One of the first pieces of modern organ music I discovered
was Peter Dickinson’s Three Statements,
dating from around 1964. I think that I found the sheet music in a second-hand bookshop
in the early ‘70s’, so perhaps it was a review copy, or maybe it had belonged
to an organist who found that it was not to his taste.
Ten years ago, I had the pleasure of reviewing Peter
Dickinson’s ‘complete’ organ works which was released on Naxos
8.572169 during 2009. I gave my considered opinion that the Three Statements were ‘interesting, if a
little dated in their sound-world.’ Having revisited them in recent days, I
find that I misjudged them. To be fair, in the past decade I have been listening
to much music composed between 1950 and 1970, so perhaps I have just got my eye
(or ear) in to this style of music.
Peter Dickinson has written (CD Liner Notes) that ‘the
Three Statements…arose from some work
in improvisation I was doing with students, documented in a series of six
articles in The Musical Times.’ So,
clearly, they hint at this creative world rather than that of a formally
constructed set of pieces. The work dates from the time that the composer had
returned to Cambridge after study at the Julliard School in New York. During that
period, Dickinson became
familiar with music as diverse as Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and John Cage.
Only the first Statement
was in my gift as an organist, with its rolling melody played on the ‘choir’
organ and supported by soft cluster-chords on the ‘swell.’ The pedal part was
made up of a short phrase containing two or more descending fifths. As the
signed speed was ‘♩=84’
or ‘adagio’ it was quite easy to perform. I guess that the congregation at the
Church of Scotland where I was assistant organist did not rate it. I was
certainly never asked to play it again. One senior member felt that it was a
little ‘long-haired.’
The second Statement,
also an ‘adagio,’ has a collection of typically descending chords, often
inverted triads, but sometimes with added notes. These have a jazzy syncopation
about them. This is supported by a G major triad played on the swell, which
continues until the end of the piece, with only a couple of added notes and
suspensions introduced in the last few bars. The pedal part is played loud and
is largely based on a rising tritone. The final C natural is played ‘fff’. I do
find the sustained chord just a little irritating on the ear. The impact of
this piece is created by the strong chords, which ‘modulate’ over a wide tonal
range on the ‘great’ and the ‘choir’ organ, contrasted with the whisper on the ‘swell’
which never raises its voice beyond ‘pp’.
In the third Statement
the contrast is straightforward: between a chorale-like few bars played on the ‘swell
organ’ and a contrapuntal section for the ‘choir’ manuals only which repeats
three times. The chorale is written using several parallel chords built on the
fourth (e.g. E, A, D, G, C). The contrasting section uses a gently undulating left
hand part against a wider spaced melody which never really comes into step. Much
of the Statement is composed in 5/4 time.
The piece concludes with a chords built on perfect fourths, separated by a variety
of intervals.
All three Statements are good examples of organ music. Clearly, they belong
to the era they were composed, but their interest holds in 2019.
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