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The beautifully conceived and executed case takes its inspiration from its Gothic surroundings
C&O - March April - FEATURES - Gallery T.indd 24 11/02/2014 15:19:08
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ABOUT CHOIR & ORGANEstablished over twenty years ago, Choir & Organ is the leading independent magazine for all those interested in the choral and organ worlds.
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» Geography: Choir & Organ magazine’s audience is truly international, with more than 50% of our total readership residing outside the UK. 60% of our print audience are based in the UK, while over 70% of our digital audience are based outside the UK www.choirandorgan.com www.choirandorgan.com MARCH/APRIL 2014 CHOIR & ORGAN 2322 CHOIR & ORGAN MARCH/APRIL 2014
GALLERY
end up being bland and tonally insipid in
their quest to be all things to all people.
Worse, some end up sounding hectoring or
even aggressive, as if to make up for their
confused identity.
The moment I heard the Great 8ft princi-
pal (Open Diapason II), I realised that here
was an instrument confi dent in its own skin
and beguiling in its own rights. The sound
was warm but clear, not massively powerful
but able to envelop rather than attack the
room. In fact this sums up the whole instru-
ment, as I realised when building up the
Great chorus. The Swell is at the top of the
case and sings wonderfully into the Quire.
Dynamically, it is almost the equal of the
Great, although the chorus is a little lighter
in effect, despite a pleasantly darker feel to
the 8ft and 4ft diapasons (another Victorian
legacy)? The Choir chorus confi rms that it
is very much the tertiary division, but with
suffi cient presence and having more impact
than many such divisions on 19th-century
English organs. The pedal sounds are
pleasingly weighty without losing clarity.
As importantly, the touch feels different
between the divisions, giving vital musical
feedback to the player: a fi rm but very
responsive Great, a slightly deeper Swell and
a light Choir action, speaking a little nearer
the top of the keys without compromising
the control of releases. The pedal touch
is superb and well-sprung, avoiding that
overly fragile feel encountered on many
instruments. I wondered whether the Swell
might be regulated to be just a little heavier
to match its depth (the instrument is still
awaiting some fi nal tweaks before its offi -
cial inauguration) – certainly the coupled
weight of all three manuals together could
take this.
So much for the instrument’s backbone:
what of the individual registers? Flutes are
beautifully contrasting and characterful,
from the full and pleasantly nasal edge of
the Swell fl utes to the more neutral Choir
Gedeckt and the broad Great Chimney
Flute. The Harmonic Flute is appropriately
large and wide, while able to take its part
in the chorus to form a fi rmer plenum if
desired. The Great Trumpet is very much
a chorus reed, and a well-blended one at
that, whereas the Choir Major Trumpet is
halfway between a bright orchestral trumpet
and a smaller-scale Tuba. It is able to stand
alone as a solo register (albeit against a
judiciously balanced accompaniment) or
sit with the tutti without dominating. The
excellently effective swell boxes – the Choir
division is enclosed, too – add to its versatil-
ity, as I also discovered when registering the
Full Swell. Here, the reeds seem to take their
tonal inspiration from Father Willis, with
fi re and body, and the swell box enables a
wide dynamic range. The Swell Oboe, to
quote John Panning (Dobson’s vice presi-
dent and tonal director), ‘is carefully treated
to blend with the fl uework while remaining
characterful for solo use – a nod to Stanford
rather than Franck.’
Other examples of this versatility and
blend are apparent in two of the Choir
registers. The Corno di Bassetto might
take its nomenclature, like the rest of the
organ, from English traditions, but is rather
chameleon-like. Used alone or with the
Gedeckt and with the box half-open, it is
an English 19th-century clarinet. When
combined with the Diapason and with
the box open, it can act as a Cromorne in
earlier French repertoire, albeit a rather
polite example. The Geigen Diapason itself
is similarly versatile. It can function either
as a Cavaillé-Coll-type Salicional or, with
the box nearly closed, as a more anglicised
Dulciana. With the (American-inspired)
Geigen Celeste, it can be used as an Unda
Maris in romantic French repertoire.
Of course, even a fi nely voiced and
intelligently conceived organ such as this
has to take compromises if it seeks to be
versatile. For instance, the Great cornet
séparé is a winning, mellifl uous sound,
but one which lacks the bite and scale of
either a north Germanic solo stop or the
breadth of a French baroque example.
This is not a criticism – any organ which is
more than a mere copy of one particular
specifi c school cannot and should not try
AMERICAN BEAUTYDaniel Moult is beguiled by the new Dobson organ in Oxford University, built as part
of the 750th anniversary celebrations of Merton College. MAIN PHOTOS BY COLIN DUNN
There’s a good reason why organ cases are photographed in glori-ous sunshine, so my expectations were not too high as I opened the Merton
College Chapel door on a dark and
dank January evening. Any reservations
were blown away as I saw the beautifully
conceived and executed case, taking its
inspiration from its Gothic surroundings
but having the solidity and size more akin
to some of the Victorian additions in the
Chapel. Even from the most disadvanta-
geous angle it pleases the eye, not least as
the side panels are decorated with sten-
cilled Pedal Bourdon pipes (a Victorian
trait). Designed by the organ builder Lynn
Dobson, the case is a wonderful creation
and one which manages to assert its place
in the room without dominating (although
it houses quite a large instrument) or
appearing too slight (a possible criticism
against the 1968 Walker organ it replaced).
The same philosophies of seeking inspi-
ration from the past without belonging
to any one school and of a scale avoiding
extremes seem to apply to the instrument
itself. Again, I had reservations before my
fi ngers fi rst touched the keys. The console
looked handsome and ergonomically sensi-
ble, although the stoplist suggested a rather
eclectic organ. Eclecticism has perhaps
received a bad name in organ circles. Many
instruments seeking to be versatile often
The reeds seem to take their tonal inspiration from Father Willis, with fire and body
‘A wonderful creation’: the new Dobson organ in Merton College
JOH
N PA
NN
ING
/DO
BSON
PIPE ORG
AN
BUILD
ERS
View of the medieval chapel from the organ
SLUG
www.choirandorgan.com NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 CHOIR & ORGAN 85
‘A n ensemble of consummate artistry’, ‘compelling, fascinating and thoroughly entertaining’, ‘superhuman pitch accuracy, clear diction and angelic musical phrases’
– the plaudits are stacked high for the Houston
Chamber Choir, now entering a celebratory 20th
season. For its founder and artistic director Robert
Simpson this brings deep satisfaction; yet as well
as fashioning a choir at ease in a wide variety of
repertoire, commissioning new pieces and making
imaginative recordings, Simpson has also promoted
and supported the work of local music educators
and pioneered an educational outreach programme.
It makes for a hectic yet immensely rewarding work
schedule – how has it been achieved from a standing
start in just two decades?
When Simpson moved to Houston in 1993, as
organist-choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral,
conducting and making music with others was
a major interest. That the city once had a fine
professional choir that many were anxious to see
restored proved a strong incentive to building
a new choir, but for Simpson there were other
drivers at work. First, it would offer employment
opportunities for some of the area’s best vocal
musicians, comparable to the combined teaching
and professional performance career long enjoyed
by instrumentalists. ‘In addition,’ Simpson says,
‘it was important to provide Houston, America’s
fourth largest city, with the same excellence in choral
music that it had come to expect from the Houston
Symphony and Houston Grand Opera.’
And so the Houston Chamber Choir was
launched, giving its first concert in 1995. From there
it has gradually established itself at the forefront
of choral music in the United States, dedicated to
increasing the appreciation of choral music through
performance, outreach and education. One of a select
elite of professional, stand-alone choirs in the US,
it has collaborated with an eclectic range of leading
musicians, appeared at national conventions for
the AGO, ACDA and Chorus America, and toured
internationally. Under Simpson’s direction, the choir
has become a prominent part of Houston’s cultural
landscape, offering inspiring music delivered with
great technical skill.
A central part of its success is surely its imaginative
programming. From Brahms to The Beatles, Russian
partsongs to Broadway hits, a period instrument
performance of Bach’s Mass in B minor (Houston’s
A MAN OF PURPOSEWhen Robert Simpson launched the Houston Chamber
Choir 20 years ago, he brought a fresh cultural impetus
to the city. He talks to David Blackwell about their
eclectic repertoire and outreach programmes.
PHOTOS BY ADRIAN PITTMAN
Houston Chamber Choir founder Robert Simpson: ‘It was important to provide the city with excellence in choral music’
COND15_085-088_F_Houston Chamber Choir T.indd 85 12/10/2015 15:34:58
www.choirandorgan.com NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 CHOIR & ORGAN 27
Drawing on the past
Evolution is a concept we take for granted when objectifying trends in organ history. In the Netherlands, nevertheless, organ evolution has tradi-
tionally been a slow business. This was
especially true in the 19th and even the
early 20th centuries, as was sometimes the
case in lesser-industrialised nations. In the
post-war period however, as traditions were
turned on their heads by a reform move-
ment characterised by concepts of ‘neue
Sächlichkeit’ in the first instance and by
the revering of old organs in the second,
the workshop of Orgelmakerij Reil estab-
lished a distinctive and colourful profile in
a country where world-class organ build-
ing has almost always been a sine qua non.
A family business, now led by the third
generation of the dynasty, the workshop
was founded in Rotterdam in 1934 by the
German Johann Reil as an industry supply
house. Three years later, he moved the
business to the pretty Gelderland village of
Heerde, where he had met his wife-to-be.
His own initial organ building activities
focused on electric action instruments but,
perhaps anticipating the market trend, the
first all-mechanical organ was built as early
as 1948. Following Johann’s untimely death
in 1960, the workshop was taken over by his
two young sons, Han (responsible for tonal
matters) and Albert (dealing primarily with
design and technical issues), then aged just
20 and 17 respectively.
The gregarious son of Han, Hans Reil
has been in charge since 2001. ‘In the 1960s,
we built Orgelbewegung organs. I wouldn’t
even call them neo-baroque. In those days
the organ everyone wanted to see and to
copy was the [1956] Marcussen instrument
at the Nicolaikerk in Utrecht, and organ
builders would go there and measure every-
thing they could. The church knew what
they had and charged 15 guilders an hour to
visit the organ. Not everyone could afford
the money.’ The brothers quickly became
dissatisfied with the artistic dead-end
represented by the first wave of reformist
ideologies and, with the encouragement
of Klaas Bolt, set out as one of the first
Dutch builders to emulate historic models.
Initially those models were restricted to the
Schnitger aesthetic, their first notable essay
a copy of the Uithuizen instrument for the
Julianakerk in Scheveningen, completed
under Bolt’s advice in 1973. ‘Bolt was the
visionary,’ says Reil. ‘We were copying things
without really understanding what we were
doing.’ Nevertheless, the question of style
began to become entrenched: ‘Whatever
the architecture of the church, we made
Schnitger-style cases. Because we were Reil.
We would never make a swell box. Because
we were Reil.’
The impasse was broken by the compa-
ny’s restoration projects, and especially
that completed in 1996 to revitalise the
1643 Bader organ in Zutphen with its
The Bodegraven organ provides the focal point in an otherwise austere modern church
CO
LIN H
ARV
EY
Based in the Dutch village of Heerde, Orgelmakerij Reil have gained a reputation for
building historically inspired organs of flair and originality. Chris Bragg visits their
latest instrument in Bodegraven
COND15_026-030_F_Reil Organ Builder T.indd 27 13/10/2015 11:16:52
www.choirandorgan.com NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 CHOIR & ORGAN 41
HANDEL & CO.
group (although Delany and Donnellan
were close), but rather more of a wheel-
and-spoke pattern around the composer.
The affinities among these six friends
paint a striking picture. Most lived close
to Handel in the neighbourhood of St
George’s, Hanover Square. Not surpris-
ingly, all possessed deep musical interest
and talent. Most were independent in
terms of religion, ranging in belief from
Catholicism through dissenting Protestant
sects to heretical versions of Anglican
doctrine: few adhered literally to the
normative creed of the Church of England.
The six friends also stand apart in terms of
marital status. Only Mayne had children,
but her husband died after four years of
marriage, leaving her a widow for the rest
of her life. Handel, Goupy and Donnellan
remained single. Those who married,
including Delany, Hunter and Palmer, were
either forced to marry or made matches
strongly opposed by their families, result-
ing in varying degrees of disinheritance.
All experienced serious financial problems
in the 1730s and 40s, and many as a result
were engaged in litigation or bankruptcy.
Nevertheless, all, like Handel, were gener-
ous with what they had.
Handel’s music does not depict any of
these friends directly, but as a reflection
of the society for which it was written,
it engages their beliefs and concerns.
Handel’s operas set in the Middle East
(Rinaldo, Tamerlano) would not have
seemed remote to James Hunter, who
was an international trader and later in
life worked directly with the British East
India Company. The tension between a
forced marriage and true love (Floridante,
Imeneo) was not limited to exotic or
fantastical climes but common to many:
Mary Delany had both experiences. False
accusations and legal problems (Solomon,
Susanna) plagued Delany and her
husband, while Hunter and Goupy both
endured long court battles. Issues of reli-
gious toleration (Esther, Judas Maccabaeus,
Theodora) touched them all.
Mary Delany, née Granville, was forced
by her uncle, who provided the financial
stability for the extended family, to marry
at the age of 17. He chose for her a politi-
cal crony, Alexander Pendarves, who was
nearly 60. Years later she described her
visceral aversion to him and her uncle’s
demand that she comply regardless: ‘How
can I describe to you,’ she wrote, ‘the cruel
agitation of my mind!’ But she submitted.
‘I was married with great pomp. Never was
woe drest out in gayer colours, and when
I was led to the altar, I wished from my
soul I had been led, as Iphigenia was, to be
sacrificed.’ Pendarves died seven years later,
in 1725, leaving Mary a young widow but
not a rich one. Having not signed a will
leaving his property to his wife, the bulk of
his estate went to his nearest blood relative,
a niece. Mary made do, and the years she
spent in London as widow Pendarves were
happy ones.
From 1733 to 1741, Delany (as I will
continue to name her) lived at 48 Upper
Brook Street, not far from Handel’s
house at 25 Brook Street. She had first
met Handel at the age of ten, when the
composer had visited another of her
uncles with whom she was living, and
he had ‘performed wonders’ on her
‘little spinnet’. As Mrs Pendarves she
had attended performances at the Royal
Academy of Music, and her brother
Bernard Granville was a subscriber. One
imagines that she knew where Handel
lived when she moved to Upper Brook
Street, given that he sold opera librettos
and printed music from his house. Delany
was an accomplished keyboard player,
and she often played through Handel’s
music together with her good friend
Anne Donnellan, a renowned amateur
singer. She also hosted music parties
which Handel attended and at which
he performed. In 1734, she wrote to her
mother of such an event at which Handel,
who was ‘in the best humour in the world’,
JAM
ES BARTO
N ©
THE H
AN
DEL H
OU
SE TRUST LTD
© TH
E HA
ND
EL HO
USE TRU
ST LTD
© TH
E HA
ND
EL HO
USE TRU
ST LTD
‘Mr Handel [visited] two or three mornings ago and played the overtures, which are charming’
Door to door: the homes of (from left) Mary Delany (48 Upper Brook St), Anne Donnellan (8 Charles St) and Handel (25 Brook St), in Mayfair
COND15_040-043_F_Handel and Freestyle T.indd 41 12/10/2015 14:58:48
SLUG
www.choirandorgan.com26 CHOIR & ORGAN NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015
CH
RIS
BRA
GG
COND15_026-030_F_Reil Organ Builder T.indd 26 12/10/2015 14:44:53
www.choirandorgan.com40 CHOIR & ORGAN NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015
SLUG
I’ve been travelling with Handel for most of my adult life. When I’m in my car with Handel’s music on the CD player, I sometimes literally envisage him
riding with me and wonder what he would
think of the speed of traffic on our motor-
ways, or the oddity of his music sounding
out of nowhere. Mostly, however, it’s his
music that engages me, the energy of his
choruses sometimes affecting my pace (at
least until I recognise what’s happening),
the aching beauty of his arias leaving me
hoping for a delay so that I can linger over
the sound (or listen again), or the throb-
bing power of his instrumental suites
giving me a chance (on a nice spring day
with the windows open) to compete with
the rap music in the adjacent car. Who was
this man who wrote music three centuries
ago that can still make our hearts race and
bring tears to our eyes?
Handel the man has remained some-
thing of a mystery. Unlike Beethoven, he
had no Immortal Beloved; unlike Mozart,
he left no letters that show him enjoying
bathroom humour into adulthood; unlike
Bach, he didn’t write cranky complaints to
superiors about being undervalued. With
no obvious path to follow into Handel’s
life, the way seemed blocked – until I real-
ised that in his will Handel had left gifts to
friends and neighbours about whom very
little was known.
Handel’s will. It may appear an odd
place to begin a biography, but it seemed
reasonable that finding out about the
people Handel remembered on his
deathbed could reveal something of the
man. So I doggedly pursued these largely
unknown neighbours through all avail-
able documentary sources, including
Bank of England accounts (think what
might be learned by looking at your
chequebook and credit card accounts…),
legal documents (chatty depositions were
particularly useful as ‘captured speech’),
and personal letters (Handel’s friends
wrote letters, even if he didn’t).
I focused on six friends. Four of them –
James Hunter, Anne Donnellan, Elizabeth
Mayne and Elizabeth Palmer – were
remembered by Handel in his will. Two
more were not included, but known to
have been close to Handel: Joseph Goupy,
a painter and colleague of Handel, is said
to have lost a bequest in Handel’s will after
he painted the vicious caricature of the
composer as a hog seated at the organ,
while Mary Delany had moved to Ireland
by the time of Handel’s death and was no
longer in his immediate circle. By and large
these six were not friends of one another
– that is, they do not form an interactive
Portrait of the Wesley family with Anne Donnellan, by William Hogarth© STRATFIELD SAYE PRESERVATION TRUST
HANDEL & CO.As many choirs are gearing up for an annual performance of Messiah, a new
exhibition sheds light on the composer’s friends and acquaintances. Baroque scholar
Ellen T. Harris shares her research
COND15_040-043_F_Handel and Freestyle T.indd 40 12/10/2015 14:58:27
www.choirandorgan.com NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 CHOIR & ORGAN 37
COMPOSING FOR ORGAN
‘There are great opportunities for composers to write for organ today with the many wonder-ful instruments available. It’s the duty of
composers to exploit them!’ So said Master
of the Queen’s Music Judith Weir during
the first ever Choir & Organ ‘Composing
for Organ’ workshop held in London on
10 September and promoted with support
from the Royal College of Organists.
The venue, St George’s Church, Hanover
Square, contains one of these ‘wonderful’
instruments: a Richards, Fowkes organ
of 2012. Undaunted by thoughts of the
church’s most famous parishioner, Handel,
looking over our shoulders, the workshop
– attended by some 40 participants and
observers – looked in detail at seven of
the 17 pieces submitted for performance
and critiquing by Weir and internationally
acclaimed recitalist Thomas Trotter.
The afternoon began with Miriam
Mackie’s Kept burning, based on the hymn
tune ‘Hereford’ and which the composer
told us took Malcolm Williamson’s Vision
of Christ Phoenix as its starting point.
Judith Weir described it as having a ‘big,
clean, athletic sound’. Robert Crehan’s
‘Celestial Echoes’ (the first movement of
Hymn to the Martyr) is, according to the
composer’s note, based on the concept of
religious revelation, in particular the divine
revelation of St Alban. Here Judith Weir
enjoyed the use of 20th- and 21st-century
idioms. David Loxley-Blount’s ‘Limadie
meets London’, which followed, comes
from a three-movement collection that
exists in two forms: Truro Triptyque, which
exploits the pedal-divide function of the
Truro Cathedral organ, and Travelling
Triptyque for performance on the majority
of organs which do not have this facility.
Judith liked the idea of an album of pieces
that, as here, can be performed complete
or individually.
Andrew Kirk’s Ostinato 45 followed, the
title both referencing the composer’s age
and the preponderance of the intervals of
the fourth and the fifth. Kirk told us that
the pedal line was inspired by Dupré’s
Prelude & Fugue in B major, while the
motoric rhythms resulted from his having
witnessed an audience member spontane-
ously improvising a techno-style dance
to a performance of Vierne’s Carillon
de Longpont! Judith commented that it
was good to hear a new piece written in a
secular style, going on to say that contem-
porary composers are longing to hear
what the organ can do away from styles
associated with church music or otherwise
laden with counterpoint: ‘There are lots of
contemporary styles waiting to find their
way on to the organ.’
In Elizabeth Winters’s Evening Voluntary
Thomas Trotter much enjoyed the atmos-
phere created by the clusters and the
filigree quality of the writing. Christian
Morris told us that his ‘Warum sollt ich’
from Four Chorale Preludes was inspired by
Bach’s Schübler Chorale Preludes and by
Ligeti’s vocal piece Aventures. Both Judith
and Thomas found the composer’s use of
instructions such as ‘playful’, ‘unsure’, and
‘increasingly annoyed’ at various points in
the score to be very helpful. The workshop
FRESH VOICESA composition workshop with Judith Weir and Thomas Trotter gave some useful
markers for writing for organ. Simon Williams reports
Workshop leaders Judith Weir and Thomas TrotterMAG
GIE
HA
MIL
TON
COND15_037-039_F_Organ Composition Workshop T.indd 37 13/10/2015 11:21:52
www.choirandorgan.com www.choirandorgan.com MARCH/APRIL 2014 CHOIR & ORGAN 2322 CHOIR & ORGAN MARCH/APRIL 2014
GALLERY
end up being bland and tonally insipid in
their quest to be all things to all people.
Worse, some end up sounding hectoring or
even aggressive, as if to make up for their
confused identity.
The moment I heard the Great 8ft princi-
pal (Open Diapason II), I realised that here
was an instrument confi dent in its own skin
and beguiling in its own rights. The sound
was warm but clear, not massively powerful
but able to envelop rather than attack the
room. In fact this sums up the whole instru-
ment, as I realised when building up the
Great chorus. The Swell is at the top of the
case and sings wonderfully into the Quire.
Dynamically, it is almost the equal of the
Great, although the chorus is a little lighter
in effect, despite a pleasantly darker feel to
the 8ft and 4ft diapasons (another Victorian
legacy)? The Choir chorus confi rms that it
is very much the tertiary division, but with
suffi cient presence and having more impact
than many such divisions on 19th-century
English organs. The pedal sounds are
pleasingly weighty without losing clarity.
As importantly, the touch feels different
between the divisions, giving vital musical
feedback to the player: a fi rm but very
responsive Great, a slightly deeper Swell and
a light Choir action, speaking a little nearer
the top of the keys without compromising
the control of releases. The pedal touch
is superb and well-sprung, avoiding that
overly fragile feel encountered on many
instruments. I wondered whether the Swell
might be regulated to be just a little heavier
to match its depth (the instrument is still
awaiting some fi nal tweaks before its offi -
cial inauguration) – certainly the coupled
weight of all three manuals together could
take this.
So much for the instrument’s backbone:
what of the individual registers? Flutes are
beautifully contrasting and characterful,
from the full and pleasantly nasal edge of
the Swell fl utes to the more neutral Choir
Gedeckt and the broad Great Chimney
Flute. The Harmonic Flute is appropriately
large and wide, while able to take its part
in the chorus to form a fi rmer plenum if
desired. The Great Trumpet is very much
a chorus reed, and a well-blended one at
that, whereas the Choir Major Trumpet is
halfway between a bright orchestral trumpet
and a smaller-scale Tuba. It is able to stand
alone as a solo register (albeit against a
judiciously balanced accompaniment) or
sit with the tutti without dominating. The
excellently effective swell boxes – the Choir
division is enclosed, too – add to its versatil-
ity, as I also discovered when registering the
Full Swell. Here, the reeds seem to take their
tonal inspiration from Father Willis, with
fi re and body, and the swell box enables a
wide dynamic range. The Swell Oboe, to
quote John Panning (Dobson’s vice presi-
dent and tonal director), ‘is carefully treated
to blend with the fl uework while remaining
characterful for solo use – a nod to Stanford
rather than Franck.’
Other examples of this versatility and
blend are apparent in two of the Choir
registers. The Corno di Bassetto might
take its nomenclature, like the rest of the
organ, from English traditions, but is rather
chameleon-like. Used alone or with the
Gedeckt and with the box half-open, it is
an English 19th-century clarinet. When
combined with the Diapason and with
the box open, it can act as a Cromorne in
earlier French repertoire, albeit a rather
polite example. The Geigen Diapason itself
is similarly versatile. It can function either
as a Cavaillé-Coll-type Salicional or, with
the box nearly closed, as a more anglicised
Dulciana. With the (American-inspired)
Geigen Celeste, it can be used as an Unda
Maris in romantic French repertoire.
Of course, even a fi nely voiced and
intelligently conceived organ such as this
has to take compromises if it seeks to be
versatile. For instance, the Great cornet
séparé is a winning, mellifl uous sound,
but one which lacks the bite and scale of
either a north Germanic solo stop or the
breadth of a French baroque example.
This is not a criticism – any organ which is
more than a mere copy of one particular
specifi c school cannot and should not try
AMERICAN BEAUTYDaniel Moult is beguiled by the new Dobson organ in Oxford University, built as part
of the 750th anniversary celebrations of Merton College. MAIN PHOTOS BY COLIN DUNN
There’s a good reason why organ cases are photographed in glori-ous sunshine, so my expectations were not too high as I opened the Merton
College Chapel door on a dark and
dank January evening. Any reservations
were blown away as I saw the beautifully
conceived and executed case, taking its
inspiration from its Gothic surroundings
but having the solidity and size more akin
to some of the Victorian additions in the
Chapel. Even from the most disadvanta-
geous angle it pleases the eye, not least as
the side panels are decorated with sten-
cilled Pedal Bourdon pipes (a Victorian
trait). Designed by the organ builder Lynn
Dobson, the case is a wonderful creation
and one which manages to assert its place
in the room without dominating (although
it houses quite a large instrument) or
appearing too slight (a possible criticism
against the 1968 Walker organ it replaced).
The same philosophies of seeking inspi-
ration from the past without belonging
to any one school and of a scale avoiding
extremes seem to apply to the instrument
itself. Again, I had reservations before my
fi ngers fi rst touched the keys. The console
looked handsome and ergonomically sensi-
ble, although the stoplist suggested a rather
eclectic organ. Eclecticism has perhaps
received a bad name in organ circles. Many
instruments seeking to be versatile often
The reeds seem to take their tonal inspiration from Father Willis, with fire and body
‘A wonderful creation’: the new Dobson organ in Merton College
JOH
N PA
NN
ING
/DO
BSON
PIPE ORG
AN
BUILD
ERS
View of the medieval chapel from the organ
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www.choirandorgan.com www.choirandorgan.com NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013 CHOIR & ORGAN 5554 CHOIR & ORGAN NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013
CANDÉ CANDÉ
Willis director who came from London to
work for Skinner in July 1927, returned to
England in June 1928 to collect his wife and
two sons. While across the pond, he went
to Candé to measure for the new organ
(pencil sketches of which still survive).
Candé’s stoplist is more orthodox than the
usual Skinner player, containing not only
the colour voices, harp and chimes the rolls
require (save an Echo department) but also
independent diapason and fl ute choruses.
At Candé, the roll player asks for every stop
individually except the Piccolo, Octave and
III Mixture. But even those stops are heard
when the player’s crescendo or full organ
devices engage. Completed in Boston in
March 1929, the organ was installed and
ready for inauguration at Candé by Marcel
Dupré that August.
Dupré would return in June 1937, when
the Bedauxs offered Candé to Edward and
Mrs Simpson for their wedding. Bedaux
had become friendly with the Windsors,
and after the wedding attempted to
increase the connection by sponsoring a
US tour for them. A barrage of negative
publicity turned on both parties, however,
such that the Windsors never went to the
US and Bedaux returned to France and
suffered a breakdown. After the second
world war began, Bedaux worked with
the Germans as an economic adviser;
he remained a US citizen, and as such in
January 1943 was captured in Algeria.
He was transferred to a Florida jail, and
committed suicide 13 months later await-
ing trial on charges of treason. His wife,
Fern, died in 1972, leaving Candé to the
French government.
The library was remodelled with simple English Gothic-style
panelling, which the console cabinetry was built to match
The organ is located above the library into which the tone emits
JOSEPH
DZED
A
JOSEPH
DZED
A
Although the house lay empty until the
later 1990s, in the last decade Candé has
been the object of renewed attention. The
regional consul general, the dedicated Guy
du Chazaud, has taken Candé to heart. The
ground and fi rst fl oor rooms have been
conservatively cleaned, and set up in a self-
guided tour. An exhibit on the Windsors
includes even Mrs Simpson’s wedding
dress. Best of all, the organ has been
overhauled. After Yale University Skinner
experts Joseph Dzeda and Nicholas
Thompson-Allen were brought in to
advise, Manufacture Bretonne d’Orgues
was awarded the project. With great gusto
and wonderful respect, the fi rm’s director
Nicolas Toussaint tackled an organ that
– with its duplexed pitman soundboards,
percussions, and fussy player mechanism –
could not be more un-French.
Toussaint’s approach entailed a more
preservationist bent than most US work in
this fi eld. Where perishable materials had
obvious life left, they were left untouched.
The pipework was conservatively treated,
including preservation of cone-tuned
trebles. In a nod to today’s visitors, windows
were fi tted to allow both pipe chambers and
player relay to be seen. A modern record-
playback device permits the docent to run
the organ without damage to the fragile
paper rolls. Thompson-Allen and Dzeda
remained involved through the project,
coming to France four times to advise on
technique and approach.
The restored organ was celebrated in a
weekend of festivities on 13-15 September
this year. To an invited audience of 100
(half of whom had to be seated in the next
room), Vincent Warnier opened with a
recital of both original and transcribed
music. Warnier’s concluding improvisation
featured a short but passionate affair with
the celesta. Lectures and demonstrations
took up the Saturday, to a solid audience,
particularly given torrential rain. Warnier
gave informal demonstrations throughout
Sunday. Thanks to the generosity of the
consul general, Dzeda and Thompson-
Allen returned to take part in the weekend
and give lectures.
Alas, no one got married.
Jonathan Ambrosino is an organ technician, consultant and journalist in Boston.
Letter from Marcel Dupré to Ernest Skinner on 27 August 1929, praising the fi rm’s organ at Candé
CO
URTESY JO
SEPH D
ZEDA
London Symphony OrchestraLiving Music
LSO Singing Days
020 7638 8891 lso.co.uk
Sat 4 Jan 2014 Haydn The Creationwith Simon Halsey
Sat 25 Jan 2014 Rachmaninov Vesperswith David Lawrence
Don’t miss the chance to sing with a world-class choral conductor this January. Join LSO Choral Director Simon Halsey in a workshop on Haydn’s The Creation, or sing Rachmaninov’s Vespers with LSO Community Choir Conductor David Lawrence. Each Singing Day ends with an informal performance which friends and family can watch.
Whether you sing regularly, or haven’t sung since school, LSO Singing Days are a unique opportunity to get to grips with a classic choral work. Some sight-singing ability is required.
Sung in English, with piano accompaniment Tickets £17 (includes music hire) Afternoon spectator tickets £5 (from 3pm) 11am–4.30pm Jerwood Hall, LSO St Luke’s, London
‘Simon Halsey gave such an insight into the work. It was so inspiring!’
2012/13 Singing Day participant
Untitled-8 1 21/10/2013 16:59:28
II. GREAT (71/2" wind, enclosed), 73 pipes
Diapason 8
Chimney Flute 8
Cello 8
Cello Celeste 8
Flute Harmonique 4
Piccolo 2
Bassoon 16
English Horn 8
Corno d’Amore 8
Clarinet 8
Vox Humana 8
French Horn (10" wind) 8
Tuba (10" wind) 8
Tremolo
Chimes (25 tubes, G to g)
III. SWELL(71/2" wind, enclosed), 73 pipes
Diapason 8
Rohrflöte 8
Salicional 8
Voix Celeste 8
Flute Celeste II 8
Octave 4
Mixture (15.19.22) III
Cornopean 8
Tremolo
Harp (from Celesta) 8
Celesta (61 bars) 4
I. SOLO GREATAll Great stops available
via duplex action
I. SOLO SWELLAll Swell stops available
via duplex action
PEDAL(Flues 6", reed 10")
Contrebasse (metal, in Gt.) 16
Bourdon (wood, in Sw.) 16
Cello (ext. Contrebasse) 8
Gedeckt (ext. Bourdon) 8
Trombone (10" wind) 16
Bassoon (Gt.) 16
Chimes (Gt.)
Bass Drum
Tympani (Bass Drum with roll action)
Château de Candé, Monts, Indre-et-Loire, FranceSKINNER ORGAN COMPANY, OPUS 718 (1929); REST. NICOLAS TOUSSAINT (2013)
C&O - November December - FEATURES - Cande T.indd 54-55 12/05/2014 10:36:22
PRINT DISPLAY APP BANNER
www.choirandorgan.com72 choir & organ May/june 2013
kenneth leighton
‘When Kenneth Leighton died, Britain lost one of its fi nest contemporary composers, who never received in his life-
time quite the recognition that was his due.
He died at the peak of his powers, and I
have no doubt that we have been deprived
of some enriching music.’ This was the
view of Gramophone magazine, a year or
so after Leighton’s untimely death at the
age of 59 on 24 August 1988. In this 25th
anniversary year of his passing, there is an
opportunity to reassess Leighton’s position
among Britain’s 20th-century composers,
and in particular his contribution to the
fi eld of organ and choral music.
Born in 1929, Leighton was a chorister
at Wakefi eld Cathedral, and later studied
Classics at Oxford University, staying
on in Oxford to study composition with
Bernard Rose before travelling to Rome on
a Mendelssohn Scholarship, to study with
Petrassi. He held positions at Leeds and
Oxford universities before becoming
Reid Professor of Music at Edinburgh
University in 1970, a position he held until
his death.
During his lifetime Leighton received
several prizes for his compositions, and
published more than 100 works. To most
readers, he is doubtless known primarily
as a composer of organ music and over 50
choral works, ranging from small-scale
unaccompanied carols to large choral
symphonies; but in fact he composed many
fi ne works in a wide range of genres – the
orchestral and instrumental works are
well worth exploring. An accomplished
pianist, he wrote many solo works for the
instrument, and used it extensively in his
chamber music. His opera Columba was
completed in 1978, and he wrote several
acclaimed symphonies and concertos,
including one for the organ. Readers
whose perception of his style is based on
an anthem such as Let all the world, for
example, might be taken aback by the
instrumental colour in his orchestral works,
© SH
aLITH
the city of edinburgh, where leighton spent the last 18 years
of his life as Reid Professor of Music at the University
Twenty years after the founding of the Kenneth Leighton Trust, greg Morris assesses the
contribution this often neglected composer made to British choral and organ music
Touching the numinous
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