Graeme Tarbet and I arrived separately to attend this demonstration in the Canongate Kirk, Edinburgh and thus added two numbers to a very poor turnout (there was an alternative recital in Edinburgh that night) to hear Kevin demonstrate this new organ with its "revolutionary 'Physis' physical modelling technology", the meaning of which remains a mystery!

The 2 manual instrument was totally visible to all and the speakers had been placed in the Chancel facing each other. This rather limited the sound output and perhaps if two speakers had been placed towards the rear of the building or in the organ gallery, the effects might have been better. Nevertheless, the manual sound production was almost equal to pipe organ output but the pedal effect did not seem so effective - hence the comment about the speakers.

Kevin is a master demonstrator and his choice of programme was catholic in its range.

Robin Richmond Up with the Curtain
JF Wagner Under the Double Eagle
Billy Mayerl Marigold
Henry Hudson Storm Fantasia- Life and Death at St Bernard's Hospice
Iain Farrington Nocturne and Stride Dance (Fiesta!)
Adalberto Guzzini Jazzman Swing
J S Bach Toccata in D minor BWV 565
Joseph Jongen Chant de Mai
Louis Vierne Cortege, Prélude & Divertissement from 24 Pièces en Style Libre
Derek Nisbet Tightrope Prelude
Dick Koomans Basso Ostinato

It was a wonderful chance to witness Kevin close at hand and appreciate his playing skills.

Thanks are also due to Viscount for providing the instrument and to Kerr McIntosh of 'Key Player', 98 Canongate for hosting the demonstration.

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THE LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE

I should immediately say that there is absolutely no intended reference to the TV series of the same title!

Immense forethought and planning had obviously gone into this superlative concert. Stuart Muir, City Organist had with him the 10-years-young Agnew-McAllister Duo (Aisling Agnew, flute and piccolo; Matthew McAllister, guitar) who are famed throughout Europe and beyond. The placing of the Duo on the organ gallery and careful microphone use gave a blend with the organ which at times seemed to be one instrument.

As with a previous concert in this series, Stuart had chosen to have 12 short pieces to demonstrate the versatility of the Harrison & Harrison organ. This is proving to be a popular approach to these concerts. Promising no "heavy" pieces, the opening with Handel's March in C set the baroque tone for much of the first half. Powerful stuff to herald the following quieter pieces. The trio of organ, flute and guitar gave an ethereal quality to the popular Jesu, Joy of man's desiring. An organ solo followed - a gavotte by Matthew Camidge whose father was a pupil of Handel. The soft registers of the organ came into their own here.

There then followed three works by Vivaldi with Aisling expertly and sympathetically playing the solo piccolo rather than the organ piccolo being used in the Allegro from his Concerto in C maj. for Piccolo. The Largo in D min. with guitar and organ continuo was restful and led into the short but well known Concerto in D maj. for guitar with organ and flute playing continuo ably illustrated Matthew's skill. Although there was no actual interval in the concert, this formed a natural break in the programme.

A piece which Stuart had learned as a young organ pupil followed; the title was Air for Organ by Anon - because the piece given to him by his teacher had no name for composer! Be that as it may, Stuart's simplistic interpretation amazed one. Although Advent is some way off, the Come Emmanuel arr. by Denisen proved haunting with the flute solo blending with the organ accompaniment. Being some way off so many "sleeps" until Christmas we were allowed to embark on the popular Erik Satie Suite with visual hallucinations of Greek youths and maidens dancing through the Gymnopédie.

F. Alexandre Guilmant's Postlude in D Minor brought us back to earth. Stuart's interpretation of this was exciting and speedy. The Caird Hall organ reproduces the French organ well and the first city organist, James Hinchliffe, played a fair amount of Guilmant on the instrument. The final two choices were deliberately chosen for their quietude as opposed to blasting the audience out into the night. The Shetland Hamnataing by Christopher Stout, whilst a fiddle tune, proved equally balanced with the three instrumentalists. The final soft Lochaber no more set the scene for the passing of a non-existent summer and sent us out into the night in reflective mood.
Dundee is extremely fortunate to have such a dedicated musician in Stuart Muir and he proved to have, with his accompanying recitalists, the ability to communicate the love of the music to the audience. It reflects on Stuart that the audience of over 50 was the highest for the series, but we still need to popularise these concerts and sound the "tuba" far and wide. As Pastoral Musician in the Diocese of Brechin and as Dundee City Organist he is gradually turning round the misguided opinion that organ concerts are "stuffy" and deserves wider support.

Here's to next year!

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Recital
in the Caird Hall, Dundee

by
Robert Gower
Senior Tutor
Glenalmond College

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Review by Ron Turbyne

Having heard Robert Gower play his own arrangement of Walton's Facade on his Glenalmond College Organ with so much expertise, I knew that we would be presented with great musicianship on the Caird Hall organ. He gave us an excellent performance of a variety of music.

The new, to me, Andrew Carter (of carol fame) pieces - Trumpet Tune and Chanson de la Vierge Pensive - the York Bowen Fantasia for Organ (whom I knew only through piano music), the pleasant William Lloyd Webber Romance from Serenade for Strings, the Plymouth Suite by Whitlock with its variety of music - ending with the great Toccata which gave the organ Horn its opportunity - and finishing with the Cocker Tuba Tune, again involving the Tuba, with its melody being well handled by Left Hand, Right Hand and, lastly, Feet! A great ending to a superb performance.

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Recital
in the Caird Hall, Dundee

by
Frikki Walker
Director of Music,
St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Glasgow

Wednesday 31 August 2011

Review by Jim McKellican

The second of the organ concerts under the auspices of Leisure & Culture Dundee billed the one and only Frikki Walker of St. Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow. Any programme with Frikki at the helm is guaranteed to be relevant, entertaining and polished; this was no exception.
Cleverly, he had chosen ten short pieces for the hour long recital, thus allowing an exhibition of the tonal variety of the magnificent Harrison & Harrison instrument as well its versatility in handling classical and concert music. His introductions to each item were succinct with a touch of humour.
Sandwiched between, first, the loudly proclaimed Songs of Praise, by Herbert Chappell and the final 'full organ essential' toccata on Now thank we all our God by the Norwegian composer, Egil Hovland, Frikki delighted us with works by Thomas Arne, Mozart and the beautiful, restful Sicilienne of Maria von Paradies who actually taught Mozart. Next came the powerful Tambling Trumpet Tune but Frikki chose not to use a Trumpet stop, instead using the famous Tuba stop on the organ that can reputedly be heard in Monifieth! Nordal's Salmforleiker (psalm for playing) was just that. A racy piece with interesting harmonies and requiring great technical skill from the player - ably achieved in this case. The true concert aspect of the organ was exhibited par excellence by Nigel Ogden's Penguins' Playtime - sounding as if played on a Wurlitzer. A homely note was then introduced as Frikki played his own composition An Oxford Elegy much beloved by his mother.
We need more of this variety of programme for the annual concert series, short 'snappy' works to give the listener a feeling of relaxing to enjoyable 'light' music of an evening or lunchtime. There were approximately 50 people in the audience for this the first evening trial run. This is quite encouraging and listening to 'vox pop' there is a wish for more music of the entertaining variety as opposed to the 'serious stuff'. Stuart Muir is to be congratulated on his choice of recitalists for this season.

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Lunchtime recital in the Caird Hall, Dundee

by
Richard Walmsley
Director of Music, Strathallan School
Organist and Master of the Choristers,
St Ninian's Cathedral, Perth

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Review by Peter Thornton

Richard Walmsley has a self-confessed enthusiasm for French organ music, which was evident in his choice of an all-French programme for this, the first of the Autumn Recital Series. It was a brave choice, given that the sounds of the French romantic organ are challenging to replicate on a British "Town Hall" instrument. The Caird Hall organ is no Cavaillé-Coll, and the hall acoustic is nothing like that of a French cathedral, even with the seats removed from the central area, as they were on this occasion. Programming a lunchtime recital is also challenging - whilst satisfying the audience's musical appetite, one has to avoid the indigestible. Richard Walmsley served up a lunchtime musical cuisine that would satisfy most tastes.

The opening piece, the Carillon from Vierne's 24 Pièces en Style Libre, pinned the audience (despite their distance from the instrument) to their seats and set the tone for much of the rest of the recital. The Caird Hall's reeds are generally sonorous rather than fiery, and this, combined with the urgency of pace in places, obscured some detail. The player sounded more comfortable with the instrument and the acoustic in Saint-Saëns' Fantaisie in E flat major. Between these items, we had heard perhaps the most successful piece on the programme: the 18th century Noël Etranger by Louis-Claude Daquin. Here simple registration allowed the music to sing for itself.

Contrasts between the fff of full organ and the alternating piano sections in the Introduction of Boëllmann's Suite Gothique were well managed, but the Menuet was played up to the metronome mark and in this acoustic turned into a whirling waltz rather than a stately elegantly-paced dance. As a result, the first few notes of each pp section struggled to emerge from the reverberation of the preceding ff section. The Prière à Notre-Dame, on the other hand, was appropriately delicate, and the final Toccata concluded the suite with the proper authority.

The concluding piece of the programme played unashamedly to the gallery. The fairground confection of Lefébure-Wély's Sortie in E flat sent the audience off to meet the recitalist in the café-bar (over a glass of absinthe, perhaps?) in suitably opéra comique mood.

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