The Voice of King’s – new boxed set from Fugue State Films

Here’s a boxed set about the organ that is serious enough for organ buffs, but would make a great gift for anyone interested in classical music in general, or in our built heritage. Fugue State Films have just released Steven Benson’s documentary film A LEGEND REBORN : the Voice of Kings, which tells the story of the recent restoration of that ‘Rolls Royce’ of organs, the 1934 Harrison & Harrison organ in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. The story is ably presented by David Briggs (organ scholar at King’s 1981-84), who also demonstrates the organ with a performance of Reger, and a trademark improvisation.

In 2016, after 82 years of almost constant use, the organ needed restoration, with failing leatherwork, and other elements coming to the end of their lives. There were also plans on improving the sound in the process, particularly for the benefit of the organist sitting at the console, and re-ordering the awkward internal layout to make access and maintenance easier in the future. However, there was an underlying problem of timescale. Stakes were high: a project that should take two years had to be completed in nine months – the broadcast of the Ceremony of Nine Lessons and Carols, now an international eve-of-Christmas event, could not be compromised.

The film tells how colleagues at Harrison & Harrison rose to the challenge, with twenty-first-century project management supporting historic crafts and skills. With the nonchalance of craftsmen they make it all look so easy – one of my favourite moments in the film is two guys strolling back into the chapel, toting not one but two huge convoluted 32 ft Ophiclide pipes between them.

The details of the workmanship involved are fascinating, through the film sags a bit in the second half and is slightly overlong at 2 hours: but what organist could resist the entertaining sound of seriously off-colour organ pipes before H&H’s Head Voicer Andrew Scott started his work?

Wonderfully, the late Sir Stephen Cleobury was interviewed for the film, giving his perspective on the huge emotional signficance, world-wide, of this iconic instrument.

The box set countains 2 DVDs and 2 CDs, and the two CDs are a treat in their own right: performances by past King’s organ scholars of music suited to this instrument: French, English and German repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as two great Bach pieces. As befits the instrument’s status, this is serious organ music (no lollipops or transcriptions here). For a King’s organ scholar, this console is their ‘office’ – an instrument they play on a daily basis – and this familiarity results in performances that combine intensity with a certain confident élan. The first CD opens with a delightful version of Judith Bingham’s Incarnation with Shepherds Dancing by Dónal McCann. On the second CD Robert Quinney avoids bombast with a thoughtful and well-defined performance of Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue BWV 582, and Ashley Grote’s wistful registration for the opening bars of Vierne’s Carillon de Westminster conjures up Monet’s atmospheric paintings of the Thames.

The second of the DVDs is those CD performances, filmed. Not superfluous, as it turns out, particularly for organists, with the close-ups of pedalling and registration changes. Watching Robert Quinney’s calm management of both the console and the sheet music during the Passacaglia is an education in itself.

The boxed set itself lives up to Fugue State’s reputation for superb production values, much of this due to Sara Rawlinson’s photography of the details and textures of King’s College Chapel, and the organ. Sara has been shortlisted twice for Historic Photographer of the Year, and these photographs are part of a series which you can find on Sara’s website as a virtual exhibition: you can also buy them printed in a beautiful book. (I loved the book so much I’ve written about it seperately, here.)