Daniel Moult

I’ve attended some memorable workshops given by Dan Moult.  He is excellent on practice and performance psychology, and I now try and stick to his insistence on total discipline right from the start of learning a piece – because his own playing is so wonderfully virtuosic and convincing.   Born in Manchester, he studied at Oxford (gaining his Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists with three of the top playing prizes, plus the joint award of the University’s John Betts Organ Scholarship ,while he was there).  Among his subsequent posts he spend seven years as Organist and Assistant Director of Coventry Cathedral, and five years as the Artistic Director of the London Organ Day.   He is much sought after as an educator: publishing several music editions for students, and writing frequently in the music press.  As a concert artist he performs around the world, and has many recordings to his credit – visit his website for lots more details and clips of Daniel in performance.

Dan’s next London recital is on 29th November 2014 at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church.   Full details below – in the meantime here are his answers to my five questions:

Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?

I’m learning two new, lighter pieces as “fillers” for some 2015/16 concerts – Harold Britton’s variations on I’ve got rhythm and Ad Wammes’ Toccata chromatica.  I’ll soon start to learn the formidable toccata by Patrick Gowers, as well as resurrect some of my core concert pieces for upcoming events.

What has been your best experience as an organist?

That’s very difficult indeed! A recent very enjoyable experience – and perhaps the strangest, too – was to get an invite to play in the town of Moult! After checking that the email invitation was not a friend’s practical joke, I went to give a concert on a beautifully restored small eighteenth century French organ. They even laid on a reception in the town hall afterwards, with some delicious local calvados!

What has been your worst experience as an organist?

Again, there’s a lot of competition for this one! I think it was probably a lightning strike during the organ voluntary of a live Radio 3 choral evensong a few years’ back. The blowers were not affected, but the sequencer reset itself (going back to zero). I had a few minutes of extreme stress trying to work out how to get back to my carefully laid plans, whilst being conscious of the red light in the console mirror… Horrific!

What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher? (and who was it?)

I’m so grateful to all my organ teachers, all of whom offered wonderful advice and insights at different stages of my progress. Perhaps the best was offered both by Jacques van Oortmerssen and Gordon Stewart – speeding something up really is the easy bit (for the most part): truly perfecting something at very slow practice speeds is where success lies.

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?

Further to Jacques and Gordon’s advice, I might add that when you practice slowly, it’s not just about achieving right notes: you must be constantly reviewing your physical and mental relaxation, too. I would also urge student organists to keep an open mind musically, at all times!

Daniel’s next London recital:

BLOOMSBURY CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH,  235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2 8EP
SATURDAY, 29th NOVEMBER at 4:00pm

Programme:

J.S. BACH (1685-1750)
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C (BWV 564)

CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS (1835-1921)
Benediction Nuptionale

JULIUS REUBKE (1834-1858)
Sonata on the 94th Psalm

CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS (arr. Guilmant)
Le Cygne

AD WAMMES (b.1953)
Toccata Chromatica

IAN FARRINGTON (b. 1977)
Live Wire

Admission free – retiring collection.   Organ concerts at Bloomsbury are always followed by an excellent buffet afterwards.

You might also like:

A Big Name at Bloomsbury Central

The art of concentration with Daniel Moult

The post Five questions for…..Daniel Moult appeared first on The Lady Organist.

Organist Jon Nisperos with mentor Mrs Diana Grace

Up till now my interviews have almost exclusively been with organists living and working in the UK – so I though you might enjoy an interview with a young South African organist.   Jon Nisperos and I have been exchanging emails about new organs in the UK amongst other things:  ‘I have always dreamed of travelling and exploring the many organs of the world’ says Jon.  He is 20, and was born in King Williams Town, South Africa and in 2000, moved to a small town called Berlin in the Eastern Cape Province, then moved back to King Williams Town in 2005.  He studied piano under John Thompson, and has been involved with the Choir at church since he was 8 years old.  It was when he joined the Senior Choir that he was inspired by the sound of the organ, and the many voices of the instrument.   In 2010 he took his oath as an official organist in the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ), an international religious organization.  After the senior organist had her first child and decided to take a break from playing ‘I am now the senior organist, and I am pretty much the youngest to be, because our congregation is small’  he says. He now plays for both Junior and Senior Choir, and teaches child beginner piano students at Church voluntarily and enjoys it very much. If need be, he travels to other groups of the Church of Christ in other parts of South Africa, mainly in the Free State Province.  He has a full time job as a Personal Assistant and has to fit his Church work around it.  Thanks, Jon, for taking the time to answer my five questions:

Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?
JS Bach’s Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude, a wonderful composition especially for a heavy mood – it takes you to that calm place inside. It was my favorite piece while studying piano, and then I was introduced to the organ and decided to find the organ notation for it. Shivers struck down my spine when I played it. It wasn’t much of a difference except that the bass pedals added much more value to the piece. The piece has a special meaning to me, though I don’t know if there are any words to it, but every note and phrase I play has a different role that is familiar to my past.

What has been your best experience as an organist?
Being organist has allowed me to explore more about the world of classical music. After having been assigned as full-pledged organist with my love for music, I volunteered to assist my piano tutor, Ms Petro Van Biljoen, with teaching piano basics at a local all-boys school. My best experience isn’t much of a “once-off” type, but rather “all the time”. When I play the very first note of Church hymns, there is a special connection within my body, the organ, the sounds, the hymns, and most especially, the Holy Spirit.

 What has been your worst experience as an organist?
I had one funny incident where I was playing a rather fast piece and looked down quickly at my feet and pedal board, and my spectacles jumped from my eyes to my mouth as I looked back up to my notes.  The worst I would say is when I was playing one time, and I think my stomach tried to reject something I ate for breakfast.  I had to run out, interrupting the ambience. I can never forget that day.

What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher?  (and who was it?)
Being self –taught for from the young age of 8 until 12, I wasn’t into meeting tutors.  It started with piano, and then I moved onto organ, studying under Mrs Diana Grace. I also had guidance from our then District Mentor, Mrs Helen Tumbaga, all the way from Rome, Italy. She’s now based in Germany. But I’ll never forget what Mrs Diana Grace said during a rehearsal, “Pray and Play”. It’s just as simple as that; being Christian, nothing could be clearer than this, and I thank her.

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
‘Breathe’, by that, I mean practice your pieces, familiarize yourself with them and make the organ ‘sing’. If you don’t breathe, the organ won’t sound well, Make the organ YOUR voice, feel it, and express your emotion through the voices.

Jon behind the organ at church – a Hammond Rhythm II

King Williams Town, South Africa / Morné van Rooyen

King Williams Town is in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, on the banks of the Buffalo River, about 30 minutes by motorway from the coast.  The Eastern Cape has played a prominent role in South African history.  In the latter half of the 18th century it was where black and white met for the first time, and King Williams Town was was the birthplace of black consciousness activist Steve Biko. 

Five questions for…Liam Cartwright

Five questions for…..Jennifer Bate

Five questions for…Carol Williams

The post Five questions for…..Jon Nisperos appeared first on The Lady Organist.

Liam Cartwright

Born in Worcestershire, Liam Cartwright won the Worcester Young Musician of the Year competition in 2000, and went on to study the organ with Margaret Phillips, David Graham and Sophie-Veronique Cauchefer-Choplin at the Royal College of Music, London, and in Paris.   Whilst at the RCM Liam made a point of travelling extensively and playing instruments throughout Europe, and as a recitalist he has performed throughout the UK and Europe, including at key festivals such as the Three Choirs Festival and the Edinburgh Festival.  In 2009 he gave a recital on the newly refurbished grand organ at St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

From 2007 to 1011 Liam was Director of Music at Great Missenden Parish Church, before being apointed Director of Music at High Wycombe Parish Church where he follows a distinguished line of musicians including Alasdair Ross and the late Richard Hickox.   The church has a fine choir and an equally fine Willis organ, with a musical tradition dating back over 150 years.

While at the RCM Liam continued piano studies with Kathron Sturrock and harpsichord studies with Robert Woolley, and is now much in demand as an accompanist, educator and adjudicator in addition to his ecclesiastical work.

His next recital is at St Mary’s Northchurch, the final recital in the splendid series devised to raise money for the organ repair fund  – details at the bottom of the page.  In the meantime, here are Liam’s answers to my five questions:

What piece of music are you studying at the moment, and why?
I’m currently learning Edward Elgar’s Vesper Voluntaries. They are a delightful set of miniature pieces which Elgar wrote to use liturgically whilst he was organist of St. George’s Roman Catholic Church in Worcester. They also make a charming set of recital pieces, containing many of the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic devices which are so characteristic of the composer. I am originally from Worcester, so Elgar’s music is very close to my heart.

What has been your best experience as an organist?
I was invited to give a recital on the newly refurbished organ in St. Paul’s Cathedral a few years ago. It was a beautiful summer’s day and lots of friends and family attended, as well as the general public, many of whom were visiting the capital from all corners of the globe. They were hugely appreciative, and it was a real privilege to perform in this iconic, world famous building.

What has been your worst experience as an organist?
I once gave a concert in Yorkshire with a trumpet player during my RCM days. The day before the performance there was a terrible snow storm, and I had to drive up from London in a blizzard. When I eventually arrived, I found that the organ, a four manual vintage Harrison with original tubular pneumatic action, was in a very bad state, and the extreme cold had rendered much of it completely unplayable. My car then got snowed in whilst I was rehearsing and I had to dig it out in order to travel to the relatives with whom I was staying that night. We just about got through the concert the following day, but it was not an experience I would like to repeat in a hurry!

What was the best piece of advice given to you by an organ teacher? (and who was it?)
I have been fortunate to study with some very fine organists, all of whom have taught me much, but I found the approach of my postgraduate tutor at the RCM, David Graham, particularly inspiring. He encouraged students to engage with a whole range of stylistic approaches to performance, and to spend a great deal of time registering music on new organs, trying out different stop combinations, and so forth. Ideas about performance, registration, stylistic issues and the like were constantly discussed, debated and reevaluated. It was real artistry, and completely opposite to the very prescriptive way in which many people teach, whereby all their students end up sounding like clones of each other. I found it hugely liberating.

What would be your own best piece of advice for organ students?
The most important advice I give to students is to travel. Get to know the work of all the important organ builders, at home and abroad. Play Howells at Hereford Cathedral, a Widor Symphony at St. Sulpice, Liszt at Merseburg Dom, J.S. Bach in East Germany, improvise at St. Dénis…. So much of the organ repertory was written with specific instruments, or styles of instruments in mind, and it is only by visiting these instruments and taking the music to them that one truly understands the intentions of the composer and the organ builder, and therefore begins to understand the music. It is utterly revelatory and probably the most exciting thing for me about being an organist.

Liam’s next recital:

ST MARY’S NORTHCHURCH, Berkhamsted, Herts, HP4 3QW
Thursday 10 July at 8pm 

Free admission, retiring collection in aid of Organ Repair Appeal

Parking to rear of church accessed from New Road
St Mary’s Northchurch website

Hilary Norris gave the first recital in the St Mary’s Northchurch series:

Five questions for…Hilary Norris

The post Five questions for…Liam Cartwright appeared first on The Lady Organist.

William McVicker

Dr William McVicker recently gave us an entertaining inaugural recital on the 1858 Walker organ at St Mary’s Ponsbourne, in Hertfordshire, after its restoration – he was consultant on the project, undertaken by Mander Organs of London.  As William was also behind the massive Royal Festival Hall organ restoration project which has been so much in the news this Spring, I had to grab the opportunity for an interview.

William read music as Organ Scholar at the College of St Hild & St Bede at Durham University, going on to be Caedmon Fellow and Director of Music.  He won a scholarship to study the organ in Paris in 1984 – and also a British Academy scholarship to study for a PhD in technical aspects of organ design.  Now combining the roles of performer and technical advisor, he is Organ Curator at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Director of Music at St Barnabas Church Dulwich, and a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music. He’s currently Chairman of the Association of Independent Organ Advisors among other posts – for more details see here.  And here are William’s answers to my five questions:

Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?
Bach’s Fantasia & Fugue in G minor. I have not played it in a while. I learned it from a Novello score in my teens and later relearned it from the Barenreiter edition which I now find too spaced out for comfort when I revisited the score recently. I turned the pages for David Goode at a concert and he used the Novello edition. It all seemed so familiar to me; when I ran through the work again using the Novello score I felt much more comfortable with it.

Secretly, I like all those indications ‘add full Swell’ etc.

What has been your best experience as an organist?
Playing for events at the Royal Festival Hall. I’ve given several recitals there now and 50 lecture demonstrations. Its a truly thrilling organ and the changes in acoustics have done wonders for its tonal balances.

What has been your worst experience as an organist?
Failing to turn up for a funeral. I totally forgot — I was so busy. It made me remember what a service we provide for the community. To forget a funeral is unforgivable and I feel terrible about it — even though it was many years ago.

What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher? (and who was it?)
My first teacher, Robert Warner, frequently said ‘now you’ve learned the notes I’ll go and listen to you from the nave’.

We often forget to ask someone to listen to balances and fail to ask the question: ‘does it sound good to the listener?’ Balancing from the console is fatal, as is trying to judge how much articulation is appropriate in a particular space.

Last summer my choir gave a concert in the Hofkirche in Dresden — a huge acoustic. We had to be disciplined enough to perform at slower speeds in that vast space and to be resourceful enough to make changes in our performance and phrasing during rehearsal.

Robert Warner’s advice has really shaped my experience of the organ in ways he could not have imagined.  When he first sent me down into the body of the church to listen to my sounds and registrations, I had no idea what he wanted me to listen for.  Now I understand what he was teaching me, I realise that some organists never listen carefully to the sounds they make!  And some organists are wedded to a tonal concept they somehow have in their head, without letting the organ they are performing on speak for itself.  One must work with an instrument’s character to get the best from it.  This is especially true of older organs, where English builders such as Willis, Hill, Lewis, Gray & Davison, JW Walker etc., all knew what they wanted to say in a tonal design.  These days we want organs to sound roughly the same: loud, brash, snappy, and equally resourceful in all types of repertoire.  Sometimes organists rebuild their instruments to conform with their ideas and consequently ruin a beautiful tonal scheme, designed and voiced by organ builders who knew their own mind. Robert’s early advice has really helped me in my work as an organ consultant, which now occupies most of my time.

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
Right hand only; left hand only; left hand and pedals; right hand and pedals; hands together; then hands and feet together.

Then do it all again.

Percy Buck’s left-hand and pedal exercises in The First Year at the Organ are good enough to last a whole lifetime. Following his phrasing needs genuine skill.

William McVicker (r) with John Pike Mander of Mander organs, at the inaugural recital on the 1858 Walker organ at St Mary’s Ponsbourne, Hertfordshire, after its restoration

The Royal Festival Hall Organ – one week on

A 50s revival – the London Royal Festival Hall organ

The post Five questions for…..William McVicker appeared first on The Lady Organist.

Katherine Dienes-Williams

Katherine Dienes-Williams was born and educated in Wellington, New Zealand, and was Organ Scholar and then Assistant Organist at Wellington Cathedral before she came to England to take up the position of Organ Scholar at Winchester Cathedral and Assistant Organist at Winchester College.   After a spell at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Liverpool, and then as Assistant Organist and Director of the Cathedral Girl’s Choir at Norwich Cathedral, she was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Guildford Cathedral in January 2008.  Her experience of choral conducting at the highest level means she is in demand as a choral workshop leader in the UK and the US – in July this year she will direct the RSCM Montréal course summer school near Boston, USA, and in January 2016 she will direct the combined RSCM summer school of Australia and New Zealand in Canberra, Australia.  As you can imagine she has given recitals around the world, including performing as organ soloist with UK orchestras the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé, the City of London Sinfonia and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  She is also active as a composer, having received several commissions both in the UK, the USA and New Zealand.  I’m looking forward to meeting Katherine next Saturday, when she plays as part of the recital series at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church in London.  Details at the bottom of the page.  In the meantime here are Katherine’s answers to my five questions:

What piece of music are you studying at the moment, and why?
At the moment, I have taken out the Saint-Saëns ‘Fantasie’ in E flat major to study, as I think it is a delightful, exuberant piece which I ought to add to my repertoire. I think it has the potential to demonstrate an organ’s colours well, and that audiences will enjoy hearing it (once I have learned it!)

What has been your best experience as an organist?
It’s very hard to pick just one, as I would choose so many!  – in the sense that I have played with orchestras, as solo recitalist and accompanied liturgical worship. Amongst the many experiences would be having the privilege of playing the Poulenc Organ Concerto with orchestra twice (the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of the late Sir Richard Hickox) and with the City of London Sinfonia (under the baton of Stephen Layton), as well as performing an arrangement of the Sinfonia from Cantata 29 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and John Rutter.
As organ recitalist, I have played in many different countries, and my fondest memories are of instruments I have enjoyed the most – the instrument at St. Katharinen’s Church in Braunschweig, Germany, the romantic German organ in Malchin, Germany, the organ of the Grote Kerk in Harlingen, the Netherlands – but these are but a few!
As liturgical organist, playing live on the radio and on television is at once nerve-wracking and exhilarating. Accompanying world-class choirs in our British Cathedrals is an honour and a privilege, and there have been countless magical moments that I have been privileged to be part of.

What has been your worse experience as an organist?
Checking the general settings just before I was to perform the Poulenc organ concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, only to find that they had all been changed. Fortunately, there was just time enough to re-set them.

What was the best piece of advice given to you by an organ teacher? And who was it?
David Hill once told me that I was playing a certain piece extremely well, but there wasn’t enough of ‘me’ in the performance. That gave me the freedom and encouragement to enjoy my playing so much more – and as for the great Dame Gillian Weir, she once taught me how to attack the starts of phrases at the keyboard – suffice it to say it involved one’s nose starting close to the keys and a dramatic backwards physical movement – but we’d better leave it there! Incidentally, Dame Gillian is without a doubt a consummate musician first and foremost but in my opinion she is also an outstanding teacher, and I am grateful to have had that benefit.

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
Practice, practice and practice till the music is engrained in your very being – and leave nothing to chance – not one piece of fingering, nor registration. Know what you want to say with each piece you encounter and think outwardly about how to express the music through colour and articulation – relate your pieces to their greater musical context and let your music- making be informed in this way.

Katherine working with the Choristers of Guildford Cathedral

Here are details of Katherine’s recital on Saturday:

BLOOMSBURY CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH
235 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2 8EP

Saturday 31st May at 4pm
Free Admission – Collection – Buffet

Herbert Howells (1892-1983)     Rhapsody No 3

Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers (1632-1714)     Kyrie

J.S. Bach (1685-1750)     Prelude and Fugue in E flat (St Anne)

William Albright (1944-1998)     Sweet sixteenths

Calvin Hampton (1938-1984)      At the Ballet

Edward Elgar (1857-1934)      Sonata in G (1st movt)

Guy Bovet (b. 1942)      Salamanca

You might also like:

Dame Gillian Weir

The post Five questions for…Katherine Dienes-Williams appeared first on The Lady Organist.

Nicky Fraser

Nicky Fraser converted from piano to organ eight years ago and under the guidance of Colin Tipple, has recently gained her ARCO.  (So she’s a bit like me, but further on!)   She’s organist at Inverleith St. Serf’s Church in Edinburgh, where the organ has just been renovated by Principal Pipe Organs of York  – so that’s another reason to be cheerful.   Nicky says “Principal Pipe Organs have brought this Rushworth & Dreaper organ back to its former glory, and much more.   The church has a wonderful acoustic – a perfect setting for this instrument with its quality solo stops.”  The acoustic is also enjoyed by the New Edinburgh Orchestra who give regular concerts in the church and who Nicky joined on the organ, in 2011, for a performance of the Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony.    She has given several recitals at Inverleith St. Serf’s, regularly including repertoire by French romantic and late romantic composers.   Her forthcoming recital there in September is part of the RCO’s 150 for 150 Recital Challenge and will be a triple celebration of the RCO’s 150th anniversary, Inverleith St. Serf’s newly-renovated organ and Nicky’s recent ARCO success.    Nicky runs a busy teaching practice in which she teaches piano, organ and some violin (she is a second-study string player).  Here are her answers to my five questions:

Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?
Several, in preparation for my recital in September to mark the organ renovation: my programme will include: Bach B minor Prelude and Fugue, BWV 544, and Guilmant Lamentation, opus 45 and Scherzo Symphonique.    I’m particularly looking forward to performing the Guilmant Lamentation, which is a narrative and highly emotional work.  It traces the composer’s deep sadness, intense anguish and quiet acceptance of the death of a friend killed by a shell in the bombardment of Paris, during the Franco-Prussian war.

What has been your best experience as an organist?
There are three.    The first was in 2011, when I was lucky enough to be asked by the New Edinburgh Orchestra (which gives several concerts a year at Inverleith St. Serf’s) to play the organ in the Saint- Saens Organ Symphony with them.  Was I glad I’d been on the National Centre for Orchestral Studies in 1986, albeit as a second-study violist!  The whole experience of playing this major work from the French romantics on the organ, with this orchestra, in my home church and then being asked back for three curtain calls(!), was definitely the highpoint of my musical life, so far.

Then, recently, I found out I had passed ARCO, making all my efforts since taking up the organ seriously in 2006 so very, very worthwhile.

And finally,  I have the extreme good fortune to be the incumbent organist in a church whose instrument has just been renovated.  In 2009, Principal Pipe Organs of York brought a new lease of life to our 1931 Rushworth and Dreaper 3-manual, 29-speaking-stop organ by upgrading the console.  Now, in early April 2014, they have completed the restoration of the organ’s pipework and bellows and have fitted new slider soundboards.  The result is like an old master painting that has been thoroughly cleaned up to let the original colours shine through, with some previous problems a thing of the past.   Principal Pipe Organs have done an absolutely wonderful job on our lovely instrument and I now have a real treat of an organ to play every week.   We have a schedule of concerts  planned over 2014 to highlight the renovation (including my own recital) and  today, I played our instrument for the first time since its renovation, for a delighted Minister and congregation at this Sunday morning’s service.   As for me?  I was thrilled!

What has been your worst experience as an organist?
It was early summer and I was playing for a wedding at my church.  At this time, all communication to the organist happened via a CCTV on top of the console, which faced away from the congregation.  There was strong sunlight that day, and our church lets in a lot of light.  Also, the wedding “warning” light on the console wasn’t working.   No matter.  I played various appropriate pieces before the service until it was time for the wedding to start.  Then at the appointed time, I looked up at the CCTV and saw the doors opening; I could see somebody’s hand going up and a hazy, sunlit outline of a woman in a long-ish, pale dress.  “Right – here’s the bride”, I thought, and launched into the entrance fanfare.   Yes, you’ve guessed it – it wasn’t the bride……..it was a wedding guest and a small child, who had now also become visible in the CCTV!   All the other guests thought this was really funny – a ripple of laughter went round the congregation – and what a grand entrance for the woman and little boy!!   I, on the other hand, felt a complete twit and crept back into whatever I’d been playing, until the real bride arrived.  Thank goodness our console has now been turned around and the organist can see what’s going on!!

What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher?  (and who was it?)
Thirty years ago, my mother asked me to accompany her school choir on the organ in Gounod’s Petite Messe Solonelle, on their trip to Assisi (she couldn’t get anybody else!).  However, my organ experience then was of manuals-only hymn-playing, from when I was ten years old.  What to do??  Well, very, very fortunately, my father knew the late Ralph Downes and to cut a long story short, I had a crash course of four lessons from this wonderful organist and teacher.  He gave me the basics of pedalling, legato playing and stop management (this was gold-dust in itself!), which I gave my best shot and tried really hard to get competent in a very short space of time.   After the fourth lesson, he wrote to me to wish me all the best in Assisi and at the end, he wrote – “Nihil desperandum” !   Now, this might seem a bit negative, but I’m so very glad I took his advice and didn’t “despair”, as I would never have gone later on to discover the instrument of my life and I certainly wouldn’t now have ARCO.

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
If you become a church organist, never neglect to practise the hymns before a service.  None of us need any prompting to practise fancy voluntaries that will demonstrate our abilities as organists.   But one of the main elements of the job, along with accompanying the choir, is to lead the congregation in their hymn singing.  Members of the congregation appreciate being supported by an organist whose registration highlights the words for them in each verse and who gives them the confidence to sing out.   The many opportunities to play voluntaries, give recitals etc are definitely the icing on the cake!

You might also like:

Ralph Downes and the Royal Festival Hall organ

Five questions for…..Jennifer Bate

Five questions for…Catherine Ennis

The post Five questions for…Nicky Fraser appeared first on The Lady Organist.

Hilary Norris, at Northchurch

Hilary Norris now works as a performer and teacher in Leominster, but is returning to St Mary’s Church, Northchurch, in Hertforshire, where she was Director of Music for three years from 1997, to give the opening recital in a series in aid of the organ repair appeal.  Hilary was Organ Scholar at Keble College Oxford, and then won scholarships to go on to study with Jacques van Oortmerssen in Amsterdam.   She has toured Sweden, Italy, Germany and Holland, and performs regularly in the UK,  often on harpsichord or organ continuo.  She is Director of Studies for the Diocese of Hereford Organists’ Training Scheme.   She has very happy memories of her time at St Mary’s Northchurch, and is delighted to open the recital series.  Full details of the recital at the end of this page.  In the meantime, here are my five questions for Hilary:

Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?
I am studying Schmüke dich, O liebe Seele, BWV 654,  J S Bach, because it is so beautiful and moving. Combining the movement needed in the left-hand with the ornaments in the right is a challenge. As ever, really understanding the pedal line is the key.

What has been your best experience as an organist?
I played the organ for the funeral of the mother of my closest friend. It was a sad, emotional but beautiful occasion. I took a risk with the final voluntary by playing a lovely, modern and up-lifting piece by Jesper Madsen. The family loved the choice of music and the atmosphere it created.  I love the fact that as organists we have the opportunity to play music that has a real function. It is a responsibility, but also a privilege.
(NB Hilary will play two chorales by Jesper Madsen in the recital on Thursday)

What has been your worst experience as an organist?
I often accompany choral societies and I have performed Fauré’s Requiem many times. On one occasion I was playing on an organ with multiple problems. In the middle of the Pie Jesu the tuba stop popped out of its own accord!

What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher?  (and who was it?)
My first organ teacher, Trevor Tipple, advised me to spend as much time as possible listening to combinations of stops on unfamiliar organs before making any registration choices.

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
I play with many chamber musicians. The best ones are always very familiar with the bass line and have strong opinions about how it should be played. As organists we have to create the feeling of a chamber ensemble or orchestra in much of the repertoire. Know the bass line and relate all decisions to this knowledge.

ORGAN RECITAL at St Mary’s, Northchurch to launch a recital series in aid of the Organ Repair Appeal

Thursday April 24th 2014, 7.30pm

High Street, Northchurch, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, HP4 3QW

The post Five questions for…Hilary Norris appeared first on The Lady Organist.

James Parsons (photo credit: Timothy Easter)

James Parsons is teaching us in Oxford this week, and even persuaded us today that transposition and harmonisation at sight were great fun – well almost.   He’s an enormously busy recitalist and teacher – organ tutor at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the RCO Academy Organ School, and Head of Student Development for the Royal College of Organists.  As soon as our course is over he’s running Set Your Sights! – an inspirational course giving teenage organists a taste of the organ scholar experience.  (More details at the bottom of the page.)   Inamongst he has managed to fit in an interview for the blog – and here are his answers to my five questions:

Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?
César Franck’s Prière—dusky, musky and hauntingly captivating—vying, in my view, for ‘Franck’s best piece’ with his Fantaisie-idylle in A.  I’ve long been aware of this alluring music, with its Wagnerian harmonic landscape, and have ‘hacked through’ it in private many times in the past, though back-burnering it as a shrine to visit with due observance in the future.  An encounter to one of Cavaillé-Coll’s three finest, happily unaltered, instruments last summer—that at St Étienne in Caen—alerted me that years are just slipping by and the time for learning Priére (that’s just ‘fingering’, yer know!) had come: had just been ravished by those fonds! But how did Franck really stretch those huge chords and play legato, well-endowed though we know he was! Not prepared to discuss my own endowments on your blog, Morwenna, but am enjoying devising ‘ways and means’! Happily, this week based in Oxford and with some free time between classes, I can spend time practising at my own College, Exeter, where I was Organ Scholar way back in the last Millennium—and  gain surrogate inspiration from the faux-Cavaillé in our  Sainte-Chapelle-inspired College shrine. A senior moment, of sorts!!

What has been your best experience as an organist?
Recently—the warmth of reception and huge audiences I experienced for two recitals I gave in Russia (Moscow RC Cathedral, and Kazan Conservatorium): sincere emotional response coupled with perceptive critique.

What has been your worst experience as an organist?
Oh—the start of the Albinoni Adagio—programmed at Oundle international Festival with strings under the baton of a mature conductor/ pianist/ broadcaster delivering his downbeat without reference to the monitor to verify I’d reached the console.

What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher?  (and who was it?)
“Mind your back” (the late, great George Miles—my second ever lesson at the age of 10) – referring, I think, to the importance of good posture at the console!  George deserves much greater recognition for his enlightenment back in the 1950s to ’80s, for his accomplished playing, and his hugely prescient influence as a teacher.   (For more on George Miles see George Miles WikipediaWikipedia.)

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
Learn oodles of repertoire as soon as you can (but properly—that’s just ‘fingering’, yer know!)  The younger you are when you engage with new pieces the more deeply they’ll settle.

SET YOUR SIGHTS!  based in Merton College this Saturday 12th April, gives teenage organists a taste of what it is like being an organ scholar: playing the organ, singing, and directing a choir.  Tutors this year alongside James are Margaret Phillips, Professor of Organ at the Royal College of Music, and one of today’s foremost recording artists, and Jeremy Summerley, Sterndale Bennett Lecturer in Music at the Royal Academy of Music, and a renowned choral conductor on the national stage.  Students will sing, conduct and play the organ in a service of Choral Evensong at the end of the day (5pm in Merton College Chapel) which is open to all.  For future courses keep an eye on the events page, or the RCO website.

RCO Easter Course 2014 – Thomas Trotter gets double-booked

RCO Easter Course 2014 – Sleeping at Merton

The post Five Questions for…..James Parsons appeared first on The Lady Organist.

Dr Jennifer Bate

This interview was first published in the run-up to Jennifer’s recital on 1st March 2014 at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church – which was fabulous by the way: the Liszt Ad nos, ad salutarem undam a masterclass in orchestration.  Details of her next recitals appear at the bottom of the page.

Jennifer Bate is in the top rank of international organists and has long been a favourite at all the world’s great festivals.   I was lucky enough to hear her play locally (at St James, Muswell Hill in north London, where her father was Organist and Choirmaster) a few years ago, when I was really rather hazy about the organ repertoire – she introduced me to the sound world of Olivier Messiaen, in a recital I will never forget.  Jennifer became Messiaen’s organist of choice after her recordings of his then complete works at Beauvais Cathedral in the 1980s.   All her scores are marked with his personal nuances of interpretation, and she continues to play his last masterpiece for organ, Livre du Saint Sacrement, from his own manuscript.

Her vast repertoire ranges from the 18th century to the most modern virtuoso scores – much of this is available in recordings, including the complete works of Franck, Mendelssohn, Messiaen, and a historic anthology, From Stanley to Wesley, all of which have received high acclaim.  More details from her website.

Jennifer gives masterclasses worldwide (and can deliver her education programme A Guide to the King of Instruments in any of five languages), and leads the annual Jennifer Bate Organ Academy for Girls.  She will open the first series of recitals on the refurbished organ at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 29th September 2014,  and you can hear her in London before then at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church on 1st March, in a recital which includes a UK premiere of one of her own works.   Full details at the bottom of this page – in the meantime here are Jennifer’s answers to my five questions:

Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?
My programmes are all completely different because I design them for each individual instrument and occasion. This means I often have a large number of works in preparation. I generally try to work about six months ahead, so I am now starting revision on the Suite Op 5 by Duruflé, which I am due to play at the Royal Festival Hall, 29 September.  Meanwhile, I am also working on my next London recital (Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, 1 March, 6.30) where the programme includes Liszt Fantasia and Fugue on ‘Ad nos, ad salutarem undam’ and the UK première of my latest composition, Suite on ‘Veni Creator Spiritus’.

What has been your best experience as an organist?
There have been many highlights, but one great event was the British première of Messiaen’s last great organ cycle, Livre du Saint Sacrement to a packed Westminster Cathedral, in the presence of the composer (7 October, 1986).  We worked together for three or four nights beforehand at the Cathedral and Messiaen was delighted with the organ.  The audience gave us a standing ovation for 25 minutes. The numerous press notices were stunning. The concert was televised and shown later on Channel 4.  The following week, I worked with Messiaen in Paris at Radio France.  When we finished rehearsals, he took me to his wonderful organ at l’Église de la Sainte Trinité and invited me to make the world première recording of Livre du Saint Sacrement on that instrument, with his help.  That was another thrilling experience.

What has been your worst experience as an organist?
I used to do a lot of work for the British Council, combining recitals with teaching and lecturing.  This sometimes took me to exotic places where the instruments were not always maintained very well.  Once, I gave a series of programmes in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and one of these was at a Methodist church.  There were 20-30 stops on the organ but no rank was working completely and some were not working at all.  Fortunately, different notes were missing on the few stops still speaking, so by combining them, transposing passages or improvising round the holes, I managed to put a programme together.  The front pipes leaned out at a dangerous angle and looked likely to fall on my head. The sound of the full organ was like a cow in labour!

What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher?  (and who was it?)
My father was a great teacher of the organ and had many students from all over the country as well as some from abroad.  He was the Organist and Choirmaster of St James’s Church, Muswell Hill.  The church was bombed in the war and the organ destroyed, so post-war he designed a remarkably beautiful instrument built by Harrison & Harrison.  I was so fortunate to be taught by him and allowed to practise on a “Rolls Royce” of an instrument.
One of his best pieces of advice was to befriend as many contemporary composers as possible.  He encouraged me to learn new concertos and to commission works. He would then invite the composers to the church to hear me play their music and give advice. Among the British composers that I got to know were Humphrey Searle, Sir Lennox Berkeley, Peter Dickinson, Andrzej Panufnik, Peter Racine Fricker, and Malcolm Williamson.  In 1975, at the invitation of the BBC, Olivier Messiaen and his wife, (the great pianist Yvonne Loriod), heard me for the first time playing a recital of Messiaen’s music at St James’s. They then came home for tea and it was the beginning of 17 years of friendship.

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
Probably one of my father’s sayings: “Always use your brain before you use your feet or fingers”!!

Details of Jennifer’s recital to open the International Organ Recitals series 2014/15 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London are here

Full details of the Bloomsbury Organ Concert Series here

This is Jennifer’s 70th birthday year – she cuts her cake after the Bloomsbury recital in March

The post Five questions for…..Jennifer Bate appeared first on The Lady Organist.

Frederick Stocken

Frederick Stocken is a British composer – the only child of a British-born father and a mother who came to the UK as a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany.  As Organ Scholar at St Catharine’s College Cambridge, he studied with Peter Hurford, gaining his ARCO at sixteen with five prizes (and a further three on gaining his FRCO).   He started composing as a fairly small child, though the first piece of music that came to the attention of the world in general was his Lament for Bosnia, which was top of the classical charts for several weeks.  This has led to one composing commission after another – see Frederick’s website for a full list and catalogue, and go to SoundCloud for clips.

He’s also an organist (currently Director of Music at St Mary’s Woodford in north London), and a tutor for the RCO Academy: I have the privilege of bringing my stumbling attempts at harmony and counterpoint for his comments, as I study towards ARCO.   His latest piece will be given its world premiere next month – see below.  In the meantime, here are Frederick’s answers to my five questions:

Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?
I’m trying to learn my own Faith, Love and Hope, which I’m giving the first performance of soon. Learning something I have written ‘for me’, as it were, has led to all sorts of revisions as the music gradually sinks into the system. This is in marked contrast to the experience I have had writing for other people, and especially for large forces, where there is usually little, or no, opportunity to revise the music before a first performance.  Playing the piece myself means I really have to ‘own’ every note (to use the jargon) in a very solid way, and that is a rewarding creative process that extends beyond what I thought would be the end of the writing.

What has been your best experience as an organist?
I can think of recitals in my teens where I really felt things were coming together for the first time, but I dare say I would blush if I were ever to hear a secret recording that had been made of those performances now. I remember some lessons I had with Peter Hurford with particular fondness, where he was introducing me to a much wider spectrum of possibilities for articulation than I had previously understood. I recall having some particularly satisfying lessons on Bach trio sonatas and thinking, gosh, this is wonderful – and subtle.

What has been your worst experience as an organist?
Mechanical failures of all sorts! One recent bizarre experience of a different nature – I was booked for a wedding on the other side of London, which took me nearly two hours to reach. The wedding was one and a quarter hours late starting. I was not required to play before because a string quartet had been hired, which I suppose was a blessing of a sort. Then, in the service, none of the hymns was announced to be sung – perhaps the frustrated priest was trying to make up for lost time – so, by the end of the service, I had played precisely nothing. There then ensued an unseemly dispute about whether I should be paid because I hadn’t played anything.

What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher?  (and who was it?)
“Eat two bananas thirty minutes before playing a recital” by Peter Hurford.  I do think I play better when I’ve followed the advice.

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
Perhaps: “Be a perfectionist in your practice but forgiving in your performances”.  This probably sounds banal, but there is quite a lot behind this statement, not least that most stumbles in performance actually stem from some internal criticism of what has already happened, not about the actual stumble itself. It’s important to realise the very different mentality needed for practice – where you are always looking backwards as well as forwards – from performance, where you must always try to be in the present and future.  Getting near to a performance, it’s important that you actually sometimes stop all those good practice habits and also practise performing itself – being careful to create strict boundaries between the two modes of work.

The first performance of Frederick’s Faith, Love, Hope will be during a recital at St Lawrence Jewry, next to Guildhall in the City of London, on Tuesday 11 February at 1pm.

You might also like:

Two organs from Grant, Degens and Bradbeer

Archangels from Frederick Stocken

The post Five questions for…..Frederick Stocken appeared first on The Lady Organist.