this church. He welcomed everybody to this beautiful church in the centre of Edinburgh, which was like sitting an a ray of sunshine compared with the dull and misty weather outside. Philip introduced his programme, intimating that this was not a history lesson, but rather an illustration of what had influenced various composers over the years, in this case early 17th to early 19th centuries.

The recital started with a Chaconne, to give it its French name, by Buxtehude. It is well known that early in his musical life, J S Bach travelled to Lübeck to meet and hear Buxtehude play there. Bach certainly learnt a lot from Buxtehude, who was probably influenced by the music of Sweelinck, an example of which followed. The chaconne is derived from a dance form and consists of a "theme" normally of very short duration, generally no longer than 8 bars, usually in the form of a ground bass repeated over and over again. The theme normally starts in the bass (pedals in the case of the organ) and sometimes stays there throughout the piece, but at other times (such as in this piece) it migrates through all the different parts. This piece started with a grand exclamation of the theme and was followed by contrasting presentations using the two keyboards and different registrations. In general, alternate presentations were on high and low registers: a fine crisp performance.

Sweelinck was the organist at the Old Church of Amsterdam, an enormous church that still stands today, unfortunately in the middle of the red-light district of the city. Sweelinck succeeded his father as organist in this church and his own son followed him. The Sweelincks were thus responsible for the music in this church for more than 100 years. Sweelinck's pupils came to him from all over Europe, so he had an enormous influence on the organ-playing tradition of almost the whole of Northern Europe, including Great Britain.

This set of variations is based on a French song Is this Mars? In this case, however, Mars is not looked on as the God of War but rather the God of Love. The Cornetto reed stop was used for the initial presentation of the tune and for the last variation. At this time in musical history, it was not possible to achieve expression by being able to play loud and soft, which is still true today for the organ (at least not without artificial means, like the swell box), so the contrast between variations was achieved by the use of decoration. Philip used different registrations to highlight the decoration in the different variations and produce a beautiful sensitive performance.

Philip Sawyer

The first of the two Bach pieces was one of his trios sonatas. Basically Bach took the Italian concerto form of quick-slow-quick dance type movements originally composed for instrumental groups and turned it into a trio for a single player, effectively writing violin parts for the two hands and a cello part for the feet. Each part is independent and can prove to be fiendishly difficult to play. In his preamble, Philip said that playing a Bach trio sonata was sometimes how organists measured other organists' performances. On this showing, I don't think he has anything to worry about. He demonstrated extremely well just how the hands and the feet can take on almost independent existences: a beautiful performance. The second Bach piece was an prelude on a hymn tune. This was typical Bach as we have come to expect him, this time demonstrating his contrapuntal skills, which Philip demonstrated by his choice of registration and by his excellent playing.

Philip Sawyer finished his recital with a performance of Mendelssohn's First organ sonata. This was the first in a series of organ sonatas that he wrote on commission for the English music publisher Charles Coventry, of the Coventry & Holier publishing house, during the latter half of 1854. Mendelssohn had impressed Coventry with his virtuosic performances on the organ during a visit to Britain in 1843. The six sonatas were published as Opus 65 in 1855, and uniquely for the time, they were published simultaneously in a number of European cities, such as London, Paris and Leipzig. Mendelssohn was one of most important people in getting the music of J S Bach recognised and played, and his six organ sonatas show greatly the influence of Bach and how Mendelssohn had developed the form. The first movement is a large fugue, with a mighty statement of the subject at the beginning and interspersed with chorale-like passages. The powerful pedal stops of this organ were shown off to great effect. The second movement was more gentle and more like an aria for two voices. The third movement was like a question and answer session, with soft passages alternating with louder passages. This slipped into the final movement without a break. Again the pedal was used most effectively and allowed Philip to show off his pedal technique to great effect, bringing the sonata, and the recital, to a great and fitting climax.

This was an excellent performance by Philip Sawyer, both in his playing and his choice of registration. It was a fitting introduction to the 2004 Festival organ recitals here in this church, and surely promises good things to come in the following two weeks.

© Charlie Napier, 11 August 2004. Published on www.edinburghguide.com See also www.whitten.demon.co.uk/philip/

Run 18 and 25 August at 12.30

Organ Recitals @ Lunchtime (page 111)
Henry Wallace
Drams

Music Nicolas de Grigny (1671-1703): Premier livre d'orgue-Veni Creator; Francois Couperin: Messe pour les Couvents-Sanctus and Elevation; Messiaen: Le banquet céleste; Langlais: Suite Brève
Organist Henry Wallace, Organist at GGreyfriars Kirk. (Venue 131)Valvona and Crolla(Venue 67)
Address Greyfriars Place, Candlemaker Row
Reviewer Charlie Napier

Greyfriars Kirk organ
© Charlie Napier

This was the second of the four lunchtime organ recitals being given at Greyfriars this year. As Henry Wallace, the resident organist at Greyfriars Kirk and the performer today, explained, the theme of this series of recitals is French music. The organ in Greyfriars is particularly suited to French music, much more so than the organ in St Giles that I listened to last night. It was interesting to compare the Couperin Mass movement played in St Giles last night with the three short sections from the other surviving Couperin Mass played today, the Mass for the Convents. I think Greyfriars wins, it was much pleasanter to listen to.

Henry Wallace started the recital with five short pieces from the first organ Book by Nicolas de Grigny. De Grigny was an eminent 17th century French organist and composer whose music was highly esteemed, so highly that Bach considered it important enough to copy for playing and studying.. These pieces were typical for the period and Henry used them to demonstrate some of the more unusual stops on the organ, the Gros Tierce (the Big Third) in the Duo, and the distinctive Trumpet in the last movement, Dialogue sur les Grands Jeu (Dialogue on the Full Organ). One good thing from an organist's point of view, is that a lot of French organ music contains in its title, the name of the keyboard on which it should be played and also the registration (combination of stops). The first de Grigny piece requires the Taille, which is a type of reed (oboe) stop, and the third one the Cromorne, or Krumhorn, another oboe-like reed stop. They were all used to excellent effect.

The second group of pieces contained three short movements form Couperin's Mass for the Convents. They were pieces played during the "Holy, Holy, Holy" (the Sanctus) and the "Elevation" (the showing of the transubstantiated Host to the congregation by the Priest). The First Couplet of the Sanctus, was required to be played on the Plein Jeu, that is the Mixtures. The second piece, the Récit de Cornet, was a piece for a single voice, in other words a solo (which was the original meaning of the word and not, as probably most people think, an abbreviation for recitative), played on the cornet stop, one of the mixture stops. The third piece was supposed to be played on the Tierce en Taille stop, and Henry certainly chose a nice reed, nasal stop for this piece. You could just imagine the climax in this last piece coinciding with the Elevation during the Mass.

Henry Wallace
© Charlie Napier

The third item on the programme could not have been more different from what went before. As Henry pointed out in his introductory talk, there is about 240 years' difference between the composition of the two pieces. Both the pieces were intended to be played during the same part of the Mass. Whereas the Couperin sis contain some hint of the mysteriousness inherent in this particular part of the Mass, the Messiaen was completely immersed in the mystery. The instructions at the beginning of the piece are "Très lent, extatique (lointain, mysterieux)" and Henry certainly achieved the distance and mystery, and also the ecstasy, by his choice of registration and his beautifully slow presentation. A beautiful performance.

Henry finished the recital with a "Short Suite" (Suite brève) by arguably the other most important organist and composer in France during the 20th century, Jean Langlais, whose birth and death both occurred one year before those of Messiaen. Although they were contemporaries, there styles were completely different, so these four short pieces came as quite a surprise after the peace and tranquillity of the Messiaen. They were typical Langlais, slightly dissonant yet still with a sense of harmony, and expressive. It was also interesting to compare this suite with that of Grigny, which is effectively what his Veni Creator was. A lot certainly happened during the 240 years between Grigny and Couperin and Messiaen and Langlais. An excellent recital and I look forward to those to follow.

© Charlie Napier, 12 August 2004. Published on www,edinburghguide,com

Run 24 and 26 August Same venue at the same time

Opium’s Rock Fest (page 111)
Drams

Cast Barry Gibney (Sky Masterson); Sarah Rivers (Sarah Brown); Chris Heaney (Nathan Detroit); Laura Corcoran (Adelaide); Adam Perchard (Nicely-Nicely); Anthony Marsden (Benny Southstreet); Shelley Crofts (Harry the Horse); John Walton (Big Jule); Helen Stubbs (Gen. Cartwright); Wayne Ives (Lt. Brannigan)
Music and Lyrics Frank Loesser
Musicians Joe Atkins (piano); Helen Clark (flute); Stephen Clark (reed 1); Owen Elton (reed 2); Steffan Jones/James O'Carroll (drums)
Venue Opium (venue 101)
Address Cowgate
Reviewer Brodie 14 August 2004

Opium's Rock Fest

This is a place for all lovers of Rock! And not just rock, but metal and punk bands will also grace this venue over the Festival. Walking off the busy Cowgate into the ground level bar there is an assorted mix of rock lovers enjoying the very cheaply priced bar and lively music selection. Heading up the stairs to the venue, ‘black’ seemed to certainly be the theme of the evening. The two bands playing were quite contrasting within the realms of Rock – the first ‘Black Lizard King’ were more thrash metal, shouting out loud yet incomprehendable lyrics to their own fast and furious songs such as Scare The Girls (or possibly Scared By The Girls, it was very hard to make out). The second band ‘Black Slacks’ were more back to basics rock, a mixture of Rock n Roll and Rock a Billy. Completely contrasting but both well received by the sweaty crowd clustered at the front. The venues website (www.opiumrocks.com) gives details of bands playing over the Festival run.

The venue itself has a bar to the left and then leads onto the main dance floor/head banging area with the stage at the back. This is split into three archways with the middle section completely devoted to the drums – and you’ve got to respect a venue that loves its drums! If you like very, very loud Rock music, whatever form it might take then this place is worth checking out. My ears are still bleeding…Rock on!

Run 9-21 August 2004 (not 15th)

St Cuthbert's Church

ORGANFEST: FESTIVAL OF ORGAN MUSIC (Page 111)
Thomas Laing-Reilly
Drams

Music Marcel Dupré: Symphonie-Passion Op.23
Organist Thomas Laing-Reilly, Organist, St Cuthbert's Parish Church
Venue St Cuthbert's Parish Church (Venue 122)
Address 5 Lothian Road
Reviewer Charlie Napier

The opening recital in this year's Organfest in St Cuthbert's Church was by the resident organist, Thomas Laing-Reilly. There was only one work in the recital, but what a work to open this feast of organ playing.

Marcel Dupré was one of the greatest improvisers of the 20th century. It was during a tour of the United States when, on 8 December 1921, he gave a recital on the six-manual organ housed in the Wanamaker Store in Philadelphia. He was given four melodies on which to base an improvised work. Three of them were Gregorian Chants, Jesu redemptor omnium, Stabat Mater and Adore Te. The fourth tune was Adeste fideles. Dupré later wrote; "I had a flash in a state of exultation I have never known". He must have realised that here, embodied within these four melodies, was the basic story of the Passion of Christ and he just improvised a four movement organ symphony, which he later wrote down and called the Passion Symphony.

Marcel Dupré
www.cassical-composers.org

The first movement, Le mond dans l'attente du Sauveur (The world waits for the Saviour), is based on Jesu redemptor and uses reed stops, staccato chords, chromatic harmony, canonic passages, and the plainsong motif to build up a feeling of expectation and as the music increases in volume to the glorious final chord, helped by judicious pauses, the listener gets a vision of the Glory to come.

The second movement, Nativité, is based on Adeste fideles. The music, inmarch form, depicts the progress of the Shepherds and the Magi to Bethlehem following the Star. The melody appears in the pedals and keyboards in canon, ending in the beautiful prayer of the Angels, which dies away, just as if the Mother and Child are falling asleep, with no hint of what is to come.

The third movement, Crucifixion, uses the Stabat Mater as its basis. Deep pedal notes and dark harmonies, with the melody in the bass played very slowly, give the impression of bleakness, pain and anguish of the Mother watching her Son die, and leads up to the final chords, which could represent "the last words". The final descending seconds on the keyboards, interspersed with deep single pedal notes give the impression of the descent into datkness.

The fourth movement, Résurrection, is full of hope and promise. The use of a major key and the chromatic contrapuntal treatment of the melody, with chromatic chords, rising in pitch as well as volume, all give the impression of Christ rising from the tomb. The music climaxes in a glorious burst of sound with again the melody in the pedals, rising chromatic chords, and increasing volume to that marvellous final chord.

Listening to this work, it is extremely difficult to realise that it first appeared as an improvisation. What is perhaps more surprising is that Dupré managed to write it all down later. But there again, anyone who can play the complete organ works of J S Bach from memory, as Dupré did in 1920 in a series of ten recitals at the Paris Conservatoire, probably had no problem remembering what he himself had composed.

It is difficult to say that one enjoyed listening to this work. It is more of a spiritual experience and is certainly one that I would not miss. Thomas Laing-Reilly's interpretation of this work was extremely sensitive and he brought to bear on it the full resources of the mighty instrument that he knows so well. An excellent opening to this marvellous "feast" of organ music.

© Charlie Napier, 16 August 2004. Published on www,edinburghguide.com
http://www.classical-composers.org/img/dupre.jpg

Series continues 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 August at 12.45 in St Cuthbert's Church

Organfest: Festival of organ music (page 111)
John Kitchen (Page 92)
Drams 0
Music CPE Bach: Fantasia and fugue in C minor; J L Krebs (1713-1780): Fantasia à gusto italiano; Pachelbel: Chorale variations: Alle Menschen müssen sterben; Elgar: Sonata in G, Op.28
Organist John Kitchen, City and University of Edinburgh Organist
Venue St Cuthbert's Parish Church (Venue 122)
Address 5 Lothian Road
Reviewer Charlie Napier

John Kitchen, today's performer, is nothing if not inventive when it comes to arranging recital programmes. There is no obvious connection between the first three items on the programme (which are firmly fixed in the 17th and 18th centuries) and the Elgar, which is definitely 20th century. However, the combination worked. He always manages to produce something a bit different, so it is always a delight to listen to him play.

Carl Philipp Emanuel was one of J S Bach's most successful sons, holding significant musical appointments in Berlin and Hamburg. Although he must have learnt a lot from his father, particularly as regards harmony and counterpoint. He was not a copier and broke new ground as illustrated in the short Fantasia that started the recital. This exciting little piece was certainly looking forward. However, he showed in the fugue that followed that he had mastered this complex contrapuntal form. John used some interesting registrations in both parts of this work to bring it alive.

This was followed by another Fantasia, this time by a contemporary of CPE Bach, Johann Ludwig Krebs, who was a pupil of JS Bach, so would undoubtedly have known CPE, and might even have had music lessons alongside him. This was a completely different sort of composition. Intriguingly, the literal translation of its title is Fantasia in the Italian taste. There did not seem to be anything particularly Italian about it, because it is, as John described in his notes, "reminiscent of an aria, or perhaps a cello solo with string accompaniment." And that is exactly how John played it, using a lovely soft 8 foot stop for the melody and appropriate registration for the accompaniment.

The third item took us back to the 17th century with a set of variations on a hymn tune by that man whose infamous Canon has become so popular, Johann Pachelbel. The hymn tune in question is the one that is used for the modern Easter hymn, At the Lamb's high feast we sing, a particularly stirring tune. This work takes the form of seven variations on the tune, after an initial presentation of it. John chose a typical "congregational" registration for the initial presentation, namely the sound churchgoers normally associate with a pipe organ. The variations were in the format of the period, the tune being played in one part while imaginative and highly decorative countermelodies are played against it. The tune is passed from part to part as the variations progress. This give the organist an opportunity to demonstrate the different tone colours that can be produced by the organ, and John did this to the full. To use John's words to describe how he finished this work:"What appears as the final variation, despite its glittering passagework, does not sound final and is surely not intended to be the end of the piece. I shall therefore, complete the set with a decorated version of the four part chorale, played on a bold registration." Bold is perhaps an understatement. After the "glittering passagework" of the final variation, which was quite brilliant, we had this explosion of sound which might be politely called "full organ" and it included all the "bells and whistles", literally, that were on this magnificent "kist o' whistles". Yes, there are bells on it! He literally did "pull out all the stops" and might have included the "kitchen sink" if one had been available.

John Kitchen
© Charlie Napier

The Kitchen-Pachelbel finale was a hard act to follow, but I think the Elgar sonata was entirely appropriate. This is in the traditional four-movement sonata form and is written for the "modern" organ that was being built at the end of the 19th century, one that allows rapid changes of registration. John certainly used this feature of this organ to achieve the very rapid, and frequent, changes in tone colour that the music demands.

The opening movement, Allegro maestoso, opens with "bold" registration, but alternates with passages of soft lyricism, before finishing with another bold statement.. The second movement, Allegretto, consisted of decorative running passages on high flute stops, with a beautiful melody on 8 foot bourdons underneath, alternating with some livelier passages. The third movement, Andante espressivo, incorporated a broad theme, played on a variety of stops, and made use of the nice soft 32 foot pedal stop. The variety of tone colours, pitches and volumes achieved by the different registrations made it a most interesting movement. The final movement, Presto (comodo), in other words, as fast as is comfortable, allowed John to demonstrate his dexterity with rapid running passages, interspersed with melodic passages. His "presto" was not too fast and the piece finished with a glorious climax. In a way, this last movement reminded me of the Pomp and Circumstance March format. Once again, it was a delight to listen to John playing this magnificent instrument

© Charlie Napier, 18 August 2004. Publishe on www.edinburghguide.com

Run 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 August at 12.45 in St Cuthbert's Church

Organ recital (Page 111)
Naji Hakim
Drams

Music Naji Hakim (b.1955): Le bien-aimé; Jean Langlais (1907-1991): La Nativité; Messiaen: Part of Dieu parmi nous
Organist Dr Naji Hakim, organist at L'Eglise de la Trinité, Paris
Venue Greyfriars Kirk. (Venue 131)
Address Greyfriars Place, Candlemaker Row
Reviewer Charlie Napier

Dr Naji Hakim

This turned out to be quite an evening, but for all the wrong reasons. It started off very well with an introduction from the Minister of Greyfriars Kirk, the Rev. Dr. Richard Frazer, who said how this evening's concert was part of the Jesus Laughed festival that was going on in the Kirk during this period. He said something about what the festival was all about and how an organ recital formed part of the plans. The organising committee was delighted that its first-choice performer to play this concert, Dr Naji Hakim, was able to come. Dr Frazer then introduced Dr. Naji Hakim.

Dr. Hakim was born in Beirut, studied music at the Conservatoire National Supérieure de Musique in Paris and organ under that great 20th century French organist, Jean Langlais. He became organist of the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, Paris, in 1985 and then took up the post of organist in L'Eglise de la Trinité, Paris, succeeding that other 20th century French master organist, Olivier Messiaen om the latter's death. As well as turning out to be a brilliant recital organist, Dr. Hakim has become an outstanding, and prolific, composer as well as a teacher. He holds many posts in musical institutions throughout the world. This evening's programme was scheduled to contain compositions by Langlais and Messiaen, as well as two of his own.

Dr Hakim introduced himself by telling of how, when he was 5 years old, he was taken to the Chapel of the Sacred Heart in Beirut to hear Mass, when he heard the organ and decided that that is what he wanted to do. He also told how, after he had become organist at L'Eglise de la Trinité, he had been approached by a family who wanted a funeral Mass at the church for a relative who had to be buried somewhere else, because they wanted him to play. He was delighted to do it and at the end of the Mass, he said there was much smiling, laughing and happiness, which delighted him. He then went on to describe the music that he was going to play and how it all had to do with Jesus, and the Nativity. He pointed out the theological significance of some aspects of the music and ended by asking for a suggestion for an improvisation at the end of the evening.

During a short interval, the audience was invited to view an exhibition of pictures connected with the Jesus Laughed festival on display under the organ gallery. Eventually the audience settled down for the start of the concert, except it didn't start. The first sign that there was something wrong was when the Assistant Organist of the Kirk, who was page-turning for Dr. Hakim, came running down the stairs to grab some Kirk officials, who then went into various 'cupboards', under the gallery. Apparently there was no power to the organ so there was no wind and no lights! Eventually power was obtained and the concert started.

The first piece was one of Dr. Hakim's own compositions, Le bien-aimé (The dearly beloved), one of a set of seven pieces based on verses from the Song of Solomon and also on the seven antiphons said before Christmas. It was a very emotional and descriptive piece, with a wide range of expressions and colours. It certainly demonstrated his playing skills.

The second piece was La Nativité by his teacher, Jean Langlais. He described this as a charming poetical piece describing the birth of Jesus. That is as good a description as any and the music could indeed conjure up the various elements that make up the Nativity story. Again Dr. Hakim's skills were demonstrated. The page-turner had told me before the concert to expect fireworks. And we certainly heard some in these first two pieces. I was eagerly looking forward to the rest of the programme.

The third piece was Dieu parmi nous (God among us), by Olivier Messiaen. This is one on nine pieces on the Birth of the Saviour, the nine representing the nine months that Mary carried the Saviour in her womb. Messiaen's music is always symbolic. Dr. Hakim described it as a theological message, this one symbolising the "formidable birth of The Word." It started of in typical Messiaen fashion, with beautiful soft and mysterious chords creating an atmosphere of worship.

It was developing beautifully when suddenly one note stated to sound. At first it sounded part of the music, but it soon became clear that there was something not quite right.. Again the page-turner came rushing down the stairs to confer with a Kirk official, the Kirk Organist, and an organ technician who happened to be in the audience. It was obvious that it was quite serious and eventually, after a break of about 45 minutes, it was announced that the Great manual on the organ was not able to be used. Apparently, as I learned afterwards, a spring had broken on one of the pallets (the mechanism that allows the air into the pipe) and the pallet was stuck open. Efforts were made to make a replacement spring, without the proper tools, but they proved unsuccessful.

Dr Frazer reluctantly announced that the recital could not continue without the Great manual, but that Dr Hakim agreed to perform an improvisation using only the remaining keyboards. By this time, almost half the audience had left and those that remained were invited to leave their name and address and a refund would be forwarded to them. This was a very unfortunate way to end what had promised to be a very exciting and enjoyable evening. It was also very unfortunate that this should happen to an organ that is not yet 20 years old, and is only months after being completely refurbished. I am sure that the Kirk authorities will be having words with the maker.

It was some consolation to listen to Dr Hakim's improvisation. The theme was the Herbert Howells hymn tune Michael, (All my hope on God is founded). It was brilliant, both in construction and in performance. He certainly deserves his reputation as an improviser and performer. I just hope that we will have an opportunity to hear Dr. Hakim in Edinburgh in the not too distant future

© Charlie Napier, 19 August 2004. Published on www.edinburghguide.co.uk

St Cuthbert's Church

ORGANFEST: FESTIVAL OF ORGAN MUSIC (Page 111)
Michael Harris
Drams 0
Music Guy Weitz (1883-1970): Fanfare and Gothic march; Bach: Concerto in A minor BWV593; Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703): Récit de tierce en taille; Saint-Saëns: Prelude and fugue in G, Op.109 No.2; Guilmant: Sonata V in C minor
Organist Michael Harris, Organist of St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh
Venue St Cuthbert's Parish Church (Venue 122)
Address 5 Lothian Road
Reviewer Charlie Napier

Michael Harris started off this, the sixth, recital in the St Cuthbert's Organfest of 2004 with this grand Fanfare by Weitz, which made great use of the trumpet stops on this great organ. It was followed by the Gothic March. I am not sure what was "Gothic" about it, but it was typical of the marches favoured by organ composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries: a lovely majestic start, a lyrical middle bit, and a return to the beginning. This was a fine start ot the recital.

Michael made good use of the fact that there are two organs in this church, the nave organ and the choir organ during the Bach concerto. In the first movement, he provided a nice contrast by playing different parts on each of the organs. The middle movement was a slow "aria" with the tune played on the choir organ and the accompaniment on the nave organ. The final movement was a typical Bach "grand finale".

The Nicolas de Grigny piece seems to be "flavour of the month" with Edinburgh organists this year. This is the third time in two weeks it has been contained in a recital. I'm not really complaining, because it gives a beautiful little piece another airing, which it well deserves. It gives the organist a chance to use one of the more uncommon stops, and Michael's choice of registration was excellent.

The Saint-Saëns Prelude and Fugue that followed could not have been written by anyone other than a Frenchman. It was typical "French" throughout and an excellent example of French organ music of the early 20th century, both in composition and treatment. This was an excellent rendition by Michael.

He finished the recital with one of Guilmant's grand sonatas. Guilmant was one of giants of French organ music, both as a composer and a player. This was the fifth of eight organ sonatas that Guilmant wrote. This is in three movements: Scherzo, Recitativo and Choral et Fugue, a virtuoso piece that allows the organist to demonstrate both his playing technique and his skill in choosing the registration. The Scherzo is a glorious movement with plenty of flourishes and decoration which was contrasted by the Recitativo, which is a short movement, more like an introduction, that made good use of the reed stops. The final movement started with a stately Choral, or hymn tune, played using bold registration. It ran straight into the Fugue, which had quite a long Bach-like subject. The subject was developed in both manuals and pedals before the Choral returned before a further contrapuntal development of the fugue subject, which contained a long pedal-point before a final grand statement of the Choral and a final flourish to bring the piece to a grand conclusion.

Michael played with his usual skill and presentation during what was a most enjoyable recital.

© Charlie Napier, 23 August 2004.

Series continues 24, 25, 26, 27 August at 12.45 in St Cuthbert's Church

St Cuthbert's Church

ORGANFEST: FESTIVAL OF ORGAN MUSIC (Page 111)
Martyn Strachan
Drams

Music Arthur Milner (1894-1972): Prelude, Siciliano and Ricercare; Henri Dallier (1849-1934): Cinq Inventions
Organist Martyn Strachan, Organist of Craiglockhart Parish Church
Venue St Cuthbert's Parish Church (Venue 122)
Address 5 Lothian Road
Reviewer Charlie Napier

Martyn is no stranger to this church or this organ, having been taught by Bill Minay, who was organist here for many years, and also having been involved with the refurbishment of the organ in 1998.

He started his recital with three pieces by Arthur Milner, a Northumbrian organist and composer, who happened to be a great favourite of Bill Minay. As Martyn says in his notes: "Milner has a very personal and unusual harmonic style and there are a number of unexpected twists." This was very evident in all three pieces that were played. The Prelude was an interesting exposition of Milner's style and harmonies in which Martyn used some interesting registration. The result was quite typical of English organ preludes of the 20th century.. The second movement, Siciliano, started off using soft stops leading to a loud middle section before returning to the beginning again. The Ricercare was in the form of a slow fugue, and from a soft beginning it increases to a full organ climax.

One of the good things about this Organfest is that usually in at least one of the recitals, I get to hear works by a composer that I have never heard of before. This happened today in the second part of the recital when Martyn played Five invocations on Latin texts to the Virgin Mary by Henri Dallier. Dallier was a pupil of Cesar Franck and eventually succeeded Gabriel Faure as organist at the church of La Madeleine in Paris. He was obviously influenced by the romantic French music tradition and it shows in these five pieces. They are all in ABA form, with the central section being of contrasting texture and dynamics to the beginning and end. The music is typically French, as one would expect.

The first four Invocations use the softer stops and do reflect the titles: Stella Matutina (Morning Star); O Clemens! O Pia! (O Merciful One! O Tender One!); Monstra te esse matrem (Shiw yourself to be the Mother): Pulcra ut Luna (Beautiful as the moon). The central sections of these movements were louder than the beginnings and the ends. The final movement, Electa ut Sol (Chosen like the sun), turns this on its head with the beginning and end loud and the central section softer. However, this final movement is "a majestic toccata in which the full resources of the organ are used to telling effect."

This was a most enjoyable recital and I thank Martyn for giving as an opportunity to hear some music not often played nowadays.

© Charlie Napier, 26 August 2004. Published onwww.edinburghguide.com

Series continues 27 August at 12.45 in St Cuthbert's Church

(O) 8 out of 50


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