Raven OAR-620 2-CD set!
This amazing collection of major works superbly played by Mother Church
associate organist John R. Near (Widor’s biographer, editor of the
definitive edition of Widor’s organ works, and professor at Principia
College, Elsah, Illinois) documents in excellent sound on two CDs the
237-rank Aeolian-Skinner op. 1203 before more than 2,000 of its 13,389
original Aeolian-Skinner pipes (including 35 ranks of principals,
mixtures, and chorus reeds) were discarded, along with several ranks of
subsequent additions by others, during the renovation completed in
1999. Substantial CD booklet notes relate the unfinished condition in
which the organ was left in 1952 and the subsequent tonal finishing and
additions undertaken by Jack Steinkampf, Jr., and Jason McKown during
the period of Near’s tenure with colleague Thomas Richner, organist of
The Mother Church.
DURUFLÉ: Prélude and Sicilienne from Suite, op. 5
DURUFLÉ: Fugue sur le thème du carillon de Soissons
MESSIAEN: Dieu Parmi Nous
GIGOUT: Toccata in b
minor
WIDOR: Choral (Symphonie Romane)
WIDOR: Finale (Symphony 8)
DUPRÉ: Prélude & Fugue in B
DUPRÉ: Berceuse (Suite Bretonne)
DALE WOOD: Prelude on New Britain (Amazing Grace)
BÖHM: Prelude & Fugue in C
FRANCK: Choral No. 1 in E
VIERNE: Adagio (Symphony 3)
VIERNE: Carillon de Westminster
BOYCE/FOX: Ye Sweet Retreat
BACH/FOX: Come Sweetest Death
MACDERMID: Behold What Manner of Love
KODÁLY: Praeludium in D-flat
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Old Hundredth
Below: Notes and Stoplist from the CD Booklet
John Near — The Boston Years 1970-1985
The pipe organ has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. As a
young Sunday School pupil in First Church of Christ, Scientist,
Galesburg, Illinois, I eagerly anticipated the closing words: “Sunday
School is dismissed.” I would race upstairs to the church auditorium to
hear the organ postlude. Before Sunday School, I loved to camp out in
the church basement next to the organ blower, waiting for the organist
to push the button that started the machine in motion. The ensuing roar
was quite thrilling to me as a six-year-old kid. During the postlude, I
watched in awe as the organist manipulated the multiple buttons, pedals
and keyboards. Never having seen another pipe organ, I thought that that
1928 two-manual, thirteen-rank Austin organ must be the ultimate. When
after the service one Sunday the organist allowed me to press a key, I
was hooked; I knew that somehow, someday, I had to play the pipe organ.
My older brother, Bruce, was studying piano, so naturally I wanted to do
that too. One day he and I discovered Dad’s key to the church, and I
had the idea that we might slip in and play the organ. My brother had
more courage than I, and he was just tall enough to reach the place
where the key to the console was hidden—so I needed him. I have no idea
what I played when my turn came, but I was on cloud nine. My ecstasy
turned out to be short-lived, however, because as fate would have it,
Mom just happened to drive by the church and see our bikes outside.
Bruce and I soon learned that we had transgressed!
Upon entering high school my interest in the organ intensified. The
Galesburg Orpheum Theater had a three-manual, eleven-rank Barton theater
pipe organ. It hadn’t been played since the early 1930s, but when I saw
the hulk of the console, covered and sleeping in the orchestra pit, I
dreamed of putting that organ in our home. I don’t think my folks really
knew what they were getting into when they said I could have an organ.
They had just built a French provincial style home in the country.
Coincidentally, the high roofline provided 16’ at the peak of the attic;
it seemed designed to house a pipe organ. The Orpheum Theater was tied
up in an estate, and the lawyers said it would be impossible to obtain
the organ. After some persistence, however, my father eventually
negotiated the purchase of the instrument. Since we had only thirty days
to remove it, I enlisted the help of my brother and the guidance of a
local organ technician. We worked all through the night, after the
closing show, and a month later thousands of parts filled our basement
and a nearby farm implement building. Because I was only fifteen years
old, my parents’ friends thought I would never be able to restore and
reassemble that organ. But I never lacked determination, and over the
course of three years the Orpheum Barton came back to life magnificently
in our home. It was a sad day for me when I had to leave that organ to
go away to college.
During that time, I began my first serious organ study with Mark
Holmberg, a fine teacher and organist of the Trinity Lutheran Church in
Galesburg. (Dr. Holmberg is currently Professor of Music at the
University of Kansas in Lawrence.) Trinity had the best instrument in
town, a relatively new three-manual Möller. I am ever grateful for the
generosity of Mark and the Trinity Lutheran Church; they gave me a key
and allowed me to practice as much as I liked. Mark was a great
inspiration to me because he recognized my love for the organ, and he
did all he could to encourage me. He took me to hear numerous organ
recitals in our area, and I learned a lot when I turned pages for him at
his recitals. In the summer of 1964, Mark organized a two-week organ
tour to the East Coast. Because he had received his Master’s degree at
the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, he wanted me to hear
some of New York’s famous organs. I also wanted to go to Boston to hear
the colossal Aeolian-Skinner organ in The Mother Church Extension, so
our trip took in both cities and several organ companies along the way.
We visited Schantz, Hillgreen-Lane, Holtkamp, Möller, Schlicker, Austin,
and Aeolian-Skinner.
It was nearly impossible to gain access to the organ in The Mother
Church in those days. A close family friend working at the Christian
Science Church Headquarters in Boston had set up an appointment for us. I
recall very well that the organist, Ralph Jerles, was on summer
vacation, so the substitute was assigned to take us into the church
before it opened for tours. Having just come from New York City where we
had been given gracious access to several major instruments, Mark and I
were surprised to find out that we could see the organ, but not play
it. I remarked about the draw knob engraved “Blower” just under the
pedal division—a disposition that I later learned caused many
embarrassing moments of silence when it would accidentally get
“cancelled.” Our host pulled the knob, and the organ filled with air. I
remember playing low C on the Swell 32’ Kontrafagott, but that was the
end of it. We had to wait until Sunday morning to hear the instrument
played.
During my undergraduate years at Principia College, I furthered my organ
study with the college organist, Wilhelmina Nordman. I also became
closely acquainted with the famous organist Virgil Fox, of whom my
mother was a real fan. He happened to be giving a concert in Milwaukee
when she was visiting my brother, who was in school there. When she went
back to meet him after the concert, she told him about my interest in
the organ. Virgil asked her to bring me to one of his upcoming concerts.
It was on June 15, 1967 that I first met him. My mother, my brother and
I went to Rockford, Illinois, where Virgil was to give a concert. We
happened to have dinner beforehand at the same restaurant where he was
dining; when he saw my mother, he greeted her like a long lost cousin—I
don’t believe Virgil ever forgot anyone’s name. After the concert he
invited us to join him, his Aunt Etna Nichols (who lived in nearby
Princeton) and a local organist, who took us to a church where there was
a fine Skinner organ. We spent until the wee hours of the morning
listening to Virgil tell stories and play the organ. It was an exciting
experience for me, and I treasure several photographs taken that
evening. A new pipe organ (since removed) had just been installed in Cox
Auditorium at Principia College, and my family sponsored Virgil to play
the dedicatory concert on November 10, 1967. As all those who heard him
know, Virgil had tremendous energy and flair as a performer; at the
program’s conclusion the Dean of Men commented, “We now have a used
organ!” In December, Virgil invited my mother and me to accompany him on
an East Coast concert tour, which I will mention again later in
conjunction with my recording of his arrangement of Bach’s “Come
Sweetest Death.”
Principia College’s location near Saint Louis afforded me the
opportunity to hear many organ concerts; I especially recall those given
by E. Power Biggs, Pierre Cochereau, Marie-Claire Alain, and Arno
Schoenstedt. I also got involved in a theater organ project. The
Ambassador Theater in Saint Louis had a magnificent but badly neglected
twenty-seven-rank Wurlitzer. The owners of the theater gave me
permission to work on it, and for a couple of years I entertained myself
on weekends coaxing it back into semi-playable condition. At the end of
my senior year, I was surprised one day to receive a letter from the
Christian Science Board of Directors of The Mother Church, inviting me
to audition to be a substitute organist. To this day I do not know how
they knew about me. In January 1970, I went to Boston for the audition,
and was thrilled finally to play The Mother Church organ. I also
auditioned for the Master’s Degree program in organ at the New England
Conservatory of Music. Having succeeded at both auditions, I moved to
Boston at the end of the summer. Mireille Lagacé began teaching organ at
the New England Conservatory that fall, and I credit my study with her
as pivotal to my development as an organist. A couple of years later I
also had the benefit of private study with her husband, Bernard Lagacé,
in Montreal. Boston provided frequent opportunities to hear fine
organists. Anton Heiller, Harold Vogel, Maurice Duruflé, Marie-Madeleine
Duruflé-Chevalier, André Isoir, and Jean Langlais were among the
European artists I especially recall. I also met Olivier Messiaen when
he visited in 1975 for the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s performances of
his Turangalîla-Symphonie. He had a desire to see The Mother Church
organ, but his schedule ended up being too tight.
Between 1970 and 1972, my position at The Mother Church took on an
increasingly substantial role. I was organ accompanist for about fifteen
recording projects, organist for the 1971 Biennial College Organization
Meetings, and organist for the new I. M. Pei Sunday School of The
Mother Church. In May 1972, I was given permission to perform my
Master’s degree recital on The Mother Church Extension organ. The
following month, I became Associate Organist at the same time Dr. Thomas
Richner, with whom I developed a wonderful friendship, was appointed
Organist. During my nine years in that position, I played for lectures,
meetings, workshops, recordings, organ demonstrations, and hundreds of
services — including weekly Spanish Services held in the Original
Edifice of The Mother Church, which had a three manual, forty-four rank
Aeolian-Skinner. Between November 1977 and April 1979, I also gave a
series of seventeen monthly recitals in the Extension. I had begun my
doctoral work at Boston University in 1974, with organ study under
George Faxon, and I had my lessons either at Trinity Church on Copley
Square, where Faxon was organist, or at The Mother Church. My three
doctoral recitals in 1978 and 1979 were given on the Extension organ. As
part of the Boston “First Night” New Year’s celebrations in 1979, Tom
Richner and I had the idea of performing as a duo—four hands and pedals.
Since Tom was an authority on Mozart, we chose the two F-minor
Fantasies, K. 594 and 608. We gave two performances that night to
delighted audiences.
With my background in organ building, one of my duties as Associate
Organist was to oversee the maintenance program for The Mother Church’s
two Aeolian-Skinner organs. The Mother Church had always been
conscientious in matters of organ maintenance. Around 1961, when
Aeolian-Skinner no longer wanted maintenance responsibilities, the
church employed Jason McKown, a skilled organ technician and tuner who
had worked for Aeolian-Skinner and been in the maintenance business a
long time. Simply stated, Jason was the finest organ tuner I have ever
known. He had the unrivalled knack of knowing just how to keep the 237
ranks of the Extension organ in perfect tune; and with over 100 ranks in
compound stops, many with pitch doublings, that was quite a feat.
Nonetheless, there were never tuning problems while the instrument was
under Jason’s experienced care. In fact, it was sometimes said that the
tuning was too perfect!
When Tom Richner and I began in June 1972, Jason informed us that when
he took over the care of the organ, he found it had never really been
completely finished by Aeolian-Skinner. Some ranks of mixture pipes were
silent—taped off at the foot of the pipe. Upon researching the
situation, I found that Aeolian-Skinner had some $50,000 of cost overrun
on the original contract. Although The Mother Church graciously divided
that cost with them, Aeolian-Skinner was obviously anxious to get off
the job in 1952. Consequently, in 1972, twenty years after the organ had
been in use, the fastidious work of completing the tonal finishing was
begun. Over a period of many months the muted mixture pipes were opened
up—some had not even been cut to the proper pitch—and a few mechanical
features that had never been functional were made so. As we lived with
the instrument over a period of four or five years, Tom and I felt that a
few judicious tonal improvements would increase the flexibility and
overall tone quality. Jason McKown continued to refine and balance the
flue pipes, and Jack H. Steinkampf, Jr. was engaged to improve some of
the reeds—work that included the addition of five reed stops. By 1979,
the Extension organ had been brought to a state of tonal perfection.
The Recordings
Between 1972 and . . . 1985, when I played my last services in The
Mother Church, . . . I made dozens of recordings . . .
In 1999, I realized I had not listened to these recordings for many
years, and it occurred to me that if I wanted to preserve them I had
better act soon, as the age of some tapes exceeded twenty-five years. . .
. During the transfers [to digital media], I was sometimes surprised to
find recordings of works that I had totally forgotten I had put on
tape; but I realized that many of them were nearly flawless. Not only
did they form a retrospective of my playing, but they also demonstrated
the rich, singing quality of the Mother Church organ, as it existed
before it was rebuilt under the direction of Lawrence I. Phelps and the
Austin Organ Co. between 1995 and 1999.
Larry Phelps, with whom I worked closely as co-consultant on an organ
project in St. Louis during the two years prior to his passing, had been
responsible for the original tonal design of the Extension organ.
Previously a technician, voicer and tonal finisher for Aeolian-Skinner,
Larry was employed by The Mother Church for more than two and a half
years (1949-1952) to direct the reconstruction of its two organs. The
Mother Church engaged him again in the mid-1990s as organ curator.
Although
the recent work to the organ was touted as a “restoration,” the tonal
modifications effected have rendered the overall character of the
instrument quite unlike the original. According to recent brochures, the
revised tonal design not only eliminated four of the five Steinkampf
reeds, but it also discarded at least 2,162 Aeolian-Skinner pipes,
constituting 35 ranks — ranks of principals, mixtures and chorus reeds
that formed the very heart of the organ’s tonal identity. Other work
included revising existing mixture compositions, revoicing the reeds,
and adding two digital (electronic) voices. Once the most monumental of
all Aeolian-Skinners, The Mother Church organ can no longer be
considered fully representative of that renowned builder. For this
reason, these recordings are an invaluable testament to the instrument's
former splendor.
All the masterworks presented on these CDs were performed at Mother
Church services. During my years as Associate Organist (1972-1981),
Gillian Gill, in her widely acclaimed biography of Mary Baker Eddy,
would not have been able to write, “The organ [in The Mother Church
Extension] . . . is limited mainly to the role of accompanying the
singing: Bach and Handel and Messiaen are allowed no place in the
service” (Gillian Gill, Mary Baker Eddy, Cambridge, Mass.:
Perseus Books, 1998, xii). Although I performed organ literature from
all nationalities and musical style periods, when choosing the
selections for these CDs I was guided by the desire to include works
which best demonstrate the instrument's tonal palette.
CD 1
Prelude and Fugue in C major,
Georg Böhm (1661-1733)
Recorded: January 1973
Böhm filled the post of organist of the Johanniskirche at Lüneburg,
Germany, from 1698 until his death. C. P. E. Bach stated that his father
(Johann Sebastian) “loved and studied the works of the Lüneburg
organist Georg Böhm.” It is not clear that J. S. Bach actually studied
with Böhm, but he was certainly influenced by the elder composer. The
virtuoso pedal solo, ostinato rhythmic patterns, alternating passages of
arpeggios, echo effects and embellished homophony are typical
characteristics of the free-style North German praeludium. The fugue
subject is neatly constructed of two statements of an angular three-note
motive followed by a conjunct five-note motive extended through three
sequential repetitions. The strictly contrapuntal development of the
fugue concludes on a deceptive cadence, which is followed by a rhapsodic
coda of rapid scales and arpeggios.
I have included this work to demonstrate the Baroque side of The Mother
Church organ. The registration was limited to the Hauptwerk, Positiv and
Swell (registered like a Brustwerk) for the Prelude, and the Hauptwerk
and Positiv for the Fugue.
Choral No. 1 in E major,
César Franck (1822-1890)
Recorded: January 1973
Organist of Sainte-Clotilde in Paris from 1859 until his death, Franck
left only twelve major works for his favorite instrument. The Trois
Chorals date from the last four months of his life. Each is based on a
hymn-like choral of the composer’s own design. Franck told his students,
“The choral creates itself during the course of the prelude.” This is
borne out in this work when, after an extended introduction, the choral
quietly appears on the Solo Vox Humana stop. Elements of variation and
fantasia alternate as the work spins out to the magnificent peroration
of the choral theme on full organ.
With the present day interest in hearing unaltered Aeolian-Skinners, I
have chosen this recording to represent The Mother Church organ before
any alterations were effected. Also, for me this Franck Choral brings
the special recollection of having performed it in two master classes,
one conducted by Arthur Poister and the other by Maurice Duruflé.
Adagio (from Symphony No. 3, opus 28),
Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
Recorded: April 1979
Louis Vierne began his serious music study at the Paris Conservatory in
the class of César Franck. When Franck died in 1890, the class was
entrusted to Charles-Marie Widor who soon made Vierne his assistant at
Saint-Sulpice, which had the largest and most beautiful organ in France.
Following in the footsteps of Widor, Vierne composed several
multi-movement organ works that he titled “Symphony,” the first of which
was composed under his master’s watchful eye in 1899. The following
year, Vierne won the coveted post of organist at Notre Dame Cathedral
where he would preside over a Cavaillé-Coll organ at least as
magnificent, though not quite as large, as that of Saint-Sulpice. During
the next thirty-seven years Vierne wrote a substantial body of organ
music. Composed in 1911, the third of his six symphonies contains five
movements. Bernard Gavoty, Vierne’s early biographer, praised the Adagio
as one of the most perfect pieces Vierne composed.
Carillon de Westminster (from Pièces de Fantaisie, Troisième suite, opus 54),
Louis Vierne
Recorded: November 1981
Perhaps the most performed of Vierne’s works, the Carillon de
Westminster was dedicated in 1927 to the renowned London organ builder
Henry Willis. The central theme of the work is the most famous of all
clock chimes, known as the Westminster Quarters. This tune was derived
by a late eighteenth-century English composer, William Crotch, who wrote
four variations on a short phrase in “I know that my Redeemer liveth”
from Handel’s Messiah. These variations soon became the standard when
they were adopted in 1860 for the large quarter-hour bells in the tower
clock of the new Houses of Parliament of Westminster, from which the
tune takes its name. Vierne presents the theme four times in different
arrangements during the course of the piece, with the accompanying
figuration sometimes simulating the jingle of small bells.
Ye Sweet Retreat,
William Boyce (1710-1779),
arranged by Virgil Fox (1912-1980)
Recorded: June 1981
Virgil Fox based this arrangement, with the assistance of Robert Hebble,
on the Harold Bauer arrangement for piano. As a budding organist, I
believe I purchased every record album the legendary Virgil Fox
recorded. “Ye Sweet Retreat" appears on Virgil Fox Encores, recorded at
the Riverside Church in New York City where Fox presided over a
monumental 1955 Aeolian-Skinner organ. This sumptuous arrange-ment is
stylistically removed by generations from the eighteenth-century
original composition, but it serves beautifully to demonstrate a
kaleidoscope of Aeolian-Skinner tone color. The melodic line is taken
variously by the Swell Strings (played in the pedals), Choir Flutes,
Solo English Horn and French Horn.
Come Sweetest Death, Come, Blessed Rest,
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750),
arranged by Virgil Fox
Recorded: January 1980
In 1939 Virgil Fox was invited to perform on the famous John Wanamaker
Grand Court Organ . . . in Philadelphia for the national convention of
the American Guild of Organists. It had been suggested that he include a
Bach chorale during his program. Realizing that a miniature piece would
hardly make any effect on an instrument of such vast resources as the
Wanamaker organ—with its six manuals, 451 stops and 30,067 pipes—Fox
took as his inspiration Leopold Stokowski’s orchestral transcription of a
song (Komm, süsser Tod, Komm, sel’ge Ruh’) which Bach composed for
Schemelli’s Musikalisches Gesangbuch, published in 1736. With the
largest string division in the world, the Wanamaker organ is a veritable
orchestra, and Fox’s arrangement transforms Bach’s simple song, only a
melody with figured bass accompaniment, into a full-fledged symphonic
poem. After experiencing this piece at Wanamaker’s, one shrinks at the
idea of playing it elsewhere. Yet, The Mother Church organ proved to be
ideal for the task, and I can’t resist including it here.
As mentioned earlier, I first met Virgil in 1967, and he became a close
family friend. In December 1967, my mother and I accompanied him on a
concert tour to Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and New York City. I had a
great aunt who lived on Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, and
whenever we visited her I went to hear the Wanamaker organ. Mary Vogt
was the resident organist in those days; she had played there since the
organ’s installation in 1911! A woman of small stature, she could not
reach all the stops, and I remember she always kept beside her a
rolled-up newspaper with which she would register the organ by sweeping
on rows of stops at a time. Virgil was to play a Christmas concert at
Wanamaker’s on December 15, so my mother and I arrived in Philadelphia a
few days earlier to meet him. Miss Vogt had retired the year before and
the new resident organist, Keith Chapman, was unavailable to help. To
my delight, Virgil asked me to assist with the stops on the right side
of the mammoth console. We spent a couple of all-night sessions
rehearsing, and I still have the hand-scrawled notes that he made for me
to follow. I think Virgil would be very pleased with my recording of
his arrangement of “Come Sweetest Death.”
Behold What Manner of Love,
James G. MacDermid (1875-1960),
with Esperanza Ismann, soprano
Recorded: November 7, 1981
Accompanying vocal solos was one of the great joys of playing The Mother
Church organ. It provided an endless pallet of voices with which to
“orchestrate” the piano accompaniments. In this recording, the Choir
Bassoon is the featured melody stop, and the fanfares in the middle
organ section begin on the Solo Trumpet and then shift to the Choir Tuba
Major. “Behold What Manner of Love,” composed in 1913, is one of the
most popular of MacDermid’s forty-nine scriptural songs. Esperanza
Ismann served as soloist of The Mother Church from 1980 until 1984. She
was certainly the finest soloist with whom I have ever had the privilege
of working. We always recorded our Saturday evening rehearsals, and
this rehearsal recording exemplifies the inspirational tone that the
vocal solo regularly provided.
Praeludium in D-flat major,
Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967)
Recorded: June 1977
The Hungarian composer’s setting of Pange lingua for chorus has a
prominent organ part, and the Praeludium is drawn from it. Kodály’s
important work with Hungarian folksong appears to have influenced some
of the melodic shapes in this work. The Solo Corno di Bassetto is heard
for one of the principal melodic lines.
The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune,
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Recorded: July 1981
Traditionally, the congregation did not participate in the singing at
coronations, so Vaughan Williams offered to “make a mess-up of Old
Hundredth” if the Archbishop would agree to have a hymn included in the
ceremony. Using the original long-note version of the hymn, with
alternating measures of whole and half notes, Vaughan Williams composed
this anthem for choir, congregation, orchestra and organ for the
Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey on
Tuesday, 2 June 1953. The idea of playing it as an organ solo came from
Virgil Fox. Preceding the first verse of the hymn tune is a fanfare on
the Bombarde Trompette and Choir Tuba Major; the second verse is played
on foundation stops; the third verse is played on the full Swell with
trumpet descant played on the Solo Cor des Anges; the fourth verse uses
string stops, with the hymn tune sounding in the tenor voice; and the
final verse returns to the initial registration, with a crescendo to
full organ on the final “Amen."
CD 2
Dieu Parmi Nous [God Among Us] (from La Nativité, nine meditations for organ),
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
Recorded: July 1978
Declaring that he was “born believing,” Messiaen exalted his profound
faith in his compositional art. “I am, above all, a catholic musician.
All my works, religious or not, are an act of faith and glorify the
mystery of Christ.” And elsewhere he wrote, “God for me is manifest, and
my conception of sacred music derives from this conviction. . . . I
have therefore . . . tried to produce ‘music that touches all things
without ceasing to touch God.’”
Dieu Parmi Nous, the ninth meditation of La Nativité (1936), has become
one of Messiaen’s most popular works. It carries a textual heading from
Ecclesiasticus, “Words from the communicant, the Virgin, the entire
Church: the One who has created me has rested in my tent, the Word is
made flesh and it has lived in me. My soul glorifies the Lord, my spirit
has thrilled from gladness in God my Savior.” This huge movement
commences with the principal theme, “the incarnation;” marked ffff, this
theme audibly represents the “glorious and indescribable” (Messiaen’s
words) descent of the Son from heaven to earth. Following is “the theme
of love,” which exemplifies the “communion,” the “sweetness of [our]
union with Jesus Christ.” The third theme is marked “lively and joyous;”
in the manner of a birdsong, it is “the magnificat,” the “exaltation of
the soul.” Following this brief exposition, sections of development
lead to the climactic concluding toccata which features the principal
idea repeated several times in the pedals.
Prélude (from Suite, opus 5),
Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)
Recorded: November 1981
Maurice Duruflé counts among a handful of composers whose reputation
rests largely on one work. Listening to his magnificent Requiem, it is
easy to understand why he can be considered one of the immortals of
twentieth-century French music. Duruflé found his true voice in
religious music. It seems entirely fitting that he was a professor of
harmony at the Paris Conservatory and organist at perhaps the most
beautiful church in Paris, Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, for his works express
harmony and beauty to the utmost degree. The sinuous melodic lines and
haunting modality of Gregorian chant combine with a Ravelian sense of
coloration and rigorous structural concern to inform his musical style.
The three-movement Suite, published in 1934, represents the summit of
Duruflé’s six organ works.
Duruflé described the Prélude, cast in the dark key of e-flat minor, as
“sad and melancholy.” After a few introductory measures, in which
fragments of the principal theme are sounded in the bass under a
dominant pedal, the full statement of the theme enters “tristamente”
(sadly). The development alternates passages based on either the
fragmented entrance motive or the principal theme itself. Following a
section marked “quasi recitativo,” in which the Choir Clarinet takes up
an arabesque based on the principal theme, the movement draws to a close
in the same somber manner with which it began.
Sicilienne (from Suite, opus 5),
Maurice Duruflé
Recorded: July 1978
The Sicilienne offers a sharply contrasting mood to that of the Prélude.
Over a gently flowing broken-chord accompaniment and pizzicato-like
bass, the opening lyrical melody, played on the Swell Oboe, evokes the
typical pastoral character of a siciliana. The following development
owes much to Debussy and Ravel with its impressionistic tints of
harmonically enriched chords, whole-tone constructs and colorful
registrations, one of which features the Solo Vox Humana with a theme
played in the pedals.
Fugue sur le thème du carillon des heures de la Cathédrale de Soissons
[Fugue on the theme of the hourly carillon peal of Soissons Cathedral],
Maurice Duruflé
Recorded: June 1981
Originally part of a volume of organ works commemorating the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the death of Louis Vierne (2 June 1937),
this work takes an innovative approach to “fugue.” It commences with
three voices, although the lower voice initially provides only a tonic
pedal. The fugue’s theme, of which the first eight notes quote the
borrowed carillon peal, appears in the upper voice. Eventually expanding
to four voices, the strict contrapuntal style begins to break down as a
few statements of the carillon theme appear in inversion. Proceeding
with unrelenting momentum and a gradual crescendo that culminates in the
full power of the organ, further statements of the theme are given in
augmentation, at first in free imitation and subsequently in inverted
imitation between the upper and lower voices.
Toccata in B minor (from Dix Pièces),
Eugène Gigout (1844-1925)
Recorded: August 1979
A brilliant virtuoso and born improviser, Gigout was appointed organist
of Saint-Augustin in Paris in 1863, a post he held for sixty-two years
(second only to Widor’s sixty-four years at Saint-Sulpice). He succeeded
to the professorship of organ at the Paris Conservatory in 1911, thus
perpetuating the long line of important organist/composers to hold that
post: Benoist, Franck, Widor, Guilmant, Gigout. It is unfortunate that
of Gigout’s organ music, only the Toccata and two other works receive
regular performances. One of my most treasured scores is an autographed
copy of the Dix Pièces; it is inscribed “A Monsieur Clarence Eddy/
Cordial souvenir/Eugène Gigout/Avril 1890."
Choral (from Symphonie romane, opus 73),
Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)
Recorded: 1983
In 1870, a little over a month before his twenty-sixth birthday, Widor
was appointed “provisional organist” of Saint-Sulpice in Paris; he held
the position until 1934! Entrusted with the greatest organ in France, an
instrument of five manuals and 100 stops, Widor experienced an
exhilarating burst of creativity. Searching for a new style that would
exploit fully the potential of the Cavaillé-Coll organ, Widor seized
upon the character and multi-movement plan of the orchestral symphony;
by adapting it to the sonorities of the organ, he fathered a new genre
and a new mode of expression. His first four Symphonies pour Orgue, opus
13, were published in 1872. The Symphonie romane, completed in 1899, is
his tenth and last organ symphony. Five years earlier Widor had begun
to explore the use of plainsong for the melodic material in two
movements of his ninth symphony, the Symphonie gothique. The romane is
largely given over to the plainsong melody for the first four words of
text of the Easter gradual: “Haec dies, quam fecit” (This is the day
which the Lord hath made).
The Choral, the second movement of the symphony, opens quietly and
conservatively with a four-part harmonization of the “Haec dies, quam
fecit” theme; this and an ensuing chant-like counter-theme provide the
melodic materials to be developed, at times in a manner showing that
Widor was well aware of impressionistic tendencies. Of equal interest
are certain chromatic turns, harmonic constructs, and melodic gestures
that betray his assimilation of Wagner’s musical language, especially
that of Tristan und Isolde.
Finale (from Symphony No. 8, opus 42),
Charles-Marie Widor
Recorded: June 1985
In scale and design the expansive Symphony No. 8 is fully on a par with
many late-Romantic orchestral symphonies. Certainly, no more monumental
organ composition had previously been conceived; the seven movements of
the original edition fill sixty-seven pages of score and require about
one hour to perform. Camille Saint-Saëns once wrote to Widor, “the great
majority of organists . . . are not of your powers and . . . recoil,
terrified, before your works.” With this symphony, published in 1887,
Widor must have felt that he had pushed organ technique to the limit and
exhausted the tonal possibilities of the instrument; the great master
of the organ symphony declared that he had no intention of composing any
more organ music. Had Widor carried through with this intention, the
immense Finale to this symphony would have provided a fitting capstone
to his organ symphonies.
Characterized by insistent rhythm, angular leaps, and strong-beat
appoggiaturas, the austere main theme, with its spare, sharp staccato
accompaniment, immediately presents the listener with music of imposing
power and gravity.
Berceuse [Lullaby] (from Suite Bretonne, opus 21),
Marcel Dupré (1886-1971)
Recorded: June 1980
Marcel Dupré may well be considered the greatest French organist of the
twentieth century. He was the first organist to perform the complete
works of Bach from memory; he became Widor’s assistant at Saint-Sulpice
in 1906 and eventually succeeded him in 1934; he succeeded Gigout as
professor of organ at the Paris Conservatory in 1926; and after
seventy-six years of concert performing, he closed his concert career
with his 2,178th recital—more than 800 of them were in the United
States.
Dupré premiered the three-movement Suite Bretonne during his 1923
American tour. The “Berceuse” opens restfully with a gently swaying
ostinato, suggestive of a rocking cradle, which pervades the entire
movement. The simple melody alternates between the Great Holzflöte and
Choir Clarinet. Eventually a registration including both the Swell and
Solo Vox Humanas takes up the melody in the upper voice while Pedal 4’
Flutes follow in canon an octave below.
As a young organ student, I revered Dupré above all other organists. The
recordings he made at Saint-Sulpice, plus the ones at Saint-Thomas
Church in New York City, were very inspiring to me. I even had to buy a
second copy of a couple of them, having worn out the first. Dupré’s
interpretations became my model, so much so that once I was reprimanded
by Madame Lagacé for invoking his name too often at lessons. In October
1969, I arrived in Paris on the very day Dupré gave his last organ
concert at Notre Dame Cathedral. One of the greatest regrets of my life
is that I didn’t realize it until the next morning when I saw posters
advertising the previous evening’s concert. Nonetheless, while in Paris I
did hear him at Saint-Sulpice on two occasions. The second time, I
arrived early and waited at the door to the organ gallery. He and Madame
Dupré arrived and invited me to join them in the organ tribune for the
early mass. I can still vividly see his slow, purposeful gait as the
three of us ascended the sixty-seven steps of the narrow winding
stairway. After he was seated at the organ, he motioned for me to sit
next to him. Although he spoke little, watching and hearing him play
during the service was an emotional experience I will never forget. I
had brought with me a recent recording he had made of some of his works
at Saint-Ouen in Rouen, and he autographed it for me. Later, as he was
leaving Saint-Sulpice, I snapped his photo, which now hangs in a
prominent place in my office.
Prélude and Fugue in B major, (from Trois Préludes et Fugues, opus 7),
Marcel Dupré
Recorded: July 13, 1980 on the Aeolian-Skinner organ at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
Although I played this work numerous times at The Mother Church, I have
taken the liberty here to include the live recording of it from my Grace
Cathedral recital in 1980. There is something quite remarkable about
hearing this music in a magnificent cathedral acoustic.
Dupré’s first set of Three Préludes and Fugues, composed in 1912, are
his first organ works, and they are masterpieces. The Prélude might more
accurately be termed a toccata, “an explosion of cheerfulness, a joyous
carillon.” The principal theme first sounds in the pedals, but during
the course of the piece it transfers to the manuals as well; it is
eventually treated in canon between the manuals and pedals, all the time
against the toccata-like figuration. The subject of the Fugue, presaged
in the Prélude, is constructed of three phrases, each separated by a
sixteenth-rest. It is not at all comfortable to play when taken up by
the pedals. Other challenges arise from offbeat chords that yield five
accents in four-beat measures, rapid manual changes, and fussy
articulations. The return of the subject for the brilliant peroration is
given simultaneously at the normal speed and in augmentation. Few are
the works that provide the visceral impact of Dupré’s Prélude and Fugue
in B major.
Graham Steed, Dupré’s recent biographer, states, “This is a dangerous
piece to play in concert. It is consistantly [sic] loud and fast; one
has to be careful to match speed and touch with the acoustics of the
building. Played too fast in a resonant room it is impossible to
preserve clarity.” For me, this performance achieves just the right
balance.
Prelude on New Britain (Amazing Grace),
Dale Wood (b. 1934)
Recorded: July 1981
Returning to The Mother Church organ, I have included American organist
Dale Wood’s setting of Amazing Grace to provide a sort of encore to this
two-CD set. Featured are the Solo Vibraphone along with the Solo Klein
Erzähler and Choir Dulciana, Unda Maris and Klein Erzähler. The hymn
tune is played the first time two octaves down on the Positiv 2’
Waldflöte, and the second time one octave down on the Positiv 4’
Koppelflöte.
The Aeolian-Skinner organ in the Extension of The Mother Church
I gratefully acknowledge The Christian Science Board of Directors of The
Mother Church for their permission to issue these historic recordings
of the Aeolian-Skinner organ in the Extension of The Mother Church, The
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Massachusetts.
Of the seven manual divisions, the Swell, Choir and Solo are enclosed.
Except for the Solo division, the organ is installed in one large loft
across the front of the auditorium. This loft is approximately
seventy-five feet wide, ten feet deep and almost sixty feet high.
Although the average height of the main part of the organ is about
twenty-five feet, the façade towers about fifty feet above the organ
loft floor. The Solo, located in a special chamber high in the northeast
tower of the building, is heard through a circular opening in the
center of the pendentive area to the left of and above the main organ.
The building of the organ, Aeolian-Skinner’s opus 1203, began in January
1951, the installation in April 1951, and the instrument was completed
September 1952. Following is the specification reflecting the
modifications effected in 1978 and 1979. The organ had 237 ranks, 13,588
pipes.
Great
(24 ranks, 1468 pipes; 4" wind)
32 Quintade, 61 pipes
16 Geigend Prinzipal, 61 pipes
16 Bourdon, 61 pipes
8 Principal, 61 pipes
8 Holzflöte, 61 pipes
4 Prestant, 61 pipes
4 Flute Ouverte, 61 pipes
5-1/3 Gross Sesquialtera II, 122 pipes
2-2/3 Cornet IV-VI, 309 pipes
2-2/3 Full Mixture IV, 244 pipes
1-1/3 Scharf IV, 244 pipes
8 Trompette, 61 pipes
4 Clairon, 61 pipes
Hauptwerk
(25 ranks, 1520 pipes; 3” wind)
16 Quintaden, 61 pipes
8 Prinzipal, 61 pipes
8 Bordun, 61 pipes
8 Spitzflöte, 61 pipes
4 Oktave, 61 pipes
4 Kleingedackt, 61 pipes
4 Spitzflöte, 61 pipes
2-2/3 Quinte, 61 pipes
2 Superoktave, 61 pipes
2 Blockflöte, 61 pipes
1-1/3 Quinte, 61 pipes
2-2/3 Sesquialtera II, 122 pipes
2 Mixtur IV-VI, 287 pipes
1 Scharf IV-VII, 318 pipes
16 Contra Fagotto, 61 pipes
8 Trompete, 61 pipes
Swell
(39 ranks, 2519 pipes; 5” wind)
16 Gemshorn, 68 pipes
8 Diapason, 68 pipes
8 Rohrflöte, 68 pipes
8 Flute Harmonique, 68 pipes
8 Viole de Gambe, 68 pipes
8 Viole Celeste, 68 pipes
8 Echo Viole, 68 pipes
8 Echo Viole Celeste, 68 pipes
8 Flute Dolce, 68 pipes
8 Flute Celeste, 68 pipes
4 Octave, 68 pipes
4 Nachthorn, 68 pipes
4 Gemshorn, 68 pipes
2-2/3 Nazard, 61 pipes
2 Doublette, 61 pipes
2 Spillflöte, 61 pipes
2-2/3 Sesquialtera III, 183 pipes
2-2/3 Plein Jeu VI, 366 pipes
1-1/3 Fourniture III, 183 pipes
2/3 Cymbale IV, 244 pipes
32 Kontrafagott, 68 pipes
16 Bombarde, 68 pipes
8 Trompette, 68 pipes
8 Oboe, 68 pipes
8 Vox Humana, 68 pipes
5-1/3 Quinte Trompette, 68 pipes
4 Clairon, 68 pipes
Tremulant
Positiv
(28 ranks, 1679 pipes; 21/2” wind)
8 Viola de Gamba, 61 pipes
8 Quintadena, 61 pipes
8 Gedackt, 61 pipes
4 Prinzipal, 61 pipes
4 Koppelflöte, 61 pipes
2-2/3 Nasat, 61 pipes
2 Oktave, 61 pipes
2 Waldflöte, 61 pipes
1-3/5 Terz, 61 pipes
1-1/3 Larigot, 61 pipes
1 Oktave, 61 pipes
8 Cornet V, 305 pipes
1 Scharf IV-VII, 337 pipes
1/4 Zimbel III, 183 pipes
16 Dulzian, 61 pipes
8 Krummhorn, 61 pipes
4 Schalmei, 61 pipes
Choir
(22 ranks, 1444 pipes; 4” wind)
16 Dulciana, 68 pipes
8 Viola, 68 pipes
8 Viola Celeste, 68 pipes
8 Gemshorn Celeste II (celeste tc), 124 pipes
8 Concert Flute, 68 pipes
8 Lieblich Gedeckt, 68 pipes
8 Dulciana, 68 pipes
8 Unda Maris (tc), 56 pipes
4 Viola, 68 pipes
4 Flauto Traverso, 68 pipes
4 Lieblich Flöte, 68 pipes
4 Klein Erzähler II, 136 pipes
2 Zauberflöte, 61 pipes
2-2/3 Sesquialtera II, 122 pipes
16 Bassoon, 68 pipes
16 Rankett, 61 pipes (unenclosed)
8 Clarinet, 68 pipes
8 Tuba Major, 68 pipes (15” wind)
4 Trompette, 68 pipes
Tremulant (Choir and Positiv)
8 French Horn (Solo)
8 Corno di Bassetto (Solo)
8 English Horn (Solo)
8 Cor des Anges (Solo)
Reed Tremulant (Solo)
Chimes (Solo)
Harp/Vibraphone (Solo)
Bombarde
(27 ranks, 1637 pipes; 4” wind)
8+4 Principal II, 122 pipes
8 Cornet V, 305 pipes
2-2/3 Grand Fourniture VI, 366 pipes
2 Harmonics VIII, 478 pipes
1/2 Scharf III, 183 pipes
16 Bombarde, 61 pipes (6” wind)
8 Trompette, 61 pipes (6” wind)
4 Clairon, 61 pipes (6” wind)
Solo
(29 ranks, 1921 pipes; 5” wind)
16 Viola, 12 pipes (ext. Viola)
8 Principal, 68 pipes (4” wind)
8 Viola, 68 pipes
8 Gedeckt, 68 pipes
8 Doppelflöte, 68 pipes
8 Orchestral Strings II, 136 pipes
8 Dolcan Celeste II, 136 pipes
8 Klein Erzähler II, 136 pipes
4 Prestant, 68 pipes (4” wind)
4 Zauberflöte, 68 pipes
4 Orchestral Flute, 68 pipes
4 Viole Celeste II, 136 pipes
2-2/3 Rohr Nasat, 61 pipes
2 Flautino, 61 pipes
2 Plein Jeu IV, 244 pipes (4” wind)
2/5 Jeu de Clochette II, 122 pipes
8 Trompette, 68 pipes
8 French Horn, 68 pipes (10” wind)
8 Corno di Bassetto, 68 pipes (10” wind)
8 English Horn, 68 pipes (10” wind)
8 Vox Humana, 68 pipes
8 Cor des Anges, 61 pipes (unenclosed; 20” wind)
Tremulant
Chimes (25 tubes)
Harp/Vibraphone (37 bars)
Zimbelstern (6 bells)
Pedal
(43 ranks, 1400 pipes; 4” wind)
32 Contre Basse, 12 pipes (ext.; 5” wind)
32 Untersatz (1-12 Gt. Quintade; 13-32 Lieblich Bourdon)
16 Principal, 32 pipes (5” wind)
16 Contre Basse, 32 pipes (5” wind)
16 Violon, 32 pipes
16 Bourdon, 32 pipes (5” wind)
16 Geigend Prinzipal (Great)
16 Quintaden (Hauptwerk)
16 Lieblich Bourdon (1-12 Gt. Bourdon), 20 pipes
16 Gemshorn (Swell)
16 Dulciana (Choir)
10-2/3 Grossquinte, 32 pipes
8 Principal, 32 pipes
8 Spitzprincipal, 32 pipes
8 Viole de Gambe, 32 pipes
8 Gedecktpommer, 32 pipes
8 Lieblich Bourdon, 12 pipes (ext.)
8 Gemshorn (Swell)
8 Dulciana (Choir)
6-2/5 Grossterz, 32 pipes
5-1/3 Quinte, 32 pipes
4 Choralbass, 32 pipes
4 Spitzflöte, 32 pipes
4 Koppelflöte, 32 pipes
4 Gemshorn (Swell)
2 Nachthorn, 32 pipes
10-2/3 Gross Cornet V, 96 pipes (draws 10-2/3 and 6-2/5)
5-1/3 Fourniture IV, 128 pipes
4 Mixture III, 96 pipes
3-1/5 Cornet IV, 128 pipes
1-1/3 Scharf IV, 128 pipes
32 Contre Bombarde, 12 pipes (ext. Ophecleide; 14” wind)
32 Kontrafagott (Swell)
16 Ophecleide, 32 pipes (12” wind)
16 Bombarde, 32 pipes (7” wind)
16 Fagott (Swell)
16 Contra Fagotto (Hauptwerk)
16 Bassoon (Choir)
8 Trompette, 32 pipes (6” wind)
8 Trumpet, 32 pipes (6” wind)
8 Fagott (Swell)
8 Chalumeau, 32 pipes
4 Clairon, 32 pipes (6” wind)
4 Octave Trumpet, 32 pipes (6” wind)
4 Oboe (Swell Fagott)
4 Rohr Schalmei, 32 pipes
2 Kornett, 32 pipes
Chimes (Solo)
John Near
John Near is Professor of Music and College Organist at Principia
College, Elsah, Illinois. Joining the faculty in 1985, he teaches music
history, pipe organ, and has directed seven Principia Abroad study
programs to England, France, Holland, Italy, Germany (including the
former East Germany), Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. He has a
B.A. from Principia College, an M.Mus. with honors from the New England
Conservatory of Music, and a D.M.A. from Boston University.
Dr. Near was Associate Organist of The Mother Church, The First Church
of Christ, Scientist, Boston, from 1972 until 1981, where he played for
services and gave a series of monthly noon recitals; he is organ
accompanist on several recordings issued by The Mother Church. A vocal
setting by Dr. Near of Mary Baker Eddy's poem, Christmas Morn, is
published by The Christian Science Publishing Society and recorded on
the album “Exalt the Lord.”
His 1984 doctoral dissertation, The Life and Work of Charles-Marie Widor,
is the first complete posthumous biography in any language of this
important French musician. Dr. Near's publications include a ten-volume
critical edition, published by A-R Editions, of the Symphonies for Organ
by Charles-Marie Widor. The American Organist has called it “the
definitive edition . . . a must for every music library” and “one of the
most significant contributions to the scholarship of organ music of the
1990s.”
Most recently, he has edited for A-R Editions the first publication of
Widor's Symphonie pour orgue et orchestre, opus 42 [bis] (1882). He has
written on Widor for The American Organist, and has presented scholarly
papers at Göteborg, Sweden, University of Iowa, Yale University, the New
England Conservatory of Music, and Rice University; Princeton
University, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (in conjunction with the
Westfield Center), and the 2002 National Convention of the American
Guild of Organists in Philadelphia. He has also performed Widor's music
at Saint-Sulpice, Paris.
Dr. Near contributed the chapter on Widor in Le Grand Orgue de
Saint-Sulpice et ses Organistes, an article in the Dictionnaire de la
musique en France au XIXème siècle, and he is an occasional book and
music reviewer for Notes, the quarterly journal of the Music Library
Association.
As an organ consultant, he has been responsible for the design of new
organs as well as the rebuilding of fine historic instruments. An active
member of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical
Society, the American Theater Organ Society, and the Guild of
Carillonneurs of North America, Dr. Near also served on the executive
board of the Boston chapter of the AGO.