London Organ Day 2003 : recital at St Marylebone Parish Church

In 2003 I was invited to give the recital which customarily closes the London Organ Day: and here, by various requests, is the recital at St Marylebone in which I played an array of virtuoso works to show the organ off in many unusual dimensions:

Kempff: Fantasia & Fugue ‘Ora pro nobis’
Bonnet: Deuxième Légende, Op.7 No.10
Sandvold: Introduction & Passacaglia, Op.4
Guillou: Six Sagas: IV. Leonardo & VI. Ikare
Liszt: Vallée d’Oberman (arranged by DT)
Hopkins: Deux Danses
Braun: Undine
Karg-Elert: Harmonies du soir, Op.72 No.1
Matthey: Studi di concerto
(plus encore - Dandrieu: Noël de Saintonge)

I dug out the programme notes I wrote, which explained what I was thinking… “Due to its life in the church – and to the regrettable fact that it is heard by the masses only in the context of services, weddings and funerals – it seems impossible for many to believe the organ can have a life outside this closely guarded ‘museum’ – and yet ‘The King of Instruments’ can indeed flourish in a life free from such manacles. It is undoubtedly the sacred, majestic medium through which the masterpieces of the Baroque can speak, or the “winged paraphrases” of Franck (to quote Liszt) and his Romantic fellows can breathe: yet it can also be a prophetic voice for the secular, as much as a Tardis for visionary landscapes, a kaleidoscope for dramatic and colourful invention… Featuring mainly unfamiliar works, this programme – exclusively secular with the sole exception of Kempff’s use of the church’s “Dona Nobis Pacem” – hopefully demonstrates the organ liberated from his religious chains, allowed to speak with a spiritual, universal freedom and vision.”

Kempff was one of the 20th century’s great pianists, but few are aware that he began his career as both organist and pianist. While in a military hospital in Sedan in 1917 and overwhelmed by the atrocities of World War I, he wrote this Fantasie and Fugue – an impassioned plea for peace. The work clearly shows the influence of Reger in its virtuosity and emotional expression, yet the language remains individual. After the war, Kempff only occasionally performed on the organ.

Bonnet’s Deuxième Légende is from his Douze Pièces of 1909.

The Swede Arild Sandvold wrote his Introduction and Passacaglia was written in 1928: another work very much in the vein of Reger, it is a dramatically passionate work. Grandeur alternates freely with intimacy, turbulence and ultimate triumph.

On two evenings in 1969, Guillou recorded 12 improvisations (11 of them on the first evening) at Saint-Eustache: 2 LPs were subsequently released. One of them – Visions Cosmiques – contained five pieces, the whole dedicated to the astronauts who had only recently died in the Apollo 8 spacecraft disaster. Later, he wrote three down and added three specifically composed pieces to form his Six Sagas published in 1971. The enigmatically titled Leonardo is a mix of strange, ethereal and spatial textures in alternation of an explosive motif… Ikarus escaped detention in Crete with wings of feather: but he flew too close to the sun, the wax holding the wings together melting and he plunged to his death, drowning in the sea.

Vallée d’Oberman comes from Liszt's piano pieces “Année de Pelérinages” - and was inspired by an extract from Etienne Pivert de Sencourt’s novel “Oberman” (one n)… “The vast consciousness of Nature, everywhere overwhelming and everywhere unfathomable, universal love, ripe passion, indifference, sensuous ease – all that a mortal heart can contain of desire and profound sorrow – I have felt them all.” I was a very serious pianist when young… and Liszt, whose works I played a lot, has remained my musical god: I don't play many transcriptions - but Liszt is always an exception: I love his music so!

Hopkins was Professor of Music and Theory at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and is also Organist at the First United Methodist Church, Pasadena. His Deux Danses feature Greek legends. Medusa was was outwitted by Perseus who used a shield of polished bronze as a mirror with which to see and kill her. The Circle of Bacchantes refers to the followers of Bacchus, who, frenzied with wine, rushed through the wilderness performing all kinds of debauchery. Jim – still today a great friend of ours – told me to “think dirty” when preparing these pieces.

Another great friend was Markus Braun, for many years the Organist of the Zürich’s Kreuzkirche. Of his magical Undine, he explained: “The mythological background of the tale of Undine has always been on my mind: salvation through love."

Karg-Elert’s beautiful Harmonies du soir, impressionistic and visionary, is a wonderful oasis of sensuality.

Matthey, professor of organ in Turin and organist of Notre-Dame de Lorette, wrote his Study in 1933: after an austere Gothic portal, the study proper begins: a frenzied onslaught of pedalling that maintains its energy relentlessly... I wonder how calories this piece burns off ?