GMCD 7149 You can order this CD in our E-Shop under Instrumental/Music for Organ Read Reviews	David Liddle plays Hollins, Widor,  Wood & Liddle at the Organ of  St. Ignatius Loyola, New York

Contents:

1.	Concert Overture No. 2 in C minor	Alfred Hollins	[7.23]
2.	Variations on "Mit Freuden zart"	David Liddle  Sound Clip	[19.02]
Symphonie Gothique by Charles M. Widor (1844 - 1937)
3.	I    Moderato		[6.57]
4.	II   Andante sostenuto		[4.57]
5.	III  Allegro		[3.57]
6.	IV  Moderato		[12.58]
Scenes in Kent by Frederic Herbert Wood (1860 - 1963)
7.	I     Aylesford Bridge		[3.46]
8.	II    Allington Lock	Sound Clip	[1.57]
9.	III  Orchard Blossom		[3.44]
10.	IV  Rochester Bells		[3.25]

DDD Total time = 68.51 - Recorded at the Organ of St Ignatius Loyola, New York

Programme Notes:

From its earliest days, the organ has attracted blind musicians, of whom Alfred Hollins, a native of Hull, was one. He studied in London under Frits Hartvigson and E.J. Hopkins, organist of the Temple Church from 1843 to 1898, and later, in Berlin, with Hans von Bulow. As a young boy, Hollins played Beethoven's Emperor Piano Concerto at the Crystal Palace, and was only sixteen when he played for Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. But it was as an organist that he became best known, touring Australia, South Africa and the United States as an organ recitalist. For more than forty years, from 1897, he was organist of Free St. George's Church in Edinburgh. In his often cheerful and deft organ music may be seen how far he adapted the traditional instrument of the church to his light and frankly secular style of writing.

Inscribed to "Clarence Eddy, Esq.", the Concert Overture in C minor is typical of a composer-organist who was also a brilliant pianist and improviser with a facility for classical musical form. Here, an introductory Andante maestoso in C minor and three-four time leads into a fluent Allegro con brio in two-four time, interrupted by an Un poco più lento, con espress, in the relative E flat major. The Allegro continues its lively course, reaching the tonic minor by way of D major and the dominant G major, before the second idea returns in the tonic major, before the Overture heads to its finale C major chords.

David Liddle's fourteen Variations on a Moravian Hymn-tune, Mit Freuden zart, were composed between December 1992 and January 1993. They were commissioned for the chamber organ in the home of A.B. Fisher in Salemtowne. The piece has a Baroque sense of detachment, exploring a simple theme with imagination and fine detail. The influence of Bach is apparent in the use of counterpoint and canon. Each Variation has its own distinctive character, yet the whole equals more than the sum of its parts; a very satisfying overall shape.

First, the theme is clearly stated. It moves straight into -
Variation 1) The Chorale enters line-by-line, accompanied by a running obbligato in 5-8 time.
Variation 2) has three voices: two, slow and sad; the third seems to run and dodge through light and shade, finally meeting the others.
Variation 3) Brilliantly co-ordinated and deeply joyous.
Variation 4) on Flutes and solo Reed, juxtaposes the theme with its own inversion as a shimmering, ethereal accompaniment.
Variation 5) The melody, in canon, is disguised and, here, has a spiritual energy that pushes the boundaries between worlds.
Variations 6, 7, 8) are short and run into each other, leaving the listener breathless. Beautiful, rocking, swinging rhythms glint like icicles.
Variation 9) continues in this vein, the ice melting into rivulets: a feeling of water flowing towards the ocean.
Variation 10) in double canon, brings in the Pedals again. The ending is wistful and premonitory.
Variation 11) in contrast, has an eerie spirituality. In the minor key, its syncopation slides in and out of shadow.
Variation 12) is fast, shining like polished metal: a burnished helter-skelter.
Variation 13) has the lilting rhythms of a Sarabande, exploring the theme's retrograde, uphill and down. There is a duality of ideas, drawing together to close in the major key.
Variation 14) has a climbing, stair-like quality, culminating with the magnificence of a tilted crown.

Charles Marie Widor's Symphonie Gothique was published in 1895, many years after the completion of the better-known series of eight organ symphonies, Op. 13 & 42. Widor's initial inspiration for the Symphonie Gothique was architectural: the famous church of Saint-Ouen in Rouen.

According to Alexandre Cellier, Widor, before playing the first movement traditionally as the Offertory on All Saints' Day at Saint-Sulpice, never failed to declare that one was about to hear a kind of musical Last Judgement; "and, in fact, from the very first bars, one is seized by a strange and fuliginous atmosphere. Sinuous and disturbing patterns circulate from the top to the bottom of the musical scale, leading to sudden vistas, only to return immediately to the chromatic sequences and indefinite tonality which form the principal design of the opening of the work. And when, after a sonorous ascent to the unforeseen climax, the full organ gives out the main theme in C minor, it is truly a striking evocation of some apocalyptic vision by the cries of all the, organ pipes from the deepest to the most acute." The "sinuous and disturbing patterns" so described by Cellier, consist mainly of a chromatic thread, in inexorable quavers in common-time, running through the movement until the final climax which is followed by a quiet coda ending in the major.

Cellier compares the slow movement to a mediaeval Nativity, in graceful contrast to the grandiose type of Gothic exemplified in the previous movement. This Andante, which is in E flat major and common-time, unfolds peacefully on stops of unison pitch only. Its principal element is the accompanied flute solo heard at the outset, a theme which recurs with a modified accompaniment including very resourceful two-part writing for the pedals. The Symphony's Scherzo is a fugal Allegro in six-eight time and G minor. The plainsong theme, Puer natus est, which is the basis of the Symphony, appears during its course in long notes in the pedals. Its final appearance, on the pedal reeds beneath the fugal stretto on the manuals, provides an impressive moment. Shortly after it, a solemn chordal allargando leads to a very grand ending in the major.

The Finale is a loosely-knit set of variations on the plainsong. This is heard initially in a modal harmonisation, and then in the alto register on a reed stop beneath a bell-like accompaniment. The clarinet provides a brief link between variations. The next presents the plainsong in canon in long values between the outer voices of a four-part texture. The succeeding Allegro episode, nominally in G major but restless in its modulations, also unfolds in canon, but this time between two manual voices flowing in twelve-eight time, with harmonic support from the pedals. The ensuing Moderato reverts to C major and common-time for a solid polyphonic episode which moves to a close in E major. There follows an Andante in nine-eight presenting a triple canon based on the plainsong, at first in C and then in G, but modulating to end in B major. A brief recitative links this to the finale proper, Allegro in common-time, where a perky theme emerges from the brilliant manual figuration in toccata-style. This is soon punctuated by the pedals, until the tonality settles in C and the plainsong appears legato in the treble. After shifting into other tonalities, in alternation with the perky theme, it returns double fortissimo in the pedals in an unequivocal C major. This provides the most powerful climax of the Symphony. The first theme then, over a tonic pedal-point, poco a poco diminuendo, leads the movement to a quiet chordal coda, tranquillamente assai, and its final rest in the tonic C major.

The Symphonie Gothique bears the dedication In memoriam Sancti Andoëni Rothomagensis, i.e. in memory of Saint-Ouen of Rouen. (Ouen, Audoënus, Aldwin, Owen, Dado, as he has been variously named, was the son of Saint-Authair, a seventh-century courtier at the palace of King Dagobert I of France. He founded the abbey of Rebais before being created Bishop of Rouen in 641.)

Born in India, Frederick Wood lived and worked in Lancashire. Organist in Blackburn, at St. Paul's (1902) and St. John's (1905), then at Blackpool Parish Church (1918), he became known locally as a conductor, as well as an Extension Lecturer in Music for Liverpool University.

Wood wrote four Suites for organ inspired by English scenes, compilations of movements composed separately and each prefaced by literary quotations, of which Scenes in Kent (1923) is the first.

1. Aylesford Bridge (on the Medway) "Old stone bridges bare the impress of generations who have traversed them". An Andante grazioso in E flat. A sturdier central section builds to an impassioned climax including phrases for a loud solo reed. The first section returns with a pianissimo reminiscence of the second to provide a quiet close.
2. Allington Lock "Here is the sluice, with the race running under". (R.L.S.) Concise and descriptive in an almost Mendelssohnian manner, this scherzo movement unfolds Moto perpetuo - in B minor. A contrasting second element with legato quavers in the relative D major leads to fanfares on Swell reeds before the return to B minor and semiquavers, combined with the second motif. A swift crescendo leads to the major with a glance at all three thematic ideas.
3. Orchard Blossom "Fruit trees in bloom by the riverside are the pride of Kent, in Spring". An Adagio con amore in G major for quiet stops with a right-hand solo melody. A central Poco più mosso gives way to the return of the opening, slightly enhanced, and a serene close.
4. Rochester Bells "Come all to church, good people: Good people, come and pray". (A.E.H.) Allegro moderato in E flat with a middle section in C major. A bell piece with a five-note ostinato and peals of downward pedal scales. A fanfare recalls that heard in the second piece.

Page revised 27.06.03