Martin SETCHELL: Let the Pealing Organ
Blow
J. S. BACH (1685-1750):
Air (Suite No. 3); Badinerie (Suite No. 2); Toccata, Adagio & Fugue
in c BWV 564
Jeremiah CLARKE (1673-1707):
Trumpet Voluntary
Antonin DVORAK (1841-1904): Largo
(Symphony No. 9)
César FRANCK (1822-1890):
Choral No. 3 in a minor
Giacomo MEYERBEER (1791-1864):
Coronation March
Scott JOPLIN (1868-1917): The
Entertainer
Alfréd
LEFEBURE-WÉLY (1817-1870):
Piece
Stanley MYERS (1930-93): The Deer
Hunter: Cavatina
Gordon Balch NEVIN (1892-1943):
Will o' the Wisp
Peter TCHAIKOWSKY (1840-1893):
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy
Charles-Marie WIDOR (1844-1937):
Symphony No. 5: Toccata in F
Martin Setchell
(organ)
rec. Rieger Pipe Organ, Christchurch Town Hall, Kilmore Street, New Zealand
21-22.9.97
MANU 1539
[74:11]
Listed Comparisons
Widor: Toccata Simon Lindley, Leeds Parish Church,
1991. Naxos 8.550581
Franck: Chorale No. 3 a minor Eric Lebrun, Cavaillé-Coll Organ,
Saint-Antoine des Quinze-Vingts, Paris, November 1997
The Carlo Curley of Christchurch? Almost. Blackpool-born Martin Setchell
studied Modern Languages at Exeter, then organ with Reginald Dixon, Peter
Hurford, Pierre Cochereau, and Marie-Claire Alain. He won many prizes. He
emigrated to New Zealand in 1974 with his appointment to the University of
Canterbury School of Music, where he is now senior lecturer. He records regularly
for the New Zealand Concert FM programme. Thus far impeccable credentials.
Perhaps this CD is a spin-off from his concert FM broadcasts.
He plays a popular programme beautifully, and the Rieger organ, recorded
close, makes an impressive, clean, but warm sound. The Widor is marginally
less fast but registered more immediately than the acclaimed Lindley performance
in Leeds Parish Church which is more distant. This is a full-blooded reading
that allows, in its close registration, a wonderfully sotto voce effect
from the pipes to drift just above audibility. The Bach items are by a pupil
of Peter Hurford. The organ doesn't allow a period-aware performance of the
silvery effect we sometimes hear on many baroque organs, but this intelligently
selected Bach. The arrangements as for all the works here, are by the organist.
Setchell has deftness and feeling, and plays with values that some might
see as old-fashioned. Even so performance conventions have softened, and
his Bach interpretations don't sit uncomfortably beside that of his master
on Decca.
The individual bob-bons all come off very well indeed. The Tchaikowsky, Myers,
Nevin (a real 1930s gem, brightly figured), Joplin, and Lefebure-Wély
all find Setchell able to colour his interpretations with a nimble intimacy.
The final piece here happily recalls the wurlitzer sound Lefebure-Wély
gave rise to, almost. The Meyerbeer is rather impressive and rare, and I'm
glad to have heard this slight afflatus of solemnity, which happens to be
good. The Dvorak, despite recalling a funeral parlour on occasion, is in
fact beautifully brought off, even to the sudden break before resolution
in the repeat of the second subject. It's no mean feat to sustain this level
of sound or indeed sentiment. Setchell makes the work sound born to the organ.
The whiff of the parlour isn't his fault.
The Franck is, of course, the most-often played piece here. Setchell plays
rapidly enough to come close to the recent Eric Lebrun on his marvellous
Cavaillé-Coll. I possess a stray Jennifer Bate Unicorn Kanchana which
takes the Choral No. 2 over two minutes slower than Lebrun, who in turn takes
the Choral No. 3 45 seconds swifter than Setchell, 12'08" against 12'53".
That should give some indication of Setchell's speeds, a little behind Lindley
and Lebrun, but faster than others. His interpretation is fine, perhaps less
monumentally-scaled than Lebrun was able to make his, but a real performance.
None of Setchell's performances of core repertoire would look out of place
in any collection, and his bon-bons are amusing and sometimes touching. What
Setchell has done is provide some rarities in a competitive market, and these,
if they suit, should be snapped up, most easily by visiting the www.nzorgan.com
site. But despite this essentially home market CD, one longs to hear Setchell
spread his scope as well as his arms. Competition for popular organ music
is fierce, and this programme is more intelligent than some, with its avowedly
middlebrow appeal. But Setchell can do very interesting things, and there
is a real gap that would bring him wider recognition and circulation than
the false psychology of quick returns. Widor still lacks a very recent cycle
bar Van Oosten, and, if Vierne is quite well-covered, Guilmant and possibly
more to his taste, Widor isn't by any means. Large-scale works like Whitlock's
Symphony and other modern British and no doubt New Zealand composers remain
unrecorded. Setchell is an academic who enjoys popular recitals. The popular
and tuneful Widor and others remain to be spread abroad. This is a good start.
Setchell needs to consolidate with large-scale, tuneful works.
Simon Jenner
ORDERING DETAILS
"Let the Pealing Organ Blow!" MANU 1539 was released in 1997, and
"Bonbons for Organ" ATOLL ACD 600 was released in December 2000.
How to buy:
In the UK:
Allegro music
http://www.allegro.co.uk for online credit card orders
or write
Allegro Music
82 Suffolk St
Queensway,
Birmingham,
B1 1TA,
UK
In the USA:
Brenda Durden Publishing
(www.franticorganist.net)for online credit card orders
Or write Brenda Durden Publishing brendadurden@franticorganist.com
The Frantic Organist Music Shop
6902 57th St. NE
Marysville, WA 98270
360-658-8317 (FAX and VOICE)
toll free for US, Canada and UK 888-258-5781 (FAX and VOICE)
In New Zealand:
http://www.opuscds.com for online
credit card orders (Wellington).
AND
Marbecks http://www.marbecks.co.nz/
for credit card orders (Auckland) or write
Marbecks Queen Street
164 Queen Street
Auckland, New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 358 0344
Fax: +64 9 358 4740
Further details from the website :-
http://www.nzorgan.com/shop/CD-shopfront.htm
or email setchell@paradise.net.nz
