Arnold Cooke: Organ Music on Toccata Classics

I am grateful to the outstanding liner notes by Harvey Davies during the preparation of this review. I have evaluated this disc in chronological order. 

Arnold Cooke began writing for the organ in the early 1960s. The Sarabande was finished in 1961 and was his first piece for the instrument to be published. It was originally for piano, the second movement of a Suite in C, written in 1943-44. There is a little Hindemith in these pages, but more nods towards Bartók. The liner notes mention an unpublished early Wedding March, D19 composed in 1936 for a family wedding.

The earliest major work on this disc is the Prelude, Intermezzo and Finale, completed in 1962. This was a commission by Novello & Co. for their extensive series, the Organ Music Club. The liner notes sum up the opening Prelude well: it displays “a gentle, Hindemithian idiom leavened with a certain Englishness in it use of modal lines and harmonies…” The Intermezzo is signed to be played “mostly quiet and reflective, maintaining an even flow.”  The Finale is jig like. Despite using fugal passages, it never descends to the pedantic, but keeps up its jaunty humour to the last notes.

Cooke’s Fantasia is remarkable. It was commissioned in 1964 by the Revd Dr Peter Marr, a former student of the composer. The liner notes mention the “improvisatory character” of the music. However, this is not the full story. There are many contrapuntal explorations and some harmonic derring-do. This is an exciting piece, which despite being “academically constructed” is full of interest and vivacity.

The Toccata and Aria (1966) was also commissioned by Peter Marr. It was first heard on 22 April 1967 at St Giles Church, Reading, as part of the celebrations commemorating the centenary of the organ rebuild. The opening Toccata is powerful and dynamic, as all such titled pieces should be. The momentum barely slows down. The Aria, on the other hand, is introspective and just occasionally ominous in mood.

Also written in 1966, the Impromptu was originally published in OUP’s once popular Easy Modern Organ Music. (I confess to not finding any of these numbers “easy” to play.) The Impromptu is relaxed and cool, with its gentle exposition and relaxed, slightly modernist, harmonic language.

In 1971, Arnold Cooke was commissioned by the Cardiff University Musical Department, under the auspices of Alun Hoddinott, to compose the Organ Sonata No.1 in G. The premiere was given at the Cardiff Festival on 14 February 1973 by Richard Elfyn Jones.

The Sonata is presented in three movements. The opening Allegro moderato has two contrasting, but well-balanced themes. The liner notes mention “harmonies based on fourths and fifths, the imaginative contrapuntal textures, cross rhythms and natural lyricism.” The middle movement, an Andante, is melancholic in mood except for a short scherzetto section. The gem of the Sonata is the finale, Allegro con brio. After an opening flourish, two themes are contrasted: the first a typically “toccata-like” figuration of semiquavers and the second, a gentler tune, looking back to the slow movement. It concludes with a powerful “triumphant fanfare” and several loud chords. The entire Sonata is a fusion of Hindemith, Bartók, and an undeniable English lyricism that nods to Walton and Vaughan Williams.

Nine years later, Cooke completed his Organ Sonata No.2 in E. The impetus to compose it probably came from an organist named Eric Fletcher. It was premiered in Edinburgh during 1981. The Sonata is presented in four movements. It opens with a powerful Fantasia, which, is described as “a sort of blend of fanfare, toccata, and carefully constructed counterpoint.” The thoughtful Aria is quite simply gorgeous, with its long breathed melodic lines, undulating counterpoint and gentle dotted rhythms. The Scherzo, in 6/8 compound time, fairly bounces along with lots of complex figurations, peppery harmonies and a slightly softer, but brief, trio section. The Finale harks back to the opening movements. An Allegro, it includes fanfare and toccata styles bringing the Sonata to a satisfying peroration.

In 1989, Arnold Cooke wrote his penultimate organ piece. It celebrated the new instrument at Tudeley Parish Church in Kent. The premiere performance was given by the late Simon Preston. Prelude for Tudeley balances a powerful opening fanfare with a quiet melody. It builds up to a big climax, ending on a glorious E flat major chord. Cooke had lived at nearby Five Oak Green with his partner, William Morrison, since 1963. William had died the previous year, so naturally, there is a tinge of sadness in this Prelude.

Cooke’s final work for the organ was the Suite in G (1989). It is a fusion of a classical sonatina and various baroque tropes. The opening Chaconne explores a set of diverse variations, over a basso ostinato. The second movement is a lively Allegro vivace, that is neither cheerful nor melancholy, but strangely reflective. The Andante may once again be influenced by the death of his partner: it is sombre in mood. The notion of a Baroque Suite is recalled in the concluding Allegro con brio. This is a good old fashioned jig that brings the work to a jolly conclusion.

The liner notes are superb. There is a major essay length discussion about Arnold Cooke and the Organ by Harvey Davies. This includes an overview of the composer’s life and times, as well as a discussion of his musical style. Each of the pieces are given a detailed, but always interesting commentary. The organ soloist, Tom Winpenny has provided a short paper on the magnificent Harrison and Harrison organ at St Albans Cathedral. The specification of the instrument is included. Finally, the is a resume of the soloist.

Tom Winpenny has become one of the leading organists on record. His expertise and technical command is clear in every bar of this recording, giving stimulating and absorbing performances. Winpenny is a popular soloist in the United States and Europe. At present he is Assistant Master of the Music at St Albans Cathedral. He has made recordings of a wide range of music, including discs devoted to Peter Racine Fricker, John McCabe, Malcolm Williamson, Charles Villiers Stanford and Elgar. He has released five volumes of Messiaen’s organ music.

The recording, engineered by Andrew Post, is ideal. It is clear and resonant, allowing the listener to gain a sense of “being there..”

Any consideration of Arnold Cooke’s music eventually resolves on the question – “Has the frequent association of his name with that of his teacher, Paul Hindemith, ultimately been deleterious to Cooke’s standing as a composer?” And leading from this is he simply too derivative: does he lack distinction? (Harvey Davies, Thesis 2021).

I have noted before that Malcolm MacDonald states that what Cooke “really imbibed [from Hindemith] was a broad framework of technique and a sense of direction: a view of music as a living polyphonic entity and a feeling for individual instruments that goes back to the practice of J.S. Bach.” In other words, he was a master-craftsman. Furthermore, Havergal Brian wrote as long ago as 1936 that Cooke “appears to think and breathe contrapuntally … and he has tradition in his bones: his working principles are nearer to the Elizabethans and Bach than to Wagner and [Richard] Strauss.”

So, Arnold Cooke’s music is a subtle fusion of German technique with a largely English sensibility. It is a perfect synthesis of styles.

Track Listing:
Arnold Cooke (1906-2005)
Sonata No.1 in G, D118 (1971)
Fantasia, D 95 (1964)
Prelude, Intermezzo and Finale, D 87 (1962)
Sarabande, D34 (1960-61)
Toccata and Aria, D104 (1966)
Suite in G, D167 (1989)
Impromptu, D105 (1966)
Prelude for Tudeley, D166 (1989)
Sonata No.2 in E, D146 (1980)
Tom Winpenny (organ)
rec. 25-27 August 2021, the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, St Albans, Hertfordshire
TOCCATA CLASSICS TOCC0659