David Briggs is perhaps
the most significant British organist of his generation. Through
his championing of the art of Pierre Cochereau, and of the art
of improvisation, of which he is his generation's greatest exponent
perhaps anywhere in the world, he has inspired the imagination
of a completely new generation of British organists. This CD
features the first recording of Briggs's new Symphony for Organ,
commissioned by the performer Stephen Farr.
The work is a hommage to
Maurice Duruflé, inspired by the organ work begun by Duruflé
as a Missa pro defunctis, the sketches for which later became
the famous Requiem. Just as in the Requiem, Briggs's new work
is built upon the plainsong for the Mass for the Dead. The result
is a forty minute, seven movement work.
David Briggs's symphony
is atmospheric and dramatic. Interestingly the harmonic inspiration
of Cochereau seems to me to become a far less important factor
in Briggs's compositional style than in his improvisational
style. His teacher Langlais seems more in the foreground. Perhaps
this shouldn't surprise me, Langlais after all was a composer
in the real sense of the word, unlike Cochereau. Wasn't it therefore
inevitable that Briggs the composer would be more influenced
by Langlais? On the other hand certain Cochereau-isms are unmistakable;
in the Arioso the theme played on the Clarinette against the
strings, the music so reminiscent of the 'Air' from the 'Suite
à la Française' improvised by Cochereau in 1970. The intermezzo
is written for 'flying flutes' and (imitation at least) 'petit
chamade'. Enough said. The Adagio, 'Sanctus' reminds us very
much of the Sanctus from the Duruflé Requiem, using the same
plainsong of course, but somehow lacking the same urgency.
To sum up I feel slightly
uncomfortable about the whole work. It doesn't remind me at
all of Briggs's improvisational style, which is fine of course,
but so much of it sounds improvised. In addition I felt as if
it wasn't as original as I had expected from such a great mind.
I would like to plead however
for a second recording of this work on an organ other than that
of Blackburn Cathedral. The problem with Blackburn is that it seems, since
its Briggs-advised rebuild of 2001-2, to offer a handy package,
all the 'right' French noises without having to cross the Channel.
Well, it’s true, the reeds have a certain éclat and those in
the Swell provide a convincing 'caged tiger', the strings are
gorgeous, and some other solo stops are fabulously haunting.
But on this recording at least, in dynamics above mezzo-forte
the organ becomes ugly, the big reeds rough and the mixtures
headachy. This is especially overbearing in the dramatic middle
section of Briggs's symphony; the mixtures are also very invasive
in the outer sections of the Duruflé. Please David Briggs, when
you record the work, do it in Rouen. Then I might
be seduced.
The Blackburn organ is a
Walker of 1969, much along the same lines as the instrument
in Liverpool's Metropolitan
Cathedral, though rather smaller. Strangely, pre-rebuild recordings
of it trouble me far less; its sound in Kevin Bowyer's early
eighties performance, for Priory, of Giles Swayne's Riff-Raff
is charmingly iconic and I love it. The rebuilt organ, certainly
in long forte passages seems, on record at least, to have lost
its charm.
Stephen Farr, it must be
said, plays extremely well on the disc; the technical challenges
of Briggs's work are brilliantly handled and he gives an astoundingly
well controlled reading of the Duruflé. The Sicilienne is beautifully
modest and atmospheric, the fiendish Toccata is perhaps a little
'straight' if compared to Robilliard on Festivo but very well
done nonetheless.
This is worth buying, both
for Farr's playing, and because you should judge David Briggs's
new symphony for yourself. I am sure it will find many admirers.
Chris Bragg
AVAILABILITY
Lammas
Records
Stephen Farr
(organ)
