The twenty-third International Organ Festival was held at Saint Albans Cathedral and Abbey from July 7–16, 2005. The festival, which began in 1963, was the brainchild of Peter Hurford, Master of Music at St. Albans from 1958–78, who with his wife Patricia was inspired by the installation of the 1962 Harrison & Harrison organ, co-designed by Peter Hurford and Ralph Downes, in the cathedral. This exhilarating week of organ, choral, multi-media, symphonic and chamber events set the City of St. Albans abustle with activity and provided a welcome environment for visitors from the U.K. and abroad.
Friday
Friday’s opening event featured David Briggs, a recent addition to the New York City organ community and former winner of the improvisation competition at St. Albans in 1993. The evening was devoted to a showing of Cecil B. DeMille’s silent film “The King of Kings.” For almost two straight hours, Mr. Briggs provided soaring and majestic improvised accompaniments. This presentation to an audience of over one thousand proved to be the perfect marriage of music to the on-screen drama. Briggs’s improvisations not only reflected but enhanced the action on screen in a dramatic and powerful way reminiscent of Dupré at times, Messiaen, Cochereau and Langlais (one of his mentors) at others.
Saturday
Undaunted by his exhausting evening twelve hours prior, Briggs demonstrated the small three- to 12-stop pipe organs on exhibition in the north transept of the cathedral. Once again, he was brilliant, serving up a smorgasbord of improvisations appropriate to the size and voicing of each of the nine instruments, some in Renaissance style, others in modern variation forms, and still others in spirited and delightful sorties à la Louis Vierne. One of the most ingenious of all the demonstrations was improvised on two adjacent Vincent Woodstock twins of three stops each, placed at right angles to each other and played simultaneously by Briggs with one hand on each organ. The last demo was on the largest of the nine organs heard, this one by Harrison & Harrison: a spirited excursion into “Three Blind Mice” en stile Jehan Alain by a master improviser riding the crest of his triumph the previous evening and obviously enjoying every minute of it.
The final session of the morning was an illustrated talk by the cathedral organist at Southwell entitled “Painted Pipes Make Merrier Music” tracing the history of English organ case decoration.
Ludger Lohmann, one of the competition jurists, played an afternoon recital on the II/26 Peter Collins “Silbermann Organ” at St. Saviour’s Church in town. The beautiful Romanesque lines and elegant bricked columns made for a particularly apt setting for his fine performance in a tidy acoustic—transparent and articulate renditions of Bach’s Pièce d’Orgue, Fantasie BWV 562, and Trio Sonata No. 5; the de Grigny Veni Creator and Mozart K. 608 were given polished and elegant readings as well.
Evening Prayer was beautifully sung by the Men and Abbey Girls Choir directed by Simon Johnson with organist James Davy. The highlight was a stunning rendition of the James MacMillan setting of Christus Vincit. Special prayers for the victims and families of the disaster in London the previous Thursday were said.
Even with a chorus of 236 singers and hundreds of previously heard performances, a fresh Messiah staging can be a revelation. Heard in the bright, present acoustic of St. Albans Cathedral under the direction of Andrew Lucas, such was the case. Hearing Messiah 998 years after this grand Norman structure was begun was a musical highlight of Festival 2005. By the second chorus, occasional problems with togetherness had been rectified by Maestro Lucas, and despite the rather large forces, choruses were rendered in a light buoyant style in which consonants rang out clearly and precisely. This was a visceral and gutsy performance—no holds barred, make no mistake about it, as the rendering of the Hallelujah Chorus well proved. The singing from both soloists and chorus was at once elegant and controlled but enthusiastically glorious.
Sunday
The Service of Commemoration on Sunday morning July 10 was a profoundly impressive service honoring the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II, which was celebrated the previous week throughout the United Kingdom. Included were emotional recollections from two men and one German woman recalling the sacrifice and horror of war and their life experiences of sixty years ago. Beautiful renditions by the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys included the John Ireland anthem “Greater Love Hath No Man” and moving performances of the Walton Te Deum, “God Save the Queen” (sung with gusto by all), and the postlude played by organist Simon Johnson, Bach’s BVW 548, the “Wedge.”
Former organist and choirmaster at St. Paul’s, London, and more recently appointed to a similar post at St. Thomas Church, New York City, John Scott was the second jury member in concert Sunday afternoon in St. Albans Cathedral. Langlais’ La Cinquième Trompette (1973) was written during the composer’s convalescence from a near-fatal illness. This seldom-played and extraordinary piece was well-performed by John Scott on the colorful and powerful 75-rank Harrison & Harrison. Two chorale preludes from Clavierübung III, “These Are Thy Holy Ten Commands” and “Jesus Christ Our Savior,” came off nicely in clear and transparent registrations, the first lovingly rendered, the second dancing along in a great flight. Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543, was played with appropriate doses of freedom and flexibility. The Mendelssohn “Andante with Variations in D” was published posthumously not long after Mendelssohn’s death in 1847. Percy Grainger’s “Handel in the Strand” certainly livened up the afternoon and warmed Mr. Scott to the crowd. Based in part on Handel’s tune “The Harmonious Blacksmith,” it was reminiscent of a piece the great Reginald Foort may have knocked off on one of his Sunday afternoon concerts in a town hall 60 or 70 years ago. Composer Ad Wammes’ Miroir is a delightful minimalist piece creating a hypnotic effect akin to dancing rays of light reflected in glass with little wisps of melody sneaking in the left hand part over the 140 bars of ostinato. The rhythmically dynamic and exhilarating Fanfare by one of Scott’s mentors, Kenneth Leighton, concluded the afternoon’s program. Oddly enough, this is a little-known and under-played piece in the U.K., since it was published in America and has never been easily available in the British Isles. It was played with the affection one might expect from Scott, a former choirboy in Leighton’s Wakefield Men and Boys in the late 1960s.
The Sunday Evensong was exquisitely sung by the Men and Boys of St. Albans featuring Shepherd’s service setting, hymns by C. Hubert H. Parry and C. H. Monk, and a particularly wonderful reading of Phillip Moore’s anthem “All Wisdom comes before the Lord.” One can only be impressed and filled with admiration at the precocious spirit of this superbly trained ensemble under Andrew Lucas’ expert leadership. Considering that this was the second service of the day for the boys, and the third in 24 hours for the men, one can appreciate the energy, talent and discipline of this and other choirs like it. The amazing feature of the St. Albans ensemble is that they are not part of a choir “boarding school” but rather are brought back and forth by committed and diligent parents for the nearly two hours of rehearsal each day, in addition to an extended Friday evening rehearsal of over two hours. The Dean of the Cathedral, the Very Reverend Dr. Jeffrey John, preached a fine sermon on “Music,” pointing out that if religious music lacks the power to ignite something inside of you beyond a nice warm glow, it can only be considered “religious wallpaper.” As usual, the organist Simon Johnson got a workout playing nearly nonstop the entire 35 minutes plus the Vierne First Organ Symphony opening movement for the pièce de sortie. His playing came to be highly regarded throughout the festival.
An ancillary event offered to festival participants and townsfolk was a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury, presented by the Regeneration Theatre Company at the old 19th-century court house in the middle of town, historic scene of many a banishment to Australia in the nineteenth century for petty (and not so petty) crimes. It proved to be a perfect setting for this lively and energetic production by this young and vibrant company and lent a new wrinkle to the phrase “high camp.”
Monday
On Monday, and the other weekdays, interpretation and improvisation semi-finals were held with nineteen competitors playing for the five-member international jury.
The “Three Choirs” concert on Monday evening brought in yet another full house, packing the cathedral to overflowing. Featured were the Men and Boys choirs of Winchester, Durham and St. Albans cathedrals. The “Battle of the Choirs” began with a beguiling rendition of Tallis’ rarely sung Loquebantur varlis linguis sung from the presbytery, followed by a processional sung in multi-phonic alternatim style on Iste Confessor Domini interspersed with organ settings by Tallis and Redford once again played by the masterful Simon Johnson. Winchester followed with a playful and spirited performance of Byrd’s Haec dies and a vibrant setting of Laudi alla beata vergine by James MacMillan.
It would seem unfair to compare the three choirs, each with their own personality, some with a more “forward” and soprano-dominant sound, and others with all components in sync. Suffice it to say that Andrew Lucas’ St. Albans Men and Boys bathed us once again in sumptuous choral sound in their renditions of the Brahms Geistliches Lied and Michael Tippett’s setting of the American spiritual Steal Away. The unconventional and highly difficult setting of Tippett’s Spanish fiesta-inspired Magnificat was sung by all three choirs as the first half came to a festive conclusion. The piece was commissioned in 1961 for the 450th anniversary of the founding of St. John’s College, Cambridge.
Following the interval, the boys from the three choirs once again showed their stuff in a wonderfully rhythmic performance of the Britten Missa Brevis. The forty-plus men of the choirs then dug aggressively into a gutsy and forbidding setting of Gombert’s Magnificat Tertii et Octavi Toni. Jonathan Harvey’s piece entitled Toccata for Organ and Tape from the 1980s was a typical genre piece from that era, demonstrating the undying fascination composers had for combining the pings and poofs possible by combining these two sound sources.
Andrew Lumsden (Winchester) brought the three choirs together a second time in William Harris’s a cappella setting of Bring Us, O Lord God with poetry by John Donne. The celestial ending of the work and the great polish and richness overall exuded feelings of warmth and fondness for text brought by Victorian and post-Victorian composers like Harris (1883–1973).
James Lancelot (Durham Cathedral) brought the evening to a thrilling and fitting ending of a magnificent display of choral music at its most glorious with Howells’s Te Deum (Collegium Regale) written in 1944 for Boris Ord and the King’s College Choir of Men and Boys.
Tuesday
The evening concert on July 12 by Peter Hurford and The Swingle Singers proved to be pleasant enough for some audience members, but was overall an unexciting evening of old Swingle war-horses and “signature” pieces. The vocal dexterity and impeccable technique that is a Swingle trademark was marred by problems with both intonation and accuracy. Following “spot-on” choral singing by the previously heard choirs, the Swingles seemed under-rehearsed and unsure of themselves much of the time.
Peter Hurford managed to bail the evening out of complete disaster with some nice performances of Orgelbüchlein favorites in two different groupings, followed in each case with Swinglized renderings. He dashed off the “St. Anne” prelude as well as the “little” G-minor fugue and the Alain Litanies with his usual professionalism. This great artist and treasure of the international organ world celebrated his 75th birthday on St. Cecilia’s Day 2005.
Wednesday
Wednesday evening brought the Royal College of Music Junior Department Symphony Orchestra from London to town. The level and training of this fine ensemble of student musicians showed that they had the “right stuff” from the first note forward. The opulence of their sound bloomed (almost too much) in the rich and present acoustic of the St. Albans nave. But what was lacking in orchestral polish was compensated by the insatiable energy, enthusiasm and obvious love for playing as exemplified initially in a reading of the wonderful occasional music from Peter Grimes by Britten.
Despite some expected difficulty in keeping orchestra and organ together due to the great spatial separation between organ and ensemble, the first movement of the Guilmant Organ Symphony #1, played by Jane Watts and the Symphony under Richard Dickin’s able baton, rang dramatic and triumphal. The Harrison & Harrison once again proved a worthy partner to the RCM Symphony in a pleasant and agreeable reading of the second movement. The third movement brought to a thrilling conclusion this marvelous collaboration.
Following the interval, Elgar’s Enigma Variations were given a fabulous performance by these aspiring young artists. Like our young musicians at Interlochen and honors orchestras scattered about America, these students will form the nucleus for the next generation of professional orchestral musicians worldwide. When one hears groups like this perform so brilliantly, one can only wonder at the political or educational thinking that leads to elimination of instrumental music and arts program from American public schools.
Thursday
Thursday was the “Royal Academy of Music” day for those who opted to go down to London. We were greeted upon arrival by David Titterington, head of organ studies at the R.A.M., who began our day in the elegant 400-seat Duke’s Hall with a cordial welcome and outline of the day’s planned activities. Only the Weimar conservatory and the Liszt Academy in Budapest are older than the Royal Academy, founded in 1822. Beautiful portraiture and sculpture of important figureheads at the R.A.M. such as Sir David Lumsden, Sir Henry Wood and the Wesleys adorn the side walls. Elton John was cited as a graduate and a major supporter of the academy’s programs.
We heard some excellent playing of Franck and Langlais by academy organ students Jessica Cottis and Joe Fort on the wonderful 1993 Van den Heuvel. The organ was built in the Cavaillé-Coll style with a case modeled on the Trocadero case in Paris.
The David Josefowitz Recital Hall provided a perfect venue for the performance of early Italian organ music by the Piden Organ Fellow at the Royal Academy, Riccardo Bonci. The organ, a 1763 Italianate instrument, was a major find by the Academy. The instrument, originally thought to be from Naples, was lovingly restored in Florence by Riccardo Lorenzini who was undaunted by its wretched condition upon discovery in a Rome apartment. The case was restored by artists in the National Gallery in Florence. The 1' rank was discovered to be from the year 1590. A nightingale and bagpipe stops were added although not original to the organ. The tuning is meantone.
We heard Frescobaldi’s Toccata Quarta (Bk. II) played on the Voce umana stop with alluring charm; a Cavazzoni hymn on the Principale stop, which proved to be a gloriously warm and singing sound; a Gabrieli intonazione played on the ripieno or tutti sound and several other pieces showing off the bagpipe drone stop (the Zampogna) and the nightingale stop (the Usignolo). We were filled with admiration for not only the serene beauty of the organ sounds displayed making these lovely pieces come alive, but the virtuosity of this young and talented player who seemed totally at home in even the quickest passages using Diruta-style early fingerings (3-4, 3-4 ascending and 3-2, 3-2 descending).
The York Gate Keyboard Gallery provided the scene for Anne Page’s demonstration of the two-manual Alphonse Mustel “Orgue-Celesta” from 1907. Ms. Page launched into a masterful mini-lecture/demonstration of the beauties and unique characteristics of this little-known instrument, which sprang from the spirit of 19th and early 20th century invention employing the so-called “free reed” concept. It rose to the height of its popularity after the industrial revolution gave rise to the middle class. Its ability to make dynamic changes by subtle variations in the foot pumping, and a sustaining power beyond that of a piano, made it an attractive alternative for composers like Lefébure-Wély, Franck, Bizet, Vierne and others. Composition for the instrument quickly became a long-standing French tradition. Ms. Page has become a true savant of the instrument. Her passion for its possibilities became ever more apparent with her tour de force renditions of difficult compositions by Lefébure-Wély and others. She was quick to point out that this instrument was never meant to be a “substitute for the pipe organ” but a different kettle of fish altogether with possibilities beyond that of an organ. One of the highlights of the day was hearing the Prelude, Fugue and Variation of Franck in its original scoring for piano and harmonium. The effect was extremely interesting and rich in dynamic contrast. Other pieces by Karg-Elert and Vierne (24 Pièces en style libre) showed us how composers pushed the instrument’s possibilities to the limits.
The afternoon offering was a masterclass at St. Marylebone Parish Church, across the street from the Royal Academy and site of a fine Rieger organ from 1987. Jurist Jos van der Kooy led the class of students from the academy ready to offer up pieces by Karg-Elert, Bach, Messiaen and Reger.
Marvelous playing by the student musicians was elevated by helpful and insightful comments by van der Kooy, who holds positions at both the Grote Kerk of St. Bavo in Haarlem and the Vesterkerk in Amsterdam. Some profoundly insightful comments were mixed in among some wonderful “Kooy-isms” such as “open the swell box with your ears, not your feet,” “Don’t let pistons dictate your silences,” and “I think birds sing very sophisticated in France” (re: Messiaen).
The evening concert entitled “The Splendour of the Baroque” featured Emma Kirkby, soprano, Jos van der Kooy, organ, and the London Baroque in a diverse program of rarely heard music from the eighteenth century. Along with works by Handel, Bach and John Christopher Smith, were two of the most delightful Soler Concertos for two organs, perfectly executed by Jos van der Kooy and Jane Watts. With the Five Arias, employing rapturous texts from Milton’s Paradise Lost and set sensitively with homage to Handel by John Christopher Smith (1712–95), all was right in the heavens.
Improvisation
The improvisation prelims were conducted throughout the week. The given theme, Nun Danket All und bringet Her, came with the instruction to execute a fifteen-minute partita on it. The improvisation final on Friday morning required each player to split the 20 allowed minutes as they wished between the submitted theme (Veni Creator Spiritus) and the newly composed theme by Jos van der Kooy. The themes were handed to competitors 40 minutes before their allotted performance time.
The first improviser was the young Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Dupont, who brought a huge, blossoming, rhythmic and foreboding drama to his themes, not unlike the Cochereau of old. He integrated his motivic ideas into colorful textures and held the audience’s interest right through to his incredible ending.
Gerben Mourik from the Netherlands approached the themes in a much more subdued and restrained fashion, building in a relatively tonal and conservative style. His was a beautiful harmonic language with very clear exposition of both themes and an excellent registrational concept.
The third contestant and an obvious audience favorite was Thorsten Maus from Germany. His was the most conservative style of the three. While Maus’s harmonic language was not as interesting as the first two, his compact but thorough treatment employing various formal techniques was perhaps the best packaged.
The final recital by a jurist was played by Erwan Le Prado from France, a former student of André Isoir. He presently teaches at the Conservatoire de Caen in France. Le Prado’s Bach and Buxtehude works were played with great musical personality, nuance and sense of immediacy—by far the best Bach playing of the week. He brought to the G-minor Fantasy, BWV 542, the power it deserved in an enthusiastic and energized rendition. The little D-minor Trio, BWV 583, seemed an apt choice to play between fantasy and fugue since many of its motives bear a resemblance to the subject and countersubjects of 542. The fugue was played in a spirited and somewhat daring manner which, despite its in-your-face approach, worked admirably in the rather dry acoustic of St. Saviour’s Church.
The Alain Aria is one of those “less is more” Alain pieces that give voice to his uniquely colorful, vivid and quirky imagination. The Second Fantasy of Alain, with its haunting Arabic themes suggestive of the chant of the Muezzin from a minaret calling the faithful to prayer, whips up into a wild and whirling dance, ending as it began in a mood of secret and mysterious melancholy. For a Frenchman, a suite from the French Baroque seems almost obligatory. Le Prado displayed well the sonorities of the school with the Guilain Suite du Premier Ton on the 22-stop 1989 Peter Collins organ built in the style of Andreas Silbermann.
Le Prado’s final offering was Six Variations sur un psaume huguenot written by his mentor André Isoir. This rarely heard piece by the 70-year-old French performing giant takes as its theme Psalm 92 from the Genevan Psalter. It is Isoir’s one and only published organ work. The amazingly intricate textures are fully exploited by the tonal palette of the classical pipe organ in wonderfully imaginative and unexpected ways. One could hear the cross influences of contemporaries such as Gaston Litaize and Oliver Messiaen. The vibrant “Final” brought the afternoon’s recital to a dynamic and impressive conclusion.
Friday
Friday brought us to the interpretation finals. The common piece to be played that morning was the 9/8 Prelude in C by Bach. All three renditions were competent although several suffered from too heavy a pedal registration—easy to do on an organ not especially designed to play Baroque music and in a room with thick walls especially hospitable to the bass range. Others were somewhat more legato than current taste would condone, blurring the lines. Yet another played in a rather stiff, inflexible manner. But this was all for the judges to ruminate about.
The second and third pieces, from 1850–1970 and after 1970, were the choice of the performer. We heard Reger, Duruflé and Franck plus a wide range of short pieces from Dan Locklair and Thierry Escaich to Lionel Rogg and Jon Laukvik. What criticism could be applied to these gifted performers would have to do with subtle and ephemeral items such as lack of “fire,” clarity, and use of the acoustic in rests and tempi, and overall control of the pieces.
Needless to say, these were all superb performance that would stand up well in any recital venue. What a thrill it was to see a cathedral nearly packed with people, rapt with attention and interest in what these young performers had to say.
After considerably more deliberation by the panel, a decision was announced. First prize for interpretation and its attendant $9600 purse went to Andrew DeWar of the U.K. Dewar was the second prize winner in the 2003 competition and is currently pursuing studies at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart with Ludger Lohmann. Dewar also won the “Prize of the Audience” ($900).
The second prize ($5300) went to another Brit, Henry Fairs, a graduate of the Musikhochschule in Cologne and former student of Susan Landale. The first prize for the improvisation competition ($7000) was given to Gerben Mourik of the Netherlands, currently studying at Tilburg Conservatoire. The Douglas May Award ($1300) for one who is not a recipient of any other prize for the best performance of any competition piece in the quarter-final and semi-final rounds went to Simon Bell of Great Britain.
Final accolades were bestowed on each by town and festival officials and patrons at a festive ceremony in the great nave of the cathedral on Saturday morning, followed by a recital by the finalists in both improvisation and interpretation. Once again, the cathedral was packed with audience members.
Henry Fairs began the concert with the Elgar First Sonata opening movement, which the judges had requested that he perform since he had played it so brilliantly during an earlier level of the competition. It proved to be the perfect choice to begin this auspicious event—a lovely rendering of this lush work on a wonderfully English-inflected instrument in an ideal setting.
Jean-Baptiste Dupont, the French improvisation-colorist extraordinaire, showed us once again his consummate mastery of sound and texture. In this forum, sans a given theme upon which to extemporize, he was able to let his juices flow freely and this he did right well, producing gigantic explosions of sound to flow in alternation with the loveliest shimmers imaginable.
Jonathan Moyers (USA), a doctoral student of Donald Sutherland at the Peabody Conservatory, played once again the Thierry Escaich Evocation II. The evocation most apparent in this piece written over a sometime tedious pedal point is the tune Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele. Mr. Moyers gave the piece as fine a reading (and perhaps better) as could be expected.
Thorsten Maus from Germany, a finalist in improvisation, started us off with a very typical British-sounding march melody to the great delight of all. We thought we were at the “Proms.” He spun out a number of CHH Parry/Percy Whitlock-like variations in a rondo form, some homophonic, others more imitative with small hints of Elgar’s familiar Pomp and Circumstance tune thrown in for good measure. It was just plain fun and a nice foil for the others who were “oh so moderne”! You’d have thought Mr. Maus was British-born and bred. Maybe a week in St. Albans rubbed off!
Daniel Cook of the U.K., a finalist in the interpretation competition, almost came up to the same high standard in his performance of the Duruflé Veni Creator established the night before. Once again, he seemed in total control of all aspects of the piece and gave it a fine reading.
Gerben Mourik, the Dutch winner of the improvisation competition, played next and in a lovely gesture to his English hosts chose to improvise on the hymntune Michael (“All my hope on God is founded”). Once again, he gave an altogether splendid performance with great inventive strokes in his theme and variations and employing many different techniques and formal procedures.
Andrew DeWar squeezed the mighty Harrison & Harrison dry in another tour de force reading of Reger’s Phantasie für Orgel über den Choral ‘Halleluja! Gott zu loben’, op. 52, no. 3, using every imaginable tonal resource available to him on this somewhat modestly sized cathedral instrument.
Congratulations and thanks to the staff, jury, patrons, townspeople and of course the competitors who came from all over the globe and combined to make the week such a marvelous musical experience for all.
