The English Cathedral Series: Volume XIX, Peterborough Cathedral
David Humphreys (organ)
rec. William Hill/Harrison and Harrison organ, Peterborough Cathedral, 2014. DDD
Booklet includes organ specification
REGENT REGCD459 [63:07]
In a sense it’s superfluous for me to review this CD: those
collecting the series and those for whom the Peterborough organ and David
Humphreys have special significance will probably have snapped it up already,
so I’m writing for the undecided.
What they will find here is a good cross-section of organ works from the renaissance
to the second English musical renaissance which began with Stanford and Parry
– whose Fantasia and Fugue in G makes an ideal opening – and reached full
fruition with Elgar, whose Sursum Corda in Edwin Lemare’s transcription
stands at the heart of the recital.
The Peterborough organ has been through many changes, perhaps fitting for
the cathedral of a town which itself changed its name: the abbey, which later
became the cathedral, and the town were originally known as Medehamstede,
then as Burgh before adding the dedication to St. Peter. Built in 1894 by
William Hill, the organ was rebuilt in 1930, restored in 1981 and again in
2004/5 and is due for further improvement work in 2015.
It isn’t as mighty an instrument as many, with only one 32-foot stop, but
it compensates with the variety of its stops and is well suited to the programme
which David Humphreys has chosen. The two opening items demonstrate the appropriateness
of those choices, with a notable absence of barnstormers. The Parry calls
for wit and wisdom rather than mighty power and it receives a performance
to match. The music of John Bull could easily become lost on a modern organ
but Humphreys plays it with sensitivity.
Schumann’s Study for the Pedal Piano reminds us that it’s too simplistic
to regard him as an out-and-out Romantic. Though the work could hardly be
mistaken for Bach, JSB is clearly its model. Composed for a keyboard instrument
with pedals, known as a Pedalflügel, made for Schumann in 1843, it
was an upright piano modelled on the clavi-organum or pedal harpsichord
which Bach is known to have used, so the music is ideal for performance on
the organ. I mention this because it isn’t made entirely clear in the otherwise
excellent notes in the booklet. It receives a loving and domestic-sounding
performance here, appropriate for an instrument designed for domestic practice
rather than in church or concert hall.
Elgar’s Sursum corda, originally for organ strings and brass, is heard
in Lemare’s colourful transcription which suits both the organ and the organist.
Though the booklet contains a full specification of the organ, it would have
been especially helpful to have had details of the registration chosen for
this piece.
Marcel Dupré’s Final which rounds off the programme is about as barn-storming
as it gets. I don’t recall hearing this work before, so it led me to listen
to all seven pieces from which it comes, as recorded by Roger Delcamp on Volume
5 of Naxos’s complete Dupré organ works (8.554026). That recording was made
on the organ of an Episcopal Church in the USA, no more akin to the Cavaillé-Coll
instrument with which Dupré grew up, but both organists create a more than
passable imitation. In fact, the Sept pièces were composed in America
for American musicians, so an English or American organ will do nicely. There’s
very little to choose between the performances: both serve to round off their
respective recitals very well.
The keen-eared will have noticed a Bach connection here, too: the Op.27 pieces
were designed as portraits of American musicians and the Final represents
a musicologist, hence the repeated B-A-C-H theme in German notation.
With good recording – it benefits from a volume boost – those collecting the
series or with a special attachment to the organ or David Humphreys should
have no regrets in purchasing this latest instalment of a series which goes
from strength to strength. I’d encourage others to buy, too. If you’re looking
for something to shake the foundations you won’t find it here, but these are
fine performances of music well chosen for the instrument. You may also wish
to investigate an earlier Regent recording, made while David Humphreys was
at St. Edmundsbury, on which William Hedley thought his contribution exemplary
(REGCD295 – review).
Brian Wilson
Not a barnstorming instrument but fine performances of music is well chosen
for it.
Details:
Charles Hubert Hastings PARRY (1848–1918)
Fantasia and Fugue in G, Op.188 [11:01]
John BULL (c1562–1628)
Salve Regina I (5 verses) [6:59]
Robert SCHUMANN (1810–1856)
Study for the Pedal Piano, Op.56/5 [2:39]
Max REGER (1873–1916)
Toccata in d minor; Fugue in D, Op.59/5 & 6 [8:35]
Dieterich BUXTEHUDE (1637–1707)
Choral Fantasia on Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BuxWV223 [7:09]
Edward ELGAR (1857–1934), transcr. Edwin LEMARE (1865–1934)
Sursum Corda, Op.11 [7:24]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756–91)
Fantasia in f minor, K608 [10:32]
Philip MOORE (b. 1943)
Sonata for Organ: Andante tranquillo [4:00]
Marcel DUPRÉ (1886–1971)
Sept Pièces, Op.27: Final [4:44]
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