World famous orthopaedic surgeon, yachtsman, SCUBA diver and distinguished concert organist Reg Elson now in his 80th year plays virtuoso Liszt organ works on his 3 manual Viscount Prestige House organ at Woodsetts House.
LCSCD007 Includes: Funerailles (arranged for organ by Nicolas Kynaston), Fantasie & Fugue on the Chorale: ‘Ad nos, ad salutarem undam’, Ave Maria by Acadelt (transcribed for organ by Franz Liszt), Variations on a theme by Bach: ‘Weinen, Klagen Sorgen, Zagen’
NICOLAS KYNASTON PLAYS
BACH AT AMORBACH
THE LONG AWAITED RE-RELEASE OF THE 24BIT HIGH RESOLUTION 1994 RECORDING AT THE ABBEY CHURCH OF AMORBACH
BACH ORGAN WORKS AT AMORBACH. Nicolas Kynaston, organ. [DDD]; 77:09. Produced by Jonathan R. Wearn. (BACH: Concerto in D Minor after Vivaldi, BWV 596. Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639. Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582. Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein. Prelude and Fugue in Eb, BWV 552. Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, BWV 731. Fantasy and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 537. Herzlich tut mich verlangen, BWV 727. Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903.) Those fortunate listeners who know the remarkable musicianship and technique of Nicolas Kynaston know how these gifts lead to versatility and gratifying creativity. While his good reputation has been claimed at the firm pith of Romantic repertoire – both British, French, and German – Kynaston has always luxuriated in Bach performances far from the convention of other performers. While one might term such personalized conviction Romantic, the wide-flung articulations and colors of these interpretations suggest much more. In that Kynaston observes rhythm scrupulously and unerringly, that he respects the dynamic terraces and sectional offsets of the music, he is to be termed a Classicist. But, he is equally willing to articulate in such ways as to suggest orchestral treatments – the sudden legato group of the subject the finale of the Vivaldi transcription, or the vocally arched cantus firmus of the simple Ich ruf zu dir.
The Amorbach Abbey organ sustains this hybrid view of Bach for it too blends Romantic and Classic origins. The Stumm brothers built the original instrument in the 1780’s with subsequent additions and rebuilding by the Steinmeyer firm. Restoration came in 1981, a joint effort by Steinmeyer and the firm of Klais. In many respects this instrument embodies the twentieth-century ideals (for good or bad) of mingled tonal aesthetics. Yet it handily does Kynaston’s bidding from the cool flutes at the opening of the Concerto to the weighty ensembles of the free preludes and fugues to the complex offsetting colors of the Max Reger transcription of the Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue.
© Haig Mardirosian reprinted with kind permission from ‘The American Organist ‘
FRANCES MASON, BRIAN SCHIELE & JAMES HALSEY OF THE TAGORE TRIO PLAY
SCHUBERT, KODALY, HUMMEL & DOHNANYI
a double album two for the price of one!!
LCSCD004/5
CD1
Ernö Dohnányi 1877 – 1960
Serenade Op10 22:45
1 I Marcia 2:18
2 II Romanza 3:49
3 III Scherzo 5:15
4 IV Tema con variazioni 6:21
5 V Rondo (Finale) 5:02
Johann Nepomuk Hummel 1778 – 1837
Trio in E flat Major 24:03
6 I Allegro con brio 8:05
7 II Adagio e cantabile 5:35
8 III Menuetto. Allegro 5:17
9 IV Finale. Allegro vivace 5:06
Franz Schubert 1797 – 1828
10 Trio in B flat Major D471 12:39
11 Andante sostenuto D471 2:39
CD2
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Trio in G Major 19:30
1 I Allegro moderato 5:50
2 II Andante grazioso 5:41
3 III Menuetto. Allegretto 3:40
4 IV Rondo a la Burlesca. Vivace 4:19
Franz Schubert
Trio in B flat Major D581 22:13
5 I Allegro moderato 5:51
6 II Andante 5:31
7 III Menuetto 3:37
8 IV Rondo. Allegretto 7:14
Zoltán Kodály 1882 – 1967
9 Intermezzo 5:12
Johannes Geffert Plays Leyding, Bach, De Gruijtters, Kuhnau & Bruhns – The great Organ of Sint Pauluskerk Antwerp
A former student of D. Buxtehude, G.D.Leyding worked in Brunswick. His prelude in E flat adapts elements of the Italian concerto, such as the interplay between Great and Rückpositiv (Orchestra Tutti and Solo), for the north German organ world. Only the a short imitative middle section and a shorter more tightly composed phrase remind us of the form of toccata and fugue. With a surprisingly original touch Leyding uses a 4 beat bar to follow the 3 beat bar, not the other way according to older traditions. Also he gives the solo on the Rückpositiv the ‘last word’ to end the piece.
Bach composed the choral partita ‘O Gott, du frommer Gott’ in about 1700, in Lüneburg or perhaps already in Ohrdruf.. Much has been written about the early examples of this form by Johann Pachelbel and Georg Böhm. Such compositions by the young Bach had long been understood as mere adaptions of the variation forms of the old masters. But a book by Albert Clement (‘O Jesu, du edle Gabe’) tries to prove how deeply Bach’s thoughts are involved with the theological meaning of the text of each verse. Without being able to give all these aspects in detail, some points are described which are essential for the interpretation of the music:
the richness of the chords of the opening chorale expresses the richness of divine gifts.
the tirelessly repeating ritornello of verse 2 interprets the text “grant, that I do diligently what it is my duty to do.”
the dissonant leaps of the bass line in verse 6 refer to the ‘bitter steps’ in life towards age and death.
bar 30 of verse 7, often completely misunderstood as a charming minuet, actually refer to the last resting place beside the parents’ grave. This text must have moved and inspired the young Bach especially, since he was an orphan from his 10th year.
the next verse 8 in its chromatically disturbed harmonies depicts the long wait for the last day and resurrection, music so strange and lonely it is as if from on the other side of earth and heaven.
and how convincing is the interpretation of the Trinity text of the last verse. Praise of God the Father on earth and in heaven is expressed through the alternation between lower and upper manual. In the middle part the melody line alternates between the soprano and bass voices, indicating Jesus Christ as God and Man. Finally the tumult of the Holy Spirit is heard in the running scales of the presto finale.
The collection of the Antwerp carillon player Johan de Gruijtters (or Gruytters) 1709-1772 assembles 194 pieces of music to play on the Carillon or on the keyboard instruments of the period (organ, harpsichord, virginal, clavichord). Even performance on treble and bass instruments was considered possible. Thus the book is not only a worthy treasure trove of interesting music, both original compositions and arrangements, it is also a document of public performance between church, house and bell tower, between liturgical needs, secular entertainment and civic duties.
The carillon of the city of Antwerp had a range of four octaves. But in the tower there was also another carillon for the church! Apart from his duties for the Cathedral, de Gruijtter was organist and violinist of a sacred brotherhood. He may also have performed for the theatre.
Kuhnau was Bach’s predecessor as cantor of St. Thomas in Leipzig. In six sonatas for harpsichord he illustrates various biblical stories, Together with a quite ironical introduction to each of the sonatas they are musical character studies, which must have made many friends amongst the music lovers and connoisseurs of the day. ‘The battle between David and Goliath’ was of course a promising subject and on the organ it is even more martial and richer in nuances than would be possible on the harpsichord.
The few remaining organ works by Nicolaus Bruhns are a summit of the north German Baroque organ. The young genius, whose life is partly unknown, studied with Buxtehude at the age of 16. After working as violin player at the court in Copenhagen he was ordered to be organist at Husum, which was then a subsidiary residence of the Counts of Schleswig.
Bruhns died there, aged only 31 years. In Mattheson’s book ‘Ehrenpforte’ (1740) he is described as being able to sit on the organ bench and to play a bass line with the pedals, while playing a violin with much artistry and much double stopping.
In his prelude in E minor the elements of the ‘stylus phantasticus’ with its constant new inventions, affects, sound colours, and rhythms are brought to the greatest mastery. With the key of E minor there is a secret connection from the preludes and fugues of Buxtehude, via Bruhns to J.S. Bach. They all work with the tension of key note E and its dominant B. On Buxtehude’s tombstone is the inscription:
When the great Tutti comes,
and the eternal Alleluja,
then you shall with many thousands of believers
rise from E to B
THE ORGAN IN SINT PAUL’S CHURCH ANTWERP
The South Netherlands paid a heavy penalty in the religious wars of the 16th Century. In 1566, even in Antwerp, the iconoclasm broke out and a Calvinistic power came into force. This came to an end in 1585 when the Spanish captured the city and plundered it. Catholicism was re-introduced but, in the meantime, all the organs had been destroyed.
Only after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 was money available to purchase organs. The Dominicans had restored their church and decided to install a large new organ. They apparently had the money but many of the craftsmen, even organ-builders, had fled the country to try their luck elsewhere. The Brabant family Brebos had gone to Madrid, the flemish Langhedul was working in Paris. Some of them had gone to the North: Antony Mors was working in Schwerin.
Eventually the Dominicans found an organ-builder in the Rhine area who was capable of providing them with a large organ. It was Nicolaus VAN HAGEN, a “Duydtscher man”. It was not clear whether he was Dutch or German.
The organ was delivered in 1654 and had 47 organ stops on 3 keyboards and pedals and approximately 4,000 pipes. The front was decorated by artists from the school of Rubens: Erasmus II Quellin (1607-1678) and Peeter Verbruggen the Elder (1615-1686). This new organ was admired by the Swedish Queen Christina, who was staying for a few days in Antwerp. She listened to the organ being played for more than an hour by Abraham Van den Kerckhoven from Brussels. A few years later the large church in Dordrecht ordered a similar organ to that in Antwerp “so van stof, groote, swaerte, dichte met alle Registers, etc. Gelyck het nieuw orgel van de Preeckheren tot Antwerpen”. In Dordrecht only the front of the organ has been saved and the decorative elements were added in the 19th Century.
At the end of the 17th Century Johannes Baptista FORCEVILLE, from Northern France, came to live in Antwerp. Around the year 1720 he was commissioned by the Dominicans to build an organ for the upper chancel. At the same time he had to adapt, repair and perhaps move the old Van der Hagen organ. It is not clear whether the pedal towers (unique in the South Netherlands) were built by him or were part of the original organ.
The upper chancel was dismantled at the beginning of the 19th Century. This happened at a time when there was esthetic and liturgical change all over Europe. The choir organ was sold but can still be seen at Broechem, about 20 kms. from Antwerp.
In the meantime the French Revolution and the Concordat of Napoleon had turned church life around. This meant for St. Paul’s Church, the departure of the priests and the monastery church becoming a parish church.
Between 1822 and 1824 the organ was repaired and partially renewed by the Frenchman Jean-Joseph DELHAYE. Hereby the range of the keyboards extended to f”’. Originally the range extended to c”’. The bellows were also renewed.
In spite of all this the organ kept its historic heart and its stylistic unity. It is the only large organ, dating back to the 17th Century, in all Belgium that has retained the original sound. With similar instruments from that period (in the cathedrals of Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges) only the outer casings have been preserved and mostly in a converted form. Moreover it is a unique synthesis-instrument built at a meeting place between cultures (Latin and Germanic) and confessions of faith (Catholicism and Calvinism). An organ case which has been built according to the principles of the Dutch-North German organ (the “Hamburger Prospekt”: vertical construction, pedal towers) contains sound qualities that are mainly French orientated. Elements of the early-romantic have also found their place here. The organ front, which one would associate with Holland or North-Germany, is decorated with extravagant Rubens-like sculptures which make it unmistakeably original to Antwerp.
Translation: Reverend Ann Babb
The Organ of Sint Pauluskerk, Antwerp.
ca. 1650: Nicolaes van Haeghen
1730/32: Jean Baptist Forceville
1824: Jean-Joseph Delhaye
1993-96: Rest. Potvlieghe/Draps
GROOT ORGEL (II) C-f”‘
Montre 16′ Bourdon 16′ Prestant 8′ Holpyp 8′ Quintadena 8′ Grand Nazard 6′ Double Tierce 3′ Octaef 4′ Fluyt traveer 4′ Fluyt 4′ Nazard 3′ Doublet 2′ Fournituer V Cimbal IV Cornet VI Bombarde16′ Trompet (b/d) 8′ Clairon 4′ Vox humana 8′
PEDAAL CD-c’ Prestant 16′ Quintadena 16′ Fluyt 8′ Prestant 4′ Bombarde 16′ Trompet 8′ Clairon 4′ Tremblant (II) HW/RP – Ped/HW A = 415
RUGPOSITIEF (I) C-f”’ Holpyp 8′ Fluyte traveer (d) 8′ Prestant 4′ Viola di Gamba 4′ Fluyt 4′ Nazard 3′ Doublet 2′ Veldfluyt 2′ Tiers 1 1/2′ Fournituer 3r Trompet 8′ Basson/Hautbois 8′ Vox Angelica 8′ Cornet IV
ECHO (III) C-f”’ Holpyp 8′ Prestant 4′ Fluyt 4′ Doublet 2′ Veldfluyt 2′ Fournituer III Cornet III Trompet (d) 8′ Cromhorn 8′
Johannes Geffert Plays Leyding, Bach, Kuhnau, De Grujitters and Nicolaus Bruhns
A hybrid multi-channel SACD, suitable for all CD players of the previously unrecorded organ of Sint Pauluskerk, Antwerp. Music by Leyding, Bach, Buxtehude, Kuhnau and Bruhns played by Johannes Geffert.
More Details
A former student of D. Buxtehude, G.D.Leyding worked in Brunswick. His Prelude in E flat adapts elements of the Italian concerto, such as the interplay between Great and Rückpositiv (Orchestra Tutti and Solo), for the north German organ world. Only the a short imitative middle section and a shorter more tightly composed phrase remind us of the form of toccata and fugue. With a surprisingly original touch Leyding uses a 4 beat bar to follow the 3 beat bar, not the other way according to older traditions. Also he gives the solo on the Rückpositiv the ‘last word’ to end the piece. . .
Jan Van Mol – Great Organ of Sint Pauluskerk Antwerp
plays Jacques Claude Adolphe Miné (1795 – 1869)
Miné was first educated as a cello player but had also organ lessons at the Paris Conservatoire with François Benoist.
He was an assistant organist (organiste accompagnateur) at the St. Roch and Saint-Etienne des Monts churches in Paris. Later he was organiste titulaire of Chartres cathedral.
This music is very interesting, being a transition between the French organists from the late 18th century and the great romantic French organ school. It is a fascinating link to the organ music of e.g. Lefébure-Wely and Lemmens.
Pazdirek (Universal-Handbucht, 1904-10) needs no less than 4 pages, 2 columns each, to sum up his printed works. Beckmann (Repertorium Orgelmusik 2001) knows of 25 printed organ volumes.
His organ work is mostly meant to be played in the liturgy, with titles such as “30 morceaux pour antiennes, versets, élévations, offertoire et. etc.”. In this matter, he is a forerunner of the legion composers of church organ volumes in the rest of the 19th century, meant as a tool for organists with poor capacities for improvisation.
The music on this cd has been choosen from “Manuale organi – recueil de 100 morceaux pour orgue applicables aux messes et aux offices”, published in 4 volumes. We found this score in the library of the Sacré Coeur church in Arlon (Southern Belgium), a former Jesuit monastery.
Miné calls himself on the title page “organiste accompagnateur de la Paroisse de St. Roch”. The work is dedicated to Ch. Simon, organist at Notre Dame des Victoires and the Chapitre Royal de St. Denis, in addition professor at the Maison royale de la Légion d’honneur.
Given the fact that the Sint-Paulus organ, as it appears to day, got his overall shape in the early 19th century (1822-24), it is an ideal partner for this music. Every detail of the sophisticated registration indications that precede each piece can be applied on this organ.
Jan Van Mol
THE ORGAN IN SINT PAUL’S CHURCH ANTWERP
The South Netherlands paid a heavy penalty in the religious wars of the 16th Century. In 1566, even in Antwerp, the iconoclasm broke out and a Calvinistic power came into force. This came to an end in 1585 when the Spanish captured the city and plundered it. Catholicism was re-introduced but, in the meantime, all the organs had been destroyed.
Only after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 was money available to purchase organs. The Dominicans had restored their church and decided to install a large new organ. They apparently had the money but many of the craftsmen, even organ-builders, had fled the country to try their luck elsewhere. The Brabant family Brebos had gone to Madrid, the flemish Langhedul was working in Paris. Some of them had gone to the North: Antony Mors was working in Schwerin.
Eventually the Dominicans found an organ-builder in the Rhine area who was capable of providing them with a large organ. It was Nicolaus VAN HAGEN, a “Duydtscher man”. It was not clear whether he was Dutch or German.
The organ was delivered in 1654 and had 47 organ stops on 3 keyboards and pedals and approximately 4,000 pipes. The front was decorated by artists from the school of Rubens: Erasmus II Quellin (1607-1678) and Peeter Verbruggen the Elder (1615-1686). This new organ was admired by the Swedish Queen Christina, who was staying for a few days in Antwerp. She listened to the organ being played for more than an hour by Abraham Van den Kerckhoven from Brussels. A few years later the large church in Dordrecht ordered a similar organ to that in Antwerp “so van stof, groote, swaerte, dichte met alle Registers, etc. Gelyck het nieuw orgel van de Preeckheren tot Antwerpen”. In Dordrecht only the front of the organ has been saved and the decorative elements were added in the 19th Century.
At the end of the 17th Century Johannes Baptista FORCEVILLE, from Northern France, came to live in Antwerp. Around the year 1720 he was commissioned by the Dominicans to build an organ for the upper chancel. At the same time he had to adapt, repair and perhaps move the old Van der Hagen organ. It is not clear whether the pedal towers (unique in the South Netherlands) were built by him or were part of the original organ.
The upper chancel was dismantled at the beginning of the 19th Century. This happened at a time when there was esthetic and liturgical change all over Europe. The choir organ was sold but can still be seen at Broechem, about 20 kms. from Antwerp.
In the meantime the French Revolution and the Concordat of Napoleon had turned church life around. This meant for St. Paul’s Church, the departure of the priests and the monastery church becoming a parish church.
Between 1822 and 1824 the organ was repaired and partially renewed by the Frenchman Jean-Joseph DELHAYE. Hereby the range of the keyboards extended to f”’. Originally the range extended to c”’. The bellows were also renewed.
In spite of all this the organ kept its historic heart and its stylistic unity. It is the only large organ, dating back to the 17th Century, in all Belgium that has retained the original sound. With similar instruments from that period (in the cathedrals of Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges) only the outer casings have been preserved and mostly in a converted form. Moreover it is a unique synthesis-instrument built at a meeting place between cultures (Latin and Germanic) and confessions of faith (Catholicism and Calvinism). An organ case which has been built according to the principles of the Dutch-North German organ (the “Hamburger Prospekt”: vertical construction, pedal towers) contains sound qualities that are mainly French orientated. Elements of the early-romantic have also found their place here. The organ front, which one would associate with Holland or North-Germany, is decorated with extravagant Rubens-like sculptures which make it unmistakeably original to Antwerp.
Translation: Reverend Ann Babb
ca. 1650: Nicolaes van Haeghen
1730/32: Jean Baptist Forceville
1824: Jean-Joseph Delhaye
1993-96: Rest. Potvlieghe/Draps
GROOT ORGEL (II) C-f”’ Montre 16′ Bourdon 16′ Prestant 8′ Holpyp 8′ Quintadena 8′ Grand Nazard 6′ Double Tierce 3′ Octaef 4′ Fluyt traveer 4′ Fluyt 4′ Nazard 3′ Doublet 2′ Fournituer V Cimbal IV Cornet VI Bombarde16′ Trompet (b/d) 8′ Clairon 4′ Vox humana 8′
PEDAAL CD-c’ Prestant 16′ Quintadena 16′ Fluyt 8′ Prestant 4′ Bombarde 16′ Trompet 8′ Clairon 4′ Tremblant (II) HW/RP – Ped/HW A = 415
RUGPOSITIEF (I) C-f”’ Holpyp 8′ Fluyte traveer (d) 8′ Prestant 4′ Viola di Gamba 4′ Fluyt 4′ Nazard 3′ Doublet 2′ Veldfluyt 2′ Tiers 1 1/2′ Fournituer 3r Trompet 8′ Basson/Hautbois 8′ Vox Angelica 8′ Cornet IV
ECHO (III) C-f”’ Holpyp 8′ Prestant 4′ Fluyt 4′ Doublet 2′ Veldfluyt 2′ Fournituer III Cornet III Trompet (d) 8′ Cromhorn 8′
Professor Gerard Gillen Plays Flor Peeters and Cesar Franck
César Franck (1822-1890) and Flor Peeters (1903-1986) share the same Franco-Belgian heritage: it was the former who rescued organ composition from the nadir to which it had sunk in the wake of the musical depredations resulting from the French revolution, and it was the latter who carried the torch, lit so brilliantly by Franck (in turn inspired by the marvellously new and innovative instruments of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll) and mediated to Peeters through the common friendship and collegiality of Charles Tournemire, into the latter decades of the twentieth century. Franck excised the musical frivolities of composers such as Lemmens, Lefébre-Wély and Batiste from the French organ œuvre in endowing his organ compositions with a new sense of formal fibre expressed in a harmonic language that was both individual and very much of its time in its advanced explorations of chromaticism; Peeters followed very much in the same aesthetic tradition, bringing to his work the fresh sound of twentieth-century dissonance, arrived at in the German manner through horizontal, contrapuntal application, rather than through vertically conceived harmonic opulence.
Peeters was a prolific composer for the organ, who counts over 300 chorale preludes among his compositions. The chorale prelude is a musical construct peculiar to the organ; it emerged as a form in seventeenth-century Germany and has remained part of the staple diet of organ composers ever since. In essence it is a composition based on a hymn tune and inspired by its text, which it seeks to explore and encapsulate in musical expression. The three chorale preludes recorded here date from 1948 and appear in the composer’s collection of ‘Ten Chorale Preludes’, Op.68 on German chorale melodies. Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme is based on the hymn tune by Philipp Nicolai, a version of which was made famous by JS Bach in both his Cantata No. 140 and the subsequent transcription by the composer of the opening chorus as the eponymously titled Schübler chorale prelude. It has to be said that the shadow of Bach looms over Peeters’ treatment, with the latter giving us a twentieth-century translation, as it were, of Bach’s justly famous composition. O Gott, du frommer Gott, is a gem of soft and subtle Romantic expression, while Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, based on Philipp Nicolai’s Christmas hymn, recalls Bach’s Nun freut euch, BWV 734 in its effervescent perpetuum mobile manual figuration accompanying the unfolding of the tune on pedals at 4’ pitch.Toccata, Fugue et Hymn sur ‘Ave Maris Stella, Op. 28 was completed in 1931 and is dedicated to Tournemire. It is one of the composer’s larger concepts and must be counted as one of his best compositions, marrying mastery of symmetry, variety and freshness of expression, with a vitality and compositional energy that sustains the work unflaggingly throughout its length. The Toccata, while following the French model with the ancient Gregorian Marian melody announced in pedal tutti against an accompaniment of bustling manual figuration, recalls the Debussy of La Mer in its changing rhythmic pulses and harmonic piquancy. The fugue has a splendid sense of shape and energy, while the concluding hymn brings a sense of apotheosis to this finely hewn composition.
Largo and Final are two of four pieces published as Four Pieces, Op. 71 in 1949. They reveal an aspect of Peeters as a composer for secular usage as opposed to the other compositions discussed above whose primary provenance was liturgical. The Largo is a lyrical solo for the trumpet stop which is given a wide-ranging melody extending over three octaves, accompanied by sustained inner voices with pizzicato pedal. The language here is remarkably conservative for a mid twentieth-century work, and the entire composition recalls the Geist world of Bach’s Adagio movement in the Toccata in C, BWV 564. The Final is a hard-driven Lydian mode toccata very much in French style, with theme in pedals, and with each reiteration ratching the musical temperature upwards to final climax which explodes in a virtuoso eruption in the pedals.
César Franck’s Prelude, Fugue and Variation was published as the third of Six Pièces in 1868, a publication that marked a substantial revolution in style within the history of French organ music. In many ways this composition broke new ground in the prelude and fugue type of composition: the prelude presents a lilting lyrical melody in characteristic solo Swell registration of Bourdon, Flûte de 8 and Hautbois, complete with canonic imitation so beloved of this composer. A characteristic interlude introducing Fonds on all manuals with the Swell Anches leads to a sombre hued fugue, though marked Allegretto, ma non troppo, before unexpectedly returning to the theme of the prelude for an exquisite variation movement. Truly, a prelude and fugue with a difference.
The Pièce Héroïque was the third of Trois Pièces which Franck composed expressly for his recital on the new four-manual Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Trocadéro Palace on 1 October, 1878. It is a highly orchestrally flavoured composition, the main theme of which is announced in the tenor register to the accompaniment of pulsating chords on full Swell. A colourful composition, sombre and even threatening in character, it uses a wide palette of symphonic organ registration, and proceeds to its organically driven climax with powerful effect.
The Grande Pièce Symphonique was published as the second of the six pieces of Six Pièces in 1868. It was to be the composer’s largest scale work for organ, and a composition in cyclical form that not only foreshadowed Franck’s one an only essay in orchestral symphonic writing, his Symphony in D Minor, but it also served as the prototype for later organ symphonies by Guilmant, Widor and Vierne. It was thus a highly innovative and influential composition calling for the full resources of colour provided by the new Cavaillé-Coll instrument of St Clotilde. The work begins not with the expected symphonic ‘Allegro’, but with an ‘Andantino serioso’ leading to an ‘Allegro non troppo e maestoso’ for Grand Chœur where the main theme is revealed in all its glory. Two delicious Andante movements are interspersed among the many ruminative digressions, the second of which calls for a delightful dialogue between the Voix célestes of the Récit and the Positif. The final ‘Allegro non troppo e maestoso’, containing fragments heard earlier in the work, lead to the fugal finale with the tempo increasing as the musical excitement mounts to bring this extraordinary essay to a literally blazing conclusion.
THE ORGAN
Dublin’s Roman Catholic Pro-Cathedral, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin under the title of St Mary, was opened in 1825 and is built in classical Greek style in a copy of the Parisian Basilica of St Philippe de Roule. It is a church, though small for its cathedral function, with a warm and generous acoustic, particularly suited to organ sound and its projection. The present organ’s origins date from the 1880s when a contract was entrusted to the Dublin but French-trained organ builder, John White. The present façade of the organ dated from William Hill’s rebuild of the instrument c. 1900. Subsequent work was carried out by Henry Willis & Co in the 1930s before J.W. Walker’s major rebuilds of 1971, and 1995 when some additional stops were added. This latter work was carried out in the context of an overall redecoration of the Pro-Cathedral.
Over the years the Pro-Cathedral organ has become regarded as one of the finest examples in Ireland of the late nineteenth-century grand Romantic organ, and has since its original installation featured prominently in the many national liturgical occasions, which have graced the cathedral church. More recently many of the finest organ recitalists of our time have performed on this instrument: Daniel Chorzempa, Xavier Darasse, Susan Landale, Olivier Latry, Daniel Roth, Dame Gillian Weir, Arthur Wills etc.
SPECIFICATION
SWELL GREAT PEDAL POSITIVE
Gedeckt 8 Lieblich Bourdon 16 Double Open Diapason 32 Rohr Flute 8
Salicional 8 Open Diapason 1 8 Principal 16 Spitz Flute 4
Celeste 8 Open Diapason 11 8 Bourdon 16 *Principal 4
*Flute 4 Stopped Diapason 8 Bass Flute 8 Octave 2
Principal 4 Principal 4 Octave 8 Nazard+ 2²3
Fifteenth 2 Fifteenth 2 Fifteenth+ 4 Tierce+ 1³5
Scharf+ III Mixture+ III Flute+ 4 Larigot+ 1¹3
Oboe 8 Sesquialtera+ II Mixture+ III Cymbal+ III
Fagotto+ 16 Trumpet 8 Fagot 16 Cromorne+ 8
Trumpet 8 Clarion 4 Schalmei+ 4 *Cor Anglais8
*Clarion 4
Tremulant Tremulant
Octave
Sub Octave
Unison Off
Swell/Great Swell/Pedal Swell/Positive
Positive/Great Great/Pedal
Positive/Pedal
Usual accessories with multiple channels + Sequencer.
- *Stops added in 1995
- +Stops added or altered in 1971
Gerard Gillen ©
THE ORGANIST
Gerard Gillen has been Titular Organist of Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral since 1976 and is Professor Emeritus of Music at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, where he was head of Department from 1985 to 2007. He is widely regarded as one of Ireland’s leading church and concert organists. A First Class Honours graduate University College, Dublin, Oxford University, and the Royal Flemish Conservatoire of Music, Antwerp (where he gained the Prix d’Excellence, the highest award for instrumental performance, in the class of Flor Peeters), Professor Gillen has given over 900 recitals throughout Europe, Israel, and America, performing in such prestigious venues as the Royal Festival Hall, London, King’s College, Cambridge, St Thomas’, New York, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, Notre-Dame and La Madeleine, Paris, St Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, St Thomas’, Leipzig, St Bavo, Haarlem, cathedrals of Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Pittsburgh, and major recital venues in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Italy etc. He has also been a member of international competition juries in Oxford, Ann Arbor, London and Dublin.
Gerard Gillen was founder-chairman of the Dublin International Organ & Choral Festival (now the Pipeworks Festival) of which he was artistic director from 1990 to 2000. In 1984 he was conferred with Knighthood of St Gregory (KCSG) by the Vatican, and in 2006 he was created a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government. He is currently chair of the National Advisory Committee on Church Music to the Irish Episcopal Conference. Other honours include the John Betts Visiting Fellowship at Oxford (1992); in December 1996 he was nominated the classical winner in Ireland’s annual TV National Entertainment Awards, the first organist to be so honoured. In 2007 he was awarded a doctorate honoris causa by the Pontifical University of Maynooth.
The Bells of the Angelus – Palestrina Choir of St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin
This award winning chart busting ‘Best Seller’ of the Palestrina Choir, includes specially written choral arrangements by David Mooney of much-loved Irish hymn melodies.
Ranging from The Bells of the Angelus, Lord of All Hopefulness and Hail, Queen of Heaven to the Queen of the May and the most poignant of Irish hymns such as Ag Críost an Síol and Dóchas Linn Naomh Pádraig, and including the complete work of Haydn’s Missa Brevis in F, this is a very special collection of liturgical favourites.
Recorded in the inspiring acoustic of St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, the Boys and Gentlemen of the Palestrina Choir combine with two extraordinarily gifted boy sopranos Diarmuid Sugrue and Louis Mahon,
organists David Connolly and Gerard Gillen, harpist Denise Kelly, the Orchestra of St Cecilia and their legendary Director, Blánaid Murphy,
to create a rich palette and an inspirational garland of Ireland’s best-loved and most-cherished hymn melodies.
It is difficult to imagine the Pro-Cathedral without the Palestrina Choir.
Since 1903 the Choir members and their families have brought a tremendous vibrancy to the life of our cathedral church. The echo of the boys at rehearsal provides a regular, gentle, meditative background for the many people who pray in the church in the afternoon and evening time.
The sound of the boys at play provides a welcome input of youthful enthusiasm into the life of the cathedral. The commitment to thrice weekly rehearsals leads to the melodious harmony and choral excellence which only this level of commitment from the Boys, Gentlemen, the Director and Assistants can achieve.
All of this effort is directed towards the worthy celebration of the Sunday Eucharistic Liturgy, “the summit towards which the activity of the Church is directed the fount from which all her power flows.”
1. Salve Regina |
| 2. Bells Of The Angelus |
| 3. Lord Of All Hopefulness |
| 4. Failte Romhat A Ri Na Naingeal |
| 5. Queen Of The May |
| 6. Pie Jesu |
| 7. Deus Meus |
| 8. Ag Criost An Siol |
| 9. Is Maith An Bhean Muire Mhor |
| 10. A Iosa Glan Mo Chroise |
| 11. Panis Angelicus |
| 12. An Taiseiri |
| 13. Dochas Linn Naomh Padraig |
| 14. Hail Glorious St Patrick |
| 15. Oh For The Wings Of A Dove |
| 16. Soul Of My Saviour |
| 17. Bi Iosa Im Chroise |
| 18. Hail Queen Of Heaven |
| 19. I Know That My Redeemer Liveth |
| 20. Haydn Missa Brevis In F Kyrie |
| 21. Gloria |
| 22. Et in terra pax homnibus |
| 23. Credo |
| 24. Patrem omnipotentum |
| 25. Sanctus |
| 26. Benedictus |
| 27. Agnus Dei |
| 28. Dona nobis pace29. Tantum Ergo |
Christmas with the Palestrina Hybrid SACDPlayable on Regular CD players or 5.1 Surround SACD.
Each day thousands of the faithful fill the great Cathedral and on Sunday the choir sings in the Great High Mass.
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Another ‘Best Seller’ from Dublin’s Palestrina Choir filled with heart rendering Christmas Carols from the inside of Dublin’s most celebrated Cathedral.
It is difficult to imagine the Pro-Cathedral without the Palestrina Choir.
