Lunchtime organ recital by Michal Bryks
17th April 2013
It is always a particular delight when a visiting recitalist offers
unfamiliar music for which he or she has a special affinity or sense of
commitment. So it was when the young Polish-born organist Michal
Bryks played at Brentwood Cathedral on 17th April. His concluding
items, by his compatriots Feliks Nowowiesjski and Marian Sawa, were
almost certainly new to everyone present. Nowowiejski’s Prelude on the
Kyrie from Mass XI (Orbis Factor) used a familiar theme, attractively
presenting the chant in long notes against a tranquil, pulsating
accompaniment. Sawa’s work, simply entitled B.A.C.H., was likewise
based on a familiar theme – the musical anagram of Bach’s name (B flat
– A – C - B natural in English terminology), a motif that has fascinated
many composers down the ages. This one was totally unexpected in the
boldness of its dissonances, its powerful rhetoric and its severe technical
difficulties. Michal seemed completely at ease with its complex demands
and emerged as a player of considerable virtuosity.
His musicianship had been in evidence from the very beginning in his
performance of Bach’s great Prelude and Fugue in G (BWV 541). This
was a courageous choice for an opening item, for everyone who has
played it knows of its many perilous moments. However, Michal’s sense
of style, his rhythmic instinct and his well pointed articulation,
notwithstanding the occasional slip, readily communicated his infectious
joy in the piece.
Following Bach, we heard a delightfully shaped performance of a
Prelude on the German Lord’s Prayer by Georg Böhm, one of Bach’s
slightly older contemporaries - a piece not unworthy of the Master
himself. At the heart of the recital were two short works by Brahms and
Reger. Late romantic German music is another of his enthusiasms;
again, his understanding of the music and his commitment to it were
everywhere apparent. His registrations were always appropriate and
effective, particularly in Reger’s Benedictus, where a peaceful, yearning
opening suddenly becomes emotionally volatile, and after an
overwhelming climax subsides just as quickly. To make this convincing
the player needs self-confidence and assurance in the management of
the organ. To this challenge, as to all the others in this eclectic
programme, Michal rose magnificently.
For the player, a programme demanding such a range of styles,
techniques and musical sympathies is a considerable test; for the
audience it is a perpetual delight, and the warmth of the response Michal
elicited gave ample evidence of this. We look forward, in hope, to a
return visit by this promising young artist. What a pity more people
seem not to know of these regular recitals. They bring to Brentwood
some of the finest and most talented young organists, and they give their
audiences inspiring music of absorbing interest in perfect surroundings.
The next one is on May 22nd – don’t miss it!
Lunchtime Organ Recital by James Perkins
20th March 2013
The series of regular lunchtime organ recitals at Brentwood Cathedral
offers an excellent opportunity to hear some of the many fine young
organists now emerging from our Music Colleges and Universities,
particularly from the Royal College of Music. On 20th March, James
Perkins offered a wide-ranging programme which he performed with
formidable technical skill, flair and understanding of different national
and period styles. He had apparently spent several days at the Cathedral
organ, exploring the range of resources it offers and discovering, in the
process, tone colours that perfectly matched the contrasting
requirements of the music.
The most substantial item in the programme was Bach’s famous A minor
Prelude and Fugue which James revealed, in an idiomatic and stylish
reading, as a work of profound and grave beauty as well as a demanding
virtuoso showpiece. However, it was in the following three late romantic
pieces that he demonstrated to the full his sensitivity to nuances of style.
Organs built in the late nineteenth-century followed distinct national
traditions, and the music written for them tends to sound best when the
player understands those differences and can find ways of replicating
them on instruments of otherwise different styles. Herbert Howells’s
early Psalm-Prelude (Set 1, No. 3), like the Flourish by Sir William
Harris with which the recital opened, calls for the typical English
romantic ‘cathedral’ sound; the music of César Franck was conceived
with the characteristic timbres of the organs of nineteenth-century
France in mind; Max Reger’s works, however, need the distinctive, but
elusive, sounds of a German organ. The Brentwood Cathedral organ is
nothing if not eclectic, but it needs a player of James Perkins’s insight
and aural sensitivity to discover those colours within the instrument’s
latent sound-palette. This he did most convincingly, while shaping the
music lovingly and sensitively, getting to the heart of each piece and
revealing their distinctive characters. Concluding the recital, Reger’s
Thanksgiving Psalm, written in 1917 shortly before the composer’s
death, convincingly recreated the distinctive timbres of the
contemporaneous organs of Walcker, the leading German firm of organ
builders of the time.
A first class young musician on a fine, versatile instrument, offering
some of the greatest and most enjoyable music written for the organ:
that is what the Brentwood Cathedral lunchtime recitals regularly offer
their audiences. The Cathedral Music Department is to be congratulated
on its close links with the Organ Department of the Royal College of
Music, which give advanced students concert experience and at the same
time delight local audiences; they deserve full support.
Michael Frith
Mozart Concert - March 9th 2013
Click the photos to enlarge
Brentwood bade farewell to Nicholas Sherwood in style with an all-
Mozart concert of the highest quality, underpinned by excellent
performances from the orchestral and vocal forces assembled in
Brentwood Cathedral.
Nicholas is retiring to the West Country after 15 years at the helm of the
Brentwood Choral Society, who were joined for the Mozart Requiem by
the Ingatestone Choral Society and the Cathedral Singers. He coaxed a
fine, well balanced and committed performance out of the combined
choirs. Crisp entries and some sensitive phrasing ensured plenty of light
and shade, reflecting a sensitivity to the meaning of the Latin words.
He allowed the big choruses to build to their natural climaxes without
ever having to drive the choir so hard that the quality of the sound was
sacrificed for mere volume. The choir responded with some confident
and committed singing from all the parts which helped ensure a clarity
to the choral texture that allowed every part to be heard, something
easily lost when large choirs perform this work.
The quartet of soloists - Isabella Valentini, Elizabeth Desbruslais,
Joshua Mills and Joshua Chapman - also complemented each other well
with some finely crafted ensemble singing, especially in the Recordare.
While this was a concert primarily to acknowledge Nicholas's work in
Brentwood as a choral conductor, few in the large audience would
disagree that, musically, the star of the evening was Jordan Black, the
soloist in the Mozart Clarinet concerto. He was the woodwind finalist in
the most recent BBC Young Musician of the Year competition and clearly
has massive potential as a solo performer. His handling of one of the
most famous works in the clarinet repertoire was not merely musically
assured but emotionally mature too. The long, haunting passages of the
slow movement struck deep into the soul of Mozart's music while he
showed himself just as capable of rising to the technical challenges
posed in the faster passages of the outer movements.
The orchestral accompaniment throughout was excellent. The ELMS
Chamber Orchestra comprises recent graduates from the London music
colleges and they played every piece with vitality, precision and beauty,
no more so than in the Magic Flute Overture that opened the concert.
Nicholas Sherwood's measured approach was perfectly paced to allow
the warm acoustic of the cathedral to embrace the subtle phrasing he
drew from every section of the orchestra.
© David Worsfold
At the end of the afternoon rehearsal, Nicholas made a short speech
paying tribute to the Cathedral, its music department and clergy:
“Firstly, may I say what a very great privilege it is for me to be allowed to
conduct here for this last time. On behalf of myself and the Brentwood
Choral Society I wish to say a heartfelt ‘thank you’ for 15 special years of
warm and generous welcome we’ve been given here. There seems to be a
true spirit of ecumenism in this place, witnessed through love, mutual
respect, help and co-operation.
“My own particular thanks are due especially:
To Andrew Wright – a hugely talented and inspiring figure, nationally
and internationally, as well as locally.
To Margaret MacLeay - by whom all things are made possible!
And to Stephen King – someone I’ve always found to be infinitely
adaptable and helpful.
“I’d like to say thank you also for the support and encouragement of the
present Dean, Fr Martin Boland, and over the years for that of his
predecessors, Monsignors David Manson and Bill Nix; and also, of
course for that of Bishop Thomas himself, who has spoken so warmly on
many occasions.
“Finally, I would like to say that those of us who are not Catholics want
to join with you in praying for the successors to both Pope Benedict and
Bishop Thomas, and that there may be many future years of mutual love
an co-operation between us in Brentwood and the in the wider Essex
community.”
Organist Richard Moore celebrates Bach,
Elgar and Brentwood Cathedral’s new
memory system! - Lunchtime Recital 17th
October 2012
Richard Moore was the final organist in this year’s RCM series of
lunchtime recitals at Brentwood Cathedral and was welcomed warmly by
Director of Music, Andrew Wright. Richard’s performing experience
includes commercial recordings with the choirs of St. John’s College,
Oxford and Exeter College and European tours; he is a continuo player
in the RCM’s Historical Performance department. Richard currently
holds the Sir George Thalben-Ball Memorial Organ Scholarship at St.
Michael’s, Cornhill and the William and Irene Miller Organ Scholarship
at St. Paul’s Cathedral.
A large video screen has been a regular feature throughout the four
series of RCM concerts which have taken place at the Cathedral,
enabling audiences to see the organist at work: no more brief glimpses of
the performer between the organ and choir stalls, but now a colourful
merging of sound and vision and a clear view of the organist for the
duration of every recital. Our thanks must go to Andrew Wright for
making this possible and for greatly enhancing our enjoyment of these
organ recitals.
Richard had chosen two of my favourite composers, J.S. Bach (1685-
1750) and Edward Elgar (1857-1934) and works which would challenge
the musical and technical ability of any organist. Interestingly, Richard
informed us that both Sonatas have a connection with Leipzig – Bach
wrote the sixth trio sonata when he was Thomas-Kantor in Leipzig, and
copying by both Wilhelm Friedemann and Anna Magdalena’s, since
Bach added in ornamentation markings, as well as tempo indications.
The Elgar Sonata sits at the end of a long line of organ sonatas by
composers who were part of a tradition of British composers who
studied at the Leipzig Conservatorium. Richard concluded that,
although Elgar remained insular in his training, some of the gestures in
his writing show direct links to, for example, Battison-Haynes, and also
Harwood (both of whom were Leipzigers by training).
Richard’s opening piece: Bach’s Trio Sonata No. 6, BWV 530, composed
in 1727, is the last of Bach’s trio sonatas for organ, which were almost
certainly written for his son, Wilhelm Friedemann to improve his
playing skills. Later on, the sonatas were considered “too good to be left
only to organists” by musicians such as Richard Boothby, who arranged
them for violins, viola da gamba and harpsichord. There are various
instrumental versions, but to hear the sixth sonata played authentically
on the organ, the way that Bach intended, seemed spiritually nourishing
and especially peaceful in a beautiful cathedral, where sunlight streamed
in through stained glass windows, decorating a white pillar with hues of
purple, pink and gold. Richard’s gentle yet convincing interpretation of
the first movement, followed by his sensitive playing of the ethereal
second movement with its hauntingly gorgeous recurring phrase, and
concluding with clear articulation throughout the third, joyful
movement, delighted us all. An organ recital without Bach is like a
religious service without prayer and I can safely say that our souls were
profoundly stirred by Richard’s performance of Bach’s sixth trio sonata.
The other work, Elgar’s Organ Sonata in G Major, op. 28 (and 28
minutes long!) was composed in 1892 and originally written for the four-
manual Hill organ at Worcester Cathedral, taking only two weeks from
conception to first performance. It is worth noting that Gordon Jacob
arranged the work very successfully for orchestra in 1947, on the
recommendation of Sir Adrian Boult and many musicians have
wondered why Elgar did not think of this himself! However, Richard
Moore’s outstanding performance demonstrated the ability of the
organist and the organ itself to deliver the musical goods majestically
and effectively without the help of other instruments - again, the way the
composer intended it to sound!
Elgar’s organ sonata has an assertive opening theme in the ‘Allegro
maestoso’ first movement, transporting us to the Romantic era through
his uniquely familiar and essentially English style. Richard took full
advantage of the organ’s recently updated memory system, pre-selecting
the registrations and combinations and filling every corner of the
Cathedral with bold, rich sounds. The second movement’s melodies and
contrapuntal configurations lured us, by now well and truly under the
Elgar ‘spell’, into the third movement, ‘Andante espressivo’, with its
relaxed, ‘noblimente’ melodic line, ending with an exhilarating fourth
movement. Richard delivered the exciting extended climax of this last
movement, with its soaring harmonies, with incredible conviction and
technical ease, resulting in long applause from a hugely appreciative
audience. This work had never before been performed at Brentwood
Cathedral and will never be forgotten by those who attended this
inspiring recital. Andrew Wright thanked Richard Moore for such an
enjoyable lunchtime concert, before we all left the Cathedral, reflecting
on such a truly uplifting musical feast.
Julia Bentham
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