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Letter from the President
Ailsa Simpson
It is good to take time, after one of an
organist’s busiest periods, to consider if there is anything more we can do to
help the church fulfil its role in the community.
Last autumn, while on a Caribbean cruise, I visited a number of small,
beautiful churches. Their doors were open to all; there were flowers in all
of them - mainly small vases of local flowers, but no less attractive for
their simplicity; in one church, the hymnbooks (both word and music editions)
were at each place; in another, the organist was sitting playing favourite
hymns. After some time spent simply enjoying the sound of the organ, I spoke
with the barefoot lady organist who told me that, when there were cruise
ships in port, she played between 11 o’clock and 2 ... a fact that was advertised in local
tourist information publications. How much more rewarding a visit to some of
our popular churches would be if it were possible to arrange a similar
welcome for our tourists ... pedalling without shoes being strictly optional!
This year the Annual General Meeting of the
Scottish Federation of Organists will be held in Linlithgow in the morning of
Saturday 10 May. On the Friday evening prior to this event, there will be a
Social Gathering with supper and entertainment by local group Con Brio, who
have an excellent repertoire of songs. From personal knowledge, I can promise
a most enjoyable evening.
In the afternoon following the A.G.M., we look
forward to welcoming the internationally-renowned Kevin Bowyer to Linlithgow
to give a Celebrity Recital on the Willis organ in St. Michael’s Church.
Entry to this recital is free to all, thanks to the generous sponsorship of
Avondale Environmental Ltd. of Polmont.
The organising committee plans to have a reduced
charge for members’ partners to encourage you to bring your best friend to
the Friday evening Social and Saturday lunch. I do hope that I shall meet you
and your partner in May; and I take this present opportunity to wish you all
that you wish for yourself in 2008.
**********
Recording
Review
Philip
Sawyer
Hugo
Distler; vernieuwer van de traditionele kerkmuziek.
(Hugo
Distler; renewer of traditional church music)
NFCD16112006
(2CD set)
Price:
c.£17.00.
Hugo Distler (1908-42) ended his own life as a
result of being branded ‘degenerate’ by the the Nazi government; from the
late 1930s he had been cantor and organist of the Jacobikirche in
Lübeck.
Bas de Vroome, organist of the two main churches
in Delft (NL), teacher of organ at the Rotterdam Conservatory, and
carilloneur in several towns, has recorded Distler’s complete works for
organ; these works are interspered with some of Distler’s choral works
(performed by a choir from Utrecht).
The 8 organs used for the solo recordings are, in
order of date of construction:
Alkmaar;
Sint Laurens kerk (the 2-manual 1511 organ);
Leiden:
Hoogslande Kerk (1565);
Zwolle;
Sint Michaëls kerk (Schnitger 1721 / Flentrop 1955);
Haarlem:
Sint Bavo kerk (Müller 1783 / Marcussen 1961);
Utrecht;
Nicolaï kerk (Marcussen 1956);
‘T Woude; Oude kerk (de Koff 1970 / van Eeken
1987);
Rotterdam;
Sint Laurens kerk (2-manual Marcussen transept organ);
Kampen; Boven kerk (Reil 1999).
The playing is fantastic; Bas de Vroome is a fine
musician, sympathetic both to the music and to the instruments that he
uses. The booklet contains details of
the music, of each of the organs and of the registrations used.
The recording is not yet distributed in the UK, but
copies can be ordered from:
McAlister Matheson Music, 1 Grindlay Street, Edinburgh
EH3 9AT.
Tel: 0131 228 3827.
E-mail: sales@mmmusic.co.uk
Web-site: www.mmmusic.co.uk
**********
Glasgow
Society of Organists
Christine Furnish
On Saturday 3rd November in Pollokshields
Parish Church
a number of GSO members, along with some members of Pollokshields Parish
Church, attended a talk
by John Barnard, the composer of the rousing hymn tune Guiting Power. His
subject was 'Royal School of Church Music - The Carol Book' which was first
published in 2005 and which he, together with David Iliff, has compiled
and edited.
John Barnard began by explaining that some
previous carol books such as 'Carols for Choirs' by Reginald Jacques and
David Willcocks had been produced with cathedral choirs in mind but that he
and David Iliff had endeavoured to produce a carol book with musical
arrangements that were accessible to choirs of varying abilities and
differing sizes. He explained that they had included one hundred and
fifty-one carols; some already well-known in Britain and some originating from
a number of European countries and from farther afield.
Some favourite arrangements of well-known tunes are
also included e.g. David Willcock's arrangements of 'O come all ye
faithful' and 'Hark the herald angels sing', while others have been
specially written for this book.
To illustrate the diversity and usefulness of
this carol book we were encouraged to sing through a number of the
carols. John Barnard suggested that the carol 'Love came down at
Christmas' to Malcolm Archer's haunting melody could be sung as an
introit, while 'Holy Child' by Michael Baughen could be sung by a
choir of limited resources in unison. The carol 'Child of heaven',
to the French traditional melody 'Il est ne', has an optional 2-part verse
setting while the beautiful Austrian carol 'Still, still' still' has
both three and four part versions. Full choirs are not neglected
as there are more complex arrangements of 'O come all ye children' by
JAP Schulz and 'O my dear heart' by Peter Aston, to name only two.
Another feature of the book is the combining of modern words with well
known carol tunes e.g. 'Ring out the bells' are the words of Michael Perry
(1942-1996) to the English traditional melody 'Past 3 o'clock' and 'Jesus
Christ the Lord is born', words also by Michael Perry, is set to the tune
'Puer natus'. Descants, some familiar, some less so, are also well
represented in this book. As it says in the preface to this book, 'The
arrangements are both practical and imaginative and will engage the
listener'.
The book itself is rather expensive to buy but if
a church has a CCLI Music Reproduction Licence most of the items can be
photocopied for choir use which means that it really is a bargain! A
CD-Rom, which has the texts of all the carols, clip art for concert
programmes, instrumental and orchestral parts and much more, also accompanies
this carol book.
I believe that most people present found John
Barnard to be an informative and inspirational speaker and have
returned to their choirs with lots of fresh ideas for conveying the joy
of Christmas through carols.
It is worth noting that the RSCM is producing a
book of general anthems, probably in the summer of 2008, also edited by David
Iliff and John Barnard.
In October, following very well received
lecture/recitals on the subject in Edinburgh
and Inverness, John Kitchen took us on his tour of voluntaries for the church
calendar, and in December Peter Yardley-Jones gave a superb recital on the
3-manual Brindley and Foster organ of Govan Old
Parish Church.
**********
Recommended Salary Scales
Iain Galbraith
I feel it would be useful at this time to remind
members (and others) that contrary to the usual practice of reviewing the
recommended salary scales every second year, on this occasion the current
levels are being maintained for a third year.
Therefore, the present scales are being extended to 31st
December 2008.
For convenience, the scales are reproduced below.
a) Churches without choirs
Salary £1,320 - £2,035 Deputy Fee £45
b) Churches with choirs making an occasional individual contribution to
worship
Salary £2,035 - £3,245 Deputy Fee £45 - £60
c) Churches with choirs making a substantial individual contribution to
worship
Salary £3,245 - £4,345 Deputy Fee £60 - £80
d) Churches with complete and competent choirs singing full choral
services
Salary £4,345 - £6,490 Deputy Fee £80 - £90
e) Churches employing a full or part time professional director of music
with extensive responsibilities are recommended to consider salary scales
higher than scale d)
Salary £6,490+ Deputy Fee £90+
[Please note that the Deputy Fees are intended to
apply also to weddings, funerals etc.]
**********
Piet
Kee in conversation
with
Philip Sawyer
Piet
Kee, the Dutch organist and composer, celebrated his 80th birthday in
2007. On the occasion of a visit to Haarlem in early
December 2007, I talked to him about his life and career. We spoke in English, a language that Piet
Kee loves, speaks fluently, and uses with elegance and wit. I am grateful to him and his wife for their
kindness and hospitality.
PS: What
are some of your earliest memories?
PK: I was
born in Zaandam, just to the north-west of Amsterdam; there were
many windmills, and, as a boy, I used to play in one of them. This left me with an interest in the
construction of windmills; there is a very interesting one here in the south
of Haarlem,
on the river Spaarne. Incidentally,
Claude Monet painted some of the windmills of Zaandam and even a house belonging to my
family. Zaandam
was a town of industry; for instance, the Verkade biscuit and chocolate
business was founded, and still has a major factory there. There was not much of a cultural life in Zaandam, but my father,
Cor Kee, and Piet van Mever (my violin and clarinet teacher) were strong
influences on me; the latter was the conductor not only of a symphony
orchestra but also of the excellent wind band (Harmonie) of Verkade.
PS: What
of your early experiences as an organist?
PK: I used
to go with my father to the Old Lutheran Church
in Amsterdam,
where he was organist; I deeply admired his playing. His duties were: to play or improvise a
prelude; to improvise preludes and accompaniments for the chorales; to play a
postlude. My mother was quite musical
and had a good voice; I used to accompany her at the piano.
My father was my first piano teacher; at the age
of twelve I was sent to the Music
School of the Amsterdam
Conservatorium (this school prepared its pupils for entry to the
Conservatorium). At this time I began organ lessons with my father. I gave my first organ recital, in Zaandam, at the age of
fourteen; the programme included music by Cor Kee, Buxtehude, JS Bach (the C
minor Prelude and Fugue BWV546) and Dubois.
At the age of fifteen I gave another recital; this time the repertoire
included the E flat Prelude and Fugue BWV552 by JS Bach, Hendrik Andriessen’s
Premier Choral, Franck’s Pièce Héroïque and the Passacaglia (Op. Posth.) by
Reger. So, as you see, I was not
having much of a problem learning the organ.
PS: Tell
me something about Cor Kee as a teacher and composer.
PK: He was
an artistic man and, although he demanded great discipline, he was not a
‘schoolmaster’ type of teacher. He
gave me lessons at home on a two-manual and pedal harmonium, and also at his
church in Amsterdam,
where there was a Barker Lever-assisted 3-manual organ, built by Witte in
c.1870. When I practised piano
concertos at home, he sometimes played the orchestral part on the harmonium
in a wonderful way, even though he was supplying the wind with his feet
because there was no motor.
As a composer, his music was informed by his
artistic interests. He wrote fine
music for the organ, some of it in a challenging avant garde style; I was not
so interested in his ‘compromise style,’ a style that was heavily influenced
by Guilmant, Widor, etc. and that was used a lot in Calvinistic church music
in the Netherlands.
PS: What
was life like for you during the Second World War?
PK: The
occupation made life gradually more difficult; 1944-45 was the ‘hungry
winter,’ when food was scarce.
Although it was easier to find food in Zaandam
than it was in Amsterdam,
we had to cycle many kilometres to fetch it.
All schools had to teach German.
Much music was forbidden, especially that by Russian and Jewish
composers. However, I remember
attending a performance of Tschaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony in the Amsterdam
Concertgebouw. This was allowed
because the conductor was Mengelberg, who was favoured by the Nazis; an
unforgettable occasion! In the ‘hungry
winter’ I became a member of a group of young artists called ‘Zaans Groen;’
there were painters, sculptors, poets, philosophers and some musicians. We published a magazine (hand-made, with
illustrations), and thought that we were preparing the way for life after the
war; however, each one eventually went his own way.
PS: What
happened after the war?
PK: from
1945 to 1948 I was a full-time student at the Amsterdam Conservatorium; among
my teachers were Anthon van der Horst (organ), Willem Andriessen (analysis),
Ernest Mulder (counterpoint, harmony and composition) and Willem Smalt
(piano).
In my youth I had been inspired by recordings of
Anthon van der Horst, one of them a wonderful performance of JS Bach’s F
major Toccata BWV540, played on an English organ in the 1930s. He was a cultured and experienced musician;
at the Conservatorium he taught the orchestral and choral conducting classes
as well as organ. He was the conductor
of several oratorio societies and of the Utrecht Symphony Orchestra. He was also director of the Netherlands
Bach Society, the home of which was in Naarden; its most famous annual
performance was that of JS Bach’s Mathäus-Passion. Van der Horst was well informed about many
aspects of performance practice: ornamentation; registration; instruments
such as the recorder and viola da gamba.
And, of course, he was a composer.
Of particular note is the Toccata from his Suite in modo conjuncto of
the early 1940s; in this movement it is possible to see and hear the
influence of Pachelbel and JS Bach in a great modern work, finely crafted for
the Baroque organ. It includes one of
the finest pedal solos that I know.
Ernest Mulder wrote books - standard works - about harmony and
counterpoint, and had a strong influence on my contrapuntal style.
In 1948-50 I had to do my National Service; my
duty was to give gramophone concerts with lectures, and involved travelling
all over the Netherlands. I returned to the Conservatorium in 1951 to
prepare for my Prix d’excellence in 1952; for this I played some Sweelinck,
JS Bach’s Toccata, Adagio and Fugue BWV564, Franck’s Premier Choral, Anton
van der Horst’s Suite in modo conjuncto, my father’s Partita over Psalm 106
and an improvisation. The examination
took place in the Wester kerk, Amsterdam;
at that time the organ did not have mechanical action, and was certainly not
the magnificent musical instrument that it is today.
PS: How
did your career as an organist develop?
PK: I was
rather independent as an organist. As
I said, the technique needed was acquired easily, so the influence of my
teachers was not so strong. I was
appointed as church organist of the church
of Sint Laurens, Alkmaar, in 1952, and remained there until
the mid 1980s. In the 1950s, the
magnificent Hagerbeer-Schnitger organ was, for the time, in good condition,
so I was able to learn a lot from it.
I won the Haarlem
improvisation competition in 1953, 1954 and 1955. In 1953 the other competitors were Mathieu
Prange (from the Netherlands),
Anton Heiller and Karl Richter; Heiller had won the Zilveren Tulp (Silver
Tulip) in 1952, so he was defending a strong position.
In 1956, on the retirement of George Robert,
Albert de Klerk and I were appointed City Organists of Haarlem. The Müller organ in the church of Sint Bavo
– probably the world’s most famous organ and also the most photographed – was built in 1738 to rival that of Alkmaar; it was restored
by Marcussen in 1961. There is a great tradition of concerts; each year, from
mid-May to mid-October, there is an organ recital in the church every Tuesday
evening and on Thursday afternoons in the Summer months; in the winter, there
were recitals on the three-manual Cavaillé-Col organ (with almost the same
stop-list as Franck’s instrument in Saint Clothilde) in the Haarlem
Concertgebouw. I found the great
Müller organ – perhaps the first ‘universal’ organ – very inspiring.
When Albert de Klerk retired in the early 1980s,
I held the position alone until my own retirement in 1989.
PS:
Improvisation was an important part of your career as a performer.
PK: An
improvisation is, for me, often a sketch of a composition. it usually works
only if you have a good structure, and for this you need a good ear and a
good memory.
PS: I
remember one of your improvisations, back in 1970 I think, when you played a
concert in memory of Gerard Kremer, the organist, cantor and composer. Your
theme was Kremer’s hymn-tune to the words God
heeft het eerste word:
One of your ideas inspired by this, and played, I
remember, Allegro, in octaves and on a very powerful registration was:
PK: Yes,
in 1954 I was appointed organ teacher at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum, an
institution known for its acceptance of new ideas and new ways of doing
things. In about 1979, it and the
Conservatorium amalgamated to form the Sweelinck Conservatorium. My students there included many who have
become well-known performers and teachers.
PS: You
have mentioned the Haarlem improvisation
competition; there is also a famous Summer Academy
that has, over the years, exerted an enormous influence on organists from
many countries.
PK: Yes,
indeed, and it has inspired other academies.
At each Summer
Academy, more than one
hundred professional organists gather for what is, for some of them, a
life-changing experience. It began in
the early 1950s, when the teachers included Anton Heiller, Marie-Claire Alain
and Luigi-Ferdinando Tagliavini. I
joined the teaching team in 1970 when I taught improvisation. Later on I preferred to teach
interpretation, dealing with the music of Sweelinck, Buxtehude, Bruhns and JS
Bach. More recently, I have dealt with
the Sonatas of Hindemith.
PS: The
music of JS Bach was at the centre of your repertoire as a performer. What advice would you give to organists
about the interpretation of this music?
PK: Play
it with inner freedom; follow your natural musical impulses; don’t be
restricted by dogmas; know a lot about it and forget this when you play; use
your ears to find colourful and clear registrations; be familiar with Bach’s
other music.
PS: Nederland - Orgelland (The
Netherlands - the land of organs) is a well-known phrase, but there are two
organ cultures in your country, I think.
PK: That
is a bit of an exaggeration, but yes, there is a difference between the
Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions.
In the Protestant
Church (the Dutch
Calvinist church), the organ was not allowed to accompany the psalms until
after about 1640. It is likely that
Sweelinck, for example, (who probably remained a Catholic) played organ music
only before and after services, and during concerts. After 1640 organists were expected to
improvise preludes to the psalm tunes and to improvise accompaniments while
reading only the melody. This was, and
still is, a great art in the Netherlands.
PS: In Scotland,
from around 1560 until towards the end of the 19th century, organs were not
allowed in Church of Scotland churches.
PK: In the
Netherlands, organs were
the focus of civic pride; we mentioned earlier the rivalry between Haarlem and Alkmaar. Even a quite simple church may have a
magnificent organ, but even so, not pay its organist very much money!
In the Roman Catholic church, the role of the
organ was and is different; in the Netherlands, there was an enormous influence
from France,
and I think that the state of RC church music was rather poor until the time
of composers such as Alphons Diepenbrock and Hendrik Andriessen.
PS: As
well as all of this activity in the Netherlands, your career has had
an important international dimension.
PK:
Yes. It began with my winning
the Haarlem
improvisation competitions 1953-5. In 1954 I recorded in Alkmaar,
for HMV, an LP that had world-wide distribution; this was one of the first
LPs of organ music to be produced in the Netherlands. The programme included music by Sweelinck,
Couperin, Buxtehude, Reger and Distler.
I have often played in the United Kingdom. In 1957 I was invited to play in the Royal
Festival Hall; this was to be the first of several recitals that I gave
there. I responded very positively to
the instrument, the hall and the atmosphere of the recitals.
In 1963 I was a member of the jury for the
competition during the first St
Albans International Organ Festival; this was to be the first of many visits
to St Albans. My reaction to the organ there was similar
to my reaction to the RFH instrument; the electro-pneumatic action did not
concern me, but the sound of the organ was very rewarding.
PS: What
are some of the most striking things that you remember?
PK: In the
USA I was very impressed
by the range of good instruments available to students in the universities
and colleges; Oberlin College in Ohio
is a very good example of that.
In Japan I was astonished by the
increase in the number of concert-hall organs. There are so many fine organs there, those
by Marc Garner, for instance. I am
impressed by the way that the Japanese are entirely dedicated to what they
choose to do. I did not like Japanese
food, but I enjoyed very much the traditional music that I heard during Noh
plays; the style, the instruments and the way of singing fascinate me. I should point out that one movement
(Sheng) of my composition The Organ displays some eastern influences. (Sheng
is the Chinese name for the mouth-organ that is called Sho in Japan.)
PS:
Composition has always been part of your life, but especially since
you retired from the position in Haarlem. What influences your style?
PK:
Influences from other composers are neither strong nor important. On my retirement from Haarlem, I decided to spend much more time
with composition; when I was a performer I did not have much time for
it. Composition is an imperative for
me; each of my later compositions is an adventure, and involves the creation
of something new both for me and for the listener. For instance, the first movement of the
Frans Hals Suite for carillon was informed by an exploration of the art of
bell-ringing. Another instance is Bios
II; superficially it might seem that I was influenced by Messiaen because of
the use of bird-song, but the musical language is different and the bird-song
is that of birds in the Haarlem
region. In Network (commissioned by
the IAO) I explored again the possibilities of spatial positioning, which I
had begun already in 1969 in Music and Space.
The large organ-solo piece The Organ, which is for me very essential,
and which has now been published by Bärenreiter, has a strong link with the
visual arts. It may be interesting to
mention that one of the two paintings on which I based this work is the
largest picture by Pieter Saenredam (1597-1656) – a great painter of the
Dutch “Golden Age” – representing the interior of the Sint Bavo kerk in Haarlem; this painting is a highlight of the collection
of the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh. For the Haarlem Concerto I chose an unusual
instrumentation (for instance the use of the harmonium as well as the
organ). Thomas Trotter, who played the
first performance in Haarlem, will play it on
May 31, 2008 in De Doelen, Rotterdam
and again at the St Albans International Organ Festival in 2009.
Recordings by Piet Kee
(all DDD recordings unless otherwise stated)
Information correct on 21 December 2007
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Stereo 6410 767
(LP)
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Confrontatie (Confrontation). An encounter of
three street organs and one church organ.
Recorded in the church
of St Bavo, Haarlem.
Music by Piet Kee, Anonymous, John of Lublin,
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.
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Guild Records LP GRSP 7014.
Xenophone CD 885220.
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Piet Kee at St Bavo, Haarlem.
Music by Bruhns, JS Bach, Buxtehude,
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Kodaly,
Piet Kee.
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CHAN0510
Now available in a 2CD set: Brilliant Classics
93413
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Piet Kee plays Bach and Buxtehude.
Recorded in the church
of St Laurens, Alkmaar.
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CHAN0514
Now available in a 2CD set: Brilliant Classics
93413
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Piet Kee plays Buxtehude and Sweelinck.
Recorded in the church
of St Laurens, Alkmaar
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CHAN0506
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Piet Kee plays Bach.
Recorded in the church
of St Bavo, Haarlem.
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CHAN0510
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Piet Kee plays Bach Volume 2.
Recorded in the church
of St Bavo, Haarlem.
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CHAN0520
Now available only as MP3 and WMAHD downloads
from Chandos.
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Piet Kee at Weingarten.
Music by Pachelbel, JS Bach, JG Walther, JM
Bach, Lebegue, Murschhauser.
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CHAN8891
Now available only as an MP3 download from
Chandos.
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César Franck: organ works.
Choral 3; Cantabile; Pièce Héroïque; Andantino
in E (arr Louis Vierne);
Choral 2; Prelude, Fugue et Variation.
Recorded on the Cavaillé-Col organ in the
Basilica of Santa Maria del Coro,
San
Sebastian, Spain.
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CHAN0527
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