This is the latest release in SFZ's Contemporary British
Organ Music series. All three have so far been devoted to
recordings by the excellent Scottish organist Michael Bonaventure
of, yes, contemporary British organ works. The first two were
recorded last year at the church of St John the Evangelist in
Upper Norwood, Croydon (England), and were critically well received
- see reviews of volume
1 and volume
2. This new disc moves to the modern, better-than-you-might-think
Harrison & Harrison instrument at Coventry Cathedral, famously
rebuilt after the Second World War.
Most of the ten pieces in Bonaventure's appealing, accessible
recital were variously written for, commissioned by and/or premiered
by him. Five are five minutes or under in length, and may be
justifiably considered relatively unimportant. In fact, none
of the works on this disc is entirely unmissable, but nor is
any of the music without appeal or interest - though most listeners
will likely make an exception for Glyn Perrin's piece.
Nicholas O'Neill's pleasantly noisy good-versus-evil battle,
Dum Committeret Bellum, Ian McQueen's spectral Northwestern
Light, the "icy cold imagery of winter or an imaginary
planet" of Yumi Hara Cawkwell's three-movement Hibernal,
and Bonaventure's own Rondeau, which "could be imagined
to evoke some kind of strange forest": all have a distinctly
chilled, otherworldly, slightly sinister mood or theme. Yet
the miniature soundworlds created, all providing an abundance
of odd sonorities and effects, each say something new and worth
repeated audition, despite their brevity.
Timothy Salter's Fantasy, in its recently revised version,
has the feel of a fine improvisation. Glyn Perrin's Sigma
Lambda is a tribute to the late American artist Sol Lewitt,
hence the Greek S and L of the title. It is the lengthiest work
by some distance, and also the toughest listen: the long, highish
drone it opens with conjures the image of an organist slumped
unconscious onto the keyboard. Perrin's note says that the work
"consists of a single eight-voice chord [which] alternates
with incomplete forms [of the same]", which is true, but
- that is all there is to it, and by the end only those most
committed to the cause of minimalism will not be wondering why
it had to go on for nearly 15 minutes.
Of the three contributions by Welsh composer Huw Morgan, Lullaby
is the least interesting, a "short, minimalist piece",
in Morgan's own words, whose becalming soft repetitions genuinely
do make the eyelids heavy! Epiphanaea is an eventful
description of humanity's journey from ignorance to knowledge
with an aptly fitty and starty ending. Cofion Cynnes am Davies
('Warm Memories of Davies') is a five-movement imagining of
scenes - generally sober and often no more than fragments -
from the life of Welsh 19th century philanthropist and teacher,
James Davies. Bonaventure's recital ends in fine, reflective-cum-uplifting
style with David Bedford's "sort of celebratory organ voluntary
style of piece", Carillon.
Bonaventure's musicianship is admirable. Apart from massive
experience and super technique, his concentration never falters,
not even in Perrin's Sigma Lambda. His commitment to
performing and establishing new works is impressive - he has
also recorded extensively for Scottish label Delphian, including
programmes very much like this one - see review here,
for example - but also some of Messiaen's big works (review).
Sound quality is very good: the recording copes admirably with
a huge range of pitches, harmonics and dynamics. The CD booklet
is attractive and informative. Not a bad investment at all for
organ music fans.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at reviews.gramma.co.uk
Michael Bonaventure (organ) 
