Birmingham Town Hall
has recently been reopened following
a ten year programme of restoration
and refurbishment. The organ has also
been overhauled and some small changes
have been made, mostly of a cosmetic
nature. This recording has been released
to mark the re-inauguration of both
hall and organ.
Unfortunately, although
I enjoyed the recording immensely I
have a major gripe with this release.
It concerns, primarily, the way in which
the organ is documented in the booklet.
The organ of Birmingham
Town Hall was originally built by William
Hill in 1834. It was the largest in
England, and featured (still does) a
32’ façade. In its first fifteen
years of existence it was improved several
times by the original builder, featured
in the first performance of Mendelssohn’s
Elijah and had become
the first organ in the world to have
a high-pressure solo reed. However the
character of today’s organ has much
to do with the subsequent rebuilds by
Thomas Hill, Henry Willis III and N.P.
Mander. However, of these subsequent
rebuilds no detail is given, and the
booklet is quite happy to refer to the
instrument as an "historic 1834 organ".
This "sweeping under the carpet" of
an essential part of the organ’s history
is misleading at best. The specification
is listed without any reference to the
sources of each of the stops. In fact,
according to the National Pipe Organ
Register, only 29 of the organ’s 91
stops (including percussions) are from
Hill. Although I don’t know the organ
personally one would assume, given Willis
III’s usual way of working, that his
rebuild was the most significant in
determining the organ’s present character,
even if the Mander rebuild of 1984 was
supposedly inspired by the organ’s situation
in the 1880s. Please, Regent, look at
the fabulous CD booklets of Joe Vitacco’s
JAV Records and use them as models for
future releases so that I don’t have
to trawl the internet to find out what
my ears are really hearing.
This ‘fuzzy’ thinking,
dare I suggest, extends, albeit briefly,
into Thomas Trotter’s programme. What
is the point of the Handel concerto?
Trotter seems to have taken Dupré’s
transcription, and shorn it of everything
characteristic of Dupré. Instead
the performance follows what would now
be considered ‘Handelian’ (or at least
18th century) norms. The
Mander neo-baroquery features heavily.
It is astonishing that as late as 1984
a British builder would append a ‘Bombarde’
with a synoptic specification of 8,
4, 2,2/3, 2 1,3/5, 1,1/3 (all flutes)
V-VI plus reeds to a Town Hall organ!
Surely sticking to Dupré’s intentions
would have been more appropriate in
the circumstances? When do you ever
hear Handel played like that now? And
where better than on an organ such as
that in Birmingham?
Now the good stuff
and there’s plenty of it. Thomas Trotter
is the worthy successor of G.D. Cunningham
and George Thalben-Ball and his playing
is never less than excellent, either
live or on CD. His concept here, honouring
famous civic organists of the past -
is very strong. He can be counted in
the company of Best in Liverpool, Thalben-Ball
in Birmingham and Lemare in Chattanooga
both as composers and arrangers. I especially
enjoyed the pair of original pieces
by Lemare and of course the Wagner transcription,
which is brilliantly played; Trotter
revels in the combination of organ and
music which here seems just right. The
Thalben-Ball variations are famously
difficult, and Trotter’s mastery of
them is unequivocal. Ireland’s Villanella
is also deliciously appropriate. Perhaps
only the Carmen Suite is too
much of a good thing.
Despite my misgivings,
this is essential listening due in no
small part to the brilliance of Thomas
Trotter, an artist continuing a rare
civic tradition at the highest possible
artistic level. Hats off to him.
Chris Bragg
for details
Thomas Trotter (organ) 
