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A Grand Chorus
Andrew Lumsden (organ)
rec. 1990, Westminster Abbey, London.
GUILD GMCD7815 [64:04]

The Guild label dates back to 1967 when it produced its first releases of choral and organ music from Guildford Cathedral. The label was the brainchild and – dare I say? – plaything of the young, firebrand, Guildford Cathedral organist Barry Rose and his brother-in-law Nicolas Ware. It seems to have grown from the recordings of the choir made for training and archive purposes, and while early releases centred around Guildford, there were several made in the great London churches, especially St Paul’s Cathedral following Rose’s move there in 1974. This recording of the organ of Westminster Abbey was recorded by Ware and produced by Rose, and featured the then sub-organist, Andrew Lumsden, who had been appointed to that post in 1988 and moved on to Lichfield Cathedral in 1992. So far as I can make out, this 30-year-old recording has never previously been released commercially, but I am happy to be corrected; if it’s been around before, I’ve somehow missed out on it.

There have been changes to technology, instruments, playing styles, what constitutes a popular programme of organ music and, perhaps most of all, critics’ expectations, in those 30 years, but quality in recording and performance outlasts the ephemera of taste, and on those two aspects, this is a worthy addition to the catalogues.

Some may find the recorded sound a trifle distant and lacking detail, while others may feel the performances are not particularly insightful, but as an authentic taste of the music played on the abbey’s Harrison and Harrison, this makes a good programme. Whoever wrote the booklet notes was clearly not aiming at a scholarly or even musically knowledgeable audience, but most of this music is well enough known to organists not to require any further illumination beyond Lumsden’s comfortably unpretentious performances. He does take a nod towards authenticity in the Purcell Voluntary on the Old Hundredth with the obtrusive historic English ornamentation; a refreshing change from those who assume, since it was composed for organ in the 17^th century, it must therefore observe all the mannerisms and ornamentation conventions tirelessly documented by those who regard North Germany in the late 17^th century as the apogee of organ music. Lumsden has an unashamed focus on the Englishness of the venue and the organ, both in his programme and his playing.

He pays tribute to a previous organist of Westminster Abbey in a muscular account of Simon Preston’s Alleluias, as well as to several of the major English composers who, in one way or another, were associated with the Abbey during the early years of the 20^th century. The Frank Bridge Adagio comes across particularly effectively here, and there is no doubting the magisterial qualities revealed in the Elgar Imperial March. But most effective of all is a highly affectionate and beautifully evocative account of the Herbert Howells’ classic, Master Tallis’s Testament.
 
All this Englishness is framed within some powerful French showpieces with a Westminster connection. Guilmant’s Grand Choeur is a very liberal tribute to the style of Handel while the Vierne Carillon de Westminster is, according to the booklet notes, preceded by the distant sound of the eponymous chime coming from the palace next door. I haven’t yet been able to catch the sound of the genuine bells on the recording, but I am happy to keep listening since Lumsden’s unambiguously joyous account of the Vierne is well worth listening to again and again. It makes a fitting tribute to a noble organ and a fine recording production team.

Marc Rochester
 
Contents
Alexandre GUILMANT (1837-1911)
Grand Choeur in D “Alla Handel”, Op.18 [6:33]
Henry PURCELL (1659-1695)
Voluntary on the Old Hundredth, Z721 [6:12]
Attr. PURCELL: Trumpet Tune in D [3:49]
Frank BRIDGE (1879-1941)
Adagio in E [7:17]
C H H PARRY (1848-1918)
Bridal March from The Birds of Aristophanes [5:43]
Simon PRESTON (b.1938)
Alleluias [5:17]
Herbert HOWELLS (1892-1983)
Master Tallis’s Testament [6:46]
Edward ELGAR (1857-1934)
Imperial March, Op.32 [5:13]
Louis VIERNE (1870-1937)
Clair de Lune, Op.53 No.5 [9:53]
Carillon de Westminster, Op.54 No.6) [6:55]