Robert Crowley and Lammas have already served Alan Ridout’s
organ music well. After Sounds of Alan Ridout (LAMM 161D)
and Sounds Contemporary (LAMM 102D), both reviewed here
some time ago, here comes another release in which Ridout’s
organ music has the lion’s share. Ridout wrote for organ regularly
and consistently throughout his composing life. The somewhat
enigmatically titled Reredos, Ridout’s first acknowledged
organ work, was written in the mid-1950s when he was music teacher
at Holmewood House, Tonbridge. The music begins quietly and
slowly before gaining momentum in the central Allegro section.
It already displays several Ridout hallmarks: dissonant harmonies
reminiscent of Messiaen and Kenneth Leighton. Paean
of 1963 is a short brilliant Toccata all over in two minutes’
time. An ideal encore to any organ recital.
Ridout had a long
association with Canterbury and its cathedral’s organist Allan
Wicks who regularly played his organ works, some of which he
committed to disc during the LP era. Some of Ridout’s great
organ works such as The Fourteen Stations of the Cross
(1978), Three Pictures of Graham Sutherland
(1967) and The Seven Last Words (1965) were written
for Wicks; and so was the beautiful Prelude on “St Thomas
Honour We” based on a 14th century carol.
The Seven Last Words is one of Ridout’s organ
masterpieces, and one in which he explores a wide range of moods
and textures, by turns harsh and dissonant, forceful and appeased,
violent and meditative. Each of the seven sections is neatly
characterised, without ever being programmatic or descriptive.
No. 1 Father, forgive them lays more emphasis on the
cruelty of crucifixion than on forgiveness. No. 2 Woman,
behold thy son is calm and tender. No. 3 My God,
why hast thou forsaken me? is another angular, brutal movement
that stands in complete contrast to the preceding section and
the one that follows (No. 4 Verily I say unto thee : Today
shalt thou be with me in paradise), another quiet meditation.
No. 5 I thirst is a fast, energetic movement. No. 6 It
is finished is played on the pedals throughout and must
be awfully tricky from the technical standpoint. The concluding
section Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit provides
an assertive and majestic apotheosis to what is a really great
piece of organ music.
The short Epithalamium,
composed in 1967 for the marriage of Reverend David Marriott
at Guildford Cathedral, is a short, calm but lively piece of
great refinement.
Humphrey Clucas’
music, too, has been well served by Crowley and Lammas (in Sounds
of Humphrey Clucas on LAMM 151D and in Sounds
Contemporary, both reviewed here). Crowley chose two fairly
recent works composed in 2004: the short straightforward Psalm
Prelude and the rather more ambitious Symphony
for Organ composed for him and first performed by him
in Westminster Cathedral. The Symphony is in three movements:
a weighty Allegro in sonata form. Incidentally, one of the two
subjects reminded me of the theme of Mars in Holst’s
Planets, but none the worse for that. There follows
a nimble Scherzo into which the composer manages to weave the
BACH motive. The third movement is a short set of variations,
including a short Passacaglia. The conclusion is a summing-up
of the main themes heard in the previous movements. Clucas’s
organ music is on the whole more traditional than Ridout’s,
but is nevertheless quite deftly done and superbly crafted.
His Symphony for Organ clearly deserves wider
exposure.
This generously
filled and most desirable release includes two rarities by British
composers not readily associated with the organ : Peter Wishart
and Humphrey Searle. Peter Wishart’s music is still shamefully
neglected, so that there is all too little of it available in
commercial recordings. I can only think of his String
Quartet No.3 in A Op.22 on Tremula TREM 102-2 and some
songs and piano pieces on BMS 409 (cassette only). His delightful
Pastorale and Fughetta Op.38 is
a quite engaging miniature of great charm. Humphrey Searle’s
Cyprus Dances Op.76, one of his
last completed works, is another most welcome, unpretentious
but colourful addition to the repertoire.
Robert Crowley plays
superbly throughout and is evidently in empathy with the music.
The recording is very fine indeed. I hope that he may be persuaded
to record more of Ridout’s organ music - the Resurrection
Dances and the Sinfonia, amongst others
- and to continue exploring the neglected byways of British
organ music. In short, this is a very fine release that should
appeal to all those who enjoy the organ music of Leighton, Mathias
and Messiaen.
Hubert Culot
Robert Crowley (organ)
