The Scottish Federation of Organists	page content last updated 30^th May 2009
	Reviews
; HOME ; SFO MAIN PAGE ; OFFICE BEARERS ; LOCAL SOCIETIES ; DAILY NEWS & NOTICES ; SFO NEWS ON LINE ; RECOMMENDED SALARY SCALES ; REDUNDANT ORGANS ; THE SCOTTISH CHURCHES ORGANIST TRAINING SCHEME (SCOTS) ; ORGAN ADVISERS	We welcome reviews of organ related concerts/recitals, books, recordings etc. Please send them to publications@scotsorgan.org.uk and include your name and any other relevant details. Andrew Caskie in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery Robert Lightband I am very glad to have paid a return visit to the Kelvingrove last Sunday, May 24th. Apart from everything else Andrew is a very welcome, if not recent, member to the growing numbers of highly gifted players from Edinburgh, though his early teaching was in Dundee. So next we have to get through the comparison stage of the civic organs in Glasgow and the Caird Hall in Dundee. Few would dispute that the two are the best civic organs in Scotland and amongst the very best in Britain. The Kelvingrove, though it came from another hall in Glasgow has much the best appearance, even if the case is entirely made up of dummy pipes. It also enjoys better acoustics than Dundee, though if you have not heard the Caird Hall organ since its complete resitting, you will get a surprise, because the acoustics, already good, have been much improved. The story of the Caird Hall case I am not allowed to divulge - yet! The Glasgow Lewis has a better Great chorus, if only because of the brighter voicing and the splendid quint mixture that crowns the entire organ. The Great reeds are better too, and, as in the Caird Hall, are enclosed in the second box, but voiced in the much less smooth Lewis style. But hereafter things become more difficult to compare, not least because the Art Gallery was open to the mostly washed public and their excessively noisy children whereas the Caird Hall is very well sound-proofed. Both organs have a fine pedal foundation, but though huge from the console, the Lewis lacks the much livelier Ophicleide found on the Caird Hall instrument. The quieter stops are splendid on both instruments, but the Dundee Full Swell easily supasses the Glasgow one. Furthermore the big unenclosed Tuba in Dundee is a hugely welcome addition Andy does not volunteer for easy music. Elgar’s Imperial March cried out for a bigger Full Swell and a solo Tuba, but it was very well played. Andy’s own edition of the Liebesfreud of Fritz Kreisler was very effective indeed as was Lamare’s difficult arrangement of the Overture form Rienzi. Why did Wagner write so much in B when it is impossible to play on an organ with a G or A compass? I don’t think Wagner liked organists very much, but very few people liked Wagner for that matter. The Allegretto, an early work by Vierne suffered most from people being noisy, though the Caird Hall Swell Trumpet would soon have sorted that out. On the other hand the very difficult Final from Vierne’s Symphonie six was very exciting indeed and completely quietened the hitherto militant hoards from Babylon, sorry I meant Glasgow. Although Bach was supposed to have written the first 13 bars of the Fantasia in C major completed by Stockmeier, there was little in it to convince me that Bach wrote a single note. But it did not spoil a thoroughly enjoyable recital. ************** OxRecs Digital is a company producing CDs of Choral, Organ, Piano and Chamber music. Their website, including a downloadable catalogue is www.oxrecs.com **************
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