MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively AmazonUK

 

Dignity and Impudence
Lynnwood Farnam (1885-1930)

Toccata on O Filii et Filiae [2:18]
Christopher Steel (1938-1991)
Six Pieces Op. 33 (1967) [15:01]
Alfred Hollins (1865-1942)
Maytime Gavotte
 (1927) [4:02]; Intermezzo in D flat (1900) [6:10]
Percy Whitlock (1903-1946) arr. Malcolm Riley
Four Transcriptions for Organ
Basil Harwood (1859-1949)
Sonata No.1 in C sharp minor Op. 5 (1886) [19:16]
William Saunders (organ)
rec. 31 July–1 August 2007, St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol
REGENT REGCD270 [67:33]
Experience Classicsonline

 

I had not come across the Canadian composer Walter Lynnwood Farnam until hearing this CD. Yet this work is a great concert-opener. Based on a tune called ‘O Filii et Filiae’, first published in a seventeenth century hymn book, it exploits some fine virtuosic writing and use of registration. I agree with the author of the sleeve-notes, Dr Michael Nicolas, that there is an air of improvisation about this piece. It is an exuberant and powerful work that possibly deserves a place in the list of popular ‘toccatas,’ the only problem being that it is a touch short – lasting only just over two minutes.

I cannot now recall just where I first heard Christopher Steel’s Six Pieces for Organ. I think it was a church in the West End of Glasgow. But I do remember being seriously impressed and rushing out to buy the music. I hasten to add that they were and are still well beyond my playing! They seemed to be so different from much of the organ music that was being played at that time – whether it was Messiaen or The Village Organist! These are moody – sometimes almost smoochy numbers - which somehow seem out of place in a church. The six pieces are: Intrada, Flourish, Nocturne, Dance, Meditation and Postlude. The heart of the work is in the third and fifth movements. This is a sophisticated piece that defies categorisation. The movements are consistently interesting and are often extremely beautiful. I note that Steel wrote much music for a variety of media including seven symphonies and chamber music. It would be an interesting by-way to explore.

Alfred Hollins wrote a great deal of fine organ music, much of it being frankly popular in style. The Maytime Gavotte and the Intermezzo in Db are an excellent introduction to his art. Both of these pieces are more at home in the concert hall than in church. Both pieces reveal Hollins as a master craftsman. Maytime Gavotte nods to an earlier age of music although the melodies owe more to the ‘light music’ of the early twentieth century. The Intermezzo is quite an involved little work that finds its inspiration in some of Vierne’s quieter moments. It is actually quite lovely.

Percy Whitlock wrote a large amount of high quality organ music – so I am not too sure why William Saunders has chosen to play some transcriptions of the composer’s orchestral pieces. These four pieces have been transcribed by the doyen of Whitlock studies Malcolm Riley. The opening number – a Fanfare -  was dedicated to a local Home Guard Band in Bournemouth. To Phoebe is quieter and much more meditative: there is an almost Elgarian feel to this music. This is the sort of tune to bring a tear to a glass eye. Lovely!

I am not happy about the Elegy – which is extracted from Whitlock’s masterpiece – the Organ Symphony. This is a major concerted work that deserves to be heard in its entirety. It is not well served by hearing an extract however beguiling. The last piece is the March ‘Dignity and Impudence’. Now this not only nods at Elgar – it beats him at is own game! It by and large follows in the traditional form of a march, with the big tune repeated. However the minuet theme is more complex than many marches: it combines two contrasting elements that work together exceptionally well. The trio is quite gorgeous: it is a really big tune, perhaps one of the finest that any composer has written for a march. Whenever I listen to it I cannot help feeling that if this work were well known it would be widely loved and performed. However, I must confess to preferring it in its orchestral incarnation.

Basil Harwood is probably best known for his hymn tune Thornbury “Thy hand, O God, has guided”. However he wrote much music for both choir and organ including a Second Organ Sonata and an Organ Concerto. His collected organ works fill some three CDs.

 

If the listener is looking for a comparative model for this Sonata then I guess that they must look to Rheinberger and Vierne. Yet Harwood wrote his Sonata some years before Vierne penned the first of his masterpieces. This form was particularly popular in Victorian times with essays by Alan Gray, William Wolstenholme and Edward John Hopkins. But Harwood’s First is possibly the finest.

The first movement, an Allegro-appassionato has all the formal integrity of Beethoven. It is impressive music that is well constructed and has a focused direction. Perhaps Schumann is the inspiration behind the andante although there seems to be a hymn tune lurking behind the ‘fluid harmonic style’. The final movement opens with a strong chordal passage – marked maestoso. This leads into a somewhat academic fugue and references to another hymn tune – Beata nobis gaudia. The work ends with the characteristic use of the tuba stop – but not before a moving quiet passage. It is perhaps the weakest movement of this otherwise impressive work.

It is great to hear the organ in St Mary’s Redcliffe. A complete history of the instrument and its specification are given in the CD booklet. William Saunders playing complements this fine instrument and the impressive ecclesiastical setting.

This is a great CD that explores some little known repertoire. For my money though, it is Christopher Steel’s Six Pieces takes the first prize!

John France
 

 




 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.