On Wednesday I went to Blackburn. It took me about an hour to park; on no account attempt to take a car in to the city, at least during the day! I had gone there because there was an organ recital by Simon Thomas Jacobs and because I had never been to Blackburn cathedral.
I know Simon visits my blog occasionally and I have been thinking [whilst driving around last week] what to say about the recital which he might not be too upset to read. In the end it occurred to me that any reservations I may have had about what I heard result from:
I know Simon visits my blog occasionally and I have been thinking [whilst driving around last week] what to say about the recital which he might not be too upset to read. In the end it occurred to me that any reservations I may have had about what I heard result from:
- The understandable notion that, in some instances, “I wouldn't have done it like that” because I have, in my time, played four of the pieces. This doesn't mean he did anything 'wrong', simply that I had my preconceptions challenged, which is a good thing. If every organist played the same pieces in exactly the same way it would be somewhat tedious.
- My dislike of the organ [specification] on this single encounter with it. There was not, for example, an Open Diapason in sight (OK there was a principal on the Great and the stop nomenclature is not as significant as the sound of the instrument) and neither was there a 16’ stop on the Great. The only Swell 8’ flue stop (other than the strings) is a flute. Pah – humbug!
I can say now that I certainly found the recital both interesting and informative and Simon has an extremely secure technique which my own did not even come close back in the days when I was playing regularly and was giving recitals. I do, however want to hear him play some Howells or Liszt on a large organ with which he is extremely familiar. He is due to play Reubke’s Sonata on the 94th Psalm at King’s Cambridge in the not too distant future.
He began with Buxtehude's Praeludium in G minor in which he articulated the opening semiquavers as I have always thought they should be articulated, but few people bother. This section was all played on a on a mixture-rich combination but I felt the pedals were rather too loud when they came in, and this was the case for much of the recital. [Little wonder when one considers that there are four* 32-foot stops in the department. *I am checking this, as the photograph I took of the console has 19 stops whilst the listing on NPOR has only 18; the 19th stop says “16 Forte 32”] I was surprised that the Fugue section was played on such quiet stops and slightly surprised when I noted that what is a pedal line from bar 69 of my Peters edition was given to the manuals (LH). From the Largo (bar 79) to the end was rather dull as we went back to the mixture chorus with which we started. The acoustic of the cathedral is not very generous to the player because it completely confuses the lines and makes it difficult to pick out any detail; this was not the fault of the player. As I was familiar with the piece I knew what I was supposed to hear but I wondered what anyone would make of it on hearing it for the first time. Largely, if one likes to hear an organ played at full pelt then one would have enjoyed the last minutes of this piece. It just made me feel that Blackburn cathedral organ in rather aggressive and sounds ‘angry’.
What I did find very interesting was that Simon used no heels at all in this piece nor in the next two Baroque compositions. When I was taught to play 35 years ago heels were fine! I have seen this practice before and I can understand why this is done. First Buxtehude and Bach would only have used their toes, so it is authentic. Secondly, it is too easy to play in a lazy, legato way when using heel-toe patterns; using toes only means one has to place the notes precisely, judging when to let go of one note in order to reach the next without inserting a gaping hole! Although it looked very odd, I assume that once one get used to it, it becomes second nature.
In “Vater unser in Himmelreich” we heard a pleasing solo combination supported by the left hand which was using a 4’ stop played an octave lower; this is a trick one has to use now and again for reasons I shall not go into.
Piece d’Orgue BWV 572 by Bach ticked all the boxes. The registration was correct (although I still didn’t like the strident sound of the full chorus) and the nimble playing of the outer sections were superbly played. The first section is always fun but the last 2 pages – whilst not intrinsically difficult – are written in such a way that one can easily get out of time with oneself. The trick here is to separate the reiterated pedal Ds (pum – paaah) and use them as a metrical anchor.
I didn’t like the “Hommage à Frescobaldi” by Langlais although the Theme and Variations were entertaining. Langlais is not to everyone’s taste; I used to play his “Triptyque” quite a lot but I doubt the proverbial ‘man in the street’ would think much of most of the composer’s works.
The recital ended with Frank’s “Pièce Héroïque” which I used as my audition piece when I won the organ scholarship to Bristol as well as in two recitals in Bristol; so it is a party piece of mine, or was. There was far too much rubato for my liking and I found it hard to latch onto the pulse. The repeated quavers should give a throbbing effect but as soon as I thought I had felt it, the spacing between the quavers changed. Other than that I was captivated by the interpretation and I wish I had taken the penultimate section slightly more slowly when I used to play it because I always found the two instances 3 against 2 quite tricky in their context. The closing section allowed us to hear Full Organ (though I suspect not everything was coupled in) including the Serpent 32’ which quaintly has the image of a snake on the stop knob.
So I was glad I went to the recital but equally glad that the next organ I heard was in Manchester cathedral that evening – a far more mellow affair.
He began with Buxtehude's Praeludium in G minor in which he articulated the opening semiquavers as I have always thought they should be articulated, but few people bother. This section was all played on a on a mixture-rich combination but I felt the pedals were rather too loud when they came in, and this was the case for much of the recital. [Little wonder when one considers that there are four* 32-foot stops in the department. *I am checking this, as the photograph I took of the console has 19 stops whilst the listing on NPOR has only 18; the 19th stop says “16 Forte 32”] I was surprised that the Fugue section was played on such quiet stops and slightly surprised when I noted that what is a pedal line from bar 69 of my Peters edition was given to the manuals (LH). From the Largo (bar 79) to the end was rather dull as we went back to the mixture chorus with which we started. The acoustic of the cathedral is not very generous to the player because it completely confuses the lines and makes it difficult to pick out any detail; this was not the fault of the player. As I was familiar with the piece I knew what I was supposed to hear but I wondered what anyone would make of it on hearing it for the first time. Largely, if one likes to hear an organ played at full pelt then one would have enjoyed the last minutes of this piece. It just made me feel that Blackburn cathedral organ in rather aggressive and sounds ‘angry’.
What I did find very interesting was that Simon used no heels at all in this piece nor in the next two Baroque compositions. When I was taught to play 35 years ago heels were fine! I have seen this practice before and I can understand why this is done. First Buxtehude and Bach would only have used their toes, so it is authentic. Secondly, it is too easy to play in a lazy, legato way when using heel-toe patterns; using toes only means one has to place the notes precisely, judging when to let go of one note in order to reach the next without inserting a gaping hole! Although it looked very odd, I assume that once one get used to it, it becomes second nature.
In “Vater unser in Himmelreich” we heard a pleasing solo combination supported by the left hand which was using a 4’ stop played an octave lower; this is a trick one has to use now and again for reasons I shall not go into.
Piece d’Orgue BWV 572 by Bach ticked all the boxes. The registration was correct (although I still didn’t like the strident sound of the full chorus) and the nimble playing of the outer sections were superbly played. The first section is always fun but the last 2 pages – whilst not intrinsically difficult – are written in such a way that one can easily get out of time with oneself. The trick here is to separate the reiterated pedal Ds (pum – paaah) and use them as a metrical anchor.
I didn’t like the “Hommage à Frescobaldi” by Langlais although the Theme and Variations were entertaining. Langlais is not to everyone’s taste; I used to play his “Triptyque” quite a lot but I doubt the proverbial ‘man in the street’ would think much of most of the composer’s works.
The recital ended with Frank’s “Pièce Héroïque” which I used as my audition piece when I won the organ scholarship to Bristol as well as in two recitals in Bristol; so it is a party piece of mine, or was. There was far too much rubato for my liking and I found it hard to latch onto the pulse. The repeated quavers should give a throbbing effect but as soon as I thought I had felt it, the spacing between the quavers changed. Other than that I was captivated by the interpretation and I wish I had taken the penultimate section slightly more slowly when I used to play it because I always found the two instances 3 against 2 quite tricky in their context. The closing section allowed us to hear Full Organ (though I suspect not everything was coupled in) including the Serpent 32’ which quaintly has the image of a snake on the stop knob.
So I was glad I went to the recital but equally glad that the next organ I heard was in Manchester cathedral that evening – a far more mellow affair.
