International Organ Festival Society NewsletterJune 2007

From the Chairman

Following the fantastic support shown by John Stocker and Society members at the AGMto our funding problems, and the subsequent response to the appeal letter from RogerLander, we have re-doubled our efforts to make the 2007 Festival a success. Roger hascommented in the newsletter about the current total. Thank you all for your backing.

Whilst many people are involved in preparing for the Festival, the programme of fund raisingevents has continued. Sue and Peter Tomson held another successful Sunday afternoonconcert in their Barn, and Lin Johnson co-ordinated an enjoyable wine tasting quiz.Thomas Trotter played JS Bach’s Trio Sonatas on Sunday 13th May, in aid of the St AlbansCathedral Organ Restoration Fund, and IOFS board member Sue Betteridge led the teampromoting this special performance.

Our Saturday concert series and after-concert ‘meet the soloist’ receptions have been wellsupported. It is fitting that we concluded this year’s series with Simon Johnson, who gavean inspiring performance that sent us all away determined to make this year's Festival agreat success. The 2007/2008 Saturday Concerts details will be available at the Festival.With the brochure for this year’s Festival now published, our targeted promotional activitiesare under way. We have been helped this year by the practical experience of Lin Johnson,who was elected to the Board at the AGM and the writing skills of John Manning - who wasrecently made an Honorary Life Member of the IOFS.

The Festival Operations Committee, made up of the team who co-ordinate key activities, arerefining their plans. If you can pass brochures on to friends and colleagues, put some in yourchurch, or give them out at a concert you attend, please contact the Festival Office for asupply. In addition to helping swell the audiences for concerts, competition rounds andevents, if you have time to give some help during the Festival please contact Hilary Crookin the Office and she can tell you what help we require most. Tel:01727 844765. (E-mail: hilary.crook@organfestival.com)

Deputy chairman Colin Hamling will update you on the competitors invited to compete atthe 24th International Organ Festival at St Albans. I am told the standard of entry was high.With the competitors now invited and the well-supported repertoire day at St Peter’s Churchthe scene is set for the 2007 Competitions.

Andrew Lucas and Ken Chaproniere will be standing down after this Festival and I will bemoving away from the area. To guide the Society through the transition, the Board has askedLesley King to pick up the reins again as Chairman from September, when I will resign fromthe Board. Lesley has accepted and will bring her experience to bear during a period ofchange, but with the intention of standing down in September 2009 when a successor hasbeen identified. We are all committed to making this year's Festival a success. Thank you

for your support.Andy Hayman

The 24th International Organ Festival at St Albanswill be held 12 - 21st July 2007.

The Box office is now open to the general public, tel: 01727 846126 IOFS, PO Box 80, St Albans AL3 4HR. UK

You can also book via our website: www.organfestival.com From June 11th tickets may also be purchased (in person) from the

Tourist Information Centre in St Albans Town Hall.

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From the Artistic Director

You will see from Colin Hamling's article in thisNewsletter that the competitions have nowstarted. For me the auditioning of the initialapplicants, in the tape round, heralds the startof the Festival and begins the countdown to theactual 10 days when we all come together inJuly. I look forward to this time very muchindeed and I hope that you will enjoy theprogramme of music in concerts, services andcompetitions that we have put together for youto enjoy. In some senses this Festival is a bit of an end ofera. The cathedral organ, part of the originalinspiration for the Festival, is definitely showingsigns of age and decline. During ThomasTrotter's Trio Sonata concert only this lastweekend, one stop ceased functioning altogether- in spite of the expensive remedial work done toit, and three other stops, in January this year.So it will be 'fingers crossed' for the Festival;the restoration process over the next two yearscomes not a moment too early. These last fewmonths are the final opportunities to enjoy itswonderful sounds for two years. When it comesback in 2009 it will be restored, revitalised andexpanded in scope, ready for another fifty ormore years of good service. It is also my last Festival as Artistic Director.After more than eight years and four festivals,plus all the intervening events that take place, Ifeel that it is now time to hand over this greatresponsibility to someone else, so that they maytake the Festival forward with fresh ideas andnew energy. Of course I will still be supportingthe Festival in my work as Master of the Music.

Meanwhile, there is a lot to do andall I can do is encourage you toplease do come and enjoy theFestival with all it has to offer youthis year. Andrew Lucas

Festival Brochure - errataMon. 16th July Evensong at StPeter’s Church starts at 18.00 (not17.00)

Sat. 21st July The Small OrgansDemonstration in St Albans Abbeystarts at 10.00 (not 9.00)

Appeal to Members in support of the2007 Festival

The response from members to my appeal forGuarantees at the AGM has been well beyondmy expectations. Ninety-one memberscontributed, and the amounts raised are asfollows:

Cash donations £7,275

Gift Aid on Donations £1,925

Guarantees £19,700

Total £28,900

I was greatly heartened by the number andspeed of the responses; we clearly have a loyaland generous membership. Although externalfund raising is still not where we would like it tobe, we do now have enough resource overall toproceed with the Festival. It is of course far tooearly to say whether or not we shall need to callupon any part of the Guarantees.Thank you all very much.

Roger LanderFinance Director

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Organ Competitions 2007

Our Competitions are underway! I received 53applications representing 18 countries. Theentrants for the Interpretation competition wererequired to submit a recording of "Prelude,Fugue and Ciacona in C" – Buxtehude, and twoof the "Pièces de Fantaisie" – Vierne. For theImprovisation competition, two improvisationson given themes, and also the Buxtehude wererequired. Full details of these, and the music forthe next rounds, are given in the CompetitionsProspectus which you will find on our website(www.organfestival.com)

The recordings have been judged by PeterHurford, Andrew Lucas and Thomas Trotter,also Martin Baker for the Improvisations. 15Interpreters and 4 Improvisers have beenselected to proceed to the next rounds which willstart our Competitions and Festival in St. Albanson 12th July.

As usual we have attracted competitors from awide range of countries - Czech. Republic,France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Korea, Poland,Russia, S. Africa, The Netherlands and UK. Ihope you will support these candidates - both asthey compete during the competition rounds,and socially during the festival; the atmosphereof an audience is invaluable in translating theevent from an exam to a concert. Do not thinkyou will be bored! If you have not attended theQuarter and Semi-Final rounds before, I'mcertain that you will be fascinated by just howdifferent each performance of the same piececan be; and who knows you may pick the samewinner as the judges.

In an earlier Newsletter, I asked that if you wishto assist in supervising practice sessions beforeand during the Festival, then I should be pleasedto place you on my rota. This is an excellentway of meeting the competitors, and any furtheroffers are still welcome. Colin Hamling

Competitions Secretarychamling@compuserve.com

Volunteer Registrants needed

I would be pleased to hear from anyone who canhelp as a Registrant / page turner, both for theupcoming Festival and the ongoing ConcertSeries. This might involve some late evenings,and in the case of the Festival would be to assistboth Jurors and Competitors. You must be ableto read an organ score, and knowledge of anorgan console would be helpful, plus a friendlydisposition. I would be grateful to hear fromthose who have helped in the past to confirmwhether you are still willing to carry on. Kenneth Hunt, Artists Liaison

Please tel: 01582 764976 email: kwc.hunt@tiscali.co.uk

Competitor Accommodation – can you help!

We usually have 20-25 host families lookingafter our competitors and their registrantsduring the Festival, but this year some of ourstalwart hosts have bowed out after long periodsof service – in one case since the Festival beganin 1963! We are still short of a couple of beds, so if youlive in St Albans and can consider offering bedand breakfast for the fortnight starting justbefore the Festival, Sue Betteridge would bedelighted to hear from you and let you havemore details. Ticket concessions and invitationsto social events are offered in return for yourkindness. Email: sue.betteridge@itv.comTel: Sue Betteridge 01727 811443

Membership Matters

A warm welcome is extended to the followingmembers who have joined the Society sincepublication of the last newsletter: Peter & Myra Benford SevenoaksRachel & Ian Brooke HarpendenLynette Burrows CodicoteFrank Clifford BromleyDonald Davison BelfastSusan Dingle CockfostersAntony Dix St AlbansSeung-Hae Yang & Inah Park Korea

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Once again I’d like to ask any member who hasrecently acquired an email address, or recentlychanged an existing address, to send me a'Hello' message so that we can keep our recordsup-to-date. This particularly applies to memberswho have recently joined via our website facilityas your email address is not getting through tome. Roger TriggEmail: roger.trigg@tiscali.co.ukTel: 01923 774293

Note: AGM 3rd March 2007The Minutes of the 2007 Annual General Meetingwill appear in the September newsletter.

Concert in the Barn

For the 18th March Sue and Peter Tomson hadagain issued a general invitation to their gardenand barn at The Abbot's House to hear twostring quartets of young players from the JuniorDepartment of the Royal College of Music. Westrolled round their beautiful garden and thentook our seats in the barn for the concert. Aquartet of 11 and 12 year olds played amovement from Dvorak's 'American' Quartet,then a Ragtime Serenade and lastly Reel Fiddlingmade up of six traditional Scots reels. Theirmusicality was strikingly apparent, their level ofaccomplishment quite astonishing. A second quartet, this time of sixth-formers,played - superbly - movements from Mozart's'Prussian' quartet, Schubert's 'Death and theMaiden' and the Ravel quartet. They gave greatpleasure and we all admired their dedication andfelt grateful that Sue and Peter organised suchdelight for us and such useful practice andexperience for the students. We understand that the concert raised £1,265for the IOF. [+Gift Aid this totals £1,520.26]

Michael and Margaret Morgan

Wine-Tasting Quiz

Following the success of the Quiz Night lastNovember, Lin and Mike Johnson decided toorganise a Wine-Tasting Quiz. This was not theserious connoisseurs’ event that one mightimagine, but rather, a light-hearted eveningalong the lines of ‘Call my Bluff’.

A team of three bluffers gave weird andwonderful descriptions of the wine in funnyaccents and wearing appropriately regional hats,each trying to persuade the audience that hewas telling the truth. In many cases peoplecould only guess, but if they had only a slightknowledge of wine it didn’t really matter. Eventhose of us who wouldn’t know the differencebetween a Peruvian Red and a Norwegian Bluecould still enjoy the fun.

The event followed Gerben Mourik’s recital atSt Saviour’s on 31st March and it was good tosee Gerben and his wife among the sixty-oddparticipants. Halfway through, a very tasty coldcollation was provided to complement the wine,and the whole event, including the raffle, raised£584.

Thanks are due to George Edkins and his teamof bluffers, and to all those who helped make theevent such a success, in particular Mike and Linfor organising it so expertly.

Philip Vaughan

Competitions Repertoire Day

On 21st April, St Peter’s Church played host tothe Repertoire Day in advance of the Festivalcompetitions. Two of the jury-members, DavidTitterington and Martin Baker, guided theaudience through the rigours of theInterpretation and Improvisation competitions.

Several examples of the repertoire with whichthe competitors must get to grips weredemonstrated on the new Mander organ at StPeter’s by Royal Academy students. DavidTitterington spoke about the historicalbackground to each piece in terms ofperformance practice, the type of organ forwhich the music was written, and playingtraditions that have developed over time.Clearly, the most important feature of a goodcompetition performance will always be acompelling, individual and supremely musicalrendition of the set repertoire. However, thejudges and informed listeners will also beconsidering how the candidates deal with theproblems thrown up by performing in 2007, (onorgans in St Albans) music written at a muchearlier date - for other styles of organ. Forexample, the smooth crescendo and diminuendoafforded by the Rollschweller device common onnineteenth-century German ‘symphonic’ organs,must somehow be re-created on the Harrisonand Harrison in the movement from Reger’ssecond Sonata.

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Such problems will not present themselves in theImprovisation competition. By its very nature,the art of improvisation is spontaneous,responding to momentary inspiration and thecharacter of the instrument being played. Unlikein composition, it is impossible to ‘go back’ andchange something once it has been played; andso the candidates must have a formidable list ofskills: not only must they have total control ofharmony and form, but they should be able todemonstrate ‘real-time’ inventiveness in thehandling of the theme and not have to resort topre-planned patterns. As Martin Baker pointedout, a good improvisation rarely looks ‘correct’when transcribed on to manuscript paper, but itwill have an immediacy of effect and excitementunlike any other form of music-making.

Alex Flood

IOFS Lottery 2006-07 and 2007-08

The lucky prize-winners since the last Newsletterare:February No 32 Chris and Val ArgueMarch No 81 Paul HumphreysApril No 94 Patricia EdwardsMay No 105 Mavis HaggarJune no. 22 Joy Hazell

A new lottery will begin in July, and there is anentry form enclosed with this Newsletter. Theincome from the new Lottery will go towardsthis year’s Festival, and as you know, we needit, so please be generous in your support!

Philip Vaughan

Trotter knocks ‘em for Six To play one of Bach’s Trio Sonatas is, for mostorganists, rather tricky; to play more than one isquite an endurance test for the player and not tobe undertaken lightly. However, an organistwho plays all six in the same programme mustbe either completely bonkers or ThomasTrotter! This rare feat was accomplished in superb stylein St Albans Abbey on Sunday 13th May beforea large and appreciative audience. The eventwas organised by the IOFS in conjunction withthe St Albans Cathedral Music Trust in aid of therefurbishment of the organ. Thomas very kindlygave his services free. The amount raised is notknown at time of going to press.

Thanks are also due to Geoff Bullen (the Trust)and to many other people for making the eventsuch a success. Special thanks go to KathrynBeecroft for designing the programme and JillHackford for organising the tea which followedthe concert.

Philip Vaughan

Organ Workshop 7th July

The District Council has proposed a mini ‘fringe’festival of community events before the Festival- to run from June 30 until July 8. The group oforganisations which organise events in alternateyears to the Organ Festival was asked to comeup with some musical, and specifically, organ-related events, for this fringe.

With this in mind, The Abbey Gateway Orchestrahas booked Marlborough Road MethodistChurch for Sat. July 7th 4.00 - 9.00pm for an‘organ symphony’ workshop. The aim is toprovide organists with the opportunity of playingsome of the organ/orchestra repertoire in aninformal setting. Some music has already beenobtained (with difficulty!) as we are doing this atan earlier event. There may be several organistsamongst IOF members who would appreciatethe chance to play the pieces on offer, and thenovelty of following a conductor!

The music is Guilmant, Symphony 1 (which wasperformed at a Festival some years ago) andFetis, Fantaisie Symphonique (probably theearliest large-scale symphony), plus someshorter pieces.

Listeners are invited to hear the outcome in aplay-through at approx. 7.30pm. The wholeevent is free! Loan of music and any otherinformation from Roger Martin (01727854886) email: r.and.p.martin@dsl.pipex.com

IOF Website: Members AreaApologies for a mistake that crept into the itemabout the Members Area in the Januarynewsletter; the correct website address is:www.organfestival.comDo check out the Members Area which isaccessed through the Membership page:username: ofmemberpassword: diapasonIf you have material for the website, or queries,contact Pat StrudwickEmail: patstrudwick@aol.com

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Concert at St Peter’s Church, Lilley, Herts. Sunday 10th June at 7pm by the Royal College of Music Junior Department

In response to the Chairman's request to members for initiatives leading to support for the Festival, and as formerAD maintaining a keen interest in doing just this, it occurred to me that might I kill several birds with one stone andpromote a concert in our village which, like Sue and Peter Tomson's terrific concerts at Abbots House Barn, wouldprovide performance opportunity for the marvellous young musicians in my care at RCM.

So on this Sunday 10th June, 7pm at St Peter's Church, Lilley (just off the A505 between Luton and Hitchin,)ten brass players (a brass dectet on the renowned Philip Jones Brass Ensemble/London Brass model) and a stringquartet will perform a wide variety of repertoire. You can be sure of high quality and exuberant music-making fromthese players aged 13-18 (the youngest of whom is flying in from Belfast - yes, he does this every Saturday too).What they play should suit all tastes and ranges from Purcell, Handel and Haydn, through Prokofiev, Vivaldi andothers to Chick Corea and the Beatles. Light refreshments will be provided in the interval and proceeds will be divided between IOFS and the fund forrepainting the church. Tickets £10 (at the door) include wine and light refreshments. IOFS members and their friends are urged to come and support - it'll be so good to see you there!

Further details from phewitt@rcm.ac.uk

Organists Wordsearch

This was prepared for the IOFS Newsletter by Pat Over. Hidden in the grid are the last names of 26 organists for you to identify. The answers will appear in September.

T I E P A R K E R S M I T H J

T H E R R I C K E E C I A K A

E U A I L H T L T H M K O O C

A R A L A I N E T E I B L O O

D F F A B E F E O M L L H P B

O O P H R E V O R L I V L M S

W R R A I K N E T S O O N A V

N D E C G R P B T E V C L N B

E F S L G A L A A R E G N A S

S O T E S D T P I L H W T E F

S C O T T W H I T E L E Y V H

A C N I O H E D N E D S M U L

C O O E L P L I N D L E Y A T

U V A T E I O W R E N N E R T

L E T I T T E R I N G T O N N

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Paris in St Albans

This summer, we welcome two leading French organists to play the acclaimed new Mander organ at StPeter’s Church, St Albans. Book your tickets now to experience a taste of Paris in St Albans! Sat. 16th June - Naji Hakim will play a programme combining music of the great French Classical andRomantic traditions, together with two very recently composed works of his own. Sat. 7th July - Olivier Latry will perform music including the 3ème Symphonie by Louis Vierne, hispredecessor as organist at Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Naji Hakim was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1955, studied the organ with Jean Langlais and obtainedfirst prizes in harmony, counterpoint, fugue, organ, improvisation, analysis and orchestration at the ParisConservatoire. In the following years, he won several competitions (including the St Albans IOFimprovisation competition in 1983), and became organist of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica in 1985. He wenton to succeed Messiaen at the church of La Trinité in 1992, and is now internationally recognised as partof the heritage of French organist-improviser-composers.

Naji Hakim’s programme at St Peter’s will include the Offertoire from François Couperin’s Messe pour lesParoisses, Nicholas de Grigny’s famous Récit de tierce en taille and the mighty Choral in A minor byCésar Franck. These will be complemented by only the second performance of Hakim’s Glenalmond Suiteand the opportunity to hear the sequence of twelve meditations on Danish hymn-tunes which make uphis Sakskøbing Præludier. The Glenalmond Suite weaves together the theme of the bells of GlenalmondCollege, near Perth, with quotations from Psalm 23 and St Matthew’s Gospel to create a varied andexciting four-movement form. The movements are given the titles Streaming, Embracing, Smiling, andJubilating. With the Sakskøbing Præludier, Hakim is following in the footsteps of Bach and Reger bycreating a collection of chorale-settings which aim to reflect the contrasts of mood, season and poetictext of each chorale. His recital will conclude with the opportunity to hear Hakim using his full musicalresources in an improvisation.

Olivier Latry was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1962, and began learning the organ aged 12. Havingalready been organist at Meaux Cathedral for four years, at the tender age of 23 he won a competitionto become one of the three titular organists of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. Since 1995 he hascombined this post, and a busy international concert schedule, with teaching at the Paris Conservatoire.Latry’s playing has come to a wider audience through his magnificent recordings, notably his completeDuruflé and Messiaen cycles and his CDs of Vierne and Widor Symphonies.

Latry aims to be an ambassador for seventeenth- to twenty-first-century French organ music, and thisis reflected in his programme at St Peter’s. He will play Louis Marchand’s Grand Dialogue and a selectionof pieces by the rarely-performed eighteenth-century composer Claude-Bénigne Balbastre. After anexcursion eastwards for the extraordinary Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor – arguably J.S. Bach’sgreatest organ work – we return to Gallic territory with music by Lefébure-Wely and Guilmant. In thesecond half of the concert, Latry will perform Vierne’s monumental five-movement 3ème Symphonie andend with another demonstration of the French improviser’s art.

Join us for this not-to-be-missed opportunity to hear two of the greatest organists in the world playinga fine new organ at St Peter’s Church, St Albans.Naji Hakim, Saturday 16th June, 7:30pm St Peter’s Church, St Peter’s Street, St Albans

Olivier Latry, Saturday 7th July, 7:30pm St Peter’s Church, St Peter’s Street, St Albans

Tickets: £20 (£10 students) are available from the Alban Arena box office tel:01727 844488, or available at the door.

Alex Flood

Editing/typesetting by Jill Bennett. Copy deadline for the next edition is 31st August. Please send to: 29 Cornwall Rd, St Albans AL1 1SQ. Email: jill.bennett@waitrose.com