Recital DigestAuthor(s): Francis CameronSource: The Musical Times, Vol. 107, No. 1483 (Sep., 1966), p. 802Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/954331 .

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accept the offer, but sent his personal assistant, the late G. Donald Harrison, in his stead; and Harrison, more than any other man, has been responsible for the revolution in American tonal design. Willis introduced the Skinner-type of French Horn into his large organs (a beautiful example may be heard in St Paul's), and from Europe developed the lovely, quiet Sylvestrina and, at the opposite pole, the virile Trompette Militaire, with flaring spun brass tubes. He re-introduced a method of treating the pipe-tops of open flue pipes, by surrounding them with short metal cylinders in order to increase their power; and he introduced a type of Swell pedal, for which organists still have mixed feelings, in which the position of the pedal determined the speed of the opening and closing of the shutters and not their position.

Willis was notable for his various rebuilds, restorations and additions to his grandfather's organ in St Paul's. He added a new diapason chorus in the S.E. Quarter Gallery, two new 32' stops, an altar organ, some reeds and mutations. He was wise enough to leave the peerless Swell organ just as it was.

Among his notable instruments are the organs at the Masonic Peace Temple, Glasgow University Chapel, the 'model' organ at St Thomas's Wands- worth, the Farm Street RC Church Mayfair (with its mutation scheme made popular by the playing of Guy Weitz in the '30s), Sheffield City Hall, and many rebuilds of his grandfather's organs in Eng- lish and Scottish cathedrals and churches. His rebuild of the Alexandra Palace organ (damaged in the last war, but still restorable) was, to my mind, the finest concert organ in Europe. A complete list of his organs, to the time of its publication, is given in my monograph Father Henry Willis.

RECITAL DIGEST

by Francis Cameron I suppose this feature is bound to be a trifle un- balanced. After all, it depends entirely on the pro- grammes sent in to the MT office, so you won't often find mention of the top-flight international players unless they appear in a series whose organi- zers keep us on the mailing list. What you will hear about are some of the things which go on in the very many local recitals up and down the country week by week.

Clitheroe Parish Church goes into print with photographs and announcements of forthcoming events. St Mary's, Bury St Edmunds, is tastefully informative on a stencil. GERALD HENDRIE writes engagingly for Whitworth Hall in the University of Manchester; and ANTHONY NORCLIFFE shows equal resource in his choice of music and descriptive phraseology. St Mary's, Leyland, gives only the dates and principal appointment of each composer- a useful idea this-but adds the specification of the new Walker organ; while GUY BOVET at McEwan Hall, Edinburgh University, is graced with no fewer than six printed pages. This last programme costs 3s 6d. Others are as little as 6d, or are given away with the pious hope that 'the congregation will contribute generously' to a retiring collection.

It is remarkable how many different pieces can be put into an hour's programme. 13 is by no means unusual. (Do other instrumentalists work this way? Or is it just the organists who concentrate on short

items?) ANTHONY GREENING at Chingford Parish Church wove his into a convincing seasonal sequence. BARRY FERGUSON, faced with one manual and no pedals at St Mary's, Stoke Bruerne, yet contrived to produce 17 compositions without in any way exhausting the repertory. NICHOLAS TEMPERLEY at Clare College, Cambridge, concentrated mainly on the English school while eschewing pedals-except for one solitary note.

The English school has also appeared in the form of Wesley's Duet (JOHN RIPPIN and MICHAEL FLEMING) and Tomkins's Fancy for two to play (MICHAEL SMrrH and KEITH BOND at Bramhall Parish Church: the only organ item in a composite recital). GORDON THORNE and CHARLES MYERS at Clitheroe preceded the Wesley with Merkel's Sonata in D minor. DUNCAN JOHNSTON and GUY OLDHAM in a Renais- sance Society programme coupled both the Tom- kins and the Wesley with the duet accompaniment of Liszt's rarely heard Ossa arida for male-voice chorus.

Composite recitals sometimes produce interesting sidelights. The Edinburgh Society of Organists included the first movement of Rimsky-Korsakov's Clarinet Concerto in the same bill as one of GEORGE HAY'S many performances of the Brockless Prelude, Toccata and Chaconne. In Ripon, HAROLD UTTLEY played Mendelssohn's F minor Sonata immediately before combining with IVY UTTLEY in the same com- poser's G minor Piano Concerto. Speculum vitae for soprano and organ by Flor Peeters has been heard twice: first at St Matthew's, Skegness (with HELENA DRAPER as vocalist); then at Kelvinside Parish Church (MURIEL CUTHILL and NIMMO DAVID- SON).

Other noteworthy items have included: John Cook's Fanfare (GWILYM BEECHEY for the Glasgow Society of Organists); Intrada and Mournful Music by Sibelius (CHRISTOPHER DEARNLEY for the Organ Music Society); Kenneth Leighton's Prelude, scherzo and passacaglia (MICHAEL NICHOLAS at Hertford College, Oxford); and Kropfreiter's Toc- cata francese-a good piece this but not easy to come by-which SUSI JEANS took to the United States as a companion to other items specifically written for her.

GORDON FRIER, in Scotland, has brought out Beethoven's Prdlude circulaire and Handel's Pieces for musical clock. JOHN MOREHEN began his Ameri- can programmes with Homage to Pdrotin by Myron Roberts and later went on to Christopher Brown's Nocturne and Bryan Kelly's Prelude and Fugue in F sharp minor. WILLIAM HARDWICK at St Ann's, Manchester, has given two well-thought-out series including the six Mendelssohn sonatas and the three Franck chorals.

Finally, two complete programmes both equally typical of their kind: SUSAN LANDALE at St Philip's, Earls Court Road

Langlais: Trois paraphrases grdgoriennes Bach: 0 Mensch bewein' and Sonata No 3 Messiaen: L'Ascension

VINCENT REES (tenor) and DAVID MORGAN (baritone) with GWYNFOR DAVIES (organ) at Union Street Congregational Chapel, Carmarthen

God save the Queen organ: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Bach tenor: If with all your hearts, Mendelssohn

Silent worship, Handel organ: Minuet in A, Boccherini-Archer

Humoreske, Dvofik-Lemare baritone: Eri tu (Ballo), Verdi

Dafydd y Garreg Wen tenor: Thou shalt dash them, Handel organ: Trumpet tune and air, Purcell-Peasgood baritone: Arm, arm ye brave, Handel organ: Sketch in C minor, Schumann duet: Watchman, what of the night, Sarjeant organ: Toccata in F, Widor Hen Wlad fv Nhadau

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