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
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]
