The Organ of ROCHDALE TOWN HALL
1 Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor [9:48]
Otto Nicolai (1810–1849)
transcribed by Edwin Henry Lemare (1865–1934)
2 Overture to Jessonda [9:11]
Louis Spohr (1784–1859)
transcribed by William Thomas Best (1826–1897)
3 A stronghold sure (from Cantata No. 80 ‘Ein’ feste Burg’) [5:33]
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
transcribed by Harvey Grace (1874–1944)
4 Overture to Ptolemy [4:39]
George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)
transcribed by Craig Sellar Lang (1891–1971)
Recorded on 12-13 September 2014,
12 January & 20 August 2015 in Rochdale Town Hall
Producer/Engineer: Paul Baxter
24-bit digital editing: Adam Binks
24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter
Cover & booklet photography
© PM & B Fallas
Design: Drew Padrutt
Booklet editor: Henry Howard Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK www.delphianrecords.co.uk
TIMOTHY BYRAM-WIGFIELD
OVERTURE TRANSCRIPTIONS VOL II
5 Prelude to La Traviata, Act I [4:05]
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)
transcribed by Timothy Byram-Wigfield
6 Overture to Oberon [10:39]
Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826)
transcribed by Albert Lister Peace (1844–1912)
7 Ouverture-Fantaisie ‘Roméo et Juliette’ [23:29]
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
transcribed by Edwin Henry Lemare
Total playing time [67:27]
With thanks to Susan Barker, Dorothy Johnstone and Yvette Stephens at Rochdale Town Hall; Andrew Carter, organ-builder and tuner for the Rochdale organ; the Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside Organists’ Association, especially J. Edward Rigg and Barrie Brailsford
This organ was presented to the Corporation by Alderman Sir Samuel Turner JP and was formally declared open by the donor on the occasion of the visit of their Majesties King George V and Queen Mary to the town on 9th July 1913.
This proud announcement, fixed on a brass plaque above the console of the organ of Rochdale Town Hall, captures the boast of a municipal borough, altogether certain of its place in a proud and self-assured nation and empire. Built in an extravagant Gothic style, the building is one of the most impressive examples of the civic pride of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, with porticos, gargoyles, marble floors, florid stencilling in vivid colours, sweeping staircases, and stained-glass windows depicting kings and queens of the realm. Outside, a magisterial clock tower, and within, the Town Hall Organ, displayed proudly in three beautifully crafted wooden cases, positioned ostentatiously centre stage.
In his absorbing survey The Making of the Victorian Organ, Nicholas Thistlethwaite asserts the evolution of the choral society movement as one of the prime forces behind the establishment of town halls. The gathering of combined choirs to form regular music festivals demanded a larger space than most parish churches could provide. The organists for such gatherings demanded more powerful resources, and the organ-builders were only too eager to show their ingenuity in providing them. Crucially, these muscular instruments were in
a secular hall, and not in church (although the following generation of cathedral organists were keen to demand the same thing). It was a natural progression, then, for players to develop transcriptions of symphonic and other instrumental repertoire. Celebrated names from this era are W.T. Best (1826–97), the first Organist of the powerful new instrument in St George’s Hall in Liverpool; W.J. Westbrook (1831–94); and later, Edwin H. Lemare (1865–1934) who in their turn developed techniques which advanced organ playing to new levels of virtuosity and bravura, regularly playing to packed houses. Their purpose – not unlike the Reithian principles of the BBC – was to educate, inform, and entertain; to introduce new music, and especially to present the large corpus of orchestral music not then easily available in concert.
The potential of this burgeoning market was quickly realised by music publishing houses of the time. Initially they released series of relatively brief pieces; portions of mass movements or sections of oratorio. These were predominantly by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Handel (for the latter there seemed to be an inexhaustible demand), but the publishers also printed some bizarre and nebulous couplings, as can be seen in the advert below:
THE ORGANIST’S ANTHOLOGY, a Series of Classical Compositions, selected from the Works of Mozart, Spohr, Cherubini, Bach, Weber, Hummel, Romberg,
Graun, Schneider, &c., Arranged … by HENRY JOHN LINCOLN …: No. 9: “Thine is the kingdom” (Dein ist das Reich) from “Vater unser” (Spohr); Movement from a Motett (Hesse).
From these early groupings grew more substantial collections, anthologies, and subscriptions. Best’s arrangements of Handel’s choruses are best known to organists nowadays, but advertised in the same Novello pamphlet were additional series of Handel arrangements by E.J. Westrop (seventeen in number), Vincent Novello himself (twelve), H.G. Nixon (over 100), and W.J. Westbrook’s own series of ‘Voluntaries for the Organ, with Pedal Obbligato’. Similar promotions were undertaken by Robert Cocks, who by the end of the nineteenth century was honoured to be ‘Her Majesty’s Music Publisher’, Augener, Schirmer, and William Reeves of 83 Charing Cross Road, London, whose ‘Temple Edition of Organ Overtures and Arrangements’ had the editorial oversight of Edwin Evans (senior, 1844–1923), eventually listing over 50 titles.
By the time Schott published the series ‘Transcriptions for the Organ’ by Edwin H. Lemare in 1899, the confidence of the organ transcription market was assured, and reaching out to an international market. ‘B. Schott’s Söhne, Mayence’, had agencies not only in London, Brussels and Paris, but also in Germany. This series seemed to be clearly pitched to claim its position at the heart of musical life;
by way of emphasis, over seventeen of the original thirty titles were by Wagner. There is still study to be done on the impact and influence of publishers in the development of the symphonic organ and the popularity of organ transcriptions, but the weight that Schott ascribed to this series certainly indicates a substantial presence within the Anglo-German musical life of the time. Moreover, the fact that many of the featured ‘mainstream’ composers were still alive during the gestation of these series suggests an acceptance of the organ transcription as a medium (for example, the Brahms piano Intermezzi, Op. 118, published in transcription by Schott in 1896 and 1897). Evaluation of the quality of these organ versions, even from the start, seemed to depend on their accuracy to the score – an early, if to us ironic, example of authenticity in performance practice – as opposed to piano arrangements, which in the footsteps of Liszt’s transcendental examples were more often elaborate fantasies or paraphrases.
With the continual burgeoning of town halls and appointments of civic organists, the market for arrangements continued well into the twentieth century, but was on the decline by the 1930s, when Oxford University Press published Harvey Grace’s arrangement from Bach’s Cantata No. 80, ‘Ein’ feste Burg’. Entitled by Bach ‘Festo Reformationis’ and by Grace A stronghold sure, the fifth movement of the cantata presents full scoring, with trumpets and timpani, in a joyous
and elegant dance, crowned by Martin Luther’s chorale tune presented in octaves, which Grace sets in the pedals.
C.S. Lang’s arrangement of Handel’s Overture to Ptolemy (also known as ‘Tolomeo, Re d’Egitto’, first performed in 1728) demonstrates the clarity of J.J. Binns’s voicing of the organ’s chorus work. Although forthright, the baroque contrapuntal lines speak clearly and elegantly, and the registration gives the opportunity also to include Handel’s scoring of horns, enriching both the arresting dotted rhythms of the French-style opening, and the following allegro.
The arrangements of the overtures to Spohr’s Jessonda, Weber’s Oberon, and The Merry Wives of Windsor by Nicolai appeared over a period of thirty years. Best’s arrangement of the Spohr was advertised by Novello in the Musical Times as early as 1868; Peace’s, of the Weber, appeared some 20 years later, and that by Lemare as late as 1907. During this period, the development particularly of pneumatic key action over mechanical; increased numbers of selectors or pistons at foot level and in between the manuals; and balanced central Swell pedals to help achieve smooth crescendi, all combined to enable increased velocity, lightness of touch, and highly dramatic dynamics. These three pieces display many similar characteristics: allegro violin-writing, arpeggios, octave leaps,
chirpy woodwind chords and elegant clarinet lines against string sonorities, the symphonic crescendo and triumphant brass fanfares. The arranger’s art lay in presenting all these differing sounds with fidelity to the score, against the restriction of right hand, left hand and two feet.
Since most overtures use the full orchestra, it seemed appropriate to offer a contrast by including an arrangement of the Prelude to La Traviata, Act I by Verdi, which features a celestial pianissimo few smaller instruments can match, and later, the combined lush and vivid string stops across the manuals. Few organ-builders were able to match the quality and intensity of Binns’s keen string sounds –once described as ‘frying tonight’!
Lemare’s transcription (he was always careful for his versions to be described as transcriptions rather than arrangements) of Tchaikovsky’s Ouverture-Fantaisie, Roméo et Juliette of 1909 was one of his later publications, by Schirmer of New York. By this time Lemare had emigrated to the USA and was regularly playing three recitals a week to thousands. Within this mammoth score of nearly forty pages, Lemare constantly seems to be pushing at the boundaries of technical security – perhaps in order to emphasise his own supremacy at the organ console – by presenting new challenge to the player. The technique particularly associated with Lemare is that of ‘thumbing down’, that is, playing a melody or line with thumbs on
one (lower) manual, whilst accompanying on another keyboard with the rest of the hand. The technique is not his invention, as it appears in earlier scores, and was also used occasionally in original organ music, such as in the organ symphonies of Widor and Guilmant. It may not ever be possible to establish the first time the concept was used, and the earliest example of the technique within a printed score has yet to be definitively identified.
Compared to other orchestral textures, the sonority of Tchaikovsky’s original is more exacting for the player and the instrument to imitate. This is particularly the case in the lovescene with its intense strings in three octaves, with the insistent horn ‘cooing’ (thumbed
for the Open Wood stop! Additionally Lemare expects the player to trill on the pedals with one foot whilst operating the Swell or general crescendo pedals.
Lemare reserves his severest test for the end of the second ‘battle scene’, where the brass section plays fortissimo in octaves. The organist has to use the thumbs of each hand, playing in octaves, whilst playing the accompaniment with fingers on the manual above. Seldom has this technique been used to such a challenging extent.
The story of the British town hall organ is still seen as an uncouth side-development of musical history, and within some organ
The second ‘battle scene’ from Roméo et Juliette, excerpt showing ‘thumbing down’
timbres of the Leslie speaker, they could be said to have become nothing more than grotesque distortions of the true, unforced sonorities of the pipe organ. But at their high point, the best of nineteenth-century town hall organs represented something entirely new and extraordinary, in social, cultural, mechanical, aesthetic, commercial and musical terms; and the transcriptions made for them demonstrate remarkable syntheses of ingenuity, skill, virtuosity and ambition both of builder and arranger.
J.J. Binns (www.binns-schulte-orgel.de)
(Mike Hayes/Wikimedia)
Timothy Byram-Wigfield has established a reputation as a prominent exponent of the organ, both as teacher and performer. A pupil of Richard Popplewell and David Sanger, he studied at the Royal College of Music and was Organ Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford. Whilst Sub-Organist at Winchester Cathedral he made his BBC Radio 3 debut in a programme of Howells, Jackson and Bairstow, and was a finalist in the Performer of the Year competition presented by the Royal College of Organists.
Since that time he has continued to give recitals regularly around the UK and abroad, including appearances in Norway, France, Denmark, and the USA. His recordings, on the Regent and Delphian labels, have been met with critical acclaim. These include a survey of Olivier Messiaen’s early organ music (Delphian DCD34024 & DCD34078, the latter a 2-disc set), and a disc of overture transcriptions (DCD34004) – Vol I to the present disc’s Vol II –recorded at the organ of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow. The latter disc
received a ‘Best of the Year’ nomination from Gramophone magazine.
Tim has held a number of distinguished posts in the field of church music, including at St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh, and Jesus College, Cambridge. For ten years he was Director of Music at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, where he had the privilege of directing the music for many occasions in the presence of HM The Queen and other members of the Royal Family. He is currently Director of Music at All Saints Margaret Street, London, which boasts a vintage Harrison & Harrison four-manual instrument and enjoys a unique reputation for its music and liturgy. He is also Associate Conductor of the Oxford Bach Choir, and teaches piano and organ at Eton College.
In 2014 and 2015 Tim has given recitals at Keble College, Oxford, All Saints, Hastings, Chichester Cathedral and Brompton Oratory, as well as performing in Coventry Cathedral, at King’s College, Cambridge, and in the Royal Albert Hall. A particular highlight was a presentation on orchestral transcriptions for the organ, as part of the IAO London Organ Day in March 2015, at Westminster Central Hall.
© 2016 Timothy Byram-Wigfield
Edwin H. Lemare
The Organ of Rochdale Town Hall: J.J. Binns, 1913
Restored J.W. Walker & Sons Ltd, 1979; further restoration by Andrew Carter, 2003
Rochdale Town Hall was opened on 27 September 1871 but vast overspending resulted in it being left without an organ, a common fate for Victorian town halls. It was not until nearly 42 years later that the spaces left in the three gothic arches behind the stage of the hall were to be filled with a grand organ.
On 28 August 1912, Alderman Sir Samuel Turner, the former Mayor of Rochdale, made a generous offer to Rochdale Council to donate an organ for the Town Hall. His offer was accepted and in October of the same year the contract was placed with the Leeds organ-builder, James Jepson Binns. The work of Binns was already familiar to Turner as he had built the organ in Baillie Street Methodist Church, Rochdale, which Turner attended. The organ in Rochdale Town Hall was formally opened on the occasion of the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to the town on 9 July 1913 with Herbert Walton, then Organist of Glasgow Cathedral, giving the opening recital. The organ was one of the largest Binns ever built and is almost identical to his 1909 organ in the Albert Hall, Nottingham. The Rochdale Town Hall organ is number 703 in the Binns ledgers and consists of 53 speaking stops and 3018 pipes. It had Binns’ famous patent tubular pneumatic action and featured his own system of interchangeable combination pistons. The case was built to match the woodwork of the hall and is of wainscot oak to the design of the borough architect.
By the 1970s the organ required a major rebuild and the Town Hall Organ Restoration Committee was created in order to raise funds, which was arranged with generous donations from the Carnegie UK Trust and Rochdale Borough Council; the work was undertaken by J.W. Walker & Sons Ltd in 1978–9. A new electro-pneumatic action was installed along with modern playing aids, the keyboards were inclined and a humidifier was added. The organ was reopened on 1 December 1979. Further restoration work was carried out by Andrew Carter in 2003.
The Rochdale Town Hall organ is a testimony to the quality of the fine craftsmanship displayed by Binns and his workforce. There is no need to describe the glorious full tone of this splendid instrument, as the present recording can do that better than any words.
© 2016 Nicola MacRae
Nicola MacRae has recently been awarded a PhD by the University of Edinburgh for her thesis on the life and work of James Jepson Binns, written under the supervision of Dr John Kitchen.
COUPLERS
Swell to Pedal
Swell to Choir
Swell Octave
Choir to Great
Choir to Pedal
Choir Octave
Great to Pedal
Swell to Great Unison
Swell to Great Octave
Swell to Great Sub Octave
Swell Sub Octave
Choir Sub Octave
Solo Sub Octave
Solo to Pedal
Solo to Choir
Solo to Great
Solo to Swell
Solo Octave
Solo to Great Sub Octave
Solo to Great Octave
ACCESSORIES
6 thumb pistons to each manual
6 general thumb pistons
6 toe pistons to Swell
6 toe pistons to Pedal
General Cancel piston
Reversible thumb pistons Ch-Pd, Gt-Pd, Sw-Pd, So-Pd, Sw-Ch, So-Ch, Ch-Gt, Sw-Gt, So-Gt, So-Sw and Pedal Trombone
Reversible toe pistons Gt-Pd, Sw-Gt and Pedal Trombone
Balanced expression pedals
Setter thumb piston
Great and Pedal combinations coupled Memory level controlled by key Full complement of couplers and accessories
There is some extension and borrowing within the pedal organ.
The Kelvingrove Organ: Overture Transcriptions
Timothy Byram-Wigfield
DCD34004
In his Delphian debut, Timothy Byram-Wigfield plays a variety of Edwardian transcriptions on one of the world’s finest concert organs, the Lewis organ in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Gallery.
‘Exhilarating … Never daunted by the fearsome difficulties of many of Lemare’s and Best’s arrangements, nor fazed by the limited 1901 controls of the chunky console, Byram-Wigfield delights in finding just the right sounds, textures and tempi to make these works sound like real organ music. There is delicacy, humour, drive, vigour, lightness of touch and heroic utterance here, to which these fine compositions respond by revealing their all’
— Organist’s Review, May 2004, EDITOR’S CHOICE
Olivier Messiaen: Complete Organ Music Vol IV
Timothy Byram-Wigfield
The Organ of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle DCD34078 (2 CDs)
The final volume in Delphian’s survey of Messiaen’s complete organ music takes in his earliest published works, in which the ‘abundance of technical means allows the heart to overflow freely’. The British Harrison instrument in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle reveals a surprising ability to speak with a French accent in this music, and Timothy Byram-Wigfield’s combination of virtuosic majesty with a compelling and loving faith has captured the imagination of reviewers.
‘spacious and profoundly considered interpretations played con amore on this splendid Harrison organ’ — Choir & Organ, March/April 2009
‘The organ evidently has the power and the range of colour that Messiaen regarded as prerequisites in his music, all captured in a vibrant recording that is magnificent for CD’ — BBC Music Magazine, April 2009
Alfred Hollins (1865–1942): Organ Works
Timothy Byram-Wigfield
The Organ of Caird Hall, Dundee DCD34044
Designed by the blind organist Alfred Hollins, the Caird Hall instrument is one of the finest recital organs in the UK – as ideal a vehicle for Hollins’ own music as Byram-Wigfield is an exponent of it. Hollins effortlessly combines keyboard pyrotechnics with a quasi-orchestral approach to sonority. These works bristle with vigour, their swaggering confidence leavened with ingenuity and wit.
‘It is impossible to praise the choice of instrument or the performances on this CD too highly … It is made more valuable by being sonically one of the best recordings of an organ I have heard for some time’ — International Record Review, March 2007
The Usher Hall Organ Vol II
John Kitchen DCD34132
The Usher Hall’s monumental organ celebrated its 100th birthday in 2014.
Delphian artist and Edinburgh City Organist John Kitchen has established a hugely popular series of concerts at the Hall, and draws on its repertoire to follow up his 2004 recording of the then newly restored instrument with a programme that further represents the vast variety of music that draws in the Edinburgh crowds. Opening with an evocative new work by Cecilia McDowall, the first part of the programme resounds with the theme of bells (including the instrument’s extraordinary carillon). Jeremy Cull contributes a compelling transcription of Hamish MacCunn’s The Land of the Mountain and the Flood, while a recital of this nature wouldn’t be complete without a major piece of Bach, here dispatched with appropriately Edwardian swagger.
‘performances that blend aesthetic nuance with bravura showmanship … Delphian’s vivid recorded sound adds to the considerable pleasure’ — Choir & Organ, May/June 2015, *****
Organ music on Delphian
