December 2010 - Organ Australia

Transcription

December 2010
December 2010
Published by the Society of Organists
(Victoria) Incorporated
PO Box 315
Camberwell VIC 3124
Australia
ABN 97 690 944 954
A 0028223J
ISSN 1832-8725
PP3409 29/00015
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Contents
From the Editor
3
President's Report
5
Letters to the Editor
6
News & Views
8
The Coachmaker’s Organ
11
Paul Frederick Hufner
14
A New Organ
18
Notable Australian Organs
20
Organ on Wheels
30
An Organ in Mudgee
33
Repertoire Notes
34
Beyond Panis Angelicus36
St Peter’s Organ
40
Organ Builders' News
41
Concert Review
44
CD Reviews
45
Volume 6, No. 4
Published by the Society of
Organists (Victoria) Incorporated
PO Box 315, Camberwell,
Victoria 3124, Australia
ABN 97 690 944 954
A 0028223J
ISSN 1832-8725
PP3409 29/00015
Front Cover Photo:
The carved figurehead from George
Fincham’s 1880 Melbourne Exhibition
organ. (photo: John Maidment)
All materials published in Organ Australia
are the property of the publishers (The
Society of Organists [Victoria] Inc.)
and may not be reproduced elsewhere
without written permission from the
Society or its agents in which case due
acknowledgement must be made.
A National Journal for all interested in the
organ and its music published for subscribers
and members of all organ societies in
Australia by the Society of Organists
(Victoria) Incorporated.
The Australian Organ Directory
The Organ Australia Team
Jennifer Cossins
0406 090 818
Printing & Distribution
Blackhills Digital Printing
03 9877 7178
Business Manager
State Correspondents
Queensland
Hunter District Wesley Music ACT
Victoria
Tasmania
South Australia
Western Australia
Allan Smith
0419 347 787
David Vann
Kath Waddell
Garth Mansfield
Dr Gordon Atkinson
Ian Gibbs
Mark Joyner
Bruce Duncan
07 3262 7997
02 4933 7638
02 6248 6230
03 9529 2043
[email protected]
08 8331 2611
08 9574 0410
Editorial & Layout
Organ Australia
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About Organ Australia:
Organ Australia is a national organ journal published quarterly (during March, June,
September and December) by the Society of Organists (Victoria) Incorporated for
members of participating Australian Organ Societies and individual subscribers.
Organ Australia aims to provide a publication containing material of local, state and
national interest to enable the exchange and sharing of ideas, plans and activities
for all who are interested in the organ and its music, as well as to promote a sense
of community amongst all organists and organ music lovers across Australia.
Organ Australia depends on you, its readers, to provide material for publication.
Deadlines for all contributions, including advertising,
are 1 February, 1 May, 1 August and 1 November.
Organ Australia page 2
The Organ Society of Queensland
www.organsociety.com.au
President - Dr Steven Nisbet
[email protected]
Secretary - Denis Wayper
[email protected]
The Hunter District Organ Society
President - Gail Orchard
[email protected]
Secretary - David Evans
[email protected]
The Organ Music Society of Sydney
www.sydneyorgan.com
President - Hugh Knight
[email protected]
Secretary - Geoff Lloyd
[email protected]
The Society of Organists (Victoria) Inc.
www.sov.org.au
President - Alan Roberts
[email protected]
Secretary - Tony Love
[email protected]
The Hobart Organ Society
President - Rod Thomson
[email protected]
Secretary - Ian Gibbs
[email protected]
The Organ Music Society of
Adelaide Incorporated
www.organmusicsociety.org.au
President - Gregory Crawford
[email protected]
Acting Secretary/Newsletter Editor
- Brenton Brockhouse
[email protected]
The Organ Society of Western
Australia (Incorporated)
www.oswa.org.au
President - John van den Berg
[email protected]
Secretary - Maree Duncan
[email protected]
The Wesley Music Centre (ACT)
www.wesleycanberra.org.au
Director - Garth Mansfield
[email protected]
From the
Editor
Greetings and welcome to the
summer edition of Organ Australia!
In this issue, we celebrate the
centenary of the the death of one of
Australia’s best known and highly
skilled organ builders, George
Fincham. Born in England in 1828,
Fincham emigrated to Australia
in 1852 and passed away in
Melbourne on 21 December, 1910.
See the article on page 20 for an
indepth look at Fincham organs, in
particular the impressive organ at
St Mary’s Star of the Sea church.
It is with regret that I inform you that
this edition will be my last as editor
The Console (photo: Ginni Center)
Mosaic ceiling (photo: Ginni Center)
of Organ Australia. As a non-organist,
I have learned so much and really
enjoyed my time here as editor, but
due to increased commitments in
other areas of my life, it is time to move
on. However, I can assure you that
the interest I have developed in the
organ world is by no means over! So
for my parting editorial, I would like
to share a few thoughts and images
from my pipe organ experience in the
grand old town of St Louis, Missouri,
during my recent trip to the USA.
St Louis was a 24 hour, unplanned
stop on my journey from the south to
Chicago, and a fortuitous one it was!
Upon hearing the organ being
played in a small suburban church, I
entered, listened, and subsequently
enjoyed a very informative chat with
the resident church historian. Upon
finding out about my position here
at Organ Australia, he insisted that
I accompany him on a trip to the
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis.
This remarkable building not only
contains the largest collection
of mosaics in the world outside
of Istanbul, but also houses a
spectacular Grand Cathedral Organ.
The Romanesque building was
begun in 1907 and quickly became a
prominent sight on the St Louis skyline.
Upon entering, one is transported
back to a church built in the Byzantine
tradition, with soaring domes, soffits,
arches, pendentives and lunettes,
all paved with brilliant, glittering
mosaics. There are 83,000 square
feet of mosaic art inside, created over
75 years by 25 different artists. Over
41,500,000 pieces of tesserae in more
than 8000 shades of colour are used,
making this a sight to behold indeed!
The first organ here was a Kilgern
organ, with two 4 manual consoles,
built in 1915. Modifications and
extensions to the organ over the
years, most recently by the Wicks
Organ Company of Illinois, has seen
the organ grow significantly to it’s
current 118 ranks with 7,621 pipes.
I sincerely hope you have enjoyed
reading Organ Australia under
my editorship and I wish you
all the very best for a succesful
and happy new year!
President's
Report
By Dr Gordon Atkinson
Annual General Meeting
St George’s Anglican Church, Ivanhoe East
November 2, 2010
I am glad to present this report of the
past year, during which there have
been many highs and some lows.
blowers. (This subsequently
took place on Saturday, 20
November at 12.45pm. - editor)
enthusiastically endorsed by those in
attendance, with a thoughtful address
by the Rev Christopher Willcock.
Several open console days were
held with good attendances
and the Society acknowledges
with thanks the authorities at:
At St John’s Anglican Church,
Camberwell, educational film
nights which were started last year
continued. Two DVDs were shown
- Ian Tracey at Liverpool Cathedral,
and Gerry Hancock at St Thomas’,
New York City. Also at St John’s,
earlier in the year, Simon Colvin
presented a lecture Through the
Archives, with videos, photographs
and a music display, during which
were heard the organs at the Town
Halls of Melbourne, St Kilda, Sydney
and Adelaide, and those of St Paul’s
Cathedral, Melbourne, St Peter’s,
Eastern Hill, Melbourne and St
John’s Cathedral, Brisbane. From
an ABC hymn broadcast of 1948
we listened to the choir of Ivanhoe
Methodist Church conducted
by my father, WR Atkinson, with
myself playing the organ.
The Secretary, Kieran Crichton,
resigned in April leaving gaps in the
smooth administration of the Society,
and I am grateful to Christopher
Trikilis for offering to cover some of
these, particularly the taking and
sending of the Minutes.
- St Patrick’s Cathedral,
Melbourne
- St Mark’s Anglican Church,
Fitzroy
- Long Gully Uniting Church,
Bendigo
- Sacred Heart Cathedral,
Bendigo
- First Church of Christ Scientist,
South Melbourne
- Ivanhoe Uniting Church,
Ivanhoe
Top left: Exterior of Cathedral Basilica of St Louis
(photo: Jennifer Cossins)
Top right: View of organ pipes
(photo: Jennifer Cossins)
Below: Interior of Cathedral Basilica of St Louis
(photo: Ginni Center)
Dr Gordon Atkinson
- St George’s Anglican Church,
Ivanhoe East.
A planned meeting at Melbourne
Town Hall was postponed because
of problems with one of the organ
The Annual Dinner, this year at
Umina, the Victorian headquarters of
the Country Women’s Association was
Organ Australia continues on the
road of development, the high
standard of articles remains,
with the introduction of colour
photographs an enhancement.
Organo Pleno is always a pleasure
to receive monthly, featuring details
of much of the music performed
in Melbourne and surrounds. The
work of Jennifer Cossins and
Colin Prohasky is appreciated
by all members of the Society.
Membership of the Society remains
constant, with new members
and losses by death. Although
the numbers on the books are
reasonably static (335), some
meetings are not well attended.
President's Report continued:
The Council, aware of this problem,
has endeavoured to make meetings
pleasurable as well as learning
experiences.
The publication of The Southern
Cross Collection has not had the
sales the Council had expected, and
it is our hope that this will be rectified
in the new year with a revived
campaign.
I would also like to express thanks
to Warwick Lewis who maintains the
list of deputies, and Bernie and Pam
Love of Blackhills Digital Printing for
their valued work for the Society’s
publications.
Council met seven times in the last
year, and all members deserve
thanks for the time and energy that
is put into the planning of meetings,
David Brown, Jennifer Chou, Simon
Colvin (Membership Secretary),
David Macfarlane (Webmaster), Alan
Roberts, Allan Smith (Treasurer),
Christopher Trikilis (Vice President),
and Glen Witham. The Society thanks
Ken Barelli who audits the books.
David Brown and Glen Witham are
not renominating for next year, David
has been a councillor for six years,
and Glen for two.
I retire as President this year, and
thank all who have helped in the
successes of the season.
Letters
To The Editor
From Philip Swanton
Organ Studies Unit
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
The overwhelmingly negative
tone of Mark Quarmby’s report
regarding the Open Section of the
Sydney Organ Competition in the
September edition of Organ Australia
(pp. 20-22) left me feeling quite
bewildered. Instead of reporting
on the evening’s proceedings in
a factual and objective manner –
as is the purpose of a ‘report’, Mr
Quarmby sets himself up as a de
facto fourth adjudicator and criticizes
virtually every possible aspect of
the event. In order to correct some
misconceptions the reader may have
gained in reading his report, I wish
to make the following remarks:
1.The lack of an organ specification
in the program notes is not a
'serious omission', as Mr Quarmby
would have us believe. In my
extensive experience as an organ
recitalist, the organ specification
is rarely included in the program.
2.Some of the comments included
in the report are unnecessary.
Mr Quarmby notes,
Long Gully Uniting Church, Bendigo, Vic
(photo: Tony Love)
'Unfortunately the position of the
organ console is unhelpful... Had
the organ been in the USA, the
console would have been...' This
may well be true, but it is irrelevant
to the report. We are not in the
USA. The position of the organ
console was the same for all three
performers; they all faced the
same challenges, having to deal
with largely reflected sound and a
very reverberant space. The extent
to which they succeeded in this
exercise was an important aspect
of the competition. Countless organ
consoles are ‘unhelpfully’ located
from the player’s perspective; the
Sydney University Great Hall organ
is another good local example.
Furthermore, Mr Quarmby
comments, 'No-one chose
any English romantic music
which would have suited the
instrument far more than having
to compromise German and
French romantic music'. This
is another totally unnecessary
comment. There are many
variables to be considered in
choosing an effective competition
program and there will always
be a degree of compromise
involved, no matter which venue
is chosen. Such compromise
is not, in itself, a negative thing
anyway; the competitor must
do his/her utmost to deliver a
convincing performance of the
chosen repertoire on what may
be a less-than-ideal instrument.
according to Mr Quarmby, the Vox
Humana made its first appearance
that evening as a solo stop in
Denny Wilke’s performance of
Franck's Choral No 1, when in fact
it was used in the very first work of
the evening as the solo stop in Ms
Lee’s performance of the 'Adagio’
from BWV 564
4. The report confuses subjective
opinion with objective fact. It
criticises Ms Lee’s performance of
the Fugue as being 'very blurred
owing to being played too fast for
the acoustic'. At the very least the
reader is entitled to know where
Mr Quarmby was sitting in the
church for him to have gained
such an impression. From my
location (first block of pews to
the left of the organ console) her
articulation and choice of tempo in
this movement were well judged.
5. Perhaps most intriguingly, the
report assumes Mr Quarmby’s
opinion as general opinion:
'Several people thought a first
prize should not be awarded
... It was generally felt that
the Australia prize should not
be awarded'. These were not
sentiments expressed by any of
the people with whom I spoke
while awaiting the judges’ decision.
To infer that they were “generally
felt” is a misrepresentation of
personal opinion as fact.
I have my own personal opinions
(not all positive) about the three
performances that evening, but
they shall remain my personal
opinion. For the benefit of the
journal readers who were not
able to be present, Mr Quarmby
should have clearly distinguished
any personal views as such.
Regrettably his report also failed to
acknowledge the tremendous work
put into this event by the members
of the organising committee of the
Organ Music Society of Sydney,
as a result of which we saw the
first ever truly international Sydney
Organ Competition take place.
While all of those present, I am sure,
could take issue with aspects of
the performances on the evening, it
would be remiss of anyone reporting
on the event to ignore the fantastic
achievements of these three young
players in progressing through the
challenging audition process to the
finals. The fact that two participants
were willing to travel across the
world at their own expense speaks
volumes for their dedication.
I applaud the efforts of all involved,
but most especially those of the three
players – for without them we would not
have had a competition to report on.
3.At times Mr Quarmby’s comments
are simply inaccurate and
erroneous. He criticises Grace
Lee for not playing her Bach
on an uncoupled Great with the
Swell coupled to the pedal – yet
this is exactly how we registered
the Toccata (BWV 564).Having
complained earlier about the lack
of an organ specification, he then
starts guessing at registrations:
News
& Views...
The Organ Society of
Western Australia
News from the Hunter
by Kath Waddell
original work, Carousel, played
by the composer Fr Julian Kent.
Officers and councillors of
Organ Society of West Australia
for the year 2010-2011 are:
Ian and Margaret Guy again
opened their home on Tuesday 26
October to host a Society barbecue.
Members took the opportunity to
catch up with representative of
the Suffolk Organ Association,
Michael Colleer, who was once
again visiting the Hunter. Michael
brought with him photographs and
articles of Suffolk organs which
will be featured in future issues of
the Hunter‘s magazine, Plenum.
The Society has one more activity
for 2010, an organ workshop on
Saturday 27 November at Scots
Church, Maitland. Led by Christ
Church Cathedral organist Peter
Guy, it is specifically directed
towards keyboard players and
those interested in moving on to the
pipe organ. Scots has an electronic
instrument and a pipe organ,
(Richardson 1906), both of which
will be available for the workshop.
The End-of-Year St Cecilia Day event
on Sunday 14 November at St John’s,
Cessnock allowed members to
sample their Ahlborn-Galanti
AG 2100 digital organ. It is always
an interesting experience as well as
a valuable learning opportunity as
playing members listen to each other
and often become aware of music
they could add to their own repertoire.
Seven organists played a wide
variety of music: works by 17th and
18th century composers J Michael
Bach, Pachelbel, Camidge and
GM Telemann and by others from the
19th and 20th century, Boëllmann,
Guilmant, Burgmuller, Macdowell,
Ravel, Peeters, Holst, Ridout and
Tambling – and a 21st century
James Goldrick, Organ Scholar
at the Cathedral, is to present
the recital prior to the Dinner
and Annual General meeting.
This will be held at a Newcastle
venue, yet to be announced,
on Friday 18 February 2011.
President:
John van den Berg
Vice President:
Dominic Perissinotto
Secretary:
Maree Duncan
Treasurer:
Carine Leeflang
Editor and Web Master:
Bruce Duncan
Members:
Sue van den Berg
Graham Devenish
Bruce Cash
Patrons:
Dame Gillian Weir
Annette Goerke
Organ-isms by Jenny Setchell
Now into its fourth print run,
Organ-isms: Anecdotes from
the World of the King of
Instruments - by Jenny Setchell
has proved universally popular.
Musicians and non-musicians alike
can relate to the tales of woe, humour,
Lord Mayor Campbell Newman
with Dr Robert Boughen
grief and fright that come from the
computer keyboards of more than
120 organists throughout the globe.
You may find that you are not alone
in dropping your hymn book on the
pedalboard with all stops out during
prayers, but may be surprised to learn
that Gillian Weir herself has lain down
on the pedals with all stops pulled
– just to get some rehearsal time!
Many more intriguing glimpses into
the wacky world of the organist await.
Get your copy of Organ-isms
by contacting Joy Hearne at
38 Barter Crescent Forest Hill
Victoria 3131 to whom a cheque
for $31.50, including postage and
packing, should be directed.
Please ensure you advise your
full postal address accordingly.
Joy’s telephone number for
contact is 03 9893 3095.
Council confers high
honour on City Organist
On Monday 23 August, Brisbane
Lord Mayor Campbell Newman
conferred the title 'City Organist
Emeritus' on Dr Robert Boughen
OBE for distinguished service
to music in Brisbane.
Representatives of the Brisbane
City Council, the Organ Society of
Queensland, the Theatre Organ
Society of Australia (Qld Chapter),
RSCM Australia (Qld Branch) and
WJ Simon Pierce Pipe Organ Builders
gathered in the Council’s function
room at Roy Harvey House, 157 Ann
Street, Brisbane for a civic reception
during which the Lord Mayor paid
tribute to Dr Boughen’s musical
achievements, including his 800+
organ recitals at Brisbane City Hall.
the appointment, and paid respects
to his wife Christine who also has
contributed to the musical life of
Brisbane especially through her
organisation of civic concerts.
Dr Boughen is a founding member
and life member of OSQ.
Thank You...
As you have read in ‘From the
Editor’ this is the last edition of
Organ Australia with Jennifer Cossins
at the helm. It is good to see a
new look, colour photographs and
distinctive lay-out. SOV members
and readers throughout the country
and overseas acknowledge the
fresh appearance of the magazine.
All good wishes, Jennifer.
In his reply, Dr Boughen thanked
the Lord Mayor for the honour of
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By Geoffrey Cox
Alongside the work of major
builders, examples of organs built in
Queensland by amateur individuals,
often as residence organs, have
been rare. One such instrument
was built by Mr EJ (Joe) Peel, for his
residence in Vulture Street, South
Brisbane, apparently in the 1930s.
The initial details of this organ were
obtained in the early 1970s from the
late Walter Emerson of Toowoomba,
who had removed it from South
Brisbane in 1948 and installed it
in 1949 at Redeemer Lutheran
Church, Neil Street, Toowoomba.
Walter Emerson’s description was
sufficient at the time to identify the
organ as one whose details, along
with a photograph, had survived
in the Catholic Archives at St
Stephen’s Cathedral, Brisbane.
The location of the organ is not stated
in the Archives, but the photograph
has “Mr Peel” pencilled on the back,
and the specification is written by
hand on the envelope that contains
it (see photographs on following
pages).
The key action is described as
'partly pneumatic and mechanical'
while the pedal organ used entirely
pneumatic action. The details of
the four couplers are not given, but
can be deduced from later sources.
The specification of 10 speaking
stops and 4 couplers therefore
appears to have been as follows:
GREAT
Diapason8
Stopped Diapason 8
Suabe Flute
4
Principal4
SWELL
Violin Diapason 8
Lieblich Gedact 8
Gamba8
Oboe8
Swell Tremulant
PEDAL
Bourdon16
Bass Flute 8 (from Bourdon)
Couplers:
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Swell to Great
Swell Octave
Mechanical & Pneumatic action (manuals)
Pneumatic action (pedal)
Balanced Swell Pedal
4 composition pedals
Compass: 61/30
The photograph from the Catholic
Archives reveals that Peel’s organ
was a fine piece of furniture, a fact
that is hardly surprising given his
profession as a coachmaker. Les
Rub, who assisted Walter Emerson
in organ building over many years
in Toowoomba, was able to supply
further details of the organ in the late
1980s: He reported that Peel obtained
all of the metal pipes from Palmer of
London, but had made the wooden
pipes himself. As a coachmaker,
Peel had access to the finest timbers:
The console was of very substantial
construction, made from American
walnut; while the Stopped Diapason,
Lieblich Gedact and Suabe Flute
were all of red cedar. Red cedar was
also used for the front of the Swell box
and the bellows. The keys were of
thick solid ivory and unstained ebony.
Peel was a coachmaker. His initials
have been given incorrectly in some
recent sources as 'B.J.', but a search
of early Brisbane newspapers gives
his name consistently as ‘Mr E.J. Peel'.
The firm was known around 1904 as
'Messrs E. J. and W. Peel of Stanleystreet, South Brisbane', and from at
least 1912 to the late 1920s as 'Peel’s
Limited, Builders of fine carriages,
buggies, sulkies, &c', of which
Peel was the Managing Director.
Newspaper reports also reveal
that Peel married Miss Olive Potter
of Gympie in 1906 at St Andrew’s
Presbyterian Church, Gympie, where
she had been a member of the choir.
Mr and Mrs Peel went on to become
strongly associated with St Andrew’s
Church of England in South Brisbane,
where Mrs Peel was patroness of
the Girls’ Sunshine Club in the early
1930s and Mr Peel was a parochial
councillor. According to the records
of the South Brisbane Cemetery,
Dutton Park, Mr Peel died in February
1953 at the age of 84, and Mrs Peel
in June 1971 at the age of 92.
It is interesting that Mr Peel was
also involved in one small aspect of
organbuilding at St Andrew’s: The
late Mr ER Salisbury reported in the
Newsletter of the Organ Society of
Queensland (April 1990) not only
that Peel was one of the assistant
organists at St Andrew’s, but also
that he made a radiating-concave
pedalboard for the JW Walker &
Sons organ there in the early 1930s.
Peel’s pedalboard was modelled
on the one at the recently opened
Brisbane City Hall, and it was fitted
to the organ by Whitehouse Bros
in 1934. The exact date for Peel’s
residence organ, however, is less
clear, although Darryl Skerman
gave it in The Organ Voice (Autumn
1996) as having been built in 1934.
Unfortunately, very little of Peel’s
instrument survives today. The
original soundboards were replaced
by Walter Emerson around 1964,
when he rebuilt the instrument with
electro-pneumatic action and added
further stops. Further additions were
made by Emerson in 1979, when
he increased the scale of the Pedal
Bourdon by adding five new bottom
pipes. The organ was removed from
Toowoomba to Brisbane in 1990
and installed in 1991 at the Windsor
Road Baptist Church, Red Hill. New
casework was supplied at this time,
and there have since been various
additions and tonal modifications,
including the re-scaling of the Great
Open Diapason 8 and Principal 4,
and replacement of other original
pipework. Perhaps if Peel’s organ
had survived intact today, it might
have been valued differently, even
if only as a fine piece of furniture.
Photograph and specification from
the Catholic Archives, Brisbane.
[Photograph supplied courtesy of Carolyn Nolan, Assistant Archivist]
Paul
Frederick
Hufner
17 Nov 1918 - 30 August 2010
By Bruce Duncan
Organ builders I have known seem,
to an outsider, to be endowed with
certain essentials in their DNA
which generates a most amiable
and unique species completely
consumed by the love of their work.
The paramount gene seems to be
that of limitless patience yet tangled
up in the tightly-bound DNA helix
is a complex of interacting virtues:
devotion to detailed craftsmanship
(most of which is not seen); an innate
love and feeling for eternal tactile
materials (wood, metals of different
kinds, leather, even glue); a genius
for melding ancient traditions with the
benefits of 21st century technology.
All this ultimately depends on a
keenly perceptive ear and musical
sense to transform a machine into
a musical instrument which is to be
located at some time in the future
in a space of uncertain acoustic
sympathy. Paul Hufner was the
exemplar of these qualities and a
large measure of what he has
bequeathed to pipe organ evolution
in this isolated part of the world
would not have been possible
without his devoted wife Joy.
Paul playing the piano with a band in 1937
Paul Hufner in his Inglewood
workshop in 1960
His sad passing marks the end
of an era in which he made an
indelible contribution to organ
building in the West and to the
lives of the many he influenced.
Paul and Joy were an amalgam
of several generations of German
settlement and tradition in Perth. On
his side of the family the pioneer was
his grandfather, an 18th Century
settler in Sydney who was seeking
to leave behind experiences in the
Franco-Prussian war. There, he
married a native of his homeland,
moved to WA, and eventually sent his
son, Paul’s father Frederick Carl, back
to Hamburg to further his education.
In Hamburg young Frederick’s heart
was inclined to painting and music
and, although summarily brought back
to Australia by a father who had other
ideas for his son, certain seeds had
been sown. When his sister married
Berlin-trained piano craftsman, Paul
Meyer, brought here in the early years
of the 19th Century by the music
firm of Nicholsons, the course for the
career of young Paul, the future organ
builder, began to be laid down.
Emerging from North Perth Primary
School aged 12, with the world in
the depths of depression, he was
glad to get a job at ten shillings per
week as a delivery boy with a Perth
automotive supplies firm putting
his bicycle to good use (additional
subsidy, two and six pence). A year
later, as an office boy at the piano
firm Snadens, he was able to learn
from an elderly master Frenchpolisher handy skills to combine with
those yet to come. With an eye to
the future Paul was also attending
‘Junior Tech.’ in Perth learning
woodwork and technical drawing.
At age 15 ‘Uncle’ Paul Meyer made
his move suggesting that the younger
Paul learn the art of the piano repair
and tuning from him and from then on
began the hard slog of basics such
as spinning piano strings and all the
other aspects of the craft. Meyer’s
business, now independent, became
very prosperous in the 30s and by
age 21 Paul was also taking on the
management during his mentor’s
periodic trips back to Germany. As
a second string, the teenage Paul
had joined the ‘cadets’ becoming a
skilled gun layer (aimer) at the twin 6
inch gun emplacement ‘Fort Forest’
in North Fremantle (predecessor
of the Leighton battery neither
of which is now in existence).
At 21 he decided to go out into
piano tuning and maintenance on
his own and soon built up a sound
business and reputation which was
to blossom in the post-war years and
is a colourful story in its own right.
Much more of the young life of Paul is
narrated in Paul’s Story, an illustrated
oral history by June Westhoff (2007).
The link between his world of pianos
and that of pipe organs had been
forged earlier as a lad through his
father who had become a skilled
piano tuner and maintained the
pianos of the Nuns of the Convent of
Mercy, Victoria Square close by St
Mary’s Roman Catholic Cathedral.
This association led to his tuning the
organ of the Cathedral and ultimately
to contracts to build two organs,
never having done such a project
before. One of these organs was the
commission for a private chamber
organ (with a player roll facility) and
a second for an organ in the Central
Baptist Church, Museum St. Perth,
later to be rebuilt and enlarged by the
son. Early on, Paul’s mother would
‘press notes’ at the console while her
husband tuned the Cathedral organ
but eventually young Paul got enlisted
in this job on Saturday afternoons
and for the first time was to hear the
glories of a pipe organ. Unknown to
him at the time, the die was cast.
Opus Number One of the ‘pipe
organ’ era for Paul was the building
of an organ for St Andrew's Anglican
church, Subiaco which was to be
the prototype for an affordable pipe
organ in many other churches in Perth
and considerably wider afield. There
was no money about in the 1940s
and 50s and Opus One, which had
3 ranks, was built on the smell of an
oily rag. This, and those to follow,
had direct electric actions, a major
departure from tracker, pneumatic
and electro-pneumatic actions.
Consequently he was able to
embark on his major ‘life’s aim’ to
make pipe organs available, at
achievable cost, to churches where
only the sound of a harmonium
was familiar to most people.
Paul made most of the St Andrew’s
organ himself including keyboards,
switching gear, wooden pipes and
even the blower. The open diapason
and gamba were English-made
but there was not enough money
for the bottom octaves of either of
these ranks in metal and they were
self-made of wood (the diapason
bottom octave in jarrah). Subsequent
organs were steadily refined and
components increasingly sourced
from Germany, especially pipes.
Reverend ‘Dick’ Cranswick, rector
of St Andrew's in those days, a
Tasmanian by birth and gifted
London-trained musician, introduced
Paul to his home State for which
he was to build three organs and
extend his reach far from Perth.
Those extremely creative years
mushroomed in his crowded
backyard factory in Inglewood
where neighbours were strangely
privileged to hear the ringing sound
of a pipe organ until he moved
to a larger factory in King Street,
Bayswater (sadly destroyed by fire in
the ‘80s with loss of much that was
valuable, including three pianos).
At the end of this article is a list of
his major work to the best of the
writer’s knowledge (and probably
incomplete). It culminates in the
3-manual instrument in his own
beloved St John's Lutheran Church in
central Perth, his ultimate achievement
and last organ, opened at a recital
by Patrick Elms on April 28, 1991.
All connected with this Society will
extend their sympathy to Joy, his
wife and his family. Many of us will
also mourn the passing of a longtime friend and role model Dr James
Rowlands MB, BS(WA), DMRD(Edin),
FRCR, FRACR, DDU Life Membership.
Not only did Paul Hufner have
the distinction of putting organ
building on a commercial basis in
WA for the first time, placing a real
pipe organ within reach of many
parish churches but also in setting
standards of craftsmanship. As the
pipe organ heritage here rejoices
in ever more exciting instruments
and gifted players it is surely fitting
that the Society acknowledge
Paul’s contribution to it all.
At the AGM of the Organ Society
of Western Australia held on
12 October 2010 recognition was
made of the life and work of
Paul F Hufner by honouring him
with Life Membership of the Society
pre-dated to 2nd March 2010 when
the original notice on motion was
endorsed by the Committee.
The Life Membership will continue to
be honoured for his wife Joy Hufner.
NEW ORGANS AND MAJOR
REBUILDS by PAUL HUFNER
1. St Mary’s Anglican Church,
West Perth (rebuild 1951)
2. Convent of Mercy,
Victoria Square Perth (electrified
and enlarged 1950’s)
3. St Matthew’s Anglican Church,
Guildford (electrification
and rebuild 1951)
4. St John’s Lutheran Church,
Perth (1953)
First organ made from spare parts
5. Guildford Grammar School
Chapel (rebuild circa 1953)
6. St Andrew’s Anglican Church,
Subiaco (1954)
First all new organ
7. Central Baptist Church,
Perth (enlarged 1957)
Built 1929 by Frederick Hufner
8. Church of Christ,
Subiaco (1958)
Maylands (1958)
10. St Peter’s Anglican Church,
Sandy Bay, Hobart (1958)
11. St Andrew’s Anglican
Church, Nedlands (1958)
12. Methodist Church,
Victoria Park (1958)
13. Davey Street Congregational,
Hobart (rebuild 1960)
Organ initially built by Hill and
Son in 1864. Rebuilt by Fincham’s
1895. Paul Hufner converted
the action to direct electric
and compass to 61 notes and
moved the organ to the gallery
at the Eastern end of the church
with a separated console
14. St Columba’s, Presbyterian,
Devonport (1960)
15. Forrest Park Methodist Church,
Mount Lawley (rebuild 1960)
16. St John’s Anglican Church,
Fremantle (rebuild 1961)
17. St Nicholas’, Anglican,
Floreat Park (1962)
This was the official church
for the Commonwealth Games
and both organ and church
building were commissioned
and built at the same time
Como (1963)
South Perth (1963)
South Perth (1963)
21. Aldersgate Methodist Church,
Nedlands (1964)
22. Iona Presentation Convent,
Mosman Park (1964)
23. Methodist / Anglican Community
Church, Carnamah (1964)
24. Wesley College Chapel,
South Perth (1964)
25. All Saints Anglican Church,
Collie (1964)
Inglewood (1965)
27. Sacred Heart Catholic Church,
North Perth (1965)
28. Trinity Congregational Church,
Perth (rebuild 1965)
Albany (1966)
30. Aquinas College Chapel,
Mt Henry (1966)
31. Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic
Church, Mt Yokine (1966)
32. Scotch College,
Swanbourne (1969)
33. St Patrick’s Anglican Church,
Mt Lawley (1969)
Relocation from Johnston
Memorial Church, Fremantle
34. St Edmund’s Anglican Church,
Wembley (1970)
Relocation from Mormon Church,
South Perth
35. Presentation Convent,
Geraldton (1971)
36. St John The Evangelist Anglican
Church, Albany (rebuild 1976)
37. St Stephen’s Evangelical Lutheran
Church, Katanning (1979)
Relocation from Victoria Park
Methodist and enlargement
38. Uniting Church,
Maylands (1985)
Relocation of organ from
Forrest Park Church
39. St John’s Lutheran Church,
Perth (new organ 1991)
40. Aquinas College Chapel,
Mt Henry (1999)
Enlarged with Swell Organ
and digital reed stops
It is believed there are other
Hufner organ works not listed. The
many gaps in the above account
will, no doubt, be remedied by
others more knowledgeable.
Acknowledgement is also
made to June Westhoff for
much of the family history.
Thanks to David Featherstone,
organist of St John's Hobart,
for specifications, background
history and information of the
current whereabouts of the 'Hufner
Three' Tasmanian organs.
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Thanks to Megan Rohde for scanning
family photographs for the article.
(mounted on the blower side) to
the corresponding air inlet opening
in the organ case. The flow of air
creates a ‘Venturi effect’, causing
the leather diaphragm to close the
gap creating a powerful suction
between the two components. Once
the blower is turned off, the suction
is released and the blower becomes
disconnected; no screwdrivers
or spanners are required! Roger
observed this rather ingenious device
during his time with Marcussen
Organ builders in Denmark.
Organ on
Wheels
Looking into the organ interior (photo: Trevor Bunning)
The story of a chamber organ
on wheels from Canberra.
By Trevor Bunning
Trevor Bunning and Roger Jones
under the name ACT Pipe Organs
have collaborated to produce a
mobile chamber organ for use
at concert and church venues in
and around Canberra. This ACT
constructed project draws its
inspiration from the many small
pipe organs which Roger has
previously built at his workshop in the
Barossa Valley of South Australia.
Set in an American oak case
measuring 120 cm long x 80 cm
deep x 150cm high, it comprises
one manual and three stops, each
stop being a single rank of 58
pipes: Gedackt 8ft, Flute 4ft and
Principal 2ft. The reverse coloured
keyboard is made of New Guinea
ebony naturals and bone sharps.
The keyboard is held by rear pins
which allow it to move sideways for
transposition of one semitone. By
transposing the keyboard down a
semitone, the organ’s pitch becomes
compatible with the lower range
requirements encountered when
playing in an ensemble of period
instruments. The organ is tuned to
equal temperament but could be
re-tuned to mean-tone if required.
In order to reduce the weight in
the main case and to facilitate
transportation, the small horizontally
mounted blower is contained
in a stand-alone oak case. The
connection is not the usual screw
up duct type, but rather relies on the
butting up of a leather diaphragm
To further reduce weight and bulk
when transporting the instrument,
the lowest ten wooden pipes of
the 8ft Gedackt are mounted
externally on the side of the case
with tight slot and pin connections.
These pipes can readily be
removed for separate crating.
The fretted pipe screen door panels
are of jelutong, a timber widely used
in Indonesia for craftwork and fine
carving. The pattern is based on
the treble and bass clef symbols
and has been finished on both
sides, so as to be viewed when the
doors are both open and closed.
in the design of commercial and
government buildings as well
as residential projects. Over
the past thirty years Trevor has
developed his organ building skills
on a range of projects. Apart from
the newly completed chamber
organ, he has worked on the
restoration and rebuilding of eight
other pipe organs in the ACT.
Roger Jones’ skills in organ building
developed from his previous
professions as a jeweller, engraver
and specialist metal worker. He
has built many new pipe organs at
his manufactory in South Australia.
He is particularly well known for his
skilful restoration of the very earliest
surviving organs built in Australia
by the remarkable German settlers
Johann Kruger and Daniel Lemke.
Testing the wind chest
Exterior view of the organ
(photo: Trevor Bunning)
All the metal pipework has been
cast, fabricated and voiced by
Roger Jones. The pipes are made
of tin-lead alloy, spotted metal, and
the pipes have been voiced to suit
a low wind pressure of 1-3/4 inches.
The low mouth cut-ups produce a
clear baroque type sound with a
slight chiff. The wooden pipes have
mostly been remade from older
pipe material. The narrow scaling
of these pipes has been achieved
by converting selected open flutes
into stopped pipes, and reshaping
the mouths where necessary. The
whole ensemble has been blended
to achieve a cohesive sound
suitable for a variety of purposes:
accompanying soloists, small choirs,
instrumentalists, chamber orchestras
and as a continuo instrument.
Trevor comes to the profession of
organ building from a background
as a chartered architect, specialising
Notable
Australian
Organs VII
St Mary’s Star-of-the-Sea
Catholic Church,
West Melbourne, VIC.
By John Maidment OAM
George Fincham in 1892
21 December 2010 marks the
centenary of the death of the
distinguished Australian organbuilder
George Fincham. Retiring from the
business in 1908, he had suffered
from illness in 1910 for a period of
nine months, during part of which
time he had been unconscious.
A warm obituary appeared in The
Argus for 22 December 1910, p.7:
PERSONAL
General regret will be experienced at
the news of the death of Mr. George
Fincham, which occurred yesterday
at his residence, 31 Coppin-grove,
St. James’s Park, Hawthorn. Mr.
Fincham, who was 83 years of age,
came to Victoria in 1852, having
served his apprenticeship in England
as an organ builder. He went to the
gold diggings, but, meeting with little
success, returned to Melbourne.
In 1864 he began business as
an organ builder in Bridge-road,
Richmond, his employees then
numbering three. Two years later he
was awarded £100 by the Victorian
Government for having “successfully
established the business of
organ building in the colony.”
It was the grand Exhibition organ,
which cost £5,560, that gave Mr.
Fincham prominence. He obtained
a patent in England for the Hunter
device for preventing frictional
rattling and noisy mechanical action
between the keys pressed by the
player and the sound-boards. He
also built the organs at the Australian
Church, Scots Church and many
other churches in Australia and New
Zealand. Mr. Fincham retired about
ten years ago, and since then the
business has been conducted by
his son, Mr. L.V. Fincham. The late
Mr. Fincham took a keen interest
in affairs relating to Richmond, and
was a member of the honorary
magistracy for thirty years.
The funeral will leave the late
Mr. Fincham’s residence at 2
o’clock this afternoon for the
Boroondara Cemetery.
George Fincham’s bluestone grave
remains at Boroondara Cemetery,
Kew, Victoria, and may be observed
in the eastern section of the property.
His sons George Warrington and
Frederick Thomas (who perished
in the Loch Ard sea disaster)
are also buried in the grave.
An Inventory and Affidavit, prepared
by the solicitors Blake & Riggall for
the Supreme Court of Victoria, as
part of George Fincham’s probate
jurisdiction, dated 20 and 28 April
1911, indicated that the beneficiaries
of his estate were his wife Margaret
Fincham, son Leslie Valentine Hunter
Fincham, and daughter Alberta
Marguerite Dehle. The two chief
assets in his estate were his house in
Coppins Grove, Hawthorn valued at
George Fincham’s grave at Boroondara Cemetery,
Kew, VIC (photo: John Maidment)
£1200, and land having a frontage of
117 feet to Stawell Street Richmond
by a depth of 88 feet being part of
the land comprised in Certificate of
Title Volume 1637 Folio 32767 upon
which is erected brick and iron organ
builder’s workshop, this being valued
at £1236. Other assets included
additional land in Bridge Road
that comprised part of the factory
complex, upon one part of which is
erected a blue stone organ builder’s
factory with slate roof, galvanized iron
office wood lined, and galvanized
iron workshop and sheds, this being
valued at £221.00. Fincham also
owned further vacant land in Bridge
Road, Richmond and in Frankston,
part of the Terminus Estate. The total
value of the real estate he owned
came to the total of £4092.9.0. There
was additional personal estate
consisting of household furniture
and effects, interest in partnership
assets of George Fincham & Son,
the overall value of his estate
coming to a total of £4578.10.1.
Probate to a value of £187.9.2 was
paid on 28 September 1911.
Fincham was born in London on
20 August 1828 and arrived in
Melbourne on 9 July 1852. 13
members of his family are listed
as organbuilders in the FreemanEdmonds Directory of British Organ
Builders (Oxford: Positif Press,
2002). He served a seven-year
apprenticeship with Henry Bevington
in London from 1843 and then worked
as a foreman with James Chapman
Bishop where his colleagues
included John Courcelle and Alfred
Hunter, both of whom were to export
organs to Australia – in fact an early
Courcelle organ of 1858 at the
Church of Christ, Geelong has ‘Hunter
& Webb’ inscribed in the bellows.
It appears, from an inventory
prepared by Graeme Rushworth in
1994, that Fincham’s firm built around
137 new organs before 1900.
This figure doesn’t include rebuilds
of organs by other firms or
restorations,nor the supply of organs
to other builders, such as Benjamin
Whitehouse in Brisbane. Only around
41 of these instruments remain in a
reasonably intact state, others have
been destroyed, some rebuilt with
minor changes; others have received
major tonal and mechanical changes.
Fincham’s major instruments
included the 1880 Grand Organ for
the Melbourne Exhibition Building
(four manuals, 70 speaking stops,
two 32ft stops – destroyed);
Freemasons Hall, Melbourne 1888
(three manuals, 42 speaking stops
- destroyed); the Australian Church,
Melbourne 1890 (four manuals,
53 speaking stops – rebuilt and
altered for Wilson Hall, University
of Melbourne); St Kilda Town Hall
(three manuals, 37 speaking stops
– destroyed by fire); St Joseph’s
Catholic Church, Warrnambool 1893
(three manuals, 34 speaking stops)
Australian Pipe Organs Pty Ltd
Celebrating thirty years of craftsmanship and service
The 1880 Grand Organ for the Melbourne Exhibition, taken from
a pamphlet issued by Geo. Fincham and Son c. 1900
and St Mary’s Star-of-the-Sea Catholic
Church, West Melbourne 1898-1900
(three manuals, 38 speaking stops).
The instruments that remain
in a reasonably intact state
may now be found at:
St Jude’s Anglican Church,
Carlton, Vic (1866)
St Michael-and-All Angels Anglican
Church, Talbot, Vic (1868)
Christ Church Anglican Church,
Daylesford, Vic (1871)
St George’s Anglican Church,
Queenscliff, Vic (1871)
St Joseph’s Catholic Church,
Port Melbourne, Vic (1873)
St Ignatius’ Catholic Church,
Richmond, Vic (1874)
St Stephen’s Anglican Church,
Portland, Vic (1882)
Uniting Church, High Street,
Preston, Vic (1877)
Baptist Church,
Norwood, SA (1882)
Church of All Nations Uniting Church,
Carlton, Vic (1877 & 1886)
Uniting Church,
Brighton, Vic (1884)
Baptist Church,
Armadale, Vic (1877)
Convent of Mercy,
Geelong, Vic (1884)
St Augustine’s Anglican Church,
Inglewood, Vic (1878)
Uniting Church,
Mount Barker, SA (1884)
St John’s Anglican Church,
Dunolly, Vic (1879)
Uniting Church,
Port Adelaide, SA (1884)
Residence of Michael Wu,
Healesville, Vic (date unknown,
probably 1860s or 70s)
St Carthage’s Catholic Church,
Parkville, Vic (1885)
Bernies Music Land,
Ringwood, Vic (1873)
Congregational Church,
Burnley, Vic (date unknown, probably
1870s using older facade)
St James-the-Less Anglican Church,
Mount Eliza, Vic (1873)
Performing Arts Theatre,
Kyneton, Vic (1880)
Private ownership SA - ex
Congregational Church,
Gawler, SA (1885)
St Bartholomew’s Anglican Church,
Burnley, Vic (1887)
Two consoles prior to despatch from our factory...
New console, Camberwell Grammar
APO console 1986, restored following
School, Vic.
recent fire damage,
St Paul’s Church Coburg, Vic.
Member of:
The Australian Guild of Master Organ Builders
The International Society of Organ Builders
The Incorporated Society of Organ Builders
11a Boileau St
Keysborough VIC 3173
03 9798 7664
www.australianpipeorgans.com.au
The organ at St Mary’s Star of the
Sea (photo: John Maidment)
The pedal windchest, pipework and pneumatic action runs
at St Mary’s Star of the Sea (photo: John Maidment).
Christ Church Anglican Church,
Maryborough, Vic (1887)
St John’s Anglican Church,
Soldiers Hill, Ballarat, Vic (1891)
Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
Launceston, Tas (1887)
Reformed Church,
Newtown, Geelong, Vic (1891)
Uniting Church,
Richmond, Vic (1888)
Presbyterian Church,
Hawthorn, Vic (1892; completed
Frederick Taylor)
St Peter’s Anglican Church,
Glenelg, SA (1888)
Uniting Church,
Barkly Street, Ballarat, Vic (1889)
Uniting Church,
South Melbourne, Vic (1892)
St Fidelis’ Catholic Church,
Moreland, Vic (1891)
Uniting Church,
Balaclava, Vic (1891)
St Joseph’s Catholic Church,
Warrnambool, Vic (1893)
St John’s Uniting Church,
Williamstown, Vic (1893)
Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
Maldon, Vic (1893)
Uniting Church,
Carngham, Vic (1894)
St Mary’s Star-of-the-Sea
Catholic Church,
West Melbourne, Vic (1898-1900)
Some of the peak production years
included 1884 – six instruments (two
constructed in South Australia); 1885
– nine instruments (one constructed
in South Australia); 1887 – seven
instruments (one constructed in South
Australia); 1888 – ten instruments
(one constructed in South Australia);
1891 – eight instruments.
The West Melbourne organ is
the largest Fincham organ to
survive intact. The survival of this
instrument was largely due to the
lack of funds to carry out a full
rebuilding which typically would
have included electrification of the
action, a new console, alterations
to the wind system and to the
pipework as well as tonal additions.
The present St Mary’s Star of the
Sea Church was designed in a
French Gothic idiom by Melbourne
architect Edgar J Henderson,
whose other major church designs
include St Mary’s Cathedral, Sale,
St James’s Church, Gardenvale and
St Mary’s Church, Echuca. Work
began in 1891 and the completed
building (apart from the tower and
spire) opened on 18 February 1900.
The total cost of the building was
estimated at 27 or £28,000, and
was among the most costly parish
churches erected in Australia.
The building is constructed from
Barrabool Hills sandstone with
Oamaru limestone dressings and
internal columns of Swedish granite.
It is of cruciform shape and includes
The pipework at St Mary’s Star of
the Sea (photo: John Maidment)
an aisled nave of five bays, with tall
clerestory, wide transepts, eastern
chapels, and a two-bay sanctuary
terminating in a tripartite apse. The
total length of the building is 175ft,
and the height to the roof ridge is
75ft, with an internal height 60ft to the
groined wooden ceiling, a magnificent
example of Victorian craftsmanship.
The building was designed to seat
1200 persons and is regarded as
Melbourne’s largest parish church.
The initial specification provided
by George Fincham on 4 May 1898
was for a three-manual organ of 45
speaking stops, 11 couplers and
tubular-pneumatic action, costing
£2026-18-0. This scheme included
a Quint 5-1/3 on the Great Organ,
a Contra Fagotto 16 and Mixture
3 ranks on the Swell Organ, a
Choir Organ of 10 stops, and on
the Pedal Organ a Sub Bass 32,
of wood, and a Trombone 16, of
metal. Clearly this scheme was
too expensive (and couldn’t have
been readily accommodated).
George Fincham’s final specification
for a three-manual organ of 36
speaking stops was accepted by
the church on 12 September 1898,
the cost being quoted as £1551
(later amended to £1596). Two
additional stops were later added to
this scheme, the Great Mixture and
Pedal Fifteenth. On 18 April 1900 the
installation of the electric blower by
Messrs Edmiston & O’Neill, Electrical
Engineers, Cromwell Buildings, 366a
Bourke Street, City was complete.
This was possibly the first organ in
Australia to be electrically blown,
although in this instance the motor
operated the feeder gear provided
for the hydraulic engine rather than
through electrical fans. This was
necessary as the position of the
church on top of a hill resulted in
poor water pressure, insufficient
to operate hydraulic engines.
During the 1880s, Fincham had
developed and patented a form
of tubular-pneumatic action which
was used for all large organs
from that date onwards. Obviating
the weight of heavy mechanical
actions, this enabled consoles to
be detached from organs, a full
range of couplers to be supplied,
and pistons to be provided for
adding and subtracting stops. The
action incorporates lead tubing of
7/16 inch and 5/16 inch diameter.
A contemporary description in
the journal The Austral Light
February 1900, stated:
Above: An illuminated address in the custody of
the Fincham family from October 1881
(photo: John Maidment)
Below: The nameplate at St Mary’s Star of the Sea
The choir gallery provides ample
accommodation for a large choir
and instrumentalists, in addition
to the organ, which was built by
Mr. Fincham of Richmond. The
instrument is complete, and contains
about 2,500 pipes. It is built upon the
pneumatic action from keyboard to
stops and windchests. This action
has entailed the use of no less than
three and a half miles of tubing. The
speaking pipes of the pedal, great
and swell organ are 16ft, whilst in the
choir organ they are 8ft. The labour
of drawing and closing of the various
combinations of stops is abolished.
The organist, while fingering the
key-board, uses the thumb to “press
a button; pneumatic action does the
rest.” The richly-gilt and decorated
pipes, and the stained case with
the magnificent blackwood console,
and the gallery front in blackwood
and huon pine are a notable feature
in the eastern end of the church.
The cost of the organ was £1,600.
Geo. Fincham & Son factory, Bridge Road, Richmond, VIC
c. 1900 (from the firm’s prospectus of that year)
In May 1931 a cleaning and overhaul
by George Fincham & Sons Pty Ltd
took place at a cost of £200.00.0.
In August 1931 balanced swell
pedals were installed (these were
converted back to trigger operation
in the 1993 restoration as they
worked very inefficiently and didn’t
succeed in opening the horizontal
shutters fully). In July 1948 the
Fincham firm carried out further
renovation work. This included new
intermediate actions to the Swell,
Great and Choir soundboards. The
windchest pallets had originally been
operated by external underactions
placed close to floor level and linked
to the windchests by trackers. This
obviated the need to run pneumatic
tubing up to a higher level and
resulted in shorter tube lengths and
presumably faster action response.
The 1948 work was executed in an
unsatisfactory manner and the 1993
restoration saw the original mode of
operation restored. The combination
action was removed in the mid-1970s
but all of the parts were stored and
are now replaced in the organ.
19th century indigenous organbuilding
to remain essentially unaltered.
The left hand case contains the
Swell Organ (with its own reservoir
mounted on top of the swell box)
The comprehensive restoration of
and the Pedal Open Diapason Metal
the instrument, by the South Island
16 in the façade. The right hand
Organ Company Ltd, of Timaru, New case contains the Great and Choir
Zealand, began in early 1992 and the Organs with the Great Double Open
work was completed in September
Diapason 16 in the façade. The
1993, ranking as the most significant blowing room to the right contains
restoration project yet carried out
two large reservoirs and the 2½
on an Australian-built organ. The
hp fully encased Laukhuff electric
action, pipework (including the cone
blower. The centrally placed console,
tuning) and wind system were fully
in French polished blackwood,
overhauled, while the later alterations facing down the church, has the
were reversed. The casework was
drawstops placed in horizontal rows
completely repolished, but the original on parallel jambs. This was typical
stencilling was merely cleaned rather of all the larger Fincham pneumatic
than repainted. It was the first pipe
organs, but only a handful of these
organ in Australia to be classified by
now survive intact. Hill & Son also
the National Trust and is regarded as adopted identical layouts, such as its
an instrument of national importance. 1880s instrument at St Mary’s Church,
The organ is the largest example of
Tottenham, in north-east London.
Specification:
GREAT ORGAN
Double Open Diapason 16
No.1 Open Diapason 8
No.2 Open Diapason 8
Claribel 8 (open bass)
Principal 4
Flute 4
Twelfth 3
Fifteenth 2
Mixture 17.19.22 III
Double Trumpet 16
Posaune 8
Clarion 4
Great Sub Octave
Great Super Octave
Swl to Great Sub
Swell to Great
Swl to Great Super
SWELL ORGAN
Bourdon Open Diapason Hohl Flute Stopped Diapason Gamba Celeste Octave Röhr Flote [sic]
Piccolo Cornopean Oboe Vox Humana Clarion 16
8
8 (open bass)
8
8 (gvd bass)
8 TC
4
4
2
8
8
8
4
Tremulant
Swell Sub Octave
Swell Super Octave
CHOIR ORGAN (enclosed)
Hohl Flute Gedact Dulciana Harmonic Flute Flageolet Clarionet Orchestral Oboe 8 (open bass)
8
8
4
2
8
8 TC
Tremulant
Swell to Choir
The carved figurehead from the 1880 Melbourne exhibition organ,
now in private ownership (photo: John Maidment)
PEDAL ORGAN
Open Diapason Open Diapason Bourdon
Violon
Bass Flute Fifteenth 16 metal
16 wood
16
8wd
8 wd
4 metal
Pedal Super Octave
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Choir to Pedal
compass: 61/30
5 thumb pistons to Great
6 thumb pistons to Swell
3 thumb pistons to Choir
3 composition pedals to Pedal
Lever pedals to Swell and Choir
Detached drawstop console
Tubular-pneumatic action with mechanical manual to
pedal coupling
Spotted metal fluework above 4ft (retaining cone tuning),
reeds in spotted metal to 8ft.
The information in this article has been derived
from the George Fincham & Sons letter books
held at the State Library of Victoria.
A New
Organ
The new organ at the
Free Reformed Church,
Legana, TAS.
By Hans Meijer
Legana is situated 15km north
of Launceston along the West
Tamar Highway. The Launceston
congregation of the Free Reformed
Church became too big and
so a new church was built in
Legana just off the highway.
Since the opening of the church in
1990 a two manual and pedal Estey
reed organ was used to accompany
the congregation. As this organ
showed obvious signs of wear and
tear, like rattling keys and broken
reeds, other possibilities were
explored to replace it. Considering
the size of the building and the
congregation, the music committee
was looking for an organ of about
12 stops, divided over 2 manuals
and pedal. At first a new pipe organ
seemed to be well above budget,
until some second hand parts
became available from the redundant
G Fincham organ of the Cross Street
Uniting Church in Hobart and the
Davis organ of the Church of Christ
in Frederick Street in Launceston.
The Fincham organ had tubular
pneumatic action and the Davis organ
was an electro-pneumatic extension
organ. It was decided not to use any
of these two organs but to use the
good materials and pipes to build a
new organ with mechanical action.
The basis of the new organ was
formed by the two slider chests that
came from the Fincham organ. Both
were made of American redwood and
in very good condition. There was
no need for an extensive restoration.
The glue joints were perfect and
there were no runnings or ciphering.
Because the new organ was going to
have mechanical action, the bottom
boards of the wind boxes and the
action springs had to be renewed.
The new bottom board of the wind box
was fitted with a brass strip with 1 mm
holes, through which the 0.9 mm pallet
wires pass. All pallet springs had to
be replaced with stronger ones. Both
chests are equally long and determine
the width of the case of 2500 mm and
depth of the case of 1250 mm. The
height including the middle tower is
3700 mm. One slider chest has room
for seven stops on the great and the
other three stops on the positif. With
the exception of the Oboe all the rack
boards have been made in cedar.
A new case was designed consisting
of a lower case and an upper case.
The lower case has been reinforced
with a frame to support both slider
chests and the new stop and key
action. The case panels have been
made of solid Tasmanian Oak. The
toe boards of the slider chest are
situated just below the moulding.
Two rectangular panels below that
moulding give access to the face
boards of the positif pallet box
which is situated in front of the great
slider chest. The roof of the organ
is made of Baltic pine tongue and
groove boards. To limit the depth of
the case, the pedal Bourdon 16 is
placed at the back of the organ. It
stands behind a passage board with
the new pedal windchest below.
The keyboard is new and covered in
recycled ivory, the sharps of ebony.
The organ has a suspended action. In
order to achieve greater accuracy in
manufacturing the action, all drawings
were made in full size. At about two
thirds the length of the key is a wire
which pulls down a backfall. In turn
this backfall pushes up the end of
another backfall. The other end of this
backfall pulls down a tracker to the
arm of a roller. The other arm of the
roller pulls down the wire to the pallet.
Backfalls, backfall beams, rollers, roller
arms and studs are made of myrtle.
The keys are made of fine spruce.
The roller boards are made of king
billy pine. The positif pipe work and
trackers have not yet been installed,
but the roller board is already in place.
The action is bushed, resulting in
a very direct contact between key
and pallet. There is no action noise
due to precise drilling of roller arms
and studs. The trackers are made
of cedar with huon pine end caps,
fitted with a threaded brass wire.
The pedal coupler roller board and
backfall for the great to pedal and
positif to pedal are made in the same
way. The pedal keyboard and organ
seat are from the Davis organ.
The blower is situated in a room
behind the organ. The bourdon 16
from the Davis organ speaks on a
wind pressure of 70 mm and the rest
of the organ on 60 mm. For the pedal
there is a small bellow in that same
room. The below with the blind valve
is placed in the bottom of the organ
behind the pedal rollerboard. All
wind trunks are made new in cedar.
The pipe work is arranged with CC
to the far left and CC# on the right
and going down to f#3 and g#3 in
the centre. As the Fincham organ
had 61 keys and the Legana organ
has 56 keys, there are five grooves
left unused. I decided to leave the
five lowest bass grooves unused
to free up space for the lowest
octaves of the Open Diapason,
the Gedackt and the Principal 4.
This also has the advantage that
the longest rollers could be made
shorter to reduce tension. The toe
boards of these stops needed to be
re-grooved to fit the largest pipes.
With the exception of the front pipes
and the lowest octave of the Principal,
all pipes are cone tuned. The finished
pipes are slightly coned in for greater
tuning stability. With the exception
of the lowest octave of the Bourdon
16, all other used pipes have been
rearranged, shifted up or down, cut to
lower mouths and cut to length, so that
they fit the tonal design for this organ.
It is now a rather soft reed, sounding
more like a short resonator echo
trumpet. It adds little volume to the
full organ but makes the bass more
distinct. This stop can be used more
effectively on its own. The Gedact
is taken from the Davis organ.
The front pipes, C0 to G2 of the
Open Diapason, have been made
new in my workshop of spotted
metal. Then Principal 4 consists of a
higher lead content (77%) with low
mouths in the bass and rising to ¼
mouths in the treble. Both stops can
very effectively be used as a small
plenum. The Fifteenth of spotted
metal adds brightness to this without
becoming sharp. The Nasard has
been designed to blend these stops
together and can be used as a
mutation solo stop when the second
manual pipe work is in place. This
option was also considered in the
design of the Mixture with its tierce
rank from middle C. The tierce has a
much narrower scale than the rest of
the Mixture pipe work. In the plenum
the tierce rank produces a pleasant
‘reedy’ sound. The Fincham Oboe
had been altered before I installed it.
It was made of spotted metal with
high rounded mouths. The pipes were
revoiced by taking the corpora off
the feet, lowering and straightening
the mouths and soldering feet and
corpora together. From the C1, the
red felt was taken out of the caps
and narrower caps were fitted with
waxed paper. The improvement in
tone and character is remarkable.
Specification: (from OHTA website)
GREAT MANUAL I
Open Diapason 8 *
Stopped Flute
8
Principal4
Nasard
2 2/3 **
Fifteenth2
Mixture
II-III***
Oboe8
Tremulant
* CC to EE stopped, FF and FF# open (wood), GG - e2 in front
** from tenor c
*** CC 22.26; C 15.19; C1 12.15.17
POSITIF – MANUAL II
Provision made for three stops
PEDAL
Bourdon
16§
Pedal - l
§ CCC to CC in King Billy Pine, the rest in Redwood
Pitch a1 440 Hz at 20 degrees C
Temperament: Harald Vogel
The organ at the Free Reformed Church,
Legana, TAS (photo: Hans Meijer)
Total number of pipes: 498
The instrument was well received
by the congregation. All stops can
be used effectively in a variety of
combinations and it supports the
singing of the congregation very well.
Church
An Organ
In Mudgee
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A visit to St John the Baptist
Anglican Church, Mudgee, QLD.
The organ at St John
the Baptist Church, Mudgee
(photo: Jean Vann)
By David Vann
On a recent trip to Mudgee I was
asked by some friends staying at the
same motel if I would like a morning
walk around the corner to have a look
at the impressive Anglican Church.
I was also told that the Church
possessed a very nice pipe organ
prompting my memory that I had read
about it somewhere but the details
were certainly vague. The Reverend
Canon Anne Wentzel headed up the
ministry team and was always very
keen to have the organ played.
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
I was able to meet with her and
together with Dr David Forward of
South Australia received the kind
invitation to play. Canon Wentzel
has now transferred to Bathurst
and it is to be hoped that her
successor at Mudgee will maintain
a keen interest in the organ also.
The organ, an 1881 Brindley & Foster
instrument, is of 3 manuals with 24
stops. This is quite an impressive
instrument for a regional town the
size of Mudgee. The quality of
this organ is evident as soon as
you commence playing, although
you need a short practice time
to adjust to the slightly unusual
pedalboard and the manual action.
The specification consists of:
GREAT
Double Diapason 16
Open Diapason
8
Hohl Flute
8
Principal
4
Twelfth
2 2/3
Harmonic Piccolo
2
Mixture(15,19,22) III
Trumpet
8
SWELL
Lieblich Bourdon
16
Open Diapason
8
Gamba
8
Vox Angelica
8
Salicet
4
Mixture (15,19,22)
III
Oboe
8
Cornopean
8
Tremulant
CHOIR
Lieblich Gedact
8
Dulciana8
Harmonic Flute
4
Clarionet8
PEDAL
Major Bass
Sub Bass
Principal Bass
Flute Bass
Couplers
Swell to Great
Swell to Choir
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Choir to Pedal
Compass 58/30
Kick down swell pedal
Mechanical action
16
16
8
8
The organ was a gift to the Church
by a Mr Robert White who also
donated a number of other organs
to Churches throughout New South
Wales. It is acclaimed as one of the
finest examples of early British organ
building in New South Wales.
In the mid 1960s it had been agreed
that the organ would be rebuilt
and electrified and a contract was
entered into with ST Noad & Son for
this work to be carried out. David
Kinsela fortunately persuaded the
church officers to abandon this
approach and to instead opt for the
chosen course of action of to restore
the existing mechanical action.
Noad’s agreed to accept this fairly
major change to the contract.
Peter DJ Jewkes Pty Ltd of Sydney
were contracted in 2007 to carry
out further restoration works after
the Church received a grant from
the NSW Heritage Office. This work
almost constituted a restoration of
the complete instrument making
it a very fine organ completely
suitable for use in services of
worship as well as recital work.
If you happen to be passing through
the Mudgee area I can certainly
recommend a stopover at St John’s
and I am sure the church officers
will make you most welcome and
direct you to the console.
Repertoire
Notes
Music from
The Southern Cross Collection.
By Dr Kieran Crichton
Music from
The Southern Cross Collection
A toi la Gloire – Richard
Peter Maddox
Exult Ye People of the Lord
– Godelieve Ghavalas
These two pieces from the
Southern Cross Collection express
something in common, with ideas of
rejoicing and gladness. They would
make excellent Easter music.
Richard Peter Maddox has studied
and worked in Australia, the United
Kingdom and the United States of
America. Holding degrees from
the Universities of Sydney, NSW,
London and California, he has
pursued a varied career where his
activities have included teaching
at the University of New England,
the Sydney Conservatorium,
as well as accompanying and
conducting. Maddox has an
extensive list of compositions,
including works for orchestra, piano,
organ, solo voice and choir.
A toi la Gloire is based on the tune
Maccabeus, which is used for the
Easter hymn Thine be the glory.
Maddox’s piece opens with an
introductory flourish, where fragments
of the melody are announced in the
pedals, answered by block chords
in the manual parts. A short fugue,
with the theme treated in triple time,
follows. Players with a keen eye will
notice that this section is written as
a trio. An epilogue with the closing
bars of the theme quoted in full
rounds off the piece. This makes a
wonderfully concise and interesting
foil to Alexandre Guilmant’s
paraphrase on the same material.
Godelieve Ghavalas is a well-known
figure in the Sydney organ scene.
Hailing originally from South Africa,
Ghavalas was president of the
Organ Music Society of Sydney
until recently. Ghavalas plays
the organs at Corpus Christi, St
Ives, and St Patrick’s, Church Hill.
Godelieve is one of Sydney’s most
passionate musicians and can be
found encouraging young people to
discover the manifold possibilities
of the organ through her Not Just
Notes scholarship program.
Exult Ye People is dedicated to Fr
Patrick Kervin of St Patrick’s, Church
Hill. This is an ebullient toccata, where
episodes of bravura are juxtaposed
with quieter moments. Unlike many
of the other composers represented
in the collection, Ghavalas gives her
performance directions in English
and Italian, with instructions to play
alla cadenza, exultantly and with
increasing excitement and joy. To
these very Melbourne eyes, there
is an element of Grainger lurking
under the surface, with memorable
directives such as louden lots.
Of all the pieces in The Southern
Cross Collection, Ghavalas’s is the
one which must be counted as the
pedal piece: the player is put through
his paces across the whole compass
of the pedal board right from the
start. In his review of this collection,
Peter Jewkes noted that there is a
section of Exult Ye People where
the pedal line uses a top G – a note
commonly lacking on pedal boards.
Ghavalas has kindly provided the
following amendment to the passage
concerned, which is printed above.
Music from the internet
Hosanna – Paul Wachs
Gregorian Album –
Eugene Gigout
Paul Wachs (1851-1915) was a
student of César Franck at the
Paris Conservatoire, and held
various organist posts in Paris.
Relatively little is known about
Wachs, although some of his
piano pieces remain popular.
Hosanna is a march which would
make a rousing postlude for any
festive occasion. The piece is
built around a fanfare rhythm
which your average congregation
will find irresistible: hearty
applause is bound to ensue.
Eugène Gigout (1844-1925) will be
familiar to many readers, particularly
through the Toccata from 10 Pièces
pour Orgue (1890). A pupil of Camille
Saint-Saëns, Gigout was organist at
the Eglise St Augustin in Paris for 62
years, and was closely associated
with the École Niedermeyer, where
he taught harmony, counterpoint,
organ and plainchant. Like the Schola
Cantorum, the École Niedermeyer
was established in the middle
decades of the nineteenth century
as a response to the desire to see
improved standards of church
music in France, as well as reacting
against the Paris Conservatoire’s
perceived bias towards opera.
This association is an important
element in Gigout’s musical
personality, where one finds
much use of modal language
and quotation from plainchant.
Gigout’s Gregorian Album consists of
115 pieces for organ or harmonium,
published in 1895. The pieces in this
collection are in the same genre as
Franck’s L’Organiste, reflecting the
requirements of the liturgy at the time.
They can be played as manuals only,
or with use of pedal at the player’s
discretion. Registrations are given
for both organ and harmonium;
for more information about the
latter possibilities, please refer to
Simon Colvin’s highly informative
letter regarding harmonium
registration in the September
2010 edition of Organ Australia.
http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/a/
ab/IMSLP74976-SIBLEY1802.11863.
f296-39087012410629organ.pdf
http://imslp.org/wiki/
Gregorian_Album_%28Gigout,_
Eug%C3%A8ne%29
Beyond
Panis Angelicus
Franck’s sacred music.
By RJ Stove
Nine hundred and ninety-nine of
every thousand music-lovers, if
asked to name any sacred work
by César Franck, would be able to
identify only one piece. That piece
is, of course, the indestructible
– not to say inescapable – Panis
Angelicus, which has adorned so
many weddings in so many nations
(quite apart from the dozens upon
dozens of recordings on which it
has been sung) that if Franck’s
music were still in copyright, the
royalties from this one motet would
be keeping Franck’s descendants
in clover. Even now Panis Angelicus
can be an affecting experience,
in performances which are careful
enough to strip away the slushy
instrumentations by other hands,
and to observe the composer’s
own clear desire for straightforward
dignity. (The advice which Elgar, in
a 1931 Pathé newsreel, gave the
London Symphony Orchestra before
he conducted it in Land of Hope
and Glory is pertinent to Franck’s
composition: ‘Play this tune as though
you have never heard it before.’)
It is unfortunate that for almost a
century after Franck’s death in 1890,
the overwhelming renown of Panis
Angelicus effectively obliterated
interest in Franck’s other religious
creations. This state of affairs, at last,
has begun to change, though more
within French-speaking countries
(where a fair amount of musicological
commentary now exists on Franck’s
involvement with the Catholic Church)
than outside them. One factor was the
1999 release – practically unnoticed
in Anglophone lands, save for a terse,
belated Times Literary Supplement
review on 21 August 2000 – of a
long and detailed French-language
biography by Parisian scholar JoëlMarie Fauquet.1 Other factors have
played indispensable parts: the CD
medium’s voracious appetite for
largely unexplored music which,
being in the public domain and
requiring only smallish forces, can
be committed to disc without undue
expense; the auction at Sotheby’s,
London, of various hitherto unknown
Franck manuscripts (not all of them
sacred);2 the printing of several
liturgical pieces by Franck in modern
critical editions, readily suitable
for performers;3 and increasing
1 Joël-Marie Fauquet, César
Franck (Paris: Fayard, 1999)
2 Stephen Roe, ‘Manuscripts of
César Franck’, The Musical Times
(November 1980), pp. 690-691.
3 Richard Benefield (ed.), Motets for
One Voice: The Organ-Accompanied
Solo Motet in Nineteenth-Century
France (Middleton, Wisconsin:
levels of critical enthusiasm for the
French Romantic organ repertory in
general, quite apart from Franck’s
contribution to that repertory. An
hour spent rummaging through old
textbooks and through back-issues
of organ magazines will confirm that
as late as the 1970s, Widor, Vierne,
Tournemire, and Guilmant were
widely tolerated only on sufferance.4
As for why Franck’s non-Panis
sacred output took so long to reach
even its current modest level of
recognition, there are four main
reasons. First, even Franck’s own
earliest admirers tended to be rather
dismissive of it. Second, there can
A&R Editions, 2003).
4 Hungarian-American musicologist
Paul Henry Lang, in his long-popular
textbook Music in Western Civilization
(London: Dent, 1942), loftily trashed
Widor’s symphonies for organ as
‘contrapuntally belaboured products of
a flat and scant musical imagination,
the bastard nature of which is evident
from the title alone’ (p. 995). From an
August 1975 letter to the editor of Music
(published by the American Guild of
Organists): ‘Sludge is an apt word to
describe Guilmant, Widor and the others
… Franck is probably the best of them,
but even his music is overrated’ (quoted
in Michael Murray, Marcel Dupré: The
Work of a Master Organist [Boston:
Northwestern University Press, 1985]), p.
219). Far from being exceptional, these
denunciations constituted, rather, the rule.
be no disputing that it sometimes
fails to represent Franck at anything
like his best. Third, because it never
obviously subverted ‘Victorian’
notions of sacred music, it suffered
from the general mid-twentiethcentury Anglo-Saxon assumption
that ‘Victorianism’ is, and should be,
an all-purpose swear-word. Fourth,
the impact upon Catholic musical
thinking of St Pius X’s celebrated
1903 Motu Proprio rendered awkward
(at least in theory) the position of
almost all liturgical music, not only
Franck’s, written before the Motu
Proprio had been promulgated.
Vincent d’Indy – the most industrious,
the most determined, and probably
the most gifted of Franck’s followers
– quoted with approval, in his famous
1906 Franck biography, the case
for the prosecution, as enunciated
by his colleague and (from 1896)
fellow Schola Cantorum director,
the short-lived Charles Bordes.
In 1904, five years before dying
at forty-six, Bordes passed the
following, mostly severe, verdict on
his former master’s sacred works:
Franck, who was so learned in all
that concerns modern music and
that of the eighteenth century, was
very indifferently informed as regards
the admirable and monumental
polyphonic schools of France and
Italy in the sixteenth century, editions
of which were rare and not very
accessible in his day. ... In his Mass
[the Messe à Trois Voix, originally
dating from 1860, but revised in 1872
to include Panis Angelicus – RJS]
of which the Kyrie is an exquisite
prayer and the Agnus Dei a gem
of musical ingenuity, how shall we
qualify the noisy Quoniam tu solus
sanctus, which is less worthy of a
soloist than of a chorister in rather a
merry condition? Side by side with
these pages which do no credit
to the master, we may place the
incomparable opening of the offertory
Quae est ista, which is worthy of
Bach, and the admirable Domine non
secundum, with its counterpoint of a
very human kind, and - with the sole
exception of the final reprise in the
major, which only aims at effect - so
sober that this motet might be cited
as a model of modern church music.
Pages such as these fill us with bitter
regret that Franck started his career
too soon to take part in our movement
to reform sacred music. Knowing little
of Palestrina, with whose beauties,
as he informed me himself, he had
only superficially come into contact,
and whose religious appropriateness
he did not appreciate, as with so
many musicians of his generation,
his interest stopped short at the
writing and artifices of that style of
composition. But what would he
not have written for the Church if
only his noble soul had once been
awakened to all the serene beauty
of the earlier masters! ... Probably
he would have found it difficult not
to look within himself and his own
music for the elements of expression
which would have tempered these
liturgical formulae, but what fine artforms would have been the outcome
of these conflicting influences, amid
which Franck would have remained,
in spite of all, just the divine Pater
seraphicus whose ingenuousness
and modesty were limitless!5
Few readers will have failed to
realise that Bordes – writing, it will
be recalled, a year after the Motu
Proprio – indulges in some selfserving here. The clear implication
is that Franck would have been a
better sacred composer if he had
been more consciously antiquarian,
more preoccupied with Gregorian
chant, and more conversant with
Palestrinian polyphony: if he had
been, in short, more like Bordes.
This might have been true, but
is hardly self-evident. Besides,
Franck’s knowledge of Palestrina
was by no means as exiguous as,
for whatever reason, he let Bordes
believe. He did conduct a few of
Palestrina’s motets, which few of his
5 Vincent d’Indy (trans. Rosa
Newmarch), César Franck (London:
John Lane, 1910), pp. 129-131.
French contemporaries could be
bothered doing. And the far-reaching
contrapuntal instruction which he had
undergone as a Paris Conservatoire
pupil in the 1830s (above all from
his formidable professor Antoine
Reicha) left him eminently capable
of grasping Palestrina’s technical
significance, whatever Bordes may
have supposed to the contrary.
No, to appreciate the attractions
which Franck’s motets and other
liturgical miniatures can show, it is
best to lay aside Bordes’s straw-man
strictures, and to examine how well
the pieces succeed on their own
terms. Most of them were what, in
twentieth-century Germany, came to
be called Gebrauchsmusik. Utilitarian
in their origin, they resulted from the
necessity of providing fresh, not-toodifficult material for the musicians at
the three Parisian churches where
Franck played the organ: Notre Dame
de Lorette, Saint-Jean-Saint-Françoisau-Marais, and most famously (from
1858) Sainte-Clotilde. (Saint-Saëns
and Fauré, when church organists,
were similarly required to furnish
contributions to the liturgy: and in
doing so, to discard, or at any rate
to disguise, the dissident nature of
their private religious convictions.)
A curious feature that Franck’s
productions share – and one which
cannot have helped the mere scorereader in a library to perceive their
virtues – is the way in which they so
frequently become much more stirring
in performance than they seem on the
printed page. In cold type they can
appear dull and tame; when actually
heard, they are seldom anything of
the sort. They have, moreover, their
composer’s fingerprints all over them.
Parry, we are told,6 used to scrutinise
his students’ exercises in the hope
of finding what he called ‘something
characteristic,’ some evidence of an
individual personality operating even
in an otherwise inept production. He
would not have needed to look far for
such evidence in Franck’s motets.
Take Franck’s strangely desolatesounding Ave Maria in G minor (he
set the same words on at least one
other occasion), for solo soprano or
solo tenor, which dates from around
1865. From the very first phrases it
proclaims the authorship of Franck
and of nobody else, not least in the
steady, crotchet-dominated rhythmic
tread (compare it with the Prière
from Franck’s Six Pièces), and in the
utterly typical repetition (bars 5-8)
of a two-bar motive, with a slight but
crucial melodic and/or harmonic
modification the second time around.
The seemingly effortless canonic
writing that begins at bar 37, with
the modulation into the tonic major,
is also a habitual Franck device (of
which Panis Angelicus supplies
an equally impressive example).
Eventually the Motu Proprio would
crack down on (it would not prohibit)
solo singing in the Mass, thanks to
St Pius X’s unhappy experiences
of Italian churches where soloists
inflicted vulgarly operatic coloratura
upon congregations. Nevertheless,
modern choirmasters wishing to
abide by the papal ruling in this
matter can always avail themselves
of a compromise: the Ave Maria
6 Paul Holmes, Vaughan Williams:
His Life and Times (London:
Omnibus Press, 1997), p. 21.
is eminently singable by a choir’s
whole soprano or tenor section in
unison, assuming either that the
choristers can cope with periodic
high As, or that a discreet downward
transposition of the whole piece can
be made. On a recent (2007) CD,7
the work is given in E minor, with a
soprano soloist, and with most of
the organ part’s right-hand music
being taken, very eloquently, by a
cello. This confirms the remarkable
– almost Grainger-like – flexibility
which Franck permitted as regards
his church music’s scoring. During
his lifetime and afterwards, publishers
released several of his motets in
different arrangements; and while
it is not known whether Franck
devised any of these arrangements
himself, he certainly countenanced
them. At times, for instance – as
in the consistently noble, oddly
English-sounding 1865 Domine non
secundum for three-part choir – a
double-bass is indicated, though in
all honesty it does little more than
reinforce the lower organ notes,
and might as well be omitted if the
organ’s pedal division is adequate.
Elsewhere, such as in the Quae est
ista (c. 1861) which Bordes somewhat
rashly compared with Bach, a solo
harp is allowed; there also exists a
version of Quae est ista demanding
a chamber orchestra. These features
would subsequently impede the
works’ chances of gaining post-1903
ecclesiastical approval, though, as
with solo singers, the Motu Proprio
– contrary to what is often assumed
– never placed a blanket ban on
orchestral instruments as such.8
7 César Franck: Intégrale de L’Oeuvre
Vocale avec Orgue, Vol. 1. Diego
Innocenzi (organ), Solistes de Lyon
/ Bernard Tétu. Aeolus AE-10013. In
February 2010 a second volume (AE10033), with the same performers,
appeared; it includes the Messe à Trois
Voix discussed by Bordes. A Messe
Solennelle which Franck is known to have
composed appears to be irretrievably lost.
8 The relevant passage in the Motu
Proprio (Tra le Sollecitudini, VI, 15) is: ‘In
some special cases, within due limits and
with proper safeguards, other instruments
[than the organ] may be allowed, but
To the Eucharistic text O Salutaris,
Franck repeatedly returned. He set
these words (by Aquinas) for the
first time in 1835, the year he turned
thirteen. Of more consequence are
two versions from the 1860s; one of
them is a duet for soprano and tenor
(or two sopranos, or two tenors),
lasting around four minutes, while
the other and slightly briefer setting
is for soprano and SATB choir. (Yet
another version, of lesser quality, is
for solo bass.) Each has its charms,
but the duet setting (1862) is the
more immediately approachable,
being dominated by a suave melody
given to three-bar phrases. As with
the aforementioned Ave Maria,
choirmasters worried about infringing
St Pius X’s dictates can always entrust
the vocal lines to choristers in unison.
If anything, the provenance of
Franck’s non-canonical organ
compositions – the compositions, that
is, which he did not include in the
Six Pièces issued in 1868, the Trois
Pièces of 1878, or the Trois Chorals
of 1890 – is even more elaborate than
that of his motets. In 1900 Tournemire
published forty-four shortish organ
solos that Franck had written
between 1858 and 1863. Whatever
Tournemire’s merits as a Franck
performer on records,9 there can be
no doubt that as an editor he proved
less than conscientious, not only
retitling some of Franck’s pieces and
altering the specified registrations,
but actively (if covertly) cutting
them. Happy to relate, more recent
scholarship has rectified the damage
that Tournemire’s hyperactive blue
pencil did; and from such scholarship
emerge several solos worthy of much
more frequent hearings than they get.
the grand siècle which had produced
Nicolas Lebègue, Nicolas De Grigny,
André Raison, Louis-Claude Daquin,
Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, and the two
great Couperins. To hear Franck’s
proud, indeed regal Offertoire in F
Sharp Minor, for instance, is to be
reminded of the striding, imperious
triple-time rhythm in Louis Couperin’s
oft-played Chaconne. Or let us
consider Franck’s Offertoire pour
Messe de Minuit, where not only
is the main theme a seventeenthcentury carol of the type employed
by Daquin as the basis for variations,
but Franck’s harmonies so clearly
suggest the baroque (give or take
one flattened dominant triad near
the finish) that the piece could be
inserted into a recital of early French
organ music without prompting
any sense of anachronism. All this
is the more notable in view of how
completely forgotten the Couperins
and their contemporaries were in
Franck’s youth. The huge task of
making the grand siècle’s repertoire
– especially its organ repertoire –
widely available in print fell to much
younger men than Franck: such as
Saint-Saëns, d’Indy, Guilmant, and
Guilmant’s fellow organist André Pirro.
Possibly the foregoing has been
enough to hint at some of the
pleasures to be found in this still
largely submerged area of nineteenthcentury religious endeavour. And
not from Franck alone: as well as the
modern and gratifying CD coverage
of Saint-Saëns’s previously neglected
Christmas Oratorio and Requiem,
recent performances of Gounod’s
early Messe Chorale for choir and
organ (no soloists) have revealed
that work to be an outstandingly
decorous and severe conception,
the Credo of which boasts an organ
prelude grim and chromatic enough
to anticipate Reger. In short, certain
too-precious-for-words choral
conductors who persist in fancying
that all liturgical music between
Mozart and Vaughan Williams is
mere sugary sentimental schlock
are in for a chastening surprise.
RJ Stove is an organist who
lives in Melbourne and is writing
a biography of Franck.
In these solos occur backward
glances at a style which one would
never expect from the main Franck
organ canon: namely, the idiom of
never without the special permission of the
Ordinary.’ Pianos, percussion instruments,
and brass bands are, however, forbidden
by the Motu Proprio in all circumstances.
9 Charles Tournemire: Complete
Recordings (1930-31), Arbiter 156.
St Peter’s
Organ
Organ
Builders’ News
The organ of St Peter’s Anglican Church,
Southport, Gold Coast, QLD.
By David Vann
Southport grew up as a township at
the northern most end of the Gold
Coast and the first stop on the way
down from Brisbane to any of the
Gold Coast (then known as South
Coast) townships. Over the years
it has grown and today Southport
is an extremely busy town and the
hub of Gold Coast commercial life.
Nerang Street, the main street, is
today a busy commercial centre,
with parking spots a rarity and traffic
lights at busy intersections. At the
top of the street, near the hospital, a
private girls’ school and prestige car
dealers there is a place of peace.
The Anglican Church of St Peter,
and its ancillary services, occupy
a prominent corner position.
In 1959 the church had outgrown
the existing building and a new
building was erected. The tracker
action pipe organ from the old church
was transferred to the new building.
This instrument had originally been
installed circa 1921 in St Alban's
Chapel at the Southport School but
sold in 1924 to St Peter’s. Walter
Emerson of Toowoomba, on the
Darling Downs rebuilt the instrument
in 1975 with electro-pneumatic
action and cone pallet soundboards.
In 1982 Emerson was contracted
to add a Sifflute 1 1/3 (stop tab
named Larigot 1 1/3) on the Choir.
The organ was of two-manuals
with both manuals unenclosed.
In 1990 Australian Pipe Organs
were contracted to carry out certain
works including the addition of a
Mixture II on the Great. The organ
carried out its musical duties quite
Photo: David Vann
well although it always appeared
to lack an element of ‘excitement’.
When the Church had a large
congregation the organ certainly had
deficiencies in leading the singing.
organist had a view of the sanctuary
rather than having his back to it. This
is a far more practical arrangement
for the organist playing for services of
worship.
The Parish is now led by an active
Minister, Fr Harry Reuss, who has
a love for the organ and its music
and leads a very active and involved
congregation. Further, the Church
has a very accomplished organist,
Graeme Robertson, who is well
known in Gold Coast musical circles
including as a jazz pianist.
The specification of the instrument was:
Brisbane organ builder Simon Pierce
was contracted to carry out works
including a total revoicing of each
stop of the organ and the result is
most interesting. The wind pressure
was raised from around 3” to 4”. The
complete tonal character of the organ
has been changed, and for the better.
The richness of the tone now fills the
Church but there is no screaming.
The fullness of the Mixture and the
quality of the Open Diapason has to
be heard to be believed. The Pedal
Bourdon has been extended with
12 new wooden stopped pipes for a
Bass Flute 8’. What has happened
here could be the start of a movement
to revoice organs rather than follow
the growing trend of discarding them
and installing an electronic instrument
with possibly a shorter life span. The
cost of carrying out the work at St
Peter’s was certainly a lot lower that
the cost of installing a comparable
electronic instrument.
Within the scope of works was the job
of turning the console 90° so that the
GREAT
Open Diapason
8
Dulciana8
Principal4
Fifteenth2
CHOIR
Rohr Flute
8
Gemshorn4
PEDAL
Bourdon16
The new specification is:
GREAT
Open Diapason
8
Dulciana8
Principal4
Fifteenth2
MixtureII
CHOIR
Rohr Flute
8
Gemshorn4
Larigot
1 1/3
PEDAL
Bourdon16
Bass Flute
8
Couplers:
Choir Octav
Choir to Great
Choir Octave to Great
Great to Pedal
Choir to Pedal
South Island Organ Co Ltd
by John Hargraves
St George's Anglican Cathedral,
Perth, WA:
In mid October I experienced one of
the thrills of my career hearing music
director Joseph Nolan play an all Bach
recital on the Smenge west gallery
organ tonally regulated and revoiced
by John Gray, Patrick Elms and Colin
van der Lecq. When he brought on
the new Contra Bombarde 32’ in the
final variation of the 'Sei Gregusset'
Partita, it was like a glimpse of
heaven’s portal. Now we are voicing
and building a brass Fanfare Trumpet
8’ addition to the Positive division to
be completed in time for Easter 2011.
St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral,
Perth, WA:
In the same October trip I had the
pleasure of working with Patrick and
Colin, finally cleaning and tonally
finishing the two organs we rebuilt and
installed in time for the opening of St
Mary’s Catholic Cathedral, Perth,
last December. I think these are
possibly our finest creations and
therefore it’s worth sharing part of a
letter from Greg Russo the Cathedral’s
financial administrator. 'I would like
to thank you and your team for your
efforts in providing our Cathedral with
such wonderful instruments which
complement the completed Cathedral
both visually and acoustically.
Hopefully you are as proud of the
completed product as we are'.
Wesley College, Clunes VIC:
In November Gerald and Scott
transplanted the restored 19th
century chamber organ from
its temporary abode in Sacred
Heart Cathedral, Bendigo to
its traditional home in Wesley
bluestone church at Clunes (now the
performing arts centre of Wesley’s
country campus). The Bluestone
church has been magnificently
restored from near dereliction.
Mt Eden Methodist Church, Auckland:
Overhaul and restoration work on
the 1954 George Croft 2/23 organ
was completed in early October in
time for the reopening of the Church
restoration and redevelopment
project, as a community center for
Mt Eden Village. We have completed
the casework with matching side
panels to make it freestanding. The
complex is now a fantastic new
small concert venue for the city.
St Paul’s Trinity Pacific Presbyterian
Church, Christchurch: Restoration
work is progressing strongly in the
factory on the 1905 3/22 Hill organ
which was badly damaged in a fire
nearly two years ago. The latest
report from the loss adjuster says
that although the Church towers and
ceiling were damaged by the recent
earthquake, the building restoration
project is all set to go and should be
ready for installation of the restored
organ before the end of 2011. It will
be the first of Christchurch’s damaged
historic churches to be restored
because so much preparation was
done before the earthquake.
Wesley Methodist, Hastings:
Restoration of the slider-chest
underactions of the 1913 Pearce
2/16 organ was completed in
October by Gerald Green and Bryan
Jones. The work has made a huge
difference to the action of the organ,
which is now quiet and efficient.
Christchurch Earthquake Damaged
Organs: The earthquake of 4
Septemberand the myriad aftershocks
have seriously damaged many of
Christchurch’s historic churches.
Very few organs have been seriously
damaged although some are being
temporarily removed to facilitate
restoration of the Churches. So far we
have removed to storage the pipes
from Oxford Terrace Baptist and St
Matthew’s, Cranford St, and complete
organs from St Paul’s Catholic,
Dallington, and Holy Trinity, Avonside.
We are currently restoring the pipes
and rackboards of Trinity, Darfield,
and are preparing to remove the
organs of Durham St Methodist and
St John’s, Hororata. Further down the
track up to half a dozen more organs
will be removed. Most have now been
inspected and reports made, but
several are still not accessible due
to the dangerous condition of their
buildings. It would appear that all the
damaged Churches and organs will be
restored or replaced, including that of
St John’s, Hororata, which took a direct
hit from several large rocks from the
top of the tower through the ceiling.
Blitz Organ concert:
Our recent Sunday afternoon concert
in the SIOC factory on the ‘Blitz’
organ was a tremendous success.
Organist Jennifer Chou from
Melbourne presented a delightful one
hour programme to 90 enthusiastic
people who thoroughly enjoyed
the music in the ambience of our
workspace with Christmas cake
and ‘organpipe’ shortbread made
by Val for the ‘fore and afters’.
St Peter’s Anglican Church,
Wellington:
After 6 weeks, installation of the
restored 1885 3/26 Hill is nearing
completion as I write this article and
will bring to fruition a very satisfying
and exciting project. Wellington
organists have taken advantage of
the opportunity to share in this historic
event which will bring a new dimension
to the city’s lively organ scene. The
reconstruction work includes a dual
mechanical and electric action with
a new attached console and some
additions in the Hill style.
The organ will be officially reopened
with a service in the morning and
recital in the afternoon by the Director
of Music, Dianne Halliday on Sunday
13th February 2011 (almost 124
years after the original event).
Australian Pipe Organs Pty Ltd
by Robert Heatley
Sacred Heart Cathedral - Bendigo:
During the first week of December
the new Pedal Bombarde 32' pipes
were installed in this fine four manual
Bishop and Son instrument built in
1904 and rebuilt by the company in
1986.
This stop had been prepared for and
it was fitting that it has now been
installed to mark John Hogan’s thirty
years of service to the Sanhurst
Diocese.
This addition marks the completion of
the gallery organ.
St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church Coburg:
The fire damaged Church and organ
of 25 speaking stops, rebuilt and
installed by the company in 1986,
have both been restored with the first
services taking place in the first week
of December.
Removal of large areas of carpet and
replacement of some of the floor in
marble has resulted in a substantial
improvement to the carrying power
and overall sound of the instrument.
Camberwell Grammar School:
Installation of this large three manual
instrument in the Performing Arts
Centre is currently underway with
the case and 16' facade pipes to be
completed and installed in the new
year.
The instrument is to be dedicated and
opened on 10 March.
Projects for 2011 include:
SS Peter and Paul’s Roman Catholic
Church - South Melbourne:
Overhauling and installation of the
1950 S.T. Noad & Son instrument ex
Kogorah Presbyterian Church NSW to
replace the current organ.
The work is to include casework
alterations to include the current 1875
William Anderson stencilled facade
pipes, a new console and a new
solid-state switching system.
Canberra City Uniting Church:
Rebuilding of the 1925 instrument
built by George Fincham and Sons
and originally installed in St. Andrew’s
Presbyterian Church - Goulburn.
Below Left: St Peters, Wellington
(photo: John Hargraves)
Below: Sacred Heart Cathedral, Bendigo
(photo: Robert heatley)
Concert
Review
‘DINNER WITH LACHLAN’
St John’s Anglican
Church, Flinders
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Lachlan Redd, organ and piano
Reviewed by Christopher Trikilis
Lachlan Redd
(photo: Allegro Music)
Flinders, a small seaside town on the
Mornington Peninsula around one
hour’s drive from Melbourne proved
an idyllic location for this twilight
offering of delightful music and food.
Located in the small picturesque
19th-century red brick church is
a fine single-manual 1874 William
Anderson organ which was put
through its paces during the first half
of the evening’s proceedings. The
instrument, with stencilled pipes and
impressive case, fits and sounds
extremely well in its surroundings,
having been restored and installed
in the church some five years ago.
The afternoon sun shining through
the church’s leadlight windows
created a kaleidoscope of colour
complimenting the music. Lachlan
performed Pietro Yon’s much loved
Humouresque, Handel’s Water
Music and Bach’s Prelude and
Fugue in A major BWV 536 with
style and musicality conveying to
the audience the rich variety of
colour available on this instrument,
whilst overcoming some operational
obstacles including a short compass
pedal board of just 26 notes!
CD Reviews
THE ORGAN OF BUCKINGHAM
PALACE BALLROOM
Joseph Nolan, organ
Bechstein grand piano. The excellent
acoustics of the building enhanced
the deep, rich tone of the instrument,
with Lachlan in fine form performing
Handel’s Aria and Variations in B Flat,
Beethoven’s Appassionata Sonata in
F minor and concluding with Chopin’s
rippling Scherzo in B flat minor, Op.3.
Taking the opportunity in each
half to engage his audience by
talking a little about the music he
was going to perform, Lachlan
presented a fascinating program
of diverse works with great
musicianship and energy. The
slightly-unusual format of this concert
was most appealing to those in
attendance, and the two instruments
complimented each other well.
This was obviously an extremely
well planned event, as the audience
(by this time getting peckish) was
directed to the adjoining hall for
an impressive feast featuring local
produce and wines. The meal
time also an opportunity for those
attending to meet and talk with
the performer as well as others
in attendance – in a relaxed,
friendly atmosphere. The only
negative of the evening was that
there were insufficient chairs for
the numbers in attendance!
Gastronomically satisfied, the
audience trundled back into the
church at dusk for the second
half of this recital which featured
piano music performed on an 1889
St John's, Flinders, Vic
Signum Classics SIGCD114
Bach Passacaglia in C minor;
Vaughan Williams Rhosymedre;
Mendelssohn Sonata No 3; Dubois
Toccata; Rawsthorne Dance Suite
Reviewed by Bruce Steele
Those who were fortunate to
hear Nolan’s recent recital in the
Melbourne Town Hall will recall
his performance there of the
Rawsthorne Dance Suite. It, as
they say, brought the house down.
Now you can relive the experience
this time with all movements.
My only regret is that the program
is all too short. Not the world’s
greatest organ, but in the hands of
this master, it’s a must to listen to.
BACH CANTATAS: CANTATA
MOVEMENTS FOR ORGAN
FOUR HANDS
VOLUMES II (2007) AND IV (2009)
WestraMedia
Sybolt de Jong and
Euwe de Jong, organists
Joseph Nolan gave the inaugural
performance on the refurbished
(2002) organ of the Buckingham
Palace Ballroom organ. On this
CD recorded in 2006 we can now
all have the benefit of his splendid
playing on an interesting organ dating
from 1818. The informative booklet
gives specification and history of the
organ for those interested in such
things. For me it is the fine playing
of mostly well-known works that is
what is special about this CD.
Reviewed by Bruce Steele
Nolan has the rare gift of making
one believe that one is hearing a
work like the Bach Passacaglia or
even the Dubois Toccata for the
first time. His playing is unaffected
and 'right' for these works. It is
the same with the Mendelssohn
Sonata. One enjoys every note of
the works as if they were new.
Some time ago I reviewed Volume
I of this series of ingenious
arrangements of movements from
the Bach cantatas. These two
volumes from the ongoing series
contain works arranged by Sybolt
de Jong. Volume II is played on
the Christian Müller organ of the
Jacobijnerkerk in Leeuwarden which
dates from 1727 and Volume IV
is played on the Schnitger organ
of the Martinikerk in Groningen.
The earlier volumes in the series
consisted of a more or less random
selection of cantata movements,
occasionally arranged in the form of
a suite or a concerto. The fourth in
the series (and there is a fifth also)
arrange the movements in groups
according to the seasons of the
church year, beginning with Advent
and moving through Christmas,
Epiphany and New Year. Along
with this CD came two full scores
of the arrangements for Advent
and Christmas. They require at
least a three-manual organ to do
them justice. Mostly for manuals
only they are splendidly set out not
with primo and secondo on facing
pages but with combined scores
on each page. They are great fun
to play demanding concentration
but average technical ability.
Full specifications of each organ
are provided and details of the
registration for each piece are
given as well. The result makes for
intriguing listening. The playing is
meticulous and the sounds they
draw from these historic instruments
are quite ravishing – in Volume
II I found this particularly so.
In the CD booklet to Volume IV, the
players write: ‘Our arrangements
have provoked many reactions,
including several regarding the
texts of the transcribed works,
or, more specifically, the lack of
texts. Several writers have viewed
it as an advantage that the music has
been relieved of the 'heavy,
old-fashioned and pietistic texts'.
A text such as Mein Herze schwimmt
im Blut BWV 199, prompts in the
listener a telling shiver; our version
allows the listener to enjoy the music
free from the text’s connotations.
Although a CD booklet is hardly
the medium in which to begin such
a discussion, it is impossible to
avoid the fact that Bach’s music
is inextricably linked with the texts
of which it makes use. This is a
good enough reason for us, unlike
the previous three CDs, to include
the texts. We hope that this will
allow the listener to understand
more keenly the various rhetorical
gestures and compositional forms
employed by Bach, as well as
providing a meaningful context for
the thematic character of the CD.’
This whole project is highly
recommended.
For purchase or further information
the contacts are:
www.dejongdejong.nl
email: [email protected]
or WestraMedia
Euroweg 2c 9351 EN
Leek, Netherlands
TRIOSONATEN
Benjamin Righetti plays the 6
Trio Sonatas of J S Bach on 3
Felsberg organs at Lausanne,
Saint-Légier & Boudry
(Recording company 'K617', CD No.
223. Available from www.k617.fr.
The performer’s own site www.415.ch
also has a link to a YouTube video
promotion of the CD)
Reviewed by Peter Jewkes
From the outset this CD commands
interest, even before opening the
cover with its interesting postmodern multi-coloured portraits of
the 28 year old Swiss performer
upright, at 90 then at 180 degrees!
Both the unusual cover and the
accompanying booklet provide a
goodly amount of detail (photographic
and verbal) on performer, pieces,
pitch to pitch. This can be quite
disconcerting, and I would strongly
suggest that listeners take a short
break before playing successive
tracks where this occurs! (This of
course does not imply any problem
with the organs themselves, nor of
the general concept, which provides
a level of variety to off-set the
comparatively small size of each).
interpretation and instruments.
The playing is no less interesting.
Accurate and stylish throughout,
there is also a lovely sense of breath
through the phrasing. As noted
in these columns exactly a year
ago when reviewing Christopher
Wrench’s splendid recording of
these 6 Sonatas, it’s fascinating to
see the near 360 degree revolution
in recent years in the approach to
the registrations now deemed to
be authentic. Gone are the rules
never to use 16' Pedal stops, or
that the manual parts must always
have contrasting registrations – here
we have happy co-existence of 8'
manual Principals balancing each
other nicely, with some very beautiful
8' Flutes doing the same thing in
the quiet movements. I suspect I’d
have been roundly castigated as a
student for using a solo 16' reed in
the Pedal line, but Benjamin Righetti
does so with authenticity and aplomb.
The three different organs are
moderately sized 2 manual
instruments built respectively in
the style of Schnitger, in a generic
North German style, and as a
copy of a [Gottfried] Silbermann at
Grosshartmansdorf. All three have
distinctive charms of their own,
visually and tonally, and show how
far organbuilding has come in terms
of historically-informed work such as
this, especially when compared with
the 'bad old days' of Neo-Classicism
(though perhaps we needed those
days to bring us to these ones?).
My only quibble would be that the
changes from organ to organ also
involve changes from temperament
to temperament, and even from
Obres per orgue de Joan Baptista
Cabanilles (1644-1712) played
on the organ of the Basilica
Colegial de Santa Maria de los
Sagrados de Daroca (Aragon)
(Disc Medi Blau 4669-02)
This CD would make an excellent
acquisition for any organ lover’s
shelves, and is highly recommended.
Reviewed by Peter Jewkes
A reviewer’s life suddenly becomes
busier when a shipment of four CDs
from one player arrives unheralded, a
few weeks out from copy deadline!
Professor Miquel González is a
native of Barcelona, and presently
teaches organ and harpsichord at
the Municipal Conservatorium of
Lerida, whilst holding Organists’
posts at the churches of Santa Maria
in Badalona and Santa Anna in
Barcelona. His résumé speaks of a
distinguished career as performer,
academic and author. No information
on how to order these discs was
provided, and information on this
on the covers is scant. A business
card with the Professor González’s
name and address was the only
other inclusion in the package, so
one assumes these recordings would
be available from him personally, at
[email protected].
A Google search also revealed that at
least one of them was downloadable
from www.rapidsharedownloadz.com
As to the CDs themselves, here
is a précis of each, roughly
in chronological order:
I’m not sure if the sound of an organ
can be said to be colourful, but
to my ears this monastic monolith
is just as aurally colourful as its
splendid casework is visually. Again
the selections by four 18th century
composers are well played and utterly
apposite for the instrument in hand.
Musica D’Orgue a Catalunya
s.XVIII-s.XIX
A LARGE QUANTITY OF
SPANISH TREASURE!
Four CDs by Miquel González
We now move to an old friend in the
form of the Jordi Bosch organ of 1762
at Santanyi, previously reviewed in
these columns in a Priory Recording
entitled Historic Organs of Mallorca.
Anyone vaguely familiar with
Spanish organ music will know
the name of Cabanilles, and those
familiar with Spanish organs will
doubtless know the sight (if not the
sound) of this organ at Aragon,
which started life at the hands of
Pascual de Mallén in 1488, and had
its most recent restoration at the
collaborative hands of the Quoirin
and Hermanos firms in 2003-2006.
Here Miquel González regales the
listener with a stereotypical selection
of Tientos, Pasacalles, Battallas
and a Gallardas – all performed
with flair, well demonstrating this
ancient and venerable instrument.
Mestres organistes del
Monestir de Montserrat
(Music by Miquel López, Anselm Viola,
Narcis Casanoves & Antoni Soler)
(Discos Abadia de Montserrat DAM5003-CD)
(Music by Josep Elies, Joan Vila,
Josep Teixidor, Ramon Carnicer
& Magi Pontí) (Trito TD 0064)
Trito has an excellent website
www.trito.es at which this CD may be
sampled and/or purchased. This CD
was my personal favourite of the four,
and presents an excellent anthology,
documenting the evolution of Iberian
repertoire through the 18th and 19th
centuries. Organ-wise we now move
to a modern Spanish instrument
made in 2003 by the Blancafort
firm in Monserrat, whose huge new
instrument in Tenerife has also been
previously reviewed in these columns.
As with all four CDs, the playing
is first-rate, and the organs are all
enhanced by favourable acoustics.
El nou orgue de Montserrat
(Music by Bach, Viola, Casanoves,
Handel, Civil, Liszt, Segarra & Widor)
(Disc Medi Blau DM 4861-02)
Finally we come to another Blancafort
instrument, this time at the Basilica of
Montserrat, where Miquel González
was organist-accompanist of the
choir school from 1997 to 2001.
The organ is brand new (dated
2010) and of heroic proportions
and appearance, with 4 manuals
and 63 stops. It is described in the
liner notes as 'a Catalan, Iberian
and European instrument...capable
of tackling the entirety of our best
organ music tradition'. Thus whilst
eclectic in its overall outlook, it still
manages to speak with a decidedly
Spanish accent when required (and
sometimes where not required!) At
times the Bach-Kellner temperament
gives some surprising effects in
the modern and Romantic pieces,
and there are other times when the
tuning generally has minor problems,
but this is by any standards a
significant new instrument.
The playing on this last CD is
excellent, consistent with the
other three, and demonstrates
the performer’s versatility. The
programme (obviously conceived
to show off the new instrument
in as many guises as possible)
centres itself around well-known
pot-boilers such as the Bach
D minor Toccata & Fugue, the
entertaining Dubois arrangement
of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus,
Liszt B.A.C.H., finishing off with the
Widor Toccata for good measure.
Interspersed are pieces by Catalan
composers, from the 18th to 21st
Centuries which I found more
interesting, and by no means just
because they were unfamiliar. Of
great attraction is the sumptuous
rambling Virolai from the Montserrat
Diptych by Francesc Civil (18951990), based on a popular song to
the Virgin of Montserrat. Dedicated
to two of its monks, it exploits the
organ’s softer registers before its
stirring conclusion. Think Vierne
& Widor meet Bridge & Howells,
and you will just about have it!
All four discs are a tribute to the
skill of the performer, the recording
engineers, and the quality of
the instruments, and are highly
recommended.
FRANCK: INTÉGRALE
DE L’OEUVRE VOCALE
AVEC ORGUE, VOL. 2.
Diego Innocenzi (organ), Amandine
Lecras (cello), Botond Kostyak
(double-bass), Fabrice Pierre (harp),
Solistes de Lyon, Jeune Choeur
du Centre de la Voix Rhône-Alpes
/ Bernard Tétu (conductor).
Aeolus AE 10033 (SACD,
compatible with CD players)
Playing time: 80’56”
Reviewed by RJ Stove
This production is the second and
concluding instalment of César
Franck’s church music, Volume 1
(AE 10013) having appeared – with
the same conductor and many
of the same musicians – in 2007.
Whereas the previous compilation
consisted entirely of shortish tracks,
the new one centres upon the long
(45-minute) Messe à trois voix,
which, unusually for Franck, had
considerable revision carried out on
it. The final 1872 version differs from
the 1860 original in containing Panis
Angelicus (yes, that one), although
it is not clear whether Franck himself
realised that with this last-named
motet he had a gigantic hit on his
hands. As for the other movements,
they vary wildly in standards, and it
is surprising how tentative much of
this Mass setting sounds. Nor are
modern audiences likely to share
the rapture that Second Empire
congregations seem to have felt
when Franck’s evocation of heaven’s
joys causes him to fall back upon
almost incessant harp arpeggios. (He
and several French contemporaries
appear to have concluded that when
the going gets tough, the tough get
plucking.) One hears the Kyrie, rich
in potential, and expects the rest of
the Mass to be comparably good. No
such luck, though the Agnus Dei is
suitably poignant, and Bernard Tétu
and his extremely talented ensemble
make the best possible case for all of
the work (there have been a few other
CD versions, none really satisfactory).
The remaining items have
considerable power at their best.
Justus ut palma – for bass soloist and
three-part choir as well as organ – is
a world première recording; the sheet
music for it was not even published
until a few years back. Its most
obvious feature is a motive so similar
to the one which dominates the
Sanctus section of Fauré’s Requiem
that the resemblance cannot be
coincidental. Did Fauré hear Justus
ut palma while visiting Sainte-Clotilde,
perhaps? In any event, the motet
itself, if not one of Franck’s finest
things, is still agreeable to have.
More consistently impressive are
the disc’s examples of so-called
alternatim sacred composition, in
which passages of (accompanied)
chant are separated by somewhat
longer (though still short) organ
solos. The six solos which Franck
based on the Magnificat have a
curiously archaic sound, showing
their composer’s fingerprints only
now and then. They, too, might
constitute world première recordings,
along with the even finer alternatim
pieces which Franck devised for
the Kyrie of a Messe de Noël.
This Kyrie’s immediate genesis is
a simple, straightforward, chordal
setting by Franck’s fellow Walloon,
Henri Dumont, who had died in 1684.
Franck not only quotes Dumont but
makes open allusions in his finale to
Louis-Claude Daquin’s Noël Suisse.
In the release’s final track, Sortie –
also new to records, it would appear
– Franck cites the same Christmas
carol (‘Venez, divin Messie’) that
Michel-Richard Delalande had used
to moving effect in his early 18thcentury Suites des Simphonies.
Even now, Franck’s stylistic
debt to the French baroque is
insufficiently appreciated, which
makes it all the more congenial to
have these unassuming pieces in
such unfailingly lovely renditions.
Of special note throughout the
present release’s vocal contributions
(as with Volume 1) is the Gallic
pronunciation of Latin. Quite a
shock for habitués of England’s
collegiate choirs, but the ear adjusts
to the resultant tang of localism.
This extremely well-filled production
and its predecessor are the first
SACDs to come my way (well, my
family was the last in our Sydney
suburb to acquire colour television
too) and the overall sound quality,
as heard on a conventional CD
player, is unpretentiously fine.
Even more splendid is the trilingual
documentation, which includes not
just biographies of the performers,
but a full stop-list for the marvellous
Cavaillé-Coll organ employed (at
Saint François de Sales Church,
Lyon), and fascinating comments
on the actual music’s origins. Both
volumes come in environmentally
friendly packages, mostly comprising
laminated card-board. Either or both
discs can be ordered online, directly
from the manufacturer: www.aeolusmusic.com. Aeolus (based in
Germany, not in France) accepts
PayPal, for which relief much thanks.
If you have any enthusiasm for
nineteenth-century ecclesial writing
you will probably need Volume 2. But
do get Volume 1 first.

December 2010 - Organ Australia

Transcription

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