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SONUS SUCCEEDS
20 May 2013
Winner: David J. Loxley-Blount has come away with first prize for his composition Sonus RepercussusHelen Loxley-Blount
The 2013 Choir & Organ Composition Competition, in partnership with St Albans International Organ Festival, has been won by David J. Loxley-Blount with his organ work Sonus Repercussus. David told C&O, ‘The work was inspired by large acoustic spaces … homophonic passages alternate with contrasting multi-section episodes which vary in character and texture in a quasi-rondo form.’
Composer Judith Bingham, on the panel of judges, commented, ‘The piece is idiomatically written, but always avoiding the obvious and with a lot of potential for colour without becoming impossibly difficult at any time.’
David, who comes from Finchley, London, is an undergraduate student on the BA (Hons) Music [Composition] course at Middlesex University. He has won several prizes in national composition competitions, and has had works premiered by the Allegri String Quartet and North London Chorus.
Sonus Repercussus will be premiered on in St Albans Cathedral on Saturday 20 July, during the Prizewinners Concert of St Albans International Organ Festival.
EVENT OF THE MONTH: June
20 May 2013
Peter Stevens performs on 4 June
There is still time to catch a rising star in the organ world at the John Hill Memorial Series held on Tuesday lunchtimes at St Lawrence Jewry, London EC2. This is the eighth season of recitals in memory of John Hill, and each has given plenty of scope for talent-spotting.
John Hill had an international career with HSBC, but he always maintained his musical interest, being appointed organist in cathedrals as far apart as Kuwait and Kolkatta and also playing in many churches of varied denominations. It was his interest in helping talented young organists that led to HSBC supporting the concert series, now in its eighth season. Reflecting John’s international service with HSBC, the solo performers come from France, Germany, Denmark and the UK, promising an outstanding series of recitals.
Still to come this season are:
• 28 May: Philip Schmidt-Madsen from Denmark, who won first prize in the Odense Organ Competition in 2011 and has recently recorded a CD of works by fellow Danes Rued Langgaard and Carl Nielsen for Naxos
• 4 June: Peter Stevens from the UK, who has been organ scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, Manchester Cathedral and St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, and is now Assistant Master of the Music at Westminster Cathedral.
Each lunchtime concert starts at 1pm and last about 45 minutes.
www.londonorgan.co.uk/johnhill
Choir fees row cited in Llandaff Dean resignation
17 May 2013
Dean Henderson shortly after her appointment
The shock resignation of the first woman Dean of Llandaff, the Rev Janet Henderson, after only two months in post, has been accompanied by an official wall of silence regarding the reasons.
But a source told the Wales Online website that, 'The Dean has been affected by the opposition she has had from some clergy who object to the fact that a woman was appointed.'
The source went on to speculate that, 'The fees row relating to Songs of Praise may have been the last straw.'
The Llandaff Cathedral editions of Songs of Praise are produced by Cardiff-based independent TV production company Avanti. Responding to the allegation that the lay clerks were being underpaid, Dean Henderson told Wales Online that the Cathedral was not interested in making money out of appearing on Songs of Praise, which she described as a 'low budget' programme.
But Adam Poole, Cathedral lay clerk for more than 10 years, responded that, 'Avanti is being paid £60,000 to make each of the three programmes – a total of £180,000. In these circumstances, a fee of just £110 to each lay clerk is even more unacceptable.'
A spokeswoman for the BBC said: 'The independent production company are still in discussion with the Cathedral about the choir’s involvement and the fees involved that will be in line with agreed industry rates.'
Lindsay Thomson
Royal rededication
9 May 2013
Anthony Devlin/PA Wire
The present organ was donated to the Temple in 1954 by Lord Glentanar who had commissioned the instrument from Harrisons in 1924 for the ballroom in Glen Tanar House, near Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. The case, behind which is the four-manual organ complete with three 32-ft stops, is modelled on drawings of the Temple’s Father Smith organ of 1688.
The packed congregation heard music by Gabriel Jackson and Sir Charles Stanford; director of music James Vivian is reported to have amused the Queen by likening the temporary replacement electronic instrument to a 'giant karaoke machine'.
But the joint chairs of the organ fund appeal committee, Sir Anthony May and Michael Blair QC, said, 'The organ has not simply been repaired; it has been restored to its original and proper glory.'
Choral diversity at the Proms
19 April 2013
Diversity: the keynote for this year's PromsRobert Viglasky/BBC
The season’s Polish music theme directs attention to Szymanowski’s Symphony No.3 ‘The Song of the Night’ with the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales joining forces with the BBC Symphony Chorus under Thomas Søndergård (18 Jul).
But there is choral innovation a-plenty in the season. Jeffrey Skidmore’s Ex Cathedra bring Stockhausen’s ‘Welt-Parlament’ from the opera, Mittwoch aus Licht for its London premiere (19 July). ‘Stockhausen always intended it to stand alone as a concert work as well as being a theatre piece,’ says Skidmore. ‘It’s an absolutely sensational piece of choral writing for 37 singers, who form a futuristic world parliament discussing the theme of love.’ Other innovations include the UK premiere of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s The Moth Requiem – a dream-like incantation of the names of the dustier cousins of the sun-loving butterfly – scored for women’s voices, alto flute and three harps (BBC Singers/Kok, 12 Aug); the world premiere of German composer Charlotte Seither's Language of Leaving, based on the words of 17th-century poet Francesco de Lemene (BBC Singers/Pons, 28 Aug); and the London premiere of George Lloyd’s final work – Requiem – written in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales (Temple Church Choristers/BBC Singers/Hill, 3 Sep).
Peter Phillips and his Tallis Scholars will celebrate their 40th anniversary with a late-night Prom contrasting the music of John Taverner with Carlo Gesualdo, who died 400 years ago.
www.bbc.co.uk/proms
Lindsay Thomson
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