Choir of Trinity Church, Wall Street, to present Robert Levin's completion of Mozart's <i>Mass in c<

Is it real?
Fifteen or twenty years ago there was an ad campaign for Memorex® cassette tapes in which various setups were created to compare “live” music with recorded music to see whether both would break a piece of fancy stemware. A popular singer would be featured offering a terrible, powerful high note, and inevitably the glass would shatter.
What did it prove?
I’ve heard some singers who could make me cringe, but how plausible is it that the actual, acoustic human voice would break a glass? Conversely, I wonder if any other recorded sound played back with enough wattage would break the glass—a hummingbird’s wings for example or a cat on a hot tin roof. I think the Memorex demonstration was at least a little bit disingenuous, and of course we heard the whole thing through whatever speakers came with our television set. Television advertisements for televisions imply that what you see on the screen may be better than real life, but again, your appreciation of the ad is limited by the quality of your present TV.
The American Heritage Dictionary (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000) defines the word virtual: “1. Existing or resulting in essence or effect though not in actual fact, form, or name . . . ” and “2. Existing in the mind, especially as a product of the imagination.”
I introduce the word virtual in this context of what I might call the “unreality of reality.” In recent years we’ve been given the phrase virtual reality, defined in the same dictionary as “a computer simulation of a real or imaginary system that enables a user to perform operations on the simulated system and shows the effects in real time.”
An oxymoron is not a person addicted to painkillers, it’s a “rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined.” To my ears, virtual reality is an oxymoron.

Let’s be real.
We might imagine that Bach would have stopped at 175 cantatas if he had been subject to phone calls from the clergy, or Mozart’s 30th symphony would have been his last had he been distracted by television, or—God forbid—video games. But simple things like hot water in the house and electric lights are taken for granted, and more complicated things like computers have become something close to necessities. I’m in favor of technology. The other day I stumbled over a box of detritus stored in an organ chamber by a long-gone organist. I was amused to see a 56K compact disc. 56K? How Stone Age. There’s a half-used 100-pack of 700MB CDs on my desk. Big deal. I replaced my previous 2GB laptop with a 60GB job because of the number of photos I carry around. There’s a 2GB memory card in my camera. What’s next? Remember NASA engineers using slide rules during Apollo flights? (I know that’s true because I saw it in a movie.) With a $400 GPS we have more navigation ability in a 20-foot motorboat than the entire British Navy had during the Napoleonic wars. How much more computing speed or data-storage capacity do we need?
Apply that same question to cameras (mine has more mega-pixels than yours), automobiles (mine has more horsepower than yours), or cell phones (mine’s a camera, a calculator, a calendar, an alarm clock . . . ). How much more can they offer before they stop getting better?
Many of us in the organbuilding world are devoted to the pipe-organ-technology of the early 20th century—what Ernest Skinner considered adequate console equipment should be good enough for anyone. But let’s remember that hundreds of terrific Hook organs were replaced by Skinner’s new-fangled electric things where the organist was 40 feet away from the instrument. What makes the early electro-pneumatic pipe organ the ideal? How many organbuilders and organists disdained Skinner’s innovations as superfluous or unnecessary? “If God had intended us to push pistons we would have been all thumbs.” At what point in the development of any technology does one take a snapshot and declare the ideal, after which there’s no need for further development?

Electronics in the worship space
It’s more than 50 years since churches began purchasing electronic organs to replace pipe organs. I think many, even most of us will admit that the 30- and 40-year-old models that are still laboring along are pretty poor. While they have pipe organ names on their stop tablets, they never did sound like organs. They were cheaply made and not durable. A church I served as music director had a 20-year-old electronic in the chapel that wasn’t in tune, according to the technician couldn’t be tuned, and needed parts that weren’t available. Have you ever tried to get a three-year-old computer repaired?
While it’s always risky to generalize, it seems to me that the average church that was once proud of owning a modest pipe organ is inclined to buy an electronic console that emulates a 60- or 70-stop “real” organ. What sense does it make to have an “organ” with 32¢ sounds, batteries of reeds, and secondary and tertiary choruses in a sanctuary that seats fewer than 200 people? Is it so you can play music that was intended for buildings ten times the size? It’s a violation of scale, an anomaly, and artless expression. As I wrote a couple months ago, “the Widor” doesn’t work in every church.

The Virtual Pipe Organ
Trinity Church (Episcopal), Wall Street, New York, is a prominent, beautiful, historically significant edifice that houses a large and vibrant parish with an extraordinary music program. According to the church’s website , the parish was founded “by charter of King William III of England in 1697.” The present Gothic Revival building, designed by Richard Upjohn, was consecrated on May 1, 1846. The website includes an Historical Timeline that tells us that some of the church’s vestrymen were members of the Continental Congresses, that the parishioners were divided politically as the Revolutionary War progressed, but that the clergy sided with the crown. An American patriot, the Rev. Dr. Samuel Provoost, was appointed rector in 1784, and the New York State Legislature “ratifie[d] the charter of Trinity Church,” deleting the provision that asserted its loyalty to the King of England.
In 1770, just 28 years after Georg Frederick Handel’s Messiah was premiered in Dublin, Ireland, it received its American premiere at Trinity Church. Today’s spectacular and highly regarded Trinity Choir is heard on many recordings. Their annual performances of Messiah are legendary throughout the city. Bernard Holland of the New York Times wrote, “All the ‘Messiah’ outings to come in the next two weeks will have to work hard to match this one.” And in 2005, the Times called Trinity’s performance of the great oratorio, “the ‘Messiah’ to beat.” (Now there’s an image!) What a wonderful heritage.
On September 11, 2001, Trinity Church assumed an essential national role by chance of place. Located adjacent to the World Trade Center, the church and its people were thrust into the center of that tragic story. St. Paul’s Chapel, part of Trinity’s “campus” and located a couple blocks away, became an inspiring comfort station for firefighters and other emergency workers. Through the ensuing months, as the rubble was unraveled, the chapel was staffed by the people of the church who provided food, refreshment, and a resting place for the rescue workers. The response of the clergy, staff, and parishioners to that national catastrophe was as inspirational as it was essential.
At the moment of the attack, a service was in progress in Trinity Church, the organ blower was running, and the great cloud of dust that filled the entire neighborhood found its way into the organ. It was later determined that the organ could not be used without extensive cleaning and renovation. A temporary solution was offered. Douglas Marshall and David Ogletree, dealers of Rodgers organs in New England, had been developing the “Virtual Pipe Organ,” using a technology they named PipeSourced® voices. A large instrument using this technology was installed at Trinity Church as a temporary solution while the church researched the condition of the Aeolian-Skinner.
A year or so after the Virtual Pipe Organ was installed, I attended a service to hear the instrument and was impressed by the volume and intensity of the sound. The massive building was filled with the sound of an organ. There was no distortion. People were singing, and I’m willing to bet that many of them were well satisfied, even thrilled by the sound. I had not expected to be convinced that the Virtual Organ would really sound like a pipe organ. In fact I’m not sure how I could eliminate the bias of a lifetime as an “acoustic organ guy.” As full and intense as the sound of the Virtual Organ was, it was not the sound of a pipe organ. It lacked the essential majesty of presence, the special physicality, the particular “realness” of the sound of a great pipe organ.
The experience of listening to the Virtual Organ might be compared to listening to a recording of a great pipe organ, as the sound of both comes from speakers. I understand that sampling technology is not the same as recordings, and I expect that proponents of the virtual organ will object to my analogy, but it’s those speakers that make the essential difference. Sound coming from a speaker will always be distinguishable from sound coming from organ pipes.
I can recall the depth of my impressions when as a young teenager I first heard the Boston Symphony Orchestra playing in Symphony Hall. I think I expected the huge volume of sound and the intensity of the differences of the timbres, but I had no way of anticipating the presence, the majesty, the physicality of all that acoustic sound as enhanced by the magnificent room. Oh, those double basses!
There are few musical presentations more expensive than a symphony orchestra (except opera and ballet in which the symphony orchestra is combined with the theater). A hundred serious musicians on stage in a 300-million-dollar concert hall require important organization to sustain, but we don’t hear a move to replace that experience with digital sampling. We want to hear the real thing. The symphony orchestra and the pipe organ are special in our culture because they’re so expensive. I don’t mean that the money itself is impressive—but that the money represents how majestic the expression is.
In conversations with church members I frequently hear people say that the sound of a digital instrument is “good enough” for the untrained ear. One might respond, unless your fiancée is a jeweler, why bother with a real diamond? She’ll never know the difference.
I don’t want to eat a chemically produced substitute for lobster. I want the real lobster, and for goodness sake, don’t mess with the butter!
I read on Marshall & Ogletree’s website (www.marshallogletree.com) that they sample complete pipe organs: “PipeSourced® sounds, which are skillful note-by-note, stop-by-stop recordings of famous pipe organs (90% of them vintage Aeolian-Skinners), contribute unprecedented virtual reality to Marshall & Ogletree instruments, as well as to its combination organs and custom additions for new and existing pipe organs.” That’s a long, long way from the previous generation of sampling techniques, and proverbial light-years from the early rounds of tone-generators on which the development of the electronic instrument was founded.
There have been a number of articles written in praise of the Virtual Pipe Organ, including Allen Kozinn’s review of a recital played by Cameron Carpenter published in the New York Times on July 7, 2007, with the headline: “A ‘Virtual’ Organ Wins New Converts at a Recital.” And Dr. Burdick has written an apologia defending the church’s decision to sell the dismantled Aeolian-Skinner, retain the Marshall & Ogletree Virtual Organ, and to commission another virtual instrument for St. Paul’s Chapel, which concludes,
Trinity Church is proud of its role in developing the “virtual pipe organ,” which could only exist in this new century because of the continuing exponential growth of computer speed and memory. Without the brilliance of Douglas Marshall and David Ogletree, whose research began in 1997 to develop an entirely new approach to the digital organ, we could never have achieved an instrument such as this. Furthermore, without Trinity Church having taken advantage of its historic opportunity by daring to consider such an interim instrument, the music world would not now have this dramatic new 21st century success: like an automobile with horsepower but no horses, a virtual pipe organ with musical potentials beyond anyone’s imagination.

There’s little doubt that Trinity’s Aeolian-Skinner organ was not as distinguished as many other instruments produced by that firm. (It’s at least a little ironic that there’s agreement that Trinity’s Aeolian-Skinner organ was less than great, but it’s replaced by something based on sampling “vintage Aeolian-Skinners.”) There’s no doubt at all that the Virtual Pipe Organ represents but a fraction of the cost of commissioning a Real Organ. After all, we live in the age of the seven-figure organ. There’s no doubt that Trinity Church has realized a significant short-term economy by eliminating the immense maintenance budget required by a large pipe organ. In fact, Dr. Burdick reports that they had been spending $56,000 annually to care for the Aeolian-Skinner—a specious argument in that there are many much larger and much older organs that are maintained effectively for less money. The organ world rumor-mill, that most active of subcultures, has reported many different numbers representing the cost of the Virtual Organ. I don’t know what the actual price was, but it’s safe to guess that it was a significant number of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Is it true stewardship of a church’s resources to spend such a volume of money on artifice? For centuries, Christians have given their all trying to make their worship spaces approach their respect for their faith. Huge treasures were spent in 12th-century France building cathedrals that still inspire us. Fortunes have been spent on stained-glass that fills church interiors with magical, mystical light. Trinity Church Wall Street is a spectacular edifice with beautiful vaulted ceilings, stained-glass windows, carved wood architectural elements and furniture. Hundreds of important preachers, humanitarians, and politicians have spoken there. To walk inside is to respect the care and vision with which the place was created. To walk inside is to find respite from a frenetic city and inspiration from all that has happened there. To walk inside is to worship. This is not a place for artifice.
As I’ve spoken about Trinity Church, I encourage you to read about St. Paul’s Chapel at www.saintpaulschapel. org/about_us/. Built in 1766, it’s the oldest public building in Manhattan that’s been in continuous use. Here’s an excerpt from that website:

George Washington worshiped here on Inauguration Day, April 30, 1789, and attended services at St. Paul’s during the two years New York City was the country’s capital. Above his pew is an 18th-century oil painting of the Great Seal of the United States, which was adopted in 1782.
Directly across the chapel is the Governor’s pew, which George Clinton, the first Governor of the State of New York, used when he visited St. Paul’s. The Arms of the State of New York are on the wall above the pew.
Among other notable historical figures who worshiped at St. Paul’s were Prince William, later King William IV of England; Lord Cornwallis, who is most famous in this country for surrendering at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781; Lord Howe, who commanded the British forces in New York, and Presidents Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and George H. W. Bush.

St. Paul’s Chapel stands as a shrine for all that happened in that neighborhood and to this country on September 11, 2001. This is also not a place for artifice.
In his Apologia, Dr. Burdick reports, “Because of insurance matters after 9/11, there was no question that we’d have to wait five to seven years for a decent replacement pipe organ, during which time I felt that we’d be starving for good organ sound.” Fair enough. That’s why the purchase of the Virtual Pipe Organ for temporary use was a good solution. But I am sorry that such a church in such a place with such a history would miss their opportunity to add not to the virtual world, but the real world of the pipe organ.

Marcia Van Oyen is Director of Music Ministry at First United Methodist Church, Plymouth, Michigan, and continues to serve as Director for the National AGO Committee for Membership Development and Chapter Support. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Michigan, where she studied organ with Robert Glasgow.

The 46th University of Michigan Conference on Organ Music took place October 1–4, 2006. The event focused on music of Germany, France and the USA, featuring performances by Marie-Claire Alain, Michigan faculty members Marilyn Mason, James Kibbie, and Michele Johns, and a slate of lectures on a variety of topics. The majority of events took place at Hill Auditorium, home of the 4-manual, 124-rank Frieze Memorial Organ.

Children’s choir festival

The conference opened with a children’s choir festival organized by the Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Thomas Strode, AGO board member and director of the Ann Arbor Boy Choir, gathered over 85 children from six area churches and schools to sing together. Approximately half the program featured music sung by the combined choir directed by Strode; several groups sang individually as well, including the Messias Temple Youth Choir, whose inspired performance brought the audience to its feet. Charles Kennedy skillfully accompanied the choir, and played three Sketches and a Canon by Schumann. The audience of several hundred comprised largely families with young children, and I was glad to see them exposed to the sounds of both well-trained children’s voices and the pipe organ. Given the disposition of the audience, the stage was perfectly set to engage the multi-generational crowd with organ repertoire or a demonstration designed for such a purpose. Tom Strode did give some impromptu remarks about the organ, which seemed to pique the interest of the adults seated near me, but the program would have had greater impact had it included one of the many light-hearted, educational organ demonstration pieces of recent vintage. Based on the interest of more choirs in participating, the Ann Arbor AGO plans to continue this event in the future. I encourage them to make the most of the opportunity to educate young people about the pipe organ.

Michigan faculty performances

Sunday evening, Marilyn Mason and flautist Donald Fishel gave the Ann Arbor premiere of Breath of the Spirit—Pentecost for flute, organ, and narrators, composed by Michigan graduate Gregory Hamilton, based on poetry by Kenneth Gaertner. The pattern of the work was inspired by Dupré’s La Chemin de la Croix, with the ten sections of the work musically interpreting and commenting upon the poetry. In her opening remarks, Marilyn Mason noted that this concert was one of the first events to take place following the official renaming of the music school. In collegial spirit, she appropriately included two members of the theatre department as narrators in this performance presented by the School of Music, Theatre and Dance.
Here is a brief synopsis of the work, with a few noteworthy quotes from the poetry:
1. Overture—organ alone, featuring big solo trumpet melody.
2. Annunciation—the organ and flute trade motifs, suggesting a dialogue between Mary and the Angel Gabriel, the rounded sounds of the Hill organ blending beautifully with the flute.
3. Children in Praise—children caught up in the excitement and wonder of the quiet Rabbi Jesus healing a crippled man and a man with a withered hand. The flute introduces a sprightly theme, which is echoed by the organ, spiced with mild dissonance.
4. Herod—the poem speculates on Herod’s thoughts about John contrasted with those about his lover Herodias. He is simultaneously upset and intrigued by John, comforted and attracted to Herodias. Unaccompanied flute plays long passages in the low register contrasted with passages in the instrument’s uppermost register.
5. Mary Dancing—the story of Jesus changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana and the dancing at the wedding. For solo flute, nearly moto perpetuo.
6. Judas—for organ solo, beginning with a crashing chord and descending pedal solos, then a decrescendo to a sighing Bach-like fugue section. The movement ends with more clashing dissonance alternating with a funereal fugue. “Mankind’s future is mankind’s sin.”
7. Mary Magdalene/Doubting Thomas—the extended poem is followed by long flowing melodies portraying gentle happiness.
8. Poverty Shared—illustrates the experience of a poor man listening to Jesus preach. It begins seething with tension, then eases and flows into comforting, surging waves of lovely harmonies. The poetry preceding the movement offers these paradoxical thoughts: “Listening to the Rabbi preach, shedding the shroud of poverty, words flew into the ears of his poverty’s corpse. Had not his curse always been his salvation?” The initial tension returns to close the movement.
9. Desert Grief—Jesus appearing to Mary, resurrected. An oboe solo on organ alternates with the flute melody, perhaps indicating an undulating, leaping soul—“the burned sins of the world fell in gray ashes.”
10. Pentecost—recaps the overture, framing the work. Several strong poetic phrases wrap up the ideas in earlier poems: “delusions were ashes,” “truth cut through the oppression of their past,” “died and could not die again.”
Mason and Fishel proved themselves well-synchronized partners performing Breath of the Spirit, deftly navigating the work’s changing rhythmic landscape. For an extended work, it is easy to grasp and enjoyable on first hearing. Its accessible, attractive music would no doubt be enhanced by a church setting to give it a sacred context. The work will be published in the near future, perhaps with some of the movements simplified to promote more performance, especially in a liturgical setting.

James Kibbie: Leipzig Chorales

James Kibbie played all of Bach’s Leipzig Chorales in two sessions, the first on the Fisk organ at Blanche Anderson Moore Hall at the School of Music, and the second on the Wilhelm organ at First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor. Kibbie takes a natural approach to these chorales—his playing is unfussy and elegant. He works with the organ’s natural articulation, adding his own subtle touches, all in keeping with the musical flow and not distracting from the overall effect. His pacing of the chorales is cohesive and appropriate, each tempo and transition carefully considered, and the registrations are apt, tastefully chosen for color and not solely dramatic effect.
The audience sang each chorale tune before Kibbie played Bach’s settings, having been provided with a booklet including the chorales. The booklet also contained comprehensive notes written by Larry Visser in 1992 when he performed the Leipzig Chorales as part of his doctoral studies at Michigan.
James Kibbie is on sabbatical leave during winter term to begin a three-year project to record the complete organ works of J. S. Bach on historic organs in Germany. During 2007, he will record approximately one third of the Bach organ works, including the Leipzig Chorales on the Silbermann organ of Dresden Cathedral and the Kirnberger Chorales on the Silbermann organs in Rötha.

Michele Johns and Kristen Johns

Michele Johns and her daughter Kristen performed a delightful concert of music for horn and organ on Monday afternoon. Kristen Johns has recently earned a DMA in horn performance, and has compiled a list of over 100 pieces originally composed for horn and organ as part of her research. The program included a selection of works composed in the last third of the 20th-century, opening with the fanfare-filled Celebration for Horn and Organ by Randall Faust. Next, Craig Phillips’ tuneful Serenade for Horn and Organ was filled with the composer’s signature harmonies, while Dutch composer Jan Koetsier’s Choral-Fantasie on Gib dich zufrieden un sei stille reminds one of Mendelssohn or Rheinberger. Daniel Pinkham’s The Salutation of Gabriel was commissioned by Joan Lippincott in honor of Karen McFarlane’s retirement. It is a programmatic work in three continuous sections—Gabriel delivers the message, Mary replies, Gabriel departs. Pinkham effectively portrays both the excitement and weightiness of the message, going so far as to instruct the performer to walk off-stage before playing the closing notes of the piece to signify Gabriel departing. Arnatt’s Variations on Divinum Mysterium is a beautifully composed work, keeping the familiar chant tune prominent most of the time. Works by Paul Basler and Gunther Marks rounded out this enjoyable mother/daughter collaboration.

Student performances

Students of Marilyn Mason and James Kibbie performed in several concerts during the conference. Monday morning, doctoral candidate Seth Nelson gave an excellent lecture-recital on Mozart’s flute clock pieces. The temperament of the Fisk organ brought out the character and color of these pieces, particularly the F-minor Fantasy. Doctoral students Marcia Heirman, Andrew Meagher, Alan Knight, Christine Chun, Susan De Kam, and master’s student Thomas Kean performed works ranging from Messiaen to Brahms to Vierne on Monday afternoon. Undergraduate Joseph Balistreri, master’s student Paul Haebig, doctoral student Michael Stefanek, and returning DMA graduates Shin-Ae Chun and Seth Nelson played works by Le Bègue, Langlais, Franck, Sowerby, Bolcom, and Dupré on Wednesday afternoon. Following the organ program, Christine Chun performed her first dissertation recital as pianist of the Michigan Trio, performing chamber works with cellist Amar Basu and violinist Jane Yu. David Saunders gave his second doctoral recital on Wednesday evening, playing music of DeGrigny, Guilain, Franck and Grandjany. Carillonneur Steven Ball gave a short carillon concert prior to the evening event.

Mozart lecture

Music theory professor Ellwood Derr gave an outstanding lecture on Mozart on Tuesday morning. He began by offering a Native American saying, “It is good for the living to perform ceremonies for the dead,” and invited his audience to actively participate in the lecture. Comparing Mozart to Michelangelo and Shakespeare, Derr asserted that Mozart is a magician, a freak due to his unusually high level of skill and his ability to innately and directly communicate with his audience, whether or not they are educated. His corpus of works, which Derr believes to be technically perfect, is so vast it is nearly impossible to listen to it all.
Derr has done research that identifies more than 80 Mozart works that borrow material from J. C. Bach, whom Mozart greatly admired. He recognizes three ways in which existing material can be incorporated into new works: reuse of thematic material, a technique so widely used as to be in common domain; unadorned borrowing for effect; and material retrieved from memory, the most common method of borrowing. He discussed examples from the Great Mass in C minor and the Requiem. In connection with remarks on the high quality of Mozart’s unfinished works, he played a selection from a recent recording of a gorgeous unfinished aria from Davide Penitente. Following the conference, Derr was slated to give this lecture and two additional lectures as part of a series of events celebrating Mozart, his era and his influence.

Classical French music

Monday afternoon, Susanne Diederich and Jean Randall offered a session on the Classical French organ and its music. Using the Frieze organ in Hill Auditorium, Randall demonstrated at the console and Diederich spoke. The main points of the lecture were the importance of stylistic specialties in giving character to French classic music, and that this period represents a rare confluence of instrument, music, style, and performance practice all working together. This era is unique in history; organ builders and organists worked closely together, and the organ was participating in the general development of music. Following this lecture, Stephanie Nofar gave a lecture-recital, “The Other France: Tribute to Unknown Masters.”

Maurice Clerc recital

Maurice Clerc played a recital featuring several transcriptions at Hill Auditorium on Monday evening. Having played at several previous conferences, Clerc seemed at home at the console and utilized the organ’s resources to great effect, preferring full registrations such as he can create at his home church, Notre-Dame in Paris. He began the program with his own bombastic transcription from Verdi’s Don Carlos, and moved on to Franck’s Pièce Héroïque, playing it with a very legato touch. He captured the excitement of the piece effectively, adding an arpeggiated fanfare before the closing chords. His transcription of a suite of character pieces by Fauré provided enjoyable listening, enlivened by colorful registrations. He followed with the Suite Medievale by Langlais, and closed the program with his transcription of a scherzo improvised by Pierre Cochereau in 1974.

Clerc: The art of transcription

On Tuesday afternoon, Maurice Clerc gave a lecture on preparing transcriptions. He cited transcription practices in the 18th century—Bach’s Schübler Chorales, Rameau’s arrangements of his own operas, and Balbastre’s transcriptions of his own works. After being abandoned for a time, transcription again became popular in the latter half of the 19th-century. Liszt arranged favorite orchestral and choral works for organ, and is known to have played the Kyrie from Mozart’s Requiem and transcriptions of classics for Widor. Karg-Elert made arrangements of Wagner’s works, using every possible technique available on the organ. Organ performance was very popular at the time, giving people the opportunity to hear great orchestral works performed on the instrument, since they would have had little or no opportunity to hear the likes of Wagner otherwise. Many composers did not write for the organ at all, deterred by having secular works performed in a sacred space, since most organs are located in churches.
Transcriptions allow us to play works by composers who didn’t write for the organ. The body of organ repertoire can be increased, and allow us to study a composer’s techniques. In addition, Clerc believes organists make transcriptions for their own enjoyment, giving the examples of David Briggs and Daniel Roth, as well as Jean Guillou, who made transcriptions when it wasn’t considered a legitimate art. Clerc discussed two types of transcriptions: adaptations of existing works to the language of the organ, and notations of improvisations. Both Dupré’s and Tournemire’s improvisations have been notated, allowing us to observe their improvisation styles. Clerc has transcribed works of Pierre Coche-reau, whom he describes as “having sparkling musicality, and endowed with staggering speed and an innate ability to use the whole organ from soft to loud.” Transcribing these improvisations captures a moment in time and preserves the uniqueness of the improviser’s art.

Michael Barone

Michael Barone opened his session with this statement: “We think we know everything, but if we don’t know history, we’re destined to repeat it.” His goal was to give a survey of how performers have approached French music over the years. Tinkering patiently with recalcitrant hi-fi equipment, he began with the first recording of early French music, a disc recorded by André Marchal on a Gonzales/Beckerath at Attignon in 1936, wondering “Can we play this music any better today?” Barone created a pastiche of Franck’s Pièce Héroïque, alternating passages played in 1929 by Marcel Dupré and in 1962 by E. Power Biggs, and offered a composite of several recordings of Gigout playing his own B-minor Toccata. He offered 15 examples of the opening section of Franck’s B-minor Choral, noting the balance shift between the manuals and the pedal among the various recordings.
Barone’s open-minded approach allows his audiences to be exposed to many performers and performances that might be ruled out in narrower definitions of what is worthwhile. He chooses recordings of instruments or performances that he deems so beguiling or interesting that they deserve a hearing, and to his credit is not bound by fashionable definitions of authenticity or correctness. He encouraged the audience to spend time listening to how our predecessors performed, noting that any organist worth his or her salt “speaks French.” Known for closing his sessions with a memorable aural example, Barone did not disappoint. He closed with a recording of Messiaen’s La Nativité by a Russian accordion player.

Marie-Claire Alain

When Marie-Claire Alain stepped onto the platform to perform her concert Tuesday evening, she was greeted by an extended ovation from the capacity audience of conference attendees, church members, and locals. She had given a masterclass on the music of Jehan Alain that afternoon, and the evening’s event only seemed to bring forth more energy in her. She began with a set of guitar pieces by Campion transcribed for organ, which showed off the colors of the instrument, followed by two settings of Schmücke dich by Bach. She took the familiar BWV 654 at a lively pace, and deftly negotiated handfuls of notes in BWV 759. Closing a set of three Bach works, the C-major prelude and fugue, BWV 547, sparkled in her hands. This work too often suffers from plodding and heavy rendition, but Marie Claire moved it along under perfect control, clearly feeling very comfortable with the piece and the instrument.
The second half included Dupré’s Virgo Mater, op. 40, which is dedicated in memory of Jehan Alain, followed by three pieces by her father, Albert Alain. Though written in the 20th century, these pieces hark back to earlier styles, and are particularly akin to the works of Vierne and Widor. The contrast between Albert’s music and Jehan’s is interesting, the former steeped in French tradition, and the latter unbound by tradition. The younger Alain’s Deux Danses and Suite bring this point home. Marie-Claire had played well all evening, but her performance really caught fire performing her brother’s works. Following a long standing ovation and her 85-minute program, she tossed off a riveting performance of “Litanies” as an encore as if it was the first piece of the evening.
Brandon Spence: multi-cultural worship
Brandon Spence, a Michigan graduate, is director of music at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This parish is home to people who speak English, Spanish, and Polish, as well as some who neither speak English nor are able to read. Spence approaches his task by asking two questions: who is present in worship? What are your musical resources? How do we make the music relevant? He cleverly illustrated with the movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” asserting that there is a parallel between preparing a meal according to the needs of diverse guests and preparing music for worship. For Spence, the main issues are inclusiveness, enculturation, and fidelity to tradition. Worship should be inclusive, inviting, and engaging. Worship works best when people can feel that they belong and feel invited. With the assistance of a cantor from St. Andrew’s, he demonstrated using settings of Psalm 34 in different styles ranging from the Basilican Psalter to jazz and gospel in order to reach the various sectors of his diverse congregation.

Conclusion

The varied events of the 46th annual organ conference once again combined to provide current students and attendees with an excellent opportunity to delve into the riches of pipe organ repertoire and performance. Many thanks to Marilyn Mason and her colleagues who organize this valuable conference each year.

Janice Feher is organist in residence at First Presbyterian Church, San Diego. She holds a BM from Michigan State University and an MM from the University of Michigan, and she is a Colleague of the AGO. Her teachers included Corliss Arnold, Leslie Spelman, Donald Sutherland, Robert Noehren, and Marilyn Mason. She and her husband, Bela Feher, published two photobooks as part of an ongoing project on pipe organs of Europe—Sacred Spaces of Germany and Denmark (with Marilyn Mason) and Sacred Spaces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (available from Blurb.com ). Photo credit: Bela Feher

Robert Noehren impressed me with
his concern that organists should spend more time listening to music. I think he would have approved of the Leslie Peart organ tour of 2010 that included organ concerts, an evening at the BBC Proms, and choral services. We heard some impressive sacred and secular music in Scotland and England, as well as sharing memorable meals of representative local cuisine.
The 2010 Scotland and England organ tour—July 13–26—began with a welcome luncheon at the Ramada Mt. Royal Hotel in Edinburgh. This hotel is located on Princes Street, above shopping and restaurants, and it provided a great base for visiting the varied organs of Edinburgh. We began by playing the 1989 Collins organ at the Greyfriars Church, followed by the fine Willis organ at the Episcopal Cathedral. That evening we enjoyed a generous amount of time playing on the wonderful 1992 St. Giles Cathedral organ, built by Rieger Orgelbau of Austria.
The next day, Scottish rain and chill failed to dampen our spirits as we explored Queen Elizabeth’s yacht, Royal Brittannia. We were treated to lunch at St. Mary’s Metropolitan Catholic Cathedral, where concert organist Simon Nieminski is music director. Afterward, we played the large 2007 Copley organ in the church.
Next we visited historic St. Cuthbert Church, which has a large organ by Robert Hope-Jones, dating from 1899. The 93-register organ was extensively reconstructed in 1997–98 by J.W. Walker & Sons Ltd. of Brandon, Suffolk. We found an unexpected treat in the Freemasons’ Hall of Edinburgh, where there is a 1913 vintage Bridley & Foster pipe organ that has been preserved in original condition by Forth Pipe Organs of Edinburgh. The day concluded with a memorable organ recital at St. Giles, played by the cathedral’s director of music, Michael Harris.
An early arrival before the public at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow gave us time to see and play the historic Lewis organ from the 1901 International Exhibition. Later, we joined the public for the lunchtime concert played by our fellow tour members, Bob MacDonald and Dene Barnard.
Notable experiences in northern England included visiting Keswick in the beautiful Lake District, where we stayed at the Country House Hotel and cruised on Lake Windermere—England’s largest lake. We were warmly welcomed at St. Bees Priory, which has a historic 1899 organ built by “Father” Willis that is essentially untouched. It was the last major instrument he personally supervised. The original programmable pistons (the first in England) are still in place.
On Sunday we enjoyed the sung Eucharist accompanied by the historic Willis organ at Durham Cathedral. After playing the organ at Ripon Cathedral, we traveled to York Minster for Evensong in the large Gothic cathedral.
The highlight of the next day was touring Castle Howard, the location for Brideshead Revisited, where we played the organ in the castle’s beautiful chapel.
Our host in Liverpool was concert artist Ian Tracey, who helped us discover the impressive Willis organs of Liverpool. “Father” Henry Willis founded his pipe organ firm in 1845 in Liverpool. He contributed much to the science and art of organbuilding, and he was regarded as the leading English organbuilder of the Victorian era. Willis organs were placed in town halls and churches throughout the UK. Many remain today, including the 121-rank 1855 “Father” Willis organ in St. George’s Hall, Liverpool. Ian Tracey, Liverpool’s city organist, has great enthusiasm and concern for the maintenance of this historic organ.
A second great Willis organ is located in the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, where Ian Tracey is cathedral organist. It was the largest musical instrument ever conceived when dedicated in 1926. Today it is the largest organ in the UK, even larger than Royal Albert Hall, with recent additions. It is playable from two matching five-manual consoles.
We toured the Willis organ factory, where we were impressed with the quality of their current instruments and the historic Rolls-Royce that David Wyld, the new owner of the company, had driven to work that day. Our Liverpool adventures were capped by an evening visit to the dramatic Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, where a 1967 Walker organ is installed.
The last few days flew by with visits to play many organs, including those at Coventry Cathedral; Rugby School, where the game of rugby originated; Worcester Cathedral, with its wonderful 2008 organ by Kenneth Tickell; and the military academy, Sandhurst.
On our way to London, we realized we had visited a total of 28 instruments in England and Scotland!
A special memory of our London visit was the sung Eucharist at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where we had reserved seats under the dome for Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with orchestra, organ, and soloists. The service concluded with the Fantasia in F Minor on the organ. Sunday afternoon Evensong at Westminster Abbey was followed by an organ recital by Christian Lane, assistant university organist at Harvard.
We flew home from London well rested, with great memories and new friends, and thankful for exposure to such wonderful and diverse organs.
If you are interested in seeing the highlights of our UK organ tour, visit gallery.me.com/janbela#100052 for a 24-minute slideshow. (Note: Grid allows manual control of timing; slideshow is automatic. Locations are identified above or below the pictures.)
The twenty-third annual England Choral, Castle, and Organ Tour will be July 12–25, with four days in London, three at the Southern Cathedrals Festival at Winchester Cathedral, and many other organs and castles along the south shore of England. For more information, go to www.organtours.com, or contact Leslie Peart at [email protected], phone 217/546-2562. 

Joel H. Kuznik, NYC, has been writing published articles for 50 years. A native of Jack Benny’s hometown, Waukegan, his childhood idol nevertheless was Rubenstein, whom he eventually heard in Paris in 1975. But by 14, he became fascinated with the organ and Biggs, whom he heard twice in the mid 1950s. He studied organ with Austin Lovelace, David Craighead, Mme. Duruflé, Jean Langlais, and Anton Heiller, and conducting with Richard Westenburg and Michael Cherry, who was assistant to Georg Szell. Highlights of 70 years have included hearing Glenn Gould, Giulini in Brahms’ Fourth at Chicago, Carlos Kleiber’s “Der Rosenkavalier” at the Met, Herreweghe’s unmatchable “Mass in B Minor” at the Leipzig Bachfest, “Tosca” at La Scala, a one-on-one with Bernstein after the Mahler 2nd, and, finally, a birthday toast from Horowitz.

One advantage of retirement is having the luxury of hearing colleagues and ensembles here and abroad. Of course you don’t have to be retired, but the freedom to plan your own time helps. I have taken a number of European musical tours: Italian opera, Paris organs, Bach and Luther, and the Leipzig Bach Festival.
I have also taken two Holy Week-Easter pilgrimages. In the late 1990s I observed Holy Week in London and celebrated Easter in both the Western and Eastern Orthodox rites, first in Naples and then a week later in the Oia, Santorini, Greece. This year I decided to take my pilgrimage in London. These are the options I discovered on the Internet, and from which I made a spreadsheet for daily reference. Choices had to be made, and not everything made the list, such as “Götterdämmerung” at the Royal Opera House, which would have consumed one of my six days.

Maundy Thursday

13:10: Eucharist with music, St. Anne & St. Agnes, Bach chorales
17:00: Sung Eucharist, Westminster Abbey, Byrd Mass & Duruflé
18:00: Mass, Westminster Cathedral, Monteverdi & Duruflé
19:30: Mozart Requiem, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, New London Singers

Good Friday

11:15: Matins & Litany, Temple Church, Lotti & Tallis
14:30: Bach’s St. John Passion, St. John’s Smith Square, Academy of Ancient Music
15:00: Lord’s Passion, Westminster Cathedral, Bruckner, Victoria

Holy Saturday

15:00: Evensong, Westminster Abbey, Victoria
19:00: Easter Vigil, St. Paul’s, Langlais Messe Solennelle
20:30: Easter Vigil, Westminster Cathedral, Vierne Messe solennelle

Easter Sunday

10:15: Matins, St. Paul’s, Britten Festival Te Deum
10:30: Eucharist, Westminster Abbey, Langlais Messe Solennelle
16:00: Early & baroque music, Wigmore Hall, Florilegium, Bach & Telemann
16:45: Organ recital, Westminster Cathedral
18:00: Easter music & Eucharist, St. Anne & St. Agnes, Handel & Telemann

Monday

19:30: Handel’s Messiah, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Belmont Ensemble

Maundy Thursday

A few blocks behind St. Paul’s Cathedral is St. Anne’s Lutheran Church, an international congregation founded in 1951, worshiping at the church of St. Anne and St. Agnes designed by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London (1666) and consecrated in 1680. Built in the form of a Greek cross, this small church was bombed in WWII, but was restored and reconsecrated in 1966 as a Lutheran parish. In addition to its architectural history, famous residents of the parish have included John Milton, John Bunyan, and John Wesley.
St. Anne’s is known for its music, “particularly in the Lutheran tradition of J. S. Bach, Schütz, and Buxtehude.” There are over 100 performances a year, including lunchtime concerts on Monday and Fridays. The core musical group is the Sweelinck Ensemble, a professional quartet under the direction of Cantor Martin Knizia. The St. Anne’s Choir had recently sung Bach’s St. John Passion, and last December their Bach Advent Vespers was featured in a live broadcast on BBC Radio 3; .

Eucharist with Music

Chorale: O Mensch bereit das Herze dein, Melchior Franck
Chorale: Im Garten leidet Christus Not, Joachim a Burgk
Chorale: Durch dein Gefängnis, Gottes Sohn, J. S. Bach
Chorale: Jesu Kreuz, Leiden und Pein, Adam Gumpelzhaimer
Ehre sei dir Christe (Matthäus Passion), Heinrich Schütz
The chorales were interspersed throughout this service and were sung handsomely by the Sweelinck Ensemble accompanied by the cantor on a continuo organ. The concluding Schütz St. Matthew Passion was particularly stirring. Definitely worth a detour from the large churches to hear baroque music with this degree of authentic intimacy.

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey, as glorious inside as it is dramatic outside, had a late afternoon Eucharist that moved the soul. So much can be said about the extraordinary history and presence of this church dating back to a Benedictine monastery in 960. It was later enlarged under King Edward the Confessor and consecrated in 1065 in honor of St. Peter, known as the “west minster” (Old English for monastery) in distinction from the east minster, St. Paul’s Cathedral. This magnificent gothic building is the result of work begun in the 13th century under Henry III and was not completed until 16th century.
Information, including details on the Harrison & Harrison organ (1937, four manuals, 78 stops), can be found at .

Sung Eucharist with the Washing of Feet

Mass for Four Voices, William Byrd
Organ prelude: Schmücke dich, o meine Seele, Bach
Improvisation leading to processional hymn: “Praise to the Holiest in the height” (Gerontius)
Gradual during Gospel procession: “Drop, drop, slow tears” (Song 46, Orlando Gibbons)
During the washing of the feet: Ubi caritas et amor, Maurice Duruflé
St. John 13:12–13, 15, plainsong mode II
Offertory hymn: “O thou, who at thy Eucharist didst pray” (Song 1, Orlando Gibbons)
After the Communion: Dominus Jesus in qua nocte tradebatur, Palestrina
While sacrament is carried to altar at St. Margaret’s: Pange lingua, plainsong mode II
During the stripping of the altar: Psalm 22:1–21, plainsong mode II

Westminster Abbey has an aura resonant with an awe of the divine. The service was without sermon, but so rich in ceremony and ritual that the preaching was in the actions, music, and language of the liturgy—in themselves a powerful message. Here everything seemed so right, from the dignified helpfulness of the ushers to the purposeful solemnity of the clergy—all enhanced by music done so well that it doesn’t call attention to itself because it is transparently integral to the worship and sung in a spirit reflective of the day’s liturgy. One did not just watch, but was drawn into the moment and left with an inner tranquility that spoke the essence of Maundy Thursday.

Good Friday

The weather was London: wet, dank, chilly and bleak—so fitting for the day. The Temple Church was recommended, not because of its recent attention due to the “The Da Vinci Code,” but primarily for its most traditional liturgy and excellence in music. The “Round Church” dates from 1185 and was the London headquarters of the Knights Templar. Their churches were “built to a circular design to remind them of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, a round, domed building raised over the site of the sepulchre where Jesus was buried.” The elongated choir was added by Henry III and consecrated on Ascension Day, 1240. The website provides an intriguing history of this unique church with directions and a much-needed map; .

Choral Matins, Book of Common Prayer (1662)
Introit: Crux fidelis, inter omnes, King John IV of Portugal
The Responses, plainsong
Venite, Exultemus, Anglican chant, Edward John Hopkins
Psalm 22, plainsong
The Lamentations of Jeremiah 1:1–2, Thomas Tallis
Benedictus, plainsong
Anthem: Crucifixus etiam pro nobis, Antonio Lotti
Litany, Thomas Tallis

Stephen Layton, director of music, directs a refined choir of men and boys, who were most telling in the Lotti Crucifixus, accompanied on a portative by the organist, James Vivian. The remainder of the service was played on the imposing and very British Romantic organ built by Harrison & Harrison (1924 and 2001, four manuals, 62 stops). The history of The Temple’s organs, including one by Father Smith, can be found on the website.

Back on Fleet Street I hopped on a bus to Westminster, hoping to hear Bach’s St. John Passion at St. John’s, Smith Square, just blocks from Westminster Abbey. A deconsecrated church dating from 1728, it now serves as a popular concert venue. In the crypt is a handy, economical restaurant “The Footstool,” where lunch was being served; .

St. John Passion, Johann Sebastian Bach, sung by Polyphony with the Academy of Ancient Music, Stephen Layton, conductor
Andrew Kennedy, Evangelist, tenor; James Rutherford, Christus; Thomas Guthrie, Pilatus; Emma Kirkby, soprano; James Bowman, countertenor; and Roderick Williams, bass.

This was a superb, masterful performance by a mature choir of 26 and professional soloists. The chorales were sung with care and the arias with sensitivity. The conductor’s tempos were quite sprightly and his approach dramatic, sometimes so much so that the next recitative intruded on the end of a chorale. This was, nevertheless, a fitting and most inspiring way to observe Good Friday.

Holy Saturday—Easter Eve

The Easter Vigil with its roots going back to earliest Christianity is the epitome of the Christian message and worship. It combines a rehearsal of salvation history with the rites of passage for the candidates (Latin, “those dressed in white”) through Baptism and Confirmation, and culminating in a celebration of the “Breaking of Bread” as Jesus did with his disciples after the Resurrection. The Vigil is an extended service with power-laden symbolism—the passage from utter darkness to brilliant light, the anointing with oil in the sign of the cross, the drowning of the self in baptismal waters, “putting on Christ,” and the sharing of the bread and wine in union with the community of faithful.
In London there could be no more fitting place to celebrate the Vigil than the regal diocesan St. Paul’s Cathedral, founded some 1500 years ago in 604 by Mellitus, a follower of St. Augustine who was sent to convert the Anglo-Saxons. It has been rebuilt a number of times with the most recent version begun in 1633 with a neo-classical portico or façade. The current design by Christopher Wren received royal approval in 1675, but was not finished until 1710. Later came the woodwork by Grinling Gibbons for the huge Quire and Great Organ, and in the 19th–20th century the glittering mosaics in the dome, envisioned by Wren. Most will remember St. Paul’s as the site of Prince Charles’s wedding to Diana. It has just undergone a complete renovation at a cost of £40 million in anticipation of its 300th anniversary in 2008; .
The organ was built by Henry Willis (1872) with an extensive renovation and enlargement completed by Mander (1977, five manuals, 108 stops). Not many organs deliver the overpowering experience that this organ can, especially when stops in the dome are added with a sound that not only surrounds, but also envelops worshippers.
The liturgy took place, not in the grand Quire, but “in the round” under the dome with a free-standing altar at one axis and the choir (with a small organ) to the left on risers, surrounded by the congregation.
Upon entry one received an impressive 28-page service booklet. One could only wonder “O Lord, how long?” But the service moved right along in two hours, including baptisms and confirmations. The service began in darkness; only with the procession to the dome by the participants did light begin to dawn as candles were shared. The Vigil had only one lesson instead of the usual nine readings. Then—the dramatic Easter Greeting by the bishop, “Alleluia! Christ is risen,” followed by bells and a thunderous fanfare from the organ—with a sudden blaze of almost blinding light as all the cathedral and the dome with its glittering mosaics lit up.

The Vigil Liturgy of Easter Eve

Setting: Messe solennelle, Jean Langlais
Exsultet sung responsively with the congregation
Song of Moses, Exodus 15, Huw Williams
Gloria in Excelsis, Langlais
Hymn: “The strife is o’er, the battle done ” (Gelobt sei Gott)
Hymn: “Awake, awake: fling off the night!” (Deus Tuorum Militum)
Motet: Sicut cervus, Palestrina
Hymn: “Here, risen Christ, we gather at your word” (Woodlands)
Sanctus, Langlais
Agnus Dei, Langlais
Surrexit Christus hodie, alleluia!, Samuel Scheidt (arr. Rutter)
Hymn: “Shine, Jesus, Shine”
Hymn: “Christ is risen, Alleluia!” (Battle Hymn of the Republic)
Toccata, Symphonie No. 5, Widor

The impact of this service was profound and intensely extraordinary, not as formal as Westminster Abbey, but with no less sincerity. The Langlais setting with the punctuating fortissimo chords from organ was overwhelming. The hymn singing, fueled by the organ’s energy, was similarly dynamic and enthusiastic, and the final hymn sung to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” went at such an exuberant clip that one had to conduct beats to keep up. How could one divorce one’s mind from the text, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”?
After this high-spirited hymn, the people, with their pace set by an energized Widor Toccata, exited up the center aisle toward the west end, facing the huge open cathedral doors with a gleaming light streaming in from the floodlit street, and walked past the bishop and the font into the light—they were ready for the Resurrection.

Easter Sunday

Sunday was another day, and, thankfully, the sun shone. I arrived at 9:15 am for Westminster Abbey’s 10:30 service to an already long queue. Had I arrived fifteen minutes earlier, I might have sat in the desirable rectangle framed by the choir screen and the chancel. But sitting just a few rows into the transept the sound was less immediate and gripping, and the hymn singing less compelling.

Sung Eucharist

Pre-service: Toccata in F Major, Bach

Setting: Messe solennelle [with brass quartet], Langlais Hymn: “Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia,” Lyra Davidica
Gloria in excelsis, Langlais
Gospel Procession: Victimae paschali, plainsong, arr. Andrew Reid
Hymn: “At the Lamb’s high feast” (Salzburg)
Sanctus, Langlais
During the Communion: Agnus Dei, Langlais; Christus resurgens ex mortuis, Peter Philips
Hymn: “Thine be the glory” (Maccabaeus)
Postlude: Finale, Symphonie II, Vierne
This was a straightforward Eucharistic service with fine music well performed. The Abbey Choir was conducted by James O’Donnell, Organist and Master of the Choristers, and accompanied by the London Brass quartet. The organist was Robert Quinney, Sub-Organist. The choir sang with their usual distinction, and in comparing this version of the Langlais, even with brass, to the Vigil the night before, clearly St. Paul’s was the more persuasive and affecting.

In the afternoon I headed to Westminster Cathedral, which according to the Internet performed some impressive music during Holy Week and on Easter that included Monteverdi, Duruflé, Byrd, Bruckner, Victoria, and Vierne’s Messe solennelle. But I regret to say that this Vespers, largely a chanted service and because of that, was an unexpected disappointment, especially since I had read such admiring CD reviews.
The cathedral, its striking architectural style from “Byzantine style of the eastern Roman Empire,” was designed by the Victorian architect John Francis Bentley on a site originally owned by the Abbey, but sold to the Catholics in 1884. The foundation was laid in 1895, and the structure of the building was completed eight years later. The interior with its impressive mosaics and marbles is said to be incomplete, but the cathedral is certainly a visual tableau .

Solemn Vespers and Benediction sung in Latin

Office Hymn: Ad cenam Agni provide
Psalms 109 and 113A (114)
Canticle: Salus et gloria et virtus Deo nostro (Revelation 19:1–7)
Magnificat primi toni, Bevan
Motet: Ecce vincit, Leo Philips
O sacrum convivium, Gregorian chant
Organ voluntary: Fête, Langlais

Unfortunately the printed order of service provided the Latin-English text, but without information on composers or musicians—facts only available on the Internet. The service seemed austere both in its solemnity from the entrance of the choir with many clergy and in its liturgical style.
There is obvious musical talent with a large professional choir of men and boys, but the musicians work with disadvantages. The choir is on an elevated shelf behind the baldaquin and high altar, which distances the sound and at times makes the singing seemed forced, especially by the men. The most disappointing, regrettable aspect was chanting “the old-fashioned way” with “schmaltzy” organ accompaniments on voix celeste or flutes. Solesmes is, by all counts, the gold standard, and after that all else pales. One would have thought the reform of chant in the Catholic Church and after Vatican II would have had greater impact and changed practice.
Martin Baker is the master of music and the assistant organist is Thomas Wilson. The Grand Organ is hidden by a nondescript screen in a chamber above the narthex and was only revealed in the Langlais Fête at the end—like an anomaly, but played with fire and aplomb. The organ was built by Henry Willis III (1922–1932, four manuals, 78 stops) and was restored by Harrison & Harrison in 1984.

Did I have one more service in me? I bravely headed to Trafalgar Square and St. Martin-in-the-Fields for Evensong. This church has a full schedule of services plus over 350 concerts a year. It may date back as far as 1222, and it can lay claim to the fact that both Handel and Mozart played the organ here in 1727. Today one immediately thinks of the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields founded in the 1950s with Sir Neville Marriner.
The church’s activities are amazing, but it is not resting on its laurels. It is the midst of a £34 million campaign (already £24 million in hand) to expand its facilities inside and out to include an outdoor courtyard, a rehearsal space, a Chinese community center, and space for social services. It will also mean a much-needed restoration to the interior of the church to bring it closer to its historic 18th-century conception. In the crypt there is a shop and a café that serves nutritious meals all day.

Choral Evensong

Introit: This Joyful Eastertide, arr. Wood
Responses, Martin Neary
Canticles: Collegium Regale, Herbert Howells
Anthem: Rise heart, thy Lord has risen, Vaughan Williams
Postlude: Victimae Paschali, Tournemire

What a joy! Familiar music well done by a superb, effective choir with first-rate organ playing. A great, satisfying way to complete my Easter celebration. Alleluia! The talented and youthful director of music, Nicholas Danks, is full of enthusiasm. The assistant organist, David Hirst, played the Tournemire with particular verve and drama on the fine organ by J. W. Walker and Sons (1990, three manuals, 47 stops) with its battery of fiery French reeds. I didn’t think I was up for another Messiah this season, but these musicians felt the choir presenting the next night at St. Martin’s was one of London’s finest.

Monday

Messiah, George Friedrich Handel
English Chamber Choir, Belmont Ensemble of London, Peter G. Dyson, conductor
Philippa Hyde, soprano; David Clegg, countertenor; Andrew Staples, tenor; and Jacques Imbrailo, baritone.
Things are moving along in London, and sprightly tempos are in. I found that to be the case with the Bach St. John Passion and here in the quick-paced Messiah, which came in at under two hours performance time—something of a record, I think.
The crackerjack orchestra and youthful soloists were on board, but the talented choir, perhaps under-rehearsed and lacking experience with this lively conductor, struggled to keep up, especially in Part I. “For unto us a child is born” proved that at these tempos “His yoke is easy” was not easy at all! The soloists all did fine work, but the tenor and baritone in particular distinguished themselves with eloquent declamations. In many respects this was a laudable performance brought to a rousing conclusion with “Worthy is the Lamb.”
Continuing in the spirit of Handel, I decided the next day to visit the Handel House Museum at 25 Brook Street where Handel lived in a multi-story house from 1723 to 1759. Here he composed famous works such Messiah, Zadok the Priest, and Music for the Royal Fireworks. It is a modest museum compared to the Händel-Haus Halle in Germany , but certainly worth a visit.
One is treated to an introductory film plus interesting prints of Handel’s contemporaries, two reconstructed period harpsichords (one with a zealous player dashing up and down double-keyboards), the Handel bed recently refurbished, and a current exhibit on “Handel and the Castrati,” with photo-bios of the leading castrati. Handel lived quite well indeed, paying a modest rent of £50 a year and with three servants to dote over him—every musician’s dream!
London is a six-hour flight from the East Coast and offers a plethora of musical possibilities, especially at Christmas and Easter. Others would have made different choices tailored to their interests. For me this was a full, rewarding week, something every musician needs from time to time to refresh the spirit—to capture the energy, vitality, and imagination of others. Europe may not be the bargain it once was. You can’t take it with you anyway, but these can be empowering moments you take to the bank that last forever.