I originally wrote
my review of this CD in 2014. It was published on MusicWeb International on 14
July of that year. This was a review of a download. In recent weeks, I have received
a three CD set of the ‘Kenneth Leighton:
The Complete Organ Works, which I have reviewed for MWI. For completeness on
the blog I have republished the text for Volume 1, with review for Volumes 2
& 3 in a subsequent post. I found no reason to change my views on this
present CD. My thoughts in CD2 & 3 will be appear in my next post.
I
do not know the organ works of Kenneth Leighton (apart from the often-performed
Paean) and have never heard ‘The
Complete Organ Works’ played on the organ of St. Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh by
Dennis Townhill (PRCD326) which is the main competition to this new ‘download’ from
Resonus.
The
twentieth-century produced four major British composers contributing sizable catalogues
of music for the organ: Herbert Howells,
William Mathias, Francis Jackson and Kenneth Leighton. Leighton’s organ music
is not in the trajectory of Howells, in spite of there being some fingerprints
of the elder composer in the pages of these scores. He has looked to Europe for
inspiration rather than the organ lofts of English Cathedrals. Paul Hindemith
would appear to have an important influence on Leighton’s sound-word: influences
from Flor Peeters and Hendrik Andriessen have been remarked on.
Leighton’s
first major composition for organ was the ‘Prelude, Scherzo and Passacaglia’
Op.41 written in 1963. His last work was the ‘Veni Creator Spiritus’ which was
composed in the year before his death.
The
present collection opens with the thought-provoking Six Fantasies on Hymn Tunes, Op.46 and dates from 1975. These are
not dry-as-dust ecclesiastical numbers designed to cover up the none-too-hushed
conversations of congregations before the minister arrives in the pulpit, but
are a fascinating and many-coloured exploration of these relatively four-square,
popular hymn tunes. They are full of interest, inventiveness and
imagination.
Also
using a hymn tune is the Martyrs: Dialogues on a Scottish Psalm-tune,
Op. 73 which is written for organ duet. Interestingly (and mind bogglingly)
both performers are required to play pedals in this piece! It is divided up into three sections and is
preceded by a statement of the original hymn-tune. The work proper opens with a
dark meditation which builds to a ‘thunderous’ climax. The second section
contrasts a double-fugue with toccata-like figuration. It concludes with a
‘gigue-like’ passage followed by a powerful restatement of the tune ‘Martyrs’.
The Improvisation in Memoriam
Maurice de Sausmarez uses the familiar arch-structure favoured by Herbert
Howells. The composer wrote that this deeply-introverted piece is conceived in
‘...
a mood of mourning and protest symbolised in the conflict between lyrical
counterpoint, and an ostinato (subject to variation) consisting of three chord
clusters which persist throughout the piece. The clusters reach a climax of
intensity in a chord containing all the notes of the chromatic scale’.
Kenneth Leighton’s
largest achievement for solo organ is his Missa de Gloria (Dublin Festival Mass), Op. 82 which
was written in 1980. It is considerably longer than his fine Organ Concerto
written some years previously. The work
is divided into six sections which reflect the traditional divisions of the
Mass – Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and the Agnus Dei. The finale is a toccata
based on ‘Ite, missa est’ – ‘Go, the Mass has ended’. Leighton has made use of
a plainchant melody derived from the ‘Proper’ for Easter Day in the 12th
century Sarum Liturgy in most of the
sections of this work. The composer
claimed that it was he first of his work to be ‘almost entirely inspired’ by
plainsong.
This is a huge,
powerful work that sometimes haunts the same musical world as Messiaen’s earlier
organ music.
This
is the first download that I have reviewed. Like the transition that many listeners
made some 30 years ago from vinyl to CD, I have had my reservations about the
media. Yet progress is always
inevitable.
The
present download is available in four different formats – MP3, AAC, FLAC 16-bit
and FLAC 24-bit. The latter requires a large amount of data storage with a
single album requiring up to 1GB of memory.
One
of my big issues with some ‘record’ companies is that the liner-notes are not
available for download or cut and paste. Chandos, Hyperion and Naxos all have
good access to these important documents on their webpages. Alas, a number of
other producers do not provide these as part of the download: certainly, Amazon
does not include them in purchases. So I was delighted to find that there is a
set of freely available documentation available on the Resonus website as part of this
download – including a well-produced ‘booklet/liner notes’ in .pdf format.
There are also a number of photos of the artists, the advertising ‘flyer’ and a
scan of the ‘cover.’ This allows the listener to evaluate the release before
purchase.
Biographical
notes are given on the organists Stephen Farr and James Butt.
Farr is the main performer on this download and is currently organist at St
Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge as well as having a busy concert career.
The
music is performed on the Rieger Organ in St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.
This was installed in 1992 and is justly famous. The liner notes give the
specification for this impressive three-manual instrument, however there is no
history of its concept and construction – for example the effective reuse of
two pedal stops from the old Willis organ (1940). All this kind of information would
be of profound interest to organ-music enthusiasts.
I
am grateful to be able to explore a new facet of Kenneth Leighton’s music. He
is a composer that I have always been able to do business with: his balance of
modernism and tradition is ideal. I thoroughly enjoyed this new download from Resonus and look forward to reviewing
the second volume in this projected series.
Track Listings:
Kenneth LEIGHTON (1929-1988)
Six Fantasies on Hymn Tunes, Op. 72 (1975)
Helmsley; Aus der
Tiefe (Heinlien); Lumetto: Little canonic variations on
‘Jesus bids us
shine’; St Columba (Erin); Veni Emmanuel; Toccata on Hanover
Martyrs: Dialogues on a Scottish Psalm-tune, Op. 73 (1976) for organ duet
Improvisation in Memoriam Maurice de Sausmarez (1969)
Missa de Gloria (Dublin Festival Mass), Op. 82 (1980)
Stephen Farr
(organ) John Butt (organ)
Rec. St Giles
Cathedral, Edinburgh on 9-10 September 2013
Reviewed
as download
RESONUS
LIMITED RES10134
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.
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