FROM OUR ORGANIST |
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The I.A.O. (Incorporated Associations of Organists) Congress has always been one of the highlights of my year and Rhineland 2006, held from July 24th-28th, proved no exception. Four full days and an evening encompassed all of the main churches and organs of Cologne, together with some at destinations farther afield. The 186 delegates were treated to brilliant performances throughout the week by a host of celebrated recitalists. With one exception, Mendelssohn featured in every programme on a great range of instruments.
The first-night recital, at St. Kunibert, was on an organ (by Kuhn of Switzerland) on which 21 of the 37 manual speaking stops were 8-foot pitches. Consequently it lacked brightness, which was exacerbated by the seven-second acoustic, but there was no shortage of power. It contrasted with the brilliance and sparkle of the Ursuline Church instrument, and the stupendous twin organs of the cathedral. One is located in the north-east corner and the other hangs from the nave roof on four mighty steel rods and as only accessible via the builders' lift! The Tuesday night recital there, by Winifred Bonig, was a public event, very well attended, and concluded with several encores.
Wednesday took us to the Beethoven museum in Bonn, where we had an interesting tour. Following a recital by Catherine Ennis, our present I.A.O. President, and soprano Elisabeth Friday, in the Nemen-Jesu-Kirche, we were treated to an hours cruise on the Rhine, where William McVicker delivered the R.C.O.Lecture entitled" Continental Organs - the Empire strikes back." After that it was off to the Klais organ works in Bonn, where we toured the factory and subsequently enjoyed another, more informal concert by Catherine and Elisabeth.
The last two days took us farther afield, through lovely country, to Scheiden, Steinfeld, Neiderche, Sayn and Maria Laach. The recital at Sayn on Friday was interesting for consisting of duets by Wesley by Daniel Hyde and Michael Gassman. The final concert was at the two organs of Maria Laach Abbey, which was followed by an evening of wine-tasting that brought Congress to a close.
Next year the Congress roadshow moves to Glasgow, which it last visited in 1985. Why not give it a try?
A BOURNEMOUTH COMPOSER
Those of you who read the titles of my opening and concluding voluntaries on the pew sheets will know by now that I have a penchant for the music of Percy Whitlock. But how many of you realise that he spent most of his adult life in Bournemouth? Born on 1st June 1903 at Chatham Kent, his musical education began as a chorister in Rochester cathedral choir under the tutelage of Hylton Stewart, the Cathedral Organist. Percy was appointed Assistant Organist of the Cathedral at the amazingly early age of eighteen, by which time his creative talent, generously and sympathetically nurtured by Stewart, was beginning to flower. When Stewart left Rochester, Percy's mild nature precluded him as a successor so, after marrying Edna, he moved to Bournemouth in 1930.
Here he became Director of Music at St. Stephen's Church. By now he had developed into an outstanding composer of music firmly rooted in the English pastoral and romantic idiom; much of his most popular output was created on the St. Stephen's organ during his five years there. He also wrote a symphony for organ and large orchestra and many choral pieces (motets, part-songs and service settings) but he was at his most inventive and original on the organ, reflecting his passion for the instrument. In 1932 he was appointed Civic Organist at Bournemouth Pavilion, a post he held for fourteen years. Unfortunately, most of his life was dogged by ill-health, culminating in his death on 1st May 1946 at the tragically young age of 42, possibly before he reached his peak. Since 1980 his music has undergone a revival, due to the endeavours of the Percy Whitlock Trust and in particular Robert Gower, who has arranged the publication and promotion of his music. Now it is receiving the recognition it so richly deserves.