David Aprahamian Liddle, Concert Overture in C by Hollins, St Albans

David Aprahamian Liddle plays Concert Overture No.1 in C major by Alfred Hollins at St Albans Cathedral on May 1 1993. Written during the 1880s, this first of Hollins’s three Concert Overtures is full of exuberant melody, and demonstrates the composer’s familiarity with orchestral music, even barely aged 20. In his book, “A Blind Musician Looks Back”, Hollins writes: “I wrote my first Concert Overture (in C major), which they [Weekes] also published. It is light, and perhaps some would consider it commonplace, but it comes off well even on the smallest organ. After nearly fifty years I still receive a small sum annually in royalties from its sales. The first subject came into my head one Sunday morning during a sermon Dr Williamson was preaching in Fisherwick Church, Belfast, but it must have been more than a year later when I thought of the second subject and finally " baked it," as Wolstenholme used to say.” The pictures show a range of venues and organs strongly associated with Alfred Hollins. Sound recording by Simon Gutteridge. Video editing by Ian Phillips-Kerr of http://www.music-works.uk.com
Photos 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10 courtesy of James McKellican and the Friends of the Caird Hall Organ Dundee, FOCHO.
Photos 7 and 11 from creative commons.
Photo 1: Alfred Hollins
Photo 2: Mrs Helen Hollins.
Photo 3: Hollins bust by Wm Lamb
Photo 4: Huddersfield town hall courtesy of Dr. Gordon Stewart. https://www.gordonstewart.org/
Photo 5: Alfred Hollins at Caird Hall, Dundee.
Photo 6: Caird Hall room panel.
Photo 7: Royal Albert Hall "Christmas with the Stars 2015" by Blood Cancer UK (Formerly Bloodwise) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Photo 8: Hollins third tour of South Africa 1916 courtesy of Edinburgh Evening News.
Photo 9: Johannesburg Town Hall By Linton Brothers Photographic Material and Stock Importers, 61 Market Square, Sydney, photographer - This image is available from the Our Collections of the State Library of Victoria under the Accession Number:, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Photo 10: Hollins at the city hall organ, Cape Town.
Photo 11: "Sydney town hall" by domstersch is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0