Album insights
David Johnson (1922–1988): Trumpet Melody in A Major
The trumpet will sound...and we shall be transformed." Throughout the ages, the trumpet has been an instrument heralding significant events, and this trumpet melody glorifies the acoustics of St. Bartholomew's Church with a solemnity and ceremony that bestows native praise upon the exhortations of the Psalm singers—"Praise Him with trumpets"—filling us with a sense of reverence before the revelation of such majesty that also inspired the builders of grand churches to such deeds. Its composer was a professor of organ studies at the State University of Arizona in Tempe, drawing inspiration from English trumpet music of the seventeenth century and infusing it with the heraldic harmonies of our time.
Edwin H. Lemare (1865–1934): Toccata di Concerto, Op. 59
Undoubtedly, Lemare remains the most mysterious and perhaps the greatest of organ virtuosos from the early twentieth century. While his contemporaries established themselves in church and academia, Lemare ascended the treadmill of a traveling organ virtuoso. Just before Christmas in the year 1900, he embarked aboard the ocean liner Teutonic bound for New York, giving his first concert in the United States on New Year's Day 1901, playing on the Hutchings Organ of 1893 at St. Bartholomew's (predecessor to the Skinner Organ of 1918). Critics were highly impressed by his performance, placing his improvisations above those of Guilmant, likening his status as an organist to that of Paderewski among pianists, and noting in his rendition of excerpts from Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, that "one could close their eyes and hear an orchestra."
Central to his abilities was his desire to give the organ the flexibility and subtleties of an orchestra. He absorbed all he could learn about orchestral music and orchestral playing, crafting some spectacular arrangements of well-known orchestral works. The Toccata di Concerto, originally written for the organ, features manual voices that bear a superficial resemblance to the French toccata style. However, at the pedal level, an epic theme emerges, reminiscent of a grand romantic opera or symphonic poem—music that urgently calls for a Strauss orchestra. Midpiece, the heroic sounds recede after a pedal passage marked "furioso," leading into a soft, romantic interlude rich with ascending chromatics, before the volcanic energy of the original theme erupts once more, even more forcefully than before.
It is this piece that organist and journalist Harvey Grace (1874–1944) referred to as "a terribly difficult matter," demanding such great virtuosity. However, he conceded that it "possesses more good qualities than are usually found in such works".
Dudley Buck (Snr) (1839–1909): Concert Variations of "The Star-Spangled Banner," Op. 23
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America, with its inspired lyrics penned by Francis Scott Key in 1814 in Baltimore, set to the melody for which it is sung today, originally written in England for the Anacreontic Society of London by a singer and composer of catches and glees named John Stafford Smith (1750–1836).
Dudley Buck, born in Hartford, Connecticut, traveled to Europe to study music in Leipzig, Dresden, and Paris. Upon his return to the United States, he toured as a concert organist and held positions as a church organist at St. James in Chicago, St. Paul in Boston, and various churches in Brooklyn, where he settled in his mid-thirties. He served as the assistant conductor of the Theodore Thomas Orchestra and primarily composed vocal music, including pieces such as The Legend of Columbus and Paul Revere's Ride.
These concert variations form a popular part of many organ concerts, consisting of a theme, four variations, and a fughetta. The third variation stands out for the skill required with the pedals—undoubtedly, the composer was well acquainted with Bach's fugues. The fourth variation follows tradition with its minor key but deviates with a clever enharmonic modulation for the repetition of the theme. The finale deals with a few contrapuntal possibilities of the melody before reaching the inevitable glorious metamorphosis, proclaiming the spirit of the fighters who held the American flag high above Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the British bombardment of 1814, inspiring Francis Scott Key.
Alexandre Guilmant (1837–1911): Paraphrase on a Chorus from Handel's Judas Maccabaeus, "See the conqu'ring hero comes," Op. 90
Alexandre Guilmant, a concert organist and composer based in Paris, was also a prominent music scholar. Born in Boulogne-sur-Mer to a family of organists and organ builders, he was largely self-taught. He briefly received formal training from the great Belgian organist Lemmens, practicing six to eight hours a day for a month. According to Joseph Bonnet, Lemmens then stated that Guilmant could now "stand on his own two feet."
He became the organist at Sainte-Trinité in Paris but gained great fame in the concert hall. He gave a series of inaugural concerts on many French organs, including those of the Trocadéro in Paris, where he popularized a lot of good music on its Cavaillé-Coll organ for a long period. He was received by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and received many awards throughout his life.
In collaboration with Vincent d'Indy and Charles Bordes, he founded the Schola Cantorum, a music academy in Paris steeped in the influence of César Franck. Guided by this philosophy, Guilmant strongly engaged in the arrangement of organ music from the past. He seemed to take a particular interest in Handel's oratorios because other than a "Grand chœur alla Händel," and a march based on "Lift up your heads" from the Messiah, he wrote this paraphrase on the triumphal chorus from the final act of Judas Maccabaeus. This piece is dedicated to an American pupil of the composer, Mrs. Saenger from New York.
Percy Whitlock (1903–1946): Paean (No. 5 from Five Short Pieces)
Percy Whitlock, a renowned English concert organist, gained fame in Bournemouth on England's south coast. He served as musical director at St Stephen and organist at the municipal Pavilion, which housed a Compton organ. With his radio broadcasts on the BBC, he made many friends.
In 1930, he composed this Paean, serving as the culminating conclusion to a set of five pieces. In this piece, he likely had in mind the orchestral-inspired English organ, with its glorious crowning of a wonderfully overwhelming tuba stop contrasting with the lingual pipes of the Skinner Organ.
Derek Bourgeois (born 1941): Variations on a Theme by Herbert Howells, Op. 87
Derek Bourgeois was a professor at the music faculty of the University of Bristol before becoming the director of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. As a composer, he was a cultivated symphonist with a particular fondness for brass instruments. He studied composition under Herbert Howells, whose church and organ music holds a firm place in the repertoire of the Anglican cathedral tradition and whose birthplace was not far from Bourgeois' residence in the Forest of Dean.
When composer William Mathias commissioned Bourgeois to write an organ work for the North Wales Festival in 1984, Bourgeois composed these variations in honor of Howells, who had recently passed away. The theme of the four variations is based on the Elizabethan pastiche "De la Mare's Pavane," part of a collection Howells called "Lambert's Clavichord."
The first variation is a dynamic rhythm study, and the second is a Siciliano. The third variation possesses a gravity befitting a tribute, yet the fourth ("very lively") is a modern Mephisto waltz with a Bacchic irreverence, referencing a melody close to the well-known pavane "For he’s a jolly good fellow" using the pedals. The toccata-like finale restores decorum; however, the soft clavichord theme concludes the work, now transformed to withstand the full power of a grand organ.
Louis Vierne (1870–1937): Divertissement (No.11 of 24 Pieces in Free Style, Op. 31)
(Note: The pieces in this selection are designed to be played in the normal time of an offertory. They are designed for a harmonium with four stops and a half, or for an organ with two manuals and pedals with 18 to 20 stops).
Published in 1914, these pieces were intended for a different organ than the one Vierne had been playing since 1900 as the organist of Notre Dame. The collection served a practical liturgical purpose, designed in a manner allowing the music to be played on a harmonium, which had been popular since the time of Lefébure-Wély.
The Divertissement is part of the series that greatly challenges the basic skills of the performer—almost as if Vierne momentarily forgot the purpose of his composition. It features a character of perpetual motion, delighting in some echoes not far removed from those of Lefébure-Wély, and was dedicated