RES10191 Judith Bingh Org St Alb The Org Stephen F an Work ans C ans ofStEdmunds athedr arr al &TrinityCollege,C s am b ury C athedr ambridge al, Judith Bingham (b. 1952) Disc One Disc Two Organ works 1. Glass Beatitude (2014) [9:05] The Everlasting Crown (2010) 1. The Crown [3:49] 2. Annunciation IV ‒ Meine Seel’ 2. Atahualpa’s Emerald [3:21] Erhebt den Herren (2012) [3:44] 3. La Pelegrina [4:38] 4. The Orlov Diamond [2:55] Stephen Farr (organ & harpsichord) 3. Angel Fragments (2012/13) [8:23] 5. The Russian Spinel [4:21] 6. King Edward’s Sapphire [5:34] with 4. Hadrian’s Dream (1999/2016) [5:00] 7. The Peacock Throne [7:10] Jeremy Cole (organ) Disc One, track 10 The Three Angels (2015) Jacquet’s Ghost (2012) 5. Lucifer [2:44] 8. Tombeau [2:10] Disc One The Harrison & Harrison organ of St Edmundsbury Cathedral 6. Michael [2:56] 9. Labyrinthe [2:11] Disc Two, tracks 1-7 The Harrison & Harrison organ of St Albans Cathedral 7. Gabriel [2:39] 10. Pastorelle somnambule [1:24] Disc Two, tracks 8-11 The Metzler Organ of Trinity College, Cambridge 11. Envoi [1:52] Missa Brevis ‘Videntes Stellam’ (2014) 8. Accompaniment to 12. Tableaux Vivants (2013) [14:17] Matthew 2:i-xii [2:25] for solo harpsichord 9. Envoi [4:12] Total playing time [53:49] 10. The Linnaeus Garden (2016) [12:25] for organ duet

Altartavla (2013) About Stephen Farr: 11. Maria Lacrimosa [1:38] 12. The Living Mary [2:37] ‘Farr rises to the occasion, turning in performances that are as varied and 13. Annunciation in a Small Room [2:58] vital as the music demands, intricate details inked with telling clarity‘ 14. Joseph’s Dream [4:39] Choir & Organ 15. Mandorla [3:41]

‘[...] one can simply enjoy Farr’s rock steady rhythmic All world premiere recordings playing, crisp articulation and commanding overview’ Total playing time [69:13] Gramophone Judith Bingham: Organ Works of a tendency which manifests in various ways throughout Bingham’s output for the Judith Bingham’s response to commission is instrument. Altartavla’s five movements play fundamentally informed by a wide range of continuously, and during its progress the factors, among which two elements are striking main theme (first heard as a imbued with particular significance: the fragmented staccato phrase, illustrative of the unique characteristics of the performance falling tears considered in the poem Maria venue for the new work, and the musical Lacrimosa with which the music is associated) personality of the commissioning performer. undergoes constant transformation before In recent years, these elements have been its climatic, almost overwhelming, final central to Bingham’s developing association appearance in a passage driven by ostinato with Johann Hammarström, organist of chords and marked ‘dark, looming’. Västerås Cathedral in Sweden. Their collaboration has produced several works Like the Mass Bingham wrote for Westminster for organ, inspired by the superb Romantic Cathedral, a further Västerås commission from instrument over which he presides, as well the same period, the Missa Brevis ‘Videntes as music for the cathedral’s choirs. Stellam’, includes two organ solo movements, of less imposing but nonetheless liturgically Altartavla, the first and most substantial of effective dimensions: one to be played during the organ works, was premiered in Västerås the reading of the gospel (Matthew’s account on 27 April 2014. Its chief inspiration is the of the visit of the Magi) which was prescribed Biblical scenes depicted in the magnificent on the occasion of its premiere, the other carved Renaissance altarpiece of the (‘Envoi’) for performance as a closing cathedral, but alongside this visual element voluntary. Each movement makes reference it incorporates contemporary Marian poetry to the thematic content of the choral sections by Bo Setterlind and Ebba Lindqvist: as at the of the Mass setting (Sanctus in the gospel, first performance (which included projections Gloria and Agnus in ‘Envoi’), and in its steady of the scenes from the altarpiece depicted in rhythmic tread the music is eloquent of the the score), the verbal texts may be read aloud movement of the longships which form a as a commentary on the music, with which central part of Swedish heritage. Judith Bingham they exist in a symbiotically responsive (Photography: Patrick Douglas Hamilton) relationship. The explicit ‘texting’ of the Also arising from Bingham’s collaboration with score which results is the logical culmination Johann Hammarström is The Linnaeus Garden (2016), a ‘botanical fantasy’ for organ duet the music, which is not without its macabre intervallic alterations to the theme. The Hadrian’s Dream, a work composed for this paying homage to Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), aspects, combines many layers of allusion. overall effect of the work is, in the composer’s recording, could hardly be less formalised. A the Swedish botanist whose house – now The piece makes references to the French own words, ‘intimate, mesmeric, secretive’... paraphrase and re-working of a movement preserved as a museum – in Uppsala is only dance suite, the Nöel, and to composers – akin to a candlelit scene from Vermeer. from a large-scale work for chorus and a short journey from Västerås. The work’s as various as François Couperin, Purcell, orchestra, Otherworld (2000), its fragmentary modified rondo structure reflects both the Balbâtre and Satie, while Bingham’s typically The same historical genre – albeit in more wisps of material and almost pointillistic elegantly ordered classifications developed judicious use of self-quotation incorporates refracted and highly stylised form – also textural touches gradually coalesce into a by Linnaeus and the pleasing geometry of passages from The Everlasting Crown, and lies at the heart of The Three Angels, a cantilena which evanescences into silence the formal gardens of the house, but as a concluding, albeit fragmentary, excerpt trilogy depicting Lucifer, Michael and Gabriel. over a walking bass line. The words of Bingham herself suggests, this formal from Jacquet’s Ghost. The overall effect ‘Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz’, which the chorus in the original work are by structure is barely able to contain music is of progress through a succession of staged appears as cantus firmus in the pedal of Emperor Hadrian (76-138 AD): which is frequently expressive of the tableaux, an impression reinforced for the the first setting (‘Lucifer’) recurs in each infinite variety and sensual richness of the performer by the score’s rubric ‘this way movement; in fragmented form in the Little soul, gentle and wandering, companion and guest of the body, natural world, teeming with detail, ‘forever please...’ at the conclusion of each section. second setting (‘Michael’, a ‘gestural and In what place will you now abide? replicating, unstoppable, driven and At one stage in the work’s composition combative’ treatment, to quote the Go to that impenetrable realm, indifferent’. The textural opportunities of Bingham considered the use of a female composer, of ‘Es steh’n vor Gottes Thron’) That death itself trembles to look on. the duet scoring are explored with narrator for the work: a fascinating and alongside Vom Himmel Hoch in the final consummate skill in lavish depictions of foreshadowing of Altartavla. movement, ‘Gabriel’. This movement quotes Angel Fragments also demonstrates a freer, flora and fauna, including Linnaeus’ pet an excerpt from Bingham’s Collegium Regale sometimes almost expressionistic, approach raccoon, Sjüpp. The chorale setting Annunciation IV – Meine setting of the Magnificat – again, the music to its musical material, in some ways distinct Seel’ Erhebt den Herren shows a different is texted here – in a further allusion to the from the other works in this recording. It Not commissioned by Västerås, but receiving facet of Bingham’s productive engagement Annunciation, an event which she views as takes the form of a set of variations on its first performance there in April 2014, with historical genres. The terms of the a powerful symbol of female creativity. The Thomas Victor, a plainsong hymn in praise Tableaux Vivants (like Jacquet’s Ghost, a work’s commission (for William Whitehead’s extreme discipline of the compositional of Thomas à Becket. Visual elements again homage to the French Baroque, an idiom Orgelbüchlein project) were strongly directive, procedures in the work – the number of inform the music here, which is influenced which Bingham has always found powerfully in terms of duration, use of the instrument, pitches in each bar, for example, is a by the striking – sometimes even nightmarish expressive) marked Bingham’s return to and certain aspects of compositional multiple of three – is reminiscent of the – medieval statuary of Vezelay in France, writing for the harpsichord for the first procedure, but these restrictions proved ‘obligo’ (self imposed technical stricture) where Becket, according to legend, preached time since the completion of Scenes from paradoxically liberating: the work alludes of an earlier generation of contrapuntists, in exile. But despite this the work is not Nature (1983). The later work’s inspiration with great subtlety to Bach’s own settings and charmingly acknowledges the work’s without its humorous aspects; amongst the is historical – its programme concerns the of the same theme, while concealing the dedication to a mathematician. The work demons and wrestling angels a small dog execution of Marie Antoinette, and pedal cantus firmus behind truncated phrase was commissioned by Michael Bawtree, who barks, and the work closes in repose, with a subsequent events precipitated by it – and structures and extreme registral and gave the first performance in January 2017. depiction of a soul carried to heaven by angels. Glass Beatitude was commissioned by Michael The seventeenth-century original is treated as The Everlasting Crown The gemstone is seen as somehow drawing Bawtree (who gave the first the first a both a harmonic resource and a repertory these events towards itself: its unchanging performance in October 2014) and members of melodic fragments whose response to Ideas for pieces often, for me, result from and feelingless nature causes the inevitable of the choir of St Margaret’s Episcopal Church subtle chromatic inflection results in a coming across oddball books, be it anthologies ruin of the greedy, ambitious, foolish and in Glasgow to mark the restoration of the composition which is rich in allusion to a of poetry, or out of print rarities. A few years foolhardy, before passing on to the next church’s organ. Another instance of Bingham’s range of contemporary keyboard practices. ago I came across Stories about Famous victim. One wonders why anyone craves the musical response to visual stimuli, the The titles of the movements – ‘Tombeau’, Precious Stones by Adela E. Orpen (1855- ownership of the great stones as their history work was inspired by a 1953 stained glass ‘Labyrinthe’, ‘Pastorelle somnambule’ and 1927), published in America in 1890. In this is of nothing but ruin and despair! All of the window in St Margaret’s by Gordon Webster ‘Envoi’ – draw on numerous stimuli, some book, it is not the scholarship that matters, stones in this piece can still be seen, many depicting the beatitude ‘Blessed are the simply pictorial (the grotesquerie of the more the romance and mythology of the of them in royal collections, some in vaults. peacemakers, for they will be called children ‘buffo’ passages in ‘Labyrinthe’), others chosen famous gems. It caught my I went to the Tower of London before I started of God’. The work is characterised – though more subtly allusive (including moments imagination immediately and I squirrelled the work, to see the extraordinary diamonds not exclusively – by an overall sense of of self-quotation). The form of the original it away for future use. I was reminded of it in the Queen’s collection, and a photograph pastoral calm, and the score contains work – albeit greatly expanded – is adopted again in reading a Sherlock Holmes story I often looked at was Cecil Beaton’s Grand affectionate allusions to the unpredictability as a structural template, a strategy which ‘The Blue Carbuncle’ – written about the Guignol portrait of the Queen, set against of Scottish climate – one passage is marked gives the work a satisfying sense of formal same time as the Orpen in 1892. In describing the background of Westminster Abbey, ‘Scotch Snap – colder, a hint of rain’. proportion. the priceless blue sapphire of the title, Conan holding the sceptre that encases the 530 Doyle says with typical theatricality: carat Star of Africa. The French Baroque, with its highly stylised © 2017 Stephen Farr gestures, is also a driving force in Jacquet’s ‘Holmes took up the stone and held it against To me, the fascinating aspect of famous Ghost. The inspiration for the piece is that the light. “It’s a bonny thing,” said he. “Just stones is how history seems to madly swirl see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is most elusive of keyboard forms, the a nucleus and focus of crime. Every good around them, while they themselves do not harpsichord prelude non mesuré, a genre stone is. They are the devil’s pet baits. In the deteriorate. Many are a thousand or more in which the player assumes a doubly larger and older jewels every facet may stand years old, their histories shrouded in legend. creative role; while the composers of for a bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty Many carry curses, though given the extreme these works indicate approximate note years old. It was found in the banks of the lives of their owners, it’s hardly surprising durations and groupings by means of Amoy River in southern China and is that the curses seem to come true. It was remarkable in having every characteristic slurs, more precise details of rhythm and of the carbuncle. In spite of its youth, it has very interesting to see the reaction to phrase structure are left to the judgement already a sinister history. There have been two Catherine Middleton being given the of the performer. Bingham extends this murders, a vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and engagement ring of Princess Diana, some tradition by realising in expansive manner several robberies brought about for the sake people genuinely horrified. a prélude (from the Première Suite by of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. Elisabeth Claude Jacquet de la Guerre). Who would think that so pretty a toy would be Famous stones come to represent qualities a purveyor to the gallows and the prison?’ of the human race, accrued during their long photographs of Victorian actors, frozen in histories. That made me think that you could expressive poses. The sequence of regal create an imaginary cr2own which contained qualities that follows is divinity, the god- 5 six famous stones, each of which would king, then loneliness and vulnerability. In 3 represent a quality of monarchy, good or this, La Pelegrina, a young princess is kept 13 bad. Then you have to think – who would locked up by one of the Hapsburgs – she the monarch be? And who would crown dances a Pavane by herself. At the end of them?1 this movement ther12e is a segue into a creepier, darker mood – excessive ambition Setting out to write a 35 minute piece, I knew as presented by Count Orlov, who went that I wanted to make the work a moveable insane in his efforts to win back the favours 7 feast, so that movements could be done of Catherine the Great with a great diamond. separately or in twos or threes. I wanted Another segue continues the Russian theme 11 some movements to be much harder than with the great Chinese spinel from the others – ‘King Edward’s Sapphire’ is possibly Russian Imperial Crown, representing murder. the easiest, whereas ‘The Russian Spinel’ 9 I was extremely inspired by Yakov Yurovsky’s requires a more developed technique. I account of the murder of the Romanovs, 8 4 wanted to present different eras of playing – the women in the family ‘armoured’ with ‘La Pelegrina’ is only on two manuals, as if corsets of diamonds and pearls. Then, in a 6 it were being played in a domestic setting. movement representing piety and sanctity, The opening and closing movements are King Edward the Confessor encounters St very grand however, and need a big space. John the Baptist in the guise of a beggar And I wanted to give the piece an overall and gives him a sapphire. Astonishingly, 10 feel of a dance suite once the grandeur this jewel is still in the royal collection. And of the opening – the ouverture – is over. finally, the Indian connection, with the Timur Ruby, and the Peacock Throne, The piece opens with a coronation scene, representing conquest and spectacle. gothic, gestural, presenting a pedal motif The Koh-i-Noor diamond with its heavy in the shape of a crown. This movement curse, beckons in a glittering roulade of immediately introduces melodrama into notes. the piece and I constantly visualised the different stories as scenes from expressionist © 2012 Judith Bingham

movies like The Scarlet Empress or old arr ephen F St Judith Bingham: autumnal migration of Siberian swans to the core idea for The Everlasting Crown.’ would dare. I am drawn to these gestural The Everlasting Crown (2010) British Isles, those harbingers of change and moments that you see in Expressionism. I emblems of timelessness enshrined in the Bingham’s seven-movement work, tried to find and develop big musical gestures History has an irresistible habit of overtaking verse of W.B. Yeats and woven into the aural commissioned in memory of Edward Griffiths in The Everlasting Crown. I certainly thought those with delusions of immortality. The metaphor of Bingham’s brass tone-poem. (1988-2006), was first performed by Stephen of the sense of the Albert Hall organ opening ruins of mighty empires tell the tale of ‘These birds have travelled back and forth Farr at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 17 July up and of the space in which it sounds power held and lost: Timur’s fearful Samark for millennia,’ she observes. ‘Even though 2011. Stephen returned to the work a when writing the piece. The instrument’s and the cities of the Incas, the remnants they are moving, even though swans die, month after its premiere, recording it on sheer power and visceral quality were of Spain’s colonial adventure in the Americas their collective journey remains a constant the recently renovated Harrison & Harrison valuable to a melodramatic work. I’d really and Soviet-era missile bunkers stand amid around which swirls human history, that organ in St Albans Cathedral. The composer love to hear The Everlasting Crown played the vast, ever-growing wreckage, beneath which seems so important in its time yet notes that the Royal Albert Hall’s ‘Father’ on one of those massive American organs.’ which countless souls lie buried. The can be forgotten within a generation. The Willis-cum-Harrison grand organ, for all its Everlasting Crown, like ‘the angel of history, people beneath their flight path come and quirks, offered the indulgence of a 64-foot The composer’s sketches for The Everlasting deals with the transience of human existence. go, yet the swans are permanent: there is acoustic bass stop, beautiful gamba, Crown, begun in August 2010, reveal her Unlike Walter Benjamin’s apocalyptic thesis something mystical about this great baryton and cello stops and an almighty work’s thematic integrity and chart its on the philosophy of history, Judith Bingham’s procession.’ full sound. The instrument certainly satisfied multi-faceted development from the gravid multi-faceted organ composition delivers Bingham’s desire to write what she describes material of three distinct ideas. The pedal a consoling counterforce rooted in Gemstones and their obdurate qualities as a ‘melodramatic’ piece, one influenced organ announces the first of these, a ground constancy and changelessness. suggested fresh perspectives for Bingham by the lore and legend of jewels; the self- bass-like motif marked (but not marred) to occupy in her creative response to human reflection and spectacle of Expressionist by its tritones. The second motif, a close The composer found the ideational key to memory, its fragility and the impermanence cinema; silver-print photographs of doomed relative of the first, soon asserts its striking her work in the enduring material and of our being. Legend has it that the Koh-i-Noor monarchs, and the disturbingly obsessive independence as the opening movement’s mythologies of the world’s least useful, diamond, reputed possession of the ruler of cinematography of Josef von Sternberg’s pedal melody unfolds. The title-verso of most coveted objects – precious stones the world, dates from the time of Christ; the 1934 movie, The Scarlet Empress, the the composer’s first sketch book carries fashioned to magnify the ‘absolute’ power flawless Timur Ruby, meanwhile, is said to director’s penultimate collaboration with a graphic illustration of the aural outline of long dead despots. The metaphysical have been looted by Timur’s army during his muse, Marlene Dietrich. of both themes and their intended influence ancestry of Bingham’s latest organ score, the sack of Delhi in 1398. ‘For me, these on the work in toto: three groups of linked however, predates her discovery of objects seem to absorb and hold the violence ‘Sternberg’s film looks at Catherine the ‘W’ signs trace a pattern of peaks gemmology. It is clearly present, for instance, and vanity surrounding their owners and Great’s rise to power in Russia,’ Bingham and troughs, like the pinnacles adorning in the extra-musical imagery associated the transience of their lives. There’s a recalls. ‘He was so in love with Dietrich and medieval crowns or coronals. Angularity with The Stars above, the Earth below, her cruel permanence about gemstones that lets the camera dwell on her whole face in rules the nature of both themes; their second commission for brass band. The were once gleaming symbols of things and extraordinary close-up, holding a single look solidity, however, is challenged by the score, written in 1991, was informed by the people that have vanished. This was the for longer than any other Hollywood director former’s tritone ambiguities, the latter’s elusive modality: the permanent and the ‘procession of great majesty’. Her third theme, transient are effectively established within a stately melodic motif imbued with rhythmic the span of the score’s first page, presented figures also to be recalled throughout the as fellow-travellers in an endless human work, complements its pedal board companions. drama. It is prefaced by and interlaced with a triplet- quaver fanfare, a rhythmic trope that surfaces ‘At the beginning of almost everything I later in the score. The tritone component in write now,’ Bingham observes, ‘I present Bingham’s trio of themes is more vantitas all the basic material for the composition – vanitatum than diabolus in musica, the idea usually two or three ideas from which the that a subtle alteration to the notes of a piece grows. I am becoming increasingly triad, like a tiny flaw in a gemstone, can classical in my old age!’ Bingham’s teacher transform their apparent perfection. The Hans Keller once delivered a welcome line of composer holds her melodic demons in check encouragement, suggesting that she was until the coda of ‘The Orlov Diamond’, a like the young Beethoven. ‘It was one of his Grand-Guignol dance, and its relentless first comments to me and sounded very continuation in ‘The Russian Spinel’. al flattering. He paused for a moment, looked at me and said, “Yes, you also have too ‘Coranta’ offers a neat play on words. The thedr many ideas! You have to enjoy your material brief movement, labelled with the more and learn how to explore it.” You could say common ‘courante’ title in the composer’s that his message was less is more. I think sketchbook, connects her triple-metre piece

of the material and form of a piece as a with the majestic courtly dance in vogue dmundsbury Ca rope that helps listeners to follow my ‘big from the late 1500s to the mid-1700s. It idea’: you can still scare people with the also stands but a single letter away from an of St E unexpected or move off the main path, but coronata (or ‘crowned’ in Latin). The troubled g the rope is always there.’ spirit of Atahualpa presides over Bingham’s

manic dance, magnified by shifts between t the or ‘The Crown’ makes a virtue of regal grandeur duple, triple and compound metre. It to mask its underlying sense of instability. also permeates the musical fabric of the y Cole a

Bingham launches the movement (the ‘strange movement’s mysterious central section, the em Gothic coronation’ of her imagination) with doomed emperor’s name enciphered by two towering chords, intended as the driving the composer in the top line melody of force in what the score describes as a a two-fold chordal sequence. Bold echoes arr & Jer ephen F St of the work’s third theme seize the ear in Russia’s imperial crown weighed heavily on ‘King Edward’s Sapphire’ summons up a round the passing of a procession, complete with ‘Coranta’, dominating its initial melodic the heads of so many of those born to wear dance. Its initial melody, gently nostalgic and ‘elephant stamp’ and melodic material argument; in ‘La Pelegrina’, Bingham’s it. ‘The Russian Spinel’ recalls the human unpretentious, has the feel of a folk tune refashioned from the work’s third theme. ‘mournful and gloomy’ pavane for solitary weakness of rulers certain of their divine gathered in Edwardian times, redolent of Thoughts of the dismantled Peacock Throne’s dancer, the now familiar melody works in sovereignty and the corresponding certainty the score’s vision of ‘Fresh open air a long Koh-i-Noor diamond, the ‘mountain of light’, tandem with a modified version of the first of absolute power’s corruptive force. Bingham time ago’. Bingham’s harmonic language are decocted in the glittering course of a theme to create a realm of impotent gloom repeatedly turned to the troubling image introduces uncertainty into the expressive virtuoso cadenza. The ‘everlasting crown’ and isolation. The composer’s ‘strange and of Yakov Yurowksy, chief executioner of equation, albeit masked by mellifluous finally triumphs, restored in recognisable pained’ soundscape melts away at the end Tsar Nicholas II and his family, during the melodic variants built from her work’s fashion through a version of the first of ‘La Pelegrina’, dispelled by a decadent movement’s creation. The score’s ‘impulsive, third theme. Reverie briefly yields to a movement’s opening and elevated with a melodic gesture, like a wisp of incense rash’ tempo direction speaks for much of syncopated march, menacing in its angularity final full organ flourish. escaping a chapel window. ‘You can never Russian history from the moment of the and rhythmic tics. The harmonic palette escape,’ she writes at this point in her last Tsar’s abdication in March 1917 to his becomes richer, more secure with the © 2012 Andrew Stewart composition draft: ‘only through death can death in July 1918: ‘All power to the Soviets!’ restoration of calm and the return of the you fly away’. served for much of the period as a punchy movement’s presiding folk tune. Andrew Stewart is a freelance music journalist. He substitute for effective governance. The has contributed articles to many British newspapers, Without pause or tempo change, ‘The Orlov general hustle and bustle of ‘The Russian The sketches for ‘The Peacock Throne’ reveal The Independent, The Independent on Sunday, The Diamond’ appears. Its mood is decidedly Spinel’ is momentarily quelled with the Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Express a tale of titanic creative effort, cancelled different to that of what has gone before: arrival of a ‘sombre, hallowing’ chorale, and The Times among them. His work also appears in bars and substitutions, bold revisions and ‘much more confident and nasty’, notes albeit one compromised by the movement’s Classical Music Magazine, BBC Music Magazine, the gradual emergence of a refined artwork. Music Week, Gramophone, the Radio Times and the finished score. The ‘ground-bass’ three-note dance riff in the pedals. The The compositional process and the finished Choir & Organ. As a programme note writer, his theme returns in the pedals, with a lyrical original tempo’s restoration casts the music piece square well with the industry and credits include work for the BBC Proms, the countersubject picked out by the player’s into a deeply unsettling mood, portent of artistry of the jewel makers responsible for London Symphony Orchestra, the Barbican Centre, right foot. Bingham deploys elements of dread things to come. Bingham’s dramatic the Southbank Centre, Deutsche Grammophon, decorating the original Peacock Throne, her principal themes in the movement’s turn thoroughly changes the nature of the Hyperion Records, EMI Classics, the BBC Symphony the Takht-e-Taus of Mughal emperor first half, ratcheting up the tension chorale’s second appearance: Scriabin-like Orchestra and the Philharmonia. Shah Jahan. Bingham establishes the inexorably before subverting Orlovian mystery here gives way to a disembodied movement’s majesty in the course of a swagger with a mesmerising section in chant for the dead. The movement’s ‘slow, slow prelude assigned to the pedals. The triple metre (fashioned as the ‘memory of regretful’ coda, a matter of ten hauntingly music’s character is informed by images a dance’). Oppressive semitone trills add to beautiful bars, takes ear and heart by of the Timur Ruby, the gemstone named the music’s sense of claustrophobic anxiety surprise with its lyrical act of mourning for the brutal ruler of Samarkand and held and the violent shock of the movement’s for a lost world. by Jahan as his guarantee of immortality. ‘Mad triumph’ coda. We hear a distant trumpet fanfare and The Harrison & Harrison Organ of Great Solo St Edmundsbury Cathedral (2010) 25. Double Open Diapason 16 51. Quintaton (bass from 37) 16 26. Open Diapason 8 52. Viole d’Orchestre 8 27. Open Diapason 8 Pedal 53. Viole Céleste (tenor c) 8 28. Stopped Diapason (wood) 8 1. Contra Bass (from 5) 32 54. Harmonic Flute 8 29. Principal 4 2. Open Wood 16 55. Flauto Traverso 4 30. Chimney Flute 4 3. Open Diapason 16 56. Clarinet 8 31. Twelfth 2 2/3 4. Violone (from 25) 16 57. Vox Humana 8 32. Fifteenth 2 5. Sub Bass 16 XVIII Tremulant 33. Mixture V 6. Echo Bourdon (from 37) 16 58. Tuba 8 34. Trombone 16 7. Principal 8 59. Orchestral Trumpet 8 35. Trumpet 8 8. Bass Flute (from 5) 8 XIX Octave 36. Clarion 4 9. Fifteenth 4 XX Sub Octave VIII Reeds on Pedal 10. Mixture IV XXI Unison Off IX Reeds on Choir 11. Double Trombone (from 34) 32 X Choir to Great 12. Ophicleide 16 Accessories XI Swell to Great 13. Trombone (from 34) 16 Ten general pistons and general cancel XII Solo to Great 14. Fagotto (from 48) 16 Two general coupler pistons I Choir to Pedal Eight foot pistons to the Pedal Organ Swell II Great to Pedal Eight pistons to the Choir Organ 37. Bourdon 16 III Swell to Pedal Eight pistons to the Great Organ 38. Open Diapason 8 IV Solo to Pedal Eight pistons to the Swell Organ 39. Lieblich Gedackt 8 Six pistons to the Solo Organ 40. Echo Gamba 8 Choir Combination couplers: Great & Pedal pistons 41. Voix Céleste (tenor c) 8 15. Open Diapason 8 Generals on Swell foot pistons 42. Principal 4 16. Stopped Flute 8 Manuals I & II exchange 43. Flute 4 17. Principal 4 Reversible pistons: I-IV, VI, VII, X-XII, XVII 44. Fifteenth 2 18. Nason Flute 4 Reversible foot pistons: I, II, III, VI, XI; 1, 11 45. Sesquialtera II 19. Nazard 2 2/3 Eight divisional and 128 general memory levels 46. Mixture IV 20. Fifteenth 2 Stepper, operating general pistons in sequence 47. Oboe 8 21. Flautino 2 Balanced expression pedals for Swell (Transept), XIII Tremulant 22. Tierce 1 3/5 Swell (Quire), and Solo 48. Contra Fagotto 16 23. Sifflöte 1 The manual compass is 61 notes; the pedal 32 notes 49. Cornopean 8 24. Cremona 8 The actions are electro-pneumatic 50. Clarion 4 V Tremulant XIV Octave VI Swell to Choir Incorporating earlier pipework from Walker, XV Sub Octave VII Solo to Choir Norman & Beard, and Nicholson. XVI Unison Off

XVII Solo to Swell The Harrison & Harrison Organ of Great Solo NAVE ORGAN (prepared) St Albans Cathedral (1962/2009) 29. Principal 16 62. Fanfare Trumpet 8 65. Bourdon (bass from 72) 16 30. Bourdon 16 63. Grand Cornet (from Great) V 66. Principal 8 8 Pedal 31. Principal 8 64. Corno di Bassetto (from Swell) 16 67. Rohr Flute 4 1. Sub Bass 32 32. Diapason 8 xvii Octave xviii Unison off 68. Octave 4 2. Principal 16 33. Spitzflute 8 xix Great Reeds on Solo 69. Spitzflute 2 3. Major Bass 16 34. Stopped Diapason 8 70. Super Octave IV 4. Bourdon 16 35. Octave 4 71 Mixture 19.22.26.29 16 5. Quint 10 2/3 36. Stopped Flute 4 72. Pedal Sub Bass 6. Octave 8 37. Quint 2 2/3 xx Nave on Great xxi Nave on Solo 7. Gedackt 8 38. Super Octave 2 8. Nazard 5 1/3 39. Blockflute 2 Accessories 9. Choral Bass 4 40. Mixture 19.22.26.29 IV-VI Sixteen general pistons and general cancel 10. Open Flute 2 41. Bass Trumpet 16 Eight foot pistons to the Pedal Organ 11. Mixture 19.22.26.29 IV 42. Trumpet 8 Eight pistons and cancel to the Choir Organ 12. Fagotto 32 43. Clarion 4 Eight pistons and cancel to the Great Organ 13. Bombardon 16 44. Grand Cornet 1.8.12.15.17. (tenor g) V Eight pistons and cancel to the Swell Organ 14. Bass Trumpet (from 41) 16 x Choir to Great (duplicated by foot pistons) 15. Fagotto (from 12) 16 xi Swell to Great xii Solo to Great Three pistons and cancel to the Solo Organ 16. Tromba 8 Four pistons and cancel to the Nave Organ 17. Shawm 4 Swell i Choir to Pedal ii Great to Pedal 45. Open Diapason 8 Reversible pistons: i – iv, viii, x – xii, xix – xxi iii Swell to Pedal iv Solo to Pedal 46. Rohr Flute 8 Reversible foot pistons: ii; xx 47. Viola 8 Choir 48. Celeste (tenor c) 8 Stepper, operating general pistons in sequence 18. Quintaton 16 49. Principal 4 (thumb – 9 advance, 2 reverse: 19. Open Diapason 8 50. Open Flute 4 toe – 2 advance, 1 reverse) 20. Gedacktpommer 8 51. Nazard 2 2/3 21. Flauto Traverso 8 52. Octave 2 Combination couplers: 22. Octave 4 53. Gemshorn 2 Great & Pedal Combinations Coupled, 23. Rohr Flute 4 54. Tierce 1 3/5 Generals on foot pistons 24. Wald Flute 2 55. Mixture 22.26.29 III Eight divisional and 256 general piston 25. Larigot 1 1/3 56. Cimbel 29.33.36 III memory levels 26. Sesquialtera 19.24/12.17 II 57. Corno di Bassetto 16 Cimbelstern (drawstop and foot pedal) 27. Mixture 22.26.29.33 IV 58. Hautboy 8 Balanced expression pedal to the Swell Organ 28. Cromorne 8 59. Vox Humana 8 Rotary switch for Choir Organ west shutters v Tremulant vi Octave vii Unison off 60. Trumpet 8 viii Swell to Choir ix Solo to Choir 61. Clarion 4 xiii Tremulant xiv Octave xv Sub Octave xvi Unison Off

The Metzler organ of Trinity College, Schwellwerk Cambridge (1975) 23. Viola 8 24. Suavial 8 25. Rohrflöte 8 Incorporating pipework retained from earlier 26. Principal 4 instruments installed by Father Smith in 27. Gedacktflöte 4 1694 (Ruckpositiv) and 1708 (Hauptwerk). 28. Nasard 2 2/3 29. Doublette 2 Hauptwerk 30. Terz 1 3/5 1. Principal * 16 31. Mixtur IV 2. Octave * 8 32. Fagott 16 3. Hohlflöte 8 8 33. Trompete 8 4. Octave * 4 Tremulant 5. Spitzflöte 4 6. Quinte * 2 2/3 Pedal 7. Superoctave * 2 34. Principal * 16 8. Sesquialter III 35. Subbass 16 9. Cornett IV 36. Octavbass 8 10. Mixtur IV-V 37. Bourdon 8 11. Trompete 8 38. Octave 4 12. Vox Humana 8 39. Mixtur V 40. Posaune 16 Rückpositiv 41. Trompete 8 13. Principal * 8 42. Trompete 4 14. Gedackt 8 15. Octave 4 Couplers: R-H S-H H-P R-P S-P 16. Rohrflöte 4 17. Octave 2 * Father Smith ranks 18. Gemshorn 2 19. Larigot 1 1/3 20. Sesquialter II 21. Scharf III 22. Dulcian 8 Tremulant Stephen Farr and throughout Europe.

Stephen Farr pursues a varied career as a He has a particular commitment to soloist and continuo player, activities which contemporary music, and has been involved he combines with the post of Director in premieres of works by composers including of Music at St Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge. Patrick Gowers, Francis Pott and Robert He was Organ Scholar of Clare College, Saxton; he also collaborated with Thomas Cambridge, graduating with a double Adès in a recording of Under Hamelin Hill, first in Music and an MPhil in musicology. part of an extensive and wide-ranging He then held appointments at Christ discography. Church, Oxford, and at Winchester and Guildford Cathedrals. In 2014 he His concerto work has included engagements completed a PhD on the organ and with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, harpsichord works of Judith Bingham. Ulster Orchestra and the London Mozart Players; he made his debut in the Amsterdam A former student of David Sanger and a Concertgebouw in 2005. In the 2015 BBC prizewinner at international competition Proms he performed Jón Leifs rarely heard level, he has an established reputation as organ concerto with the BBC Symphony one of the leading recitalists of his Orchestra and Sakari Oramo. He has also generation, and has appeared in the UK worked with many other leading ensembles in venues including the Royal Albert Hall including the Berlin Philharmonic (with whom (where he gave the premiere of Judith he appeared in the premiere of Jonathan Bingham’s The Everlasting Crown in the Harvey’s Weltethos under Sir Simon Rattle BBC Proms 2011); Bridgewater Hall; in October 2011), Florilegium, the Bach Symphony Hall, Birmingham; Westminster Choir, Holst Singers, BBC Singers, Polyphony, Cathedral; King’s College, Cambridge; The English Concert, London Baroque Soloists, St Paul’s Celebrity Series; and Westminster City of London Sinfonia, City of Birmingham Abbey: he also appears frequently on BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Radio 3 as both performer and presenter. Orchestra, Wallace Collection, Endymion The organ console of St Albans Cathedral He has performed widely in both North Ensemble, the Philharmonia, Academy of Harrison & Harrison, 2009 and South America (most recently as guest Ancient Music, Britten Sinfonia and soloist and director at the Cartagena Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. International Music Festival), in Australia, www.stephenfarr.co.uk More titles from Resonus Classics Kenneth Leighton: Complete Organ Works Stephen Farr (organ) with John Butt (organ), Chloë Hanslip (violin) & Nicky Spence (tenor) RES10178 (3 CDs)

‘This is a major achievement [...] Highlights are too numerous to mention’ The Observer (5 stars)

BBC Music Magazine Instrumental Choice

J.S. Bach: Clavier-Übung III Stephen Farr The Metzler Organ of Trinity College, Cambridge RES10120

‘His approach is refreshingly unfussy and quirk free, and he draws on an unfailingly interesting palette of tonal colours [...] In a strong field this performance must be in the top three.’ Gramophone e

© 2017 Resonus Limited è 2012 & 2017 Resonus Limited Recorded in St Edmundsbury Cathedral (Disc One) on 5-6 October 2016; e, Cambridg in St Albans Cathedral (Disc Two, tracks 1-7) on 17 August 2011; in Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge (Disc Two, tracks 8-11) on 19 April 2012; and in St George’s Church, Chesterton (Disc Two, track 12) on 18 June 2016. Producer, engineer & editor: Adam Binks rinity Colleg Session & instrument photography © Resonus Limited Recorded at 24-bit/96kHz resolution an of T g RESONUS LIMITED – UK

[email protected] www.resonusclassics.com The Metzler Or RES10191