It is difficult to imagine that
a major organ work by one of Wales’s most significant composers has disappeared
from the repertoire. Certainly, there is no recording of this 50-year-old work available:
no one has chosen to upload a performance onto YouTube. I was unable to find any references to its
inclusion in recent recital performances. This does not mean to say that parish
church and cathedral organists do not give Alun Hoddinott’s Sarum Fanfare
an occasional outing after Evensong or the Eucharist. Yet is does seem to have
suffered the fate of so much music written at this time.
The Sarum Fanfare, op.37,
no.3, completed in April 1970, was commissioned by Oxford University Press for
inclusion in their series of Modern Organ Music. Three volumes were
published between 1965 and 1974. The other two compositions Hoddinott shared
this opus number with included the Toccata alla giga, op.37 (1964) and
the Intrada, op.37 no.2 (1967). The former appears in Modern Organ
Music Book 1 and the latter in Easy Modern Organ Music, Book 1.
Sarum Fanfare would
eventually be published in Book 3 which also included Douglas Mews’ Gigue de
Pan, Robert Sherlaw Johnson’s Trope on ‘Canite Tuba’, James Brown’s ‘Scherzo’
and Sebastian Forbes’s Tableau.
Sarum Fanfare received its
premiere performance by Michael Smith at Salisbury Cathedral on 2 May 1970. I
was unable to locate any reviews of this event. It was heard during a service
held in commemoration of the 750th anniversary of the laying of the Cathedral’s
foundation stone. This historic event occurred on the Feast of St. Vitalis the
Martyr 28 April 1220 overseen by a certain Bishop Richard Poore.
The Sarum Fanfare uses precious little musical material
in its design. Virtually all is announced in the first eight bars. Opening ‘ff’
this piece maintains its momentum and power for much of the piece. There are
two episodes or inventions which call for a diminution of sound for a few bars,
before returning to noisy ‘fanfare’. The part writing is typically florid,
chromatic and presents what is effectively ostinato figures of widely varying
length. The piece has no time signature but is barred. In the sections of the work
demanding rapid figuration in semiquavers, each bar increases their
number. Matthew-Walker (2012) has characterised
this as being like ‘a proliferating flower in summer’s early morning.’ This
‘toccata-like’ piece is played ‘presto’ throughout save for the final six bars
at ‘maestoso’ where the ostinato is presented vertically in massive chords,
supported by ear-shattering pedal notes.
Stewart Craggs was unable to
locate the date and venue of the first London performance of the Sarum Fanfare.
Matthew-Walker
(2012) goes a little further. and refers to a handwritten note by Hoddinott
suggesting that this was on 20th October 1984: unfortunately, the composer
omitted to mention the name of the organist and venue.
Peter Williams (Music &
Letters, October 1974) reviewing Modern Organ Music Book 3 suggested
that Hoddinott's ‘Sarum Fanfare is a characteristic piece of competence
and confidence, made really out of very little - a few simple rhythms, spiky lines;
not overwritten in any way, noisy but
not actually brash, it clearly could be a good fanfare.’
Robert Matthew-Walker (1993)
noted that there was a proposed album of Hoddinott’s organ music played by
Robert Munns. It was to have included Sarum Fanfare, Intrada,
Sonata for organ and the Toccata alla Giga. I can find no trace of this
CD having been issued. There is an urgent need for all Hoddinott’s organ music
to be available on disc or download.
Bibliography:
Craggs, Stewart R. Craggs, Alun Hoddinott: A Source Book
Aldershot, Ashgate, 2007.
Matthew-Walker, R. Alun Hoddinott on Record, St.
Austell, DGR Books, 1993
Matthew-Walker, R. ‘The Organ Music of Alun Hoddinott I’, The
Organ Summer 2012
3 comments:
The autograph manuscript arrived only two days before I gave the first performance as Assistant Organist of Salisbury Cathedral. I remember a notable section where the composer demands a big crescendo, which was impossible to achieve with both hands and both feet fully occupied in playing the notes. Fifty years later, the original manuscript is still in my possession.
Michael Smith
Thanks for that!
J
I have found on the internet a copy of "Music Week" for 24th September 1983 (p.20) which mentions an LP of organ music by Alun Hoddinott and Wilfred Josephs played by Robert Munns to be released as Phoenix DGS 1008. It lists the Josephs works as "Tombeaux" and "Testimony" but doesn't list the Hoddinott works. Whether it was ever actually issued, I don't know. It was not reviewed in Gramophone" and is not listed on the British Library Sound and Music Catalogue and I can't find any other trace of it.
Best wishes, David Mansell
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