One of the joys of a series of concerts given by different performers on the same organ is the variety of styles and techniques each employs. Many of the large and appreciative audience would have known that Nigel Ogden would bring a very different approach to the other performances of the series. They were not to be disappointed.

The evening began in (almost) conventional organ recital mode with 2 familiar marches by Walton. True to form, though, Nigel presented them in what is sometimes now referred to as a mash-up beginning and ending with parts of Crown Imperial, with some of Orb & Sceptre in between. He next paired Bach’s Toccata in D minor with Alec Templeton’s Bach goes to town, demonstrating how easily he is able to move from one style to another. After a selection from German’s Merrie England Massenet’s Meditation from Thais allowed for a change of mood and a beautiful pared back registration complete with tremulant. A medley of music from Luigini’s Ballet Egyptian preceded an unashamed advertisement with a selection of music featured on 2 currently available CDs!

The second half opened in martial mood with a selection by Sousa. After this came a well thought-out arrangement of James Horner’s music from the film Titanic. It began with a most haunting introduction, leading into the well-known song My heart will go on through a dramatic sequence and ending with a subdued hymn tune Nearer my God to Thee.  Nigel really seemed at home in this and the rest of the programme as by now he had moved into full theatre organ mode.

A selection from Lehar’s The Merry Widow commemorated the diamond jubilee of the MGM film of the show. Following on from this was a highly inventive Gershwin medley that included a fair amount of swing as well as a late night jazz interpretation of Summertime. Nigel’s technical skills and awareness of the potential of this organ’s rich palette were to the fore as he ‘thumbed down’ (accompanying a solo line with the rest of his fingers on the same hand) and produced some beautifully reverberating timbres, at times reminiscent of a Compton melotone unit.

Further medleys of well known classics and songs from several decades (including most unexpectedly, Postman Pat) were all played with style, bringing the programme to an end.

Two encores followed. First there was a brilliantly cheeky set of short variations in different styles on When the Saints go marching in, ending with the melody in the pedals with a Widor Toccata-like accompaniment above.  Show me the way to go home brought this excellent concert to a (final) close. Once again  the organist Entertained. SP

CANTABILE with Molly Townson & Richard Eldridge

Guestling Church Saturday 7 July

‘More’ because last years’  Songs for a Summer Evening was so popular, ‘Cantabile’  the musical term  for singing sweetly, which is exactly what  Molly Townson’s fifteen sopranos, mezzos and contraltos did, filling Guestling’s historic edifice with music ancient and modern.  Not only sweet, however.  Spirited and softer by turns were the melodies penned by composers six hundred years ago and their counterparts today.

With Richard Eldridge’s unobtrusively supportive piano accompaniment and Molly giving the ensemble the assurance of her expertise the result was thoroughly appreciated by a capacity audience.

Elgar always gives us ‘a good tune’ as he revealed in As Torrents in Summer, and My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land.  Back-tracking to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, 1570’s Sister Awake and 1557’s Sweet Nymph, Come to thy Lover were madrigals written to be sung without instrumental accompaniment. Sixteenth century pop songs?

From our great-grand-parents’ era came Song of Shadows, music by Essex-born Armstrong Gibbs, words a poem by Walter de la Mare, the two having a prolific working partnership, reverting to the traditional with Long Time Ago.

The guest artiste is invariably a ‘household name’ performer rarely in the first flush of youth.  This guest artiste was very different, Molly recognising her potential four years ago when aged seven she declared her favourite composer to be Mozart.  In a gold sequined dress and with Molly accompanying Katie Wren delighted the audience with lullabies by Schubert, Hugh Roberton and who else? Mozart.

The first half ended with Albert Malotte’s tuneful arrangement of the Lord’s Prayer.

The ever-popular Amazing Grace opened the second half, followed by four spirituals from the choir, before Molly revealed another string to her bow by diffidently introducing two of her own poems, both different, both delightful. The first reflected her thoughts on seeing a bed of anemones, then a host of bluebells in Guestling Wood, and the second, a graphic account of a visit to Canterbury.

Howard Goodall’s Love Divine and John Rutter’s Gaelic Blessing gave the choir the opportunity to show their prowess in modern mode.       

The  Reverend John Burgess thanked Molly and all concerned on behalf of Guestling St Laurence Church, the proceeds going to the Restoration Fund, before the evening closed on John Rutter’s gentle benediction, The Lord Bless You and Keep You. MW                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Etchingham Music Festival Thursday 12 July

The rain came down in torrents but Etchingham Festival’s devotees were not going to let that deter them from their annual treat by the Festival’s Patron Peter Katin whose expertise filled the ancient village church as aassuredly as it has filled concert halls from Carnegie Hall to the Melbourne Symphony.

Schubert was incredibly prolific, particularly considering his short life – he died aged only thirty-one.  The three Impromptus which opened the evening varied in approach.. The first in A flat, was contemplative, almost as though he had premonitions. The second in B flat was lighter, more familiar, the third in E flat varied from a serious opening note to a brighter finale. Beethoven is not a name immediately associated with Peter’s programmes yet the first notes of the Grande Sonata Pathétique emerged with high fidelity definition and total dedication. Slowly, solemnly as this was penned at the time when the composer was losing his hearing, then this changed. It grew lighter, brighter, the second movement a song without words, the third with moments of rapture falling away to a solemn finale.   Claude Debussy’s delightful Children’s Corner Suite of contrasting short pieces which opened the second half ranged from a lullaby through a serenade to a doll to dancing snowflakes and the finale of the Golliwog’s Cakewalk. All charming and painting a miniature in a few bars. Why is only this last regularly heard?   

To close were two works by the composer for whom the interpretation of his works Peter is justly world-famous, Chopin’s Nocturne in D flat and the No 3 Ballade in A flat minor. 

A sudden thought – has Peter in common with we lesser mortals a preference for flat keys above sharps? (A flat, B flat etc E flat etc rather than G major, D major, A major etc.) Perish the thought!  A secret which Peter keeps well and truly hidden. What does it matter as long as he continues to delight us with his genius? MW                                                                                                                                                                                             

 David Flood  23 July

The most interesting parts of this concert came at the beginning and the end. The opening Tema met Variaties by H Andriessen brought us a full range of colour and some challenging, but not upsetting, harmonies. The encore – Fiat Lux by Dubois – had the most pleasing articulation of the evening and the most sparkle.

For much of the time in between the playing was proficient but rarely exciting. Bach’s Wedge Prelude and Fugue had little sense of emotional involvement in its phrasing and the registration lacked colour and dynamic. Guilmant’s March on a theme of Handel was effectively another prelude and fugue, with some rather aggressive use of the swell pedal. Mendelssohn’s Fourth Organ Sonata fared rather better with some fire and energy towards the end.

Franck’s Cantabile opened the second half followed by yet another prelude and fugue – this time Durufle’s reflective composition on the name ALAIN. It had some effective moments but the opening was lost within the depths of the instrument.

Flor Peeters Lied to the flowers is a gentle, fascinating work which requires a highly sensitive palate of tone colour. The pentatonic melody lines are beguiling but need a far softer registration than it was given here.

The finale from Widor’s sixth symphony made for an exciting close even if, by now, the impact of the concert had been lost. David Flood has played in Hastings a number of times previously and is known as a fine performer. Unfortunately this was not one of his strongest appearances. BH

Next Monday 30 July Nigel Ogden ‘Mr Organist Entertains’

It is easy to forget how flexible an instrument the All Saints Willis actually is, but surely not when under the command of an organist with the stamina of D’Arcy Trinkwon. The opening Prelude & Fugue in C by Johann Krebs was convincingly crisp and bright, with a real North German twang to it. Even the lengthy pedal passages and the dance-like fugue belied the weight of the action and the large amount of coupling involved. The baroque sound was carried over into an arrangement of Handel’s Concerto Op4 No5, with delightful, almost cheeky, ornamentation in the final movement.

Mendelssohn’s Prelude & Fugue Op37 No3 brought us firmly into the 19^th century, with virtuoso writing which never becomes flashy, though it does allow for some neat dexterity in registration and rapid changes across the manuals.

Frederick Holloway’s Scherzo from his Organ Symphony Op47 was unfamiliar but made a fluttering interlude before the power of Boellmann’s Suite Gothique.

I had not realised that Flor Peeters’ Modale Suite was based on Boellmann’s, but playing them back to back was fascinating if only to see how the younger composer drew on the emotional content of the earlier work, reforming it into a more contemporary image. It is unashamedly lyrical in style and often florid in its writing which certainly suited D’Arcy Trinkwon’s approach.

The Berceuse and Impromptu by Vierne were used as a reflective bridge into Liszt’s Fantasia and Fugue on BACH. If there were problems of clarity in this performance they were not down to the organist. Jean Guillou delights in overblown textures which can ring round the vast spaces of St Eustache in Paris, and his arrangement would probably excite there, but there were times even D’Arcy Trinkwon’s dexterity was thwarted by the density of the version which almost pushed the Willis beyond its comfort zone.

This was even more obvious in the delightful encore Toccata which had all the fury of the Liszt but the clarity and finesse of the earlier baroque pieces. BH

Next Week – David Flood – 7.30pm All Saints Church, Hastings with works by Bach, Mendelssohn, Durufle, Vierne and Widor.

Friday 13 July:  Alison Bury, violin; Neil McLaren, flute; Catherine Rimer, cello; Tom Foster, harpsichord

In 1747 J S Bach was challenged by Frederick the Great to improvise on what he thought was an almost impossible theme. Not only did Bach do so immediately but soon afterwards came up with a range of works based on the theme which we know collectively as The Musical Offering.

This event made a useful hook for a concert which drew on a number of chamber works of the same date, all of which had connections with Frederick the Great, opening with a Trio Sonata by Karl Heinrich Graun. As with most works of the period, the flute and violin have the more interesting parts while the cello and harpsichord form a continuo bass. This particular sonata was probably receiving its British premier in that it had been trawled by Neil McLaren from the libraries in Dresden, now miraculously open to all via the internet. It made a lively start to a compelling evening.

A violin sonata by Franz Bender followed, allowed us to hear Alison Bury’s solo work with greater clarity and warmth. The flute sonata by J J Quantz was No 348 of more 400 which the composer completed, and demonstrated that he was not only a prolific composer but a virtuoso performer given the lighting speed of articulation needed to bring the work to life. The use of Eb major brought an added warmth to the playing which was aided by the close acoustic of the church.

A trio sonata by C P E Bach ended the first half and the second opened with the only harpsichord solo of the evening – a collection of brief dances by Johann Philipp Kirnberger. After three rather formal pieces came a delightful les tamborins with its hurdy-gurdy bass, and a final Cossack dance, which was somewhere between a rondo and a set of variations. Tom Foster had put the lid back on the harpsichord for this work and it was a pity it was not there throughout as the sound was far richer.

The evening ended with the trio sonata from Bach’s Musical Offering. If the cello had been reduced to mirroring the bass line in some of the earlier pieces, here at last was writing which enabled Catherine Rimer to show the beauty of line her baroque cello can produce. The bass line in the second movement was worthy of being heard as a solo, so beautifully crafted is it.

There are already plans for next year, and the large audience was certainly enthusiastic enough to justify it. We might tactfully ask, in the planning for that event, for a microphone to be available for the introductions, as friends towards the back of the church heard none of the them, and for a brief printed programme to be offered, even if only an A5 sheet with a list of works and performers.  No point in spoiling a fine evening when a little extra preparation could make it perfect. BH

Richard Eldridge  9 July 2012

A large and appreciative audience were in attendance for the opening concert in the 24^th annual season of organ concerts at All Saints Church. These concerts have a loyal local audience and also aim to attract visitors to the town during the summer. The Father Willis organ was once again to be heard in all its glory, on this occasion by former parish organist Richard Eldridge.

By his own admission Richard’s programme was rather overbalanced in favour of the loud and fast. There were some fine virtuosic performances but, for me, it was the more reflective moments that  were the most satisfying.

A slightly erratic rendition of Murrill’s Carillon was a good opener followed by Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A minor BWV 543. Richard seemed much more at home with Mendelssohn’s Sonata No 2 which allowed for more contrast in pace and registration, including a chance for the clarinet to speak out.  A bright and breezy performance of Stanley’s Voluntary No 8 in A minor was very pleasing and included some exposure for the beautiful choir flutes. Franck’s majestic Piece Heroique came next, allowing Richard’s knowledge of the All Saints organ a chance to come to the fore with numerous changes in registration and much excitement (if again a bit on the fast side).

After the interval the performer’s own arrangement of material from Wagner’s Mastersingers Overture and then Percy Fletcher’s well-known Festival Toccata. This was followed by perhaps the most interesting item in the programme. Anwyn by P Homes is based on Welsh mythology and Richard felt very at home with this piece full of interesting and sometimes ethereal harmonies and registration, as well as passages of excitement and rhythmic intensity. Two contrasting pieces by Lefebure-Wely brought the programme to an end – a quiet Andante and one of the two famous Sorties – this one in Eb – always a crowd pleaser but again did it have to be so fast? A much quieter performance of Shubert’s Marche Militaire was a welcome encore.

Richard engaged the audience well throughout the evening with his often humorous anecdotes and explanations despite a breakdown with the sound system.

It is to be hoped that subsequent concerts in the season are as well attended. We heard that plans for the next (Jubilee) Season are already well underway. SP

Next Monday at 7.30pm D’Arcy Trinkwon

Hastings Unitarian Church, 9 June 2012 

With its showpiece eighteenth century Snetzler organ, handsomely refurbished, its mentors Dr Brian Hick and organist Stephen Page felt the time was ripe to present something a little different in middle-of-the-road music. The result attracted a most appreciative Saturday afternoon audience, just enough familiar music to give assurance, just enough lesser-known to prove a talking-point.

J S Bach’s Prelude in G major BWV 568 as an opener, and Mozart’s Andante for Musical Clock fulfilled the former, and Arthur Wills’ Lullaby for a Royal Prince and Fisher’s Preludes & Fugues in D & Eb the latter.  A complete change to near-present day came with Charles Williams’ Devil’s Galop.  Williams was a highly respected writer of film music, and this piece saw long service as the theme for the BBC’s radio series Dick Barton – Special Agent. ‘Galop’ in this sense refers not to a horse letting off steam but a nineteenth century in-the-round ballroom dance.

The programme ended with an organ favourite, Lefebure-Wely’s Sortie in E flat, ‘sortie’ being the equivalent of what is known as a ‘chaser’, a fast, loud piece traditionally played by the orchestra at the end of a performance to hurry the audience out of the theatre.

Not that this audience wanted to leave.  On Saturday they were only too anxious to have a few words with Brian and Stephen about the venture, regarding which Stephen explains, ‘We had found there was an audience for something slightly different combining ‘serious’  and ‘light’ music and we hope these concerts prove it.’

Saturday’s certainly did. The next is on Saturday August 11th at 2.30 p.m.in the Unitarian Church in South Terrace, off Queen’s Road.  Admission free with donations .  You will be very welcome. MW

 White Rock Theatre, Hastings  10 April

 Bill Kenwright’s touring version of Joseph has a lot going for it. The large cast provide both the ample choral force and the individual characters, all of whom are convincingly created and warmly appreciated. The text carries well, even if somewhat over-amplified, and the humour makes its mark. The staging is simple but magnificent, with a lighting rig many amateur performers would give anything for.

Some numbers are particularly well done.  The twenties pastiche for Potiphar and the western One more angel  both score highly in terms of vocal aplomb and dancing. When it was first conceived Elvis was still very much alive and working, but today the presence of the ‘King’ does not quite have the same impact as it appears to be a characterisation of a cartoon memory of Elvis rather than an homage. But all of this passes slickly and enjoyably by.

The problem lies with the casting of Joseph himself. While it was obvious many in the audience knew who Keith Jack was from his television history, those of us who tend only to see live performances were somewhat uneasy. He sings quite well, though without any sense of emotional impact or moulding a musical line to create character. But his inability to act or dance was only too quickly heightened by the high quality of the work around him. When the story line effectively came to an end and the company set out to enjoy a knees-up reprieve of all the best bits, Keith Jack vanished from the stage, only to return for a slow rendition of his hit number.

I accept that TV series can help to build audiences, but it is disconcerting to find that the weakest member of the ensemble is a better dancer than the lead. BH

White Rock Theatre Hastings, 24 April

Ballet designers and choreographers love to include balls and grand occasions to allow the dancers to display their expertise. Swan Lake is no exception opening with a series of varied dance styles, with the heroine Odette the leader of the swans not appearing until Act 2 (in theatre parlance a  ‘nine o’clock spot’.) Very well worth waiting for she was, played by the delightful and diminutive Ryoko Yacyu.

With the familiar Tchaikovsky score, it was immediately obvious that the dancers are accustomed to working to electronic music. Following the original choreography of Marius Petipa,  Prince Siegfried, Richard Hackett, meets Odette by the lake of the title, when she explains how she and her friends have been turned into swans by the wicked magician Rothbart, to be restored only by the love of a prince.

The dual role of Odette/Odile, traditionally the one in white tutu, the other in black, has brought fame to prima ballerinas from its premiere in 1877 with the revered Pierrina Legnani, in the 20th century Alicia Markova, Margot Fonteyn, and Darcy Bussell, and today Ryoko, who created an instant rapport with the audience.  In a company of all-round ability, outstanding was the youthful athleticism of Italian Francesco Bruni as the Jester, and the quartet Jodie McKnight, Akiho Sakuraba, Felicity Ramsay and Annie Cannon, who presented as a vital part of the story the frequently-parodied Dance of the Cygnets.

The happy ending was greeted by the audience with resounding applause. MW