New hope for Festival Hall organ
2 February 2010
SBC chief executive Alan Bishop (left) and organ curator William McVicker are committed to the complete reinstallation of the RFH organMaggie Hamilton
After years of frustration in the organ world, and bitter criticism of London’s Southbank Centre, the fortunes of the Royal Festival Hall organ appear set to turn around, writes Graeme Kay. In an exclusive interview with C&O on 12 January, SBC chief executive Alan Bishop announced that the Centre had successfully completed Stage One of a £950,000 application to the Heritage Lottery Fund, and had been given the green light to proceed to Stage Two. This second stage, for which the deadline is March 2010, involves further detailed bids being subject once again to a competitive process; a decision from HLF is expected by June 2010. Mr Bishop promised that a wider fundraising campaign would then be launched in September 2010; pledging his support for the project, he said, ‘I’m making an absolute personal commitment to the full reinstallation of the organ, and the SBC is also committed to it.’ Completion of the project is currently estimated at £2m. The organ is not expected to be fully reinstated before 2013.
SBC director of development Rebecca Preston told C&O that a full, ongoing education programme forms part of the HLF bid. She confirmed that the Centre had no other major fundraising priorities and that it was canvassing the widest constituency of support for the project, including individual members of the public, and private donors of high net worth; the Centre is also open to ‘naming’ of the organ.
The failure to plan the complete reinstatement of the RFH organ as part of a £111m refurbishment programme – which closed the hall in 2005 for 24 months – remains a dark chapter in the history of the South Bank arts complex. Only one-third of the Harrison & Harrison instrument – a ground-breaking and widely influential 1954 design by Ralph Downes – was reinstalled for the 2007 reopening, and audiences have since been greeted by a yawning void behind the RFH stage. The lack of a full organ at the RFH has imposed severe limitations on concert planning and put in abeyance – indefinitely – the programme of international recitals in the Festival Hall, which under organ curator William McVicker had regained its former reputation after years of neglect. SBC’s handling of the organ affair has provoked intense criticism from organists, professional bodies and the public.
Mr Bishop has been in post since February 2009. ‘When I got to know more about the circumstances of the refurbishment of the RFH I became highly sympathetic and understanding as to how and why the organ had not been completed, with the pressures on both sides, and money,’ he told C&O. ‘I thought it seemed a great shame we hadn’t done the last bit. And I said right away that we were determined that we would reinstall the organ.’
The remainder of the organ is currently stored in the Durham works of Harrison & Harrison. According to Dr McVicker, restoration of the remaining two-thirds of the organ will take up to 24 months; neither SBC nor Harrison’s were able to offer more than speculation as to whether the work would be undertaken during RFH downtime or by means of a further period of closure. Mr Bishop said, ‘I have met Harrison’s and wanted them to be sure about our commitment and our intent. They have explained to us their schedules and what their opportunities are to do the work.’ Speaking to C&O, Harrisons’ managing director David Hirst welcomed SBC’s renewed commitment to the project but would not be drawn on timetables: ‘There is a lot of complexity about the methodology and nothing is set in stone. But we are the largest builder in the country and our business won’t be blocked by a major project of this kind.’
Dr McVicker is buoyant about the prospects for the refurbished organ, which notoriously suffered from the dry acoustics of the RFH – international concert organist Simon Preston memorably remarked that after playing a chord on the 103-stop organ, ‘to hear the sound flop on the floor behind you is alarming’. But changes to the organ chamber have removed structures and materials which formerly absorbed sound like a sponge. ‘The bit of the organ that’s already installed sounds fabulous,’ said Dr McVicker. ‘If you listen to the acoustic response in the building, the low frequency range and the top end is vastly improved. Now, if you go up to the balcony, the 32ft really floods the hall, so even in Elgarian repertoire such as the Cockaigne Overture where you’re required to have foundation tone, the organ has a real presence – that’s a very marked change.
‘I think the organ was controversial in 1954, but it’s grown old gracefully and when it comes together it will be fantastic. The one stop the organ never had was an acoustic, and now it’s got one.’
