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The Organ
by the Consultant, Thomas G Duncan, MA, B.Litt (Oxon)

In building an organ one aim must be paramount: authentic sound. Instruments surviving from previous centuries offer a good idea of how the music of, say, the Baroque French composers, or of Bach, or of Cesar Franck and his successors sounded or should sound. Of course, the quest for "authenticity" can be taken to extremes. An organ recently built in Oberlin College, Ohio reproduced a seventeenth century Dutch instrument not only in specification, in shape of pedal board and in square, bulky draw-stops, but even in the antique lettering of the stop-names. (It was not, however, hand-blown).

Some players, content to accept modern pedal boards, consoles, electric stop-actions and pistons (not least 'generals'), hold resolutely to the view that tracker action is the sine qua non of a proper instrument. From a player'' point of view a good tracker action is indeed ideal. It is dishonest to deny, however, that in historic and modern organs alike, tracker actions vary considerably and, when less than the best, can prove a barrier rather than a bond between player and instrument. To the listener, however, the difference between a good electric action (as in the present instrument) and a tracker action is, I believe, minimal, or, indeed, imperceptible.

The sound that reaches the listener's ear is of prime importance, and this is determined by four main factors - specification, position, layout and voicing. It will be seen that the specification, the range of stops of this organ, is such that most of the organ repertoire may be registered with little difficulty. The position of the organ in the west gallery could not be better. In the layout, the various departments are arranged largely in the classical manner with the Pedal partly on either side, the Choir, Great and Swell on separate levels, and with all pipes speaking directly into the Chapel. The Swell and Choir shutters open to a full 90º angle - non-existent, in effect, when fully open. The whole instrument is encased. Clearly an organ which seeks to be 'comprehensive' aspires to the impossible: a measure of compromise in the matter of authentic sound must arise since the voicing styles of the seventeenth century and the later nineteenth century were different. In the present instrument (strings apart) the voicing is classical; the realisation of the music of Bach and of the French Baroque masters has been the foremost consideration. Yet, the listener is invited to judge whether, be it Franck, Widor, Dupré or Howells suitable registration does not here too give forth a satisfactory sound.

Tribute must be paid to the firm of Harrison and Harrison. In particular, I wish to thank Mr Kenneth James not only for the artistry of his voicing but also for his invaluable advice throughout all the discussion involved in bringing this instrument into being.

© T G Duncan, University of St. Andrews, 1978

MISS GILLIAN WEIR

At 8.15pm on Tuesday 24th October 1978

A "Bouquet Garni" from the "Golden Age" of French Music

NICOLAS de GRIGNY (1671 - 1703) Dialogue sur les Grands Jeux
JEAN GUILAIN (fl. 1702) Récit de tierce en taille
Basse de trompette
JEAN TITELOUZE (1563 - 1633) Verset on "Ave Maris Stella"
JEAN-FRANCOIS DANDRIEU (1682 - 1738) Noel: "Joseph est bien-marié"
FRANCOIS COUPERIN (1668 - 1733) From the Gloria of "Messe pour les Paroisses"
Plein Jeu: Et in terra pax
Petitte fugue sur le Chromhorne: Benedicimus te
Dialogue en trio du Cornet et de la Tierce: Tu solus altissimus
LOUIS CLAUDE D'AQUIN (1694 - 1772) Noel Suisse

Happy 70th Birthday, Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen (b. 1908) Chants des Oiseaux (from "Livre d'Orgue")
Combat de la Mort et de la Vie (from "Les Corps Glorieux")
Joie et Clarté des Corps Glorieux (from "Les Corps Glorieux")

INTERVAL OF 15 MINUTES

J S BACH (1685 - 1750) Prelude and Fugue in D major BWV 532
Sonata in E flat in major BWV 525 (Allegro: Adagio: Allegro)
Passcaglia in C minor BWV 582

Programme Notes
by Lionel J Pike MA, D.Phil, ex-Organist and Choirmaster, Royal Holloway College (1965-2005)

Most people, if asked to name the greatest of all organ composers, would undoubtedly choose J S Bach. His music is so much the basis of any organist's repertoire that French Conservatories often teach nothing but Bach in their organ performance classes. But who ranks next to Bach? There would be a much greater measure of disagreement over this question. There is much to be said for naming the contemporary composer Olivier Messiaen, who belongs to the very flourishing school of French organ composers which goes back to Cesar Franck and Saint-Saens, and includes some splendid (but lesser-known) composers such as Tournemire, Dupré, Duruflé and Alain. There would certainly also be a strong lobby for naming a group of composers - rather than a single name - as ranking next to Bach in importance. We know this group as the "Classical (by which is really meant Baroque) French Organ Composers", and it is with works by some of them that Miss Gillian Weir is opening her recital tonight.

As with French music generally, the colour is all-important to this music. Indeed, so much is the correct tone-quality essential that most of the 'Classical French' composers wrote Prefaces to their works, explaining the art of registration (choosing and combining stops); and sometimes they likened the organist's art to that of the chef, for to both the right blend of textures, tastes and spices and the correct sauce is vital. Clearly such a tradition of registration must be taught to present-day players if this music, which relies so much on colour, is to have its proper impact; and this art can, of course, only be taught on an organ which is capable of producing the correct tonal qualities.

It was with these ideas in mind, and also considering the organ's use in liturgical services, that the specification was worked out by Thomas G Duncan and the pipes voiced by Mr Kenneth James. It is these aspects, too, that Miss Gillian Weir will be illustrating during the opening recital.

She begins with a "Bouquet Garni" from the "Golden Age" of French Music - that age when organ playing was likened to the culinary arts. The earliest composer represented here is Titelouze, often called "the father of French organ music". His organ works were published in two volumes, one of settings of plainsong hymns, the other of plainsong magnificats: alternate verses only are set, the intermediate ones being supplied in plainsong by a priest or choir. This arrangement is typical of the French classical composers generally: the music is very largely written for liturgical use, and arranged in collections of pieces of a similar tonality so that they can easily be performed in alternation with sung plainsong. It was, however, only after Titelouze that the art of French registration settled into the immediately recognisable patterns which the other composers in this section of the programme illustrate. Such patterns are the Grand Jeu, which demonstrates the reed stops; the Plein Jeu, which shows off the Mixtures; the pieces with a solo stop (such as the Cromorne) or combination of stops (such as the Cornet or Tierce), perhaps 'en taille' (in the tenor part).

Olivier Messiaen's 70th birthday falls on December 10th, and the second section of the programme anticipates this event. Messiaen, too, writes with the church very much in mind, though on the whole his organ music is not strictly 'liturgical'. Messiaen has always been fascinated by bird-song, Hindu rhythms, Catholic Theology, and 'the colours of the rainbow' - he himself associates chords and keys vividly with colour. 'Chants des Oiseaux' comes from Livre d'Orgue of 1951, and it makes the transition from the Classical French school to the modern one very neatly in that most of the earlier organ composers issued their pieces in collections called "Liver d'Orgue", just as Messiaen has done here. This piece forms the centre of the symmetrical, arch-like arrangement of the Livre d'Orgue, and it is one of Messiaen's many pieces incorporating bird-song. "Les Corps Glorieux" is a suite illustrating the life hereafter. The "Combat de la Mort de la Vie" derives its idea from the Easter Sequence "Victimae Paschali laudes" - 'death and life have engaged in a stupendous battle…'. The "Joie et Clarté" illustrates the freedom of the risen life, in music which uses the solo trumpet in a manner which one might consider a contemporary re-interpretation of the Baroque French composers' use of that stop.

The music of Bach closes the recital: here clarity of part-writing - the bringing out of the logic of the counterpoint -is of primary importance. Again the transition to this new area of Miss Gillian Weir's programme is made smoothly, for the Prelude and Fugue in D major is by no means a typical Bach work. We know that he was interested in French organ music, and this Prelude, for example, has strong indications of the influence of the styles used in the Grand Jeu (the opening fanfare-ish passage) and Plein Jeu (the long 'alla breve' - type section with its inexorable forward tread emphasised by the use of suspensions). The fugue is a dazzling show-piece, in which counterpoint is reduced to a minimum and the Baroque Concerto style and form are much more clearly in evidence. The Trio Sonata in E flat, though, well demonstrates the potentialities of the instrument for producing the clean contrapuntal lines more characteristic of Bach. The final work, the Passacaglia, is ideal for demonstrating the organ's resources, for a Passacaglia is a set of variations on a recurring bass, and different combinations of stops can be drawn to suit these variations. A triple fugue, of which one of the three subjects is that of the Passacaglia itself, rounds off the work.

© Lionel J Pike, 1978