Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Organ Sonata No 1 in G major, Op.28 (1895)
Cantique, Op 3 (1879 – version for organ 1912)
Solemn March - The Black Knight (1894)
Vesper Voluntaries, Op 14 (1889)
Loughborough Memorial Chime (1923)
Organ Sonata No 2, Op 87a (1930/32, arr. Ivor Atkins)
Imperial March, Op 32 (1897, arr. George Clement Martin)
Nimrod – Enigma Variations, Op 36 (1898-99/1932, arr. William Henry Harris)
Pomp and Circumstance March, Op 39 No 4 (1907, arr. George Robertson Sinclair)
Tom Winpenny (organ)
rec. 2021, Hereford Cathedral, UK
NAXOS 8.574366 [87]
Tom Winpenny’s discography and stature as an organist goes from strength to strength and this new disc is another impressive contribution to them. I have to say I enjoyed every aspect of this disc; wonderful music played with virtuosity and sensitivity on an instrument and in a space that the composer himself would have known well. The recording by Adrian Lucas has caught the sense of location very well too. Additionally, somehow this manages to be the longest single standard CD I have yet encountered playing for a remarkable 86:57. Not that duration alone should be a defining consideration, but with so much else ‘right’ it certainly helps.
One passing observation. The cover of the disc clearly states “Complete Organ Works”. That it is not – the booklet back cover provides clarification; “this album comprises Elgar’s original works as well as the complete arrangements by the composer himself” [my italics]. Even a cursory glance through the catalogue of Elgar organ recital discs produces several other organ transcriptions of Elgar’s music not included here – including a Winpenny arrangement of the Empire March included on a disc recorded in Salisbury Cathedral by John Challenger on Regent. Challenger’s disc is only of arrangements so it neatly complements this new one with the only overlap Sir George Clement Martin’s arrangement of the Imperial March. Another disc in direct ‘competition’ with this one is also on Regent and from Salisbury played by Thomas Trotter with Trotter’s performance of Herbert Brewer’s version of Chanson de Matin the only work not common to both discs. The interest for organ aficionados is that both the organs of Salisbury and Hereford were built in the 19th Century by Henry ‘Father’ Willis and both have been latterly restored by Harrison and Harrison of Durham. The Naxos liner includes a note on the Hereford organ and its restoration(s) and current registration. Interestingly it makes the point that Winpenny utilises the ranks that were in place in 1892 and 1909. So this is quite literally the sound Elgar would have heard when his close friend George Robertson Sinclair – Variation 11 “G.R.S” with his bulldog Dan in the Enigma Variations – was the cathedral organist from 1889-1917.
The disc opens with the early but impressive Organ Sonata No 1 in G major, Op 28. Running just shy of twenty eight minutes this was – alongside the similarly-scaled violin sonata – Elgar’s most substantial instrumental score. The date is significant – 1895 – right on the cusp of Elgar’s original genius bursting into life. The work in four movements is full of portents and musical finger-prints. There are echoes of the 1890 overture Froissart and more so the spirit of “When Chivalry lifted up her lance on high” – the quote from Keats that Elgar headed the orchestral score with. The pair of central movements; an Allegretto intermezzo and an Andante espressivo – also hark back to the salon Elgar but with the undercurrent of emotional weight and musical sophistication that lifts such music out of sentimentality. The closing Presto (comodo) is a virtuosic and exhilarating movement which reminds the listener how immersed in church and specifically organ music the composer was at this time. Winpenny’s performance is very fine with the sonata’s opening pages displaying exactly the right pomp and swagger. I am not enough of an organ aficionado to recognise the different choices he and Trotter make but I enjoy both very much. Listen to the closing minute and a half for the wonderful closing peroration which Elgar drives to a thrillingly affirmative conclusion with the Hereford pedals testing the fidelity of any home hi-fi.
Sensibly Naxos collect the remaining original works and Elgar’s own arrangements together. All of these are again early/pre-Enigma works so they have a degree of functionality where the composer’s skill is more at work than white-hot inspiration. Hence the Cantique, Op
3 has all the hallmarks of Elgar’s craft and ability to write a good tune. Winpenny makes the sensible choice to allow the music to flow and not over-emote. Elgar’s own excerpt from The Black Knight – here renamed Solemn March was new to me. This is again practical and ‘useful’ music prepared by Elgar to offer to his publisher to exploit the recent success of the choral work. Important to remember that at this time composers did not get royalties from their works so it was only by selling new pieces or arrangements that incomes could be maintained. This is a modest work playable by any reasonable local organist but again here Winpenny finds exactly the right manner for the scale of the piece. The Vesper Voluntaries appear on all similar collections – there is a Brilliant Classics disc from Leeds Cathedral I not know and another from Chester Cathedral played by Roger Fisher on Motette that I do. These date from 1889 when Elgar was living in London, newly married and trying to ‘make a name’. The eight brief pieces are framed by an Introduction and Coda with a further Intermezzo half way through. Winpenny, in his very useful and informative liner, suggests that these short works evoke the type of music the composer’s father would have extemporised in his role as organist of St. George’s in Worcester. Certainly it is again easy to imagine individual movements having a practical/useful function in the weekly sequence of religious services. Apart from the slightly stern opening and closing statements these are essentially lightly scored miniatures in the best sense which again Winpenny allows to be exactly that. Stressing my lack of expertise in that field his registrations sound wholly appropriate and attractive. This is not ‘important’ Elgar but it does fill out an appreciation of how practical and pragmatic a composer he could be. As with the last of his own arrangements; the Loughborough Memorial Chime from 1923. I had never heard of this work let alone heard the actual music. The work was a commission for Elgar to provide music for the Loughborough War Memorial Carillon which was to be performed by the Belgium carillonneur Jef Denyn. Elgar took care to ensure that the music he wrote was practical and worked within the limitations of the original instrument. He suggested making an organ version at the same time although according to Winpenny this was completed in draft only. Winpenny describes the work as having “melancholic charm” which in this performance it certainly does. This is not an insubstantial work – here it lasts a full 5:29 – and never rises above a pensive mezzo voce. Not surprisingly the work features several bell-like figurations and ‘pealing’ effects but I like the quasi-improvisatory quality Winpenny brings to the work. Again by no means a major work but actually something of a discovery and a piece Elgar admirers will want to hear and enjoy.
The remaining twenty eight or so minutes of the disc are devoted to a judicious selection of arrangements by Elgar’s friends and colleagues. Central to this is the nominal Organ Sonata No 2, Op 87a. This is the well-known arrangement by Ivor Atkins of Elgar’s Severn Suite. Elgar had struggled with the brass band original, already prepared a full orchestral version so he baulked at the effort of preparing yet another arrangement. However, Atkins worked in close association with Elgar over the organ version so the composer’s seal of approval with the result can be assumed. Interesting to compare Trotter and Winpenny on the two Willis organs. The former opts for a slightly broader tempo with stops accentuating the ‘brass’ origins of the work. Across the whole work these two fine players are very close in terms of time – if pushed I find Trotter’s extra swagger and pomp to be even more persuasive. As an aside Roger Fisher’s version is very exciting – the second movement Toccata a genuine virtuoso showpiece. Interesting to compare too the quite different sound of the Chester instrument which is a Whiteley Bros. of Chester rebuild in 1876 which included harmonic flutes and reeds by Cavaillé-Coll. Those reeds cut through wonderfully!
The last three works are Elgar in state and ceremonial garb. The Imperial March was one of his first explicitly “National” works written to mark Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. For all that the 21st century may look back disapprovingly at the role and function of such music to perpetuate the British Empire, there is no denying just how effective these works are. Again Winpenny finds an excellent balance between the fairly explicit “nobilmente” of the music and the need to keep the momentum and forward pulse. This is especially true in a resonant cathedral acoustic where the danger of wallowing is very apparent. Winpenny’s Nimrod is a pragmatic 3:47 – interestingly close to Boult’s 3:54 for example – with dignity and flow kept in a good balance. Of course the great advantage any organ has in this work is sustain and an ability to graduate the slow crescendo with precision. In both these details Winpenny is very good indeed. Very appropriately the recital concludes with G. R. Sinclair’s arrangement of Pomp and Circumstance March
No 4 who was the work’s dedicatee. The especial genius of all five of these marches is they do not simply embody a mindless patriotic fervour. Elgar was aiming for quick marches with a kind of emotional ambiguity to them. For sure they do contain some of his most memorable melodies but there are other qualities too. Winpenny plays the opening section with sprightly energy while the subsequent trio/’big tune’ flows with a steady unaffected tread. He does allows the final return to this tune a certain broadening of the tempo and the magnificent pedals of the Hereford Cathedral organ thunder out in a manner that I am sure would have thrilled Elgar.
As will be clear, this is a wholly enjoyable, generous and impressive recital. The Hereford organ sounds wonderful both in and of itself and in the space of the cathedral which has been skilfully managed by the recording team. One last pleasure is the cover photograph of the justly famous and well-loved statue of Elgar leaning against his bicycle gazing at the cathedral. Hard not to believe he would not have been delighted with these performances too.
Nick Barnard
Published: November 14, 2022
