THE DOBSON ORGAN OF MERTON COLLEGE, OXFORD Elgar BENJAMIN NICHOLAS Organ wor ks (1857–1934): ORGAN WORKS THE DOBSON ORGAN OF MERTON COLLEGE, OXFORD Sonata for Organ in G major, Op. 28 Benjamin Nicholas 1 I. Allegro maestoso [9:03] 2 II. Allegretto [4:37] 3 III. Andante espressivo [6:31] 4 IV. Presto (comodo) [7:05]

5 ‘Nimrod’ from ‘Enigma’ Variations, Op. 36 [3:56] transcr. by W. H. Harris

6 Prelude to , Op. 51 [9:43] transcr. by A. Herbert Brewer*

7 Gavotte [5:50] transcr. by Edwin H. Lemare Vesper Voluntaries, Op. 14 8 Introduction: Adagio – [1:33] 9 I. Andante [1:20] 10 II. Allegro [2:57] 11 III. Andantino [2:42] 12 IV. Allegretto piacevole [1:56] 13 Intermezzo [0:44] 14 V. Poco lento [2:03] 15 VI. Moderato [1:57] 16 VII. Allegretto pensoso [2:00] 17 VIII. Poco allegro – Coda [4:27] Recorded on 25-26 June 2015 in Cover design: John Christ Join the Delphian mailing list: the Chapel of Merton College, Oxford Booklet design: Drew Padrutt www.delphianrecords.co.uk/join Total playing time [68:33] Producer/Engineer: Paul Baxter Benjamin Nicholas photo: John Cairns 24-bit digital editing: Adam Binks Booklet editor: John Fallas Like us on Facebook: 24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter Delphian Records Ltd – Edinburgh – UK www.facebook.com/delphianrecords *premiere recording of this arrangement Cover & booklet photography © Dobson www.delphianrecords.co.uk Pipe Organ Builders Ltd Follow us on Twitter: @delphianrecords With thanks to the Warden and Fellows of the House of Scholars of Merton College, Oxford Notes on the music

The first recording of Merton’s new organ – post of Organist and Choirmaster in his own offering music and seeking commissions with attractively individual, quirky charm. The wistful The Merton Organ (Delphian DCD34142), a right. The church offered a small salary, but little similar lack of success. However, there were lyricism of some of these ‘short melodies’ mixed recital spanning repertoire from Bach in the way of artistic stimulation: ‘I am a full- a few glimmers of encouragement, and one seems more suited to a Victorian drawing- and Stanley to Dupré and Messiaen – was fledged organist now,’ he said, ‘& hate it!’ The of them came from the (now long-defunct) room than a church, and their elegant textures designed to demonstrate the instrument’s main problem seems to have been the firm of Orsborn and Tuckwood, who accepted often suggest the inspiration of strings or considerable versatility. But behind the (‘awful’), but Elgar stayed the course for over a song and commissioned a book of short woodwind; we can certainly hear a pizzicato contemporary sophistication of its construction three years until his marriage in the spring of organ pieces. The title was not Elgar’s: like their cello in the bass of the fifth voluntary, and and design, this is essentially an English 1889, when he moved to London. This was the other ‘popular shilling publication’, The Minster the third was transcribed from an unfinished Romantic organ with a big, warm-hearted end of his career as an organist. Unsurprisingly Echoes, The Vesper Voluntaries was a long- . And while the voluntaries can personality, securely grounded in the aesthetic perhaps, there is no surviving organ music running series of ‘Short melodies for the Organ, be played separately, Elgar conceived the work traditions of the late nineteenth century, and from those days. But within the next few Harmonium, or American organ, which by their as a whole, carefully planning a contrasting but this second recording highlights those qualities years he had composed two substantial organ variety will be useful for Church purposes as complementary sequence of mood and key. in music by the composer who pre-eminently works in vividly contrasting styles: one looking Offertory Music, Interludes, or Voluntaries, and Cohesion is provided by the two themes of the shares them: Edward Elgar. backwards to his past life as a parish organist, will certainly be welcome for their effective Introduction, which return in the Intermezzo the other forward to his maturity as a great grace and simplicity, demanding no special and Coda, and exercise a subtle influence on Curiously, Elgar was one of the few major symphonist and master of the orchestra. executive skill in their performance’. The regular some of the other pieces too. When played as composers who were not especially attracted contributors were third-rate jobbing composers it is here, with a full range of power and colour, by the keyboard. During his early years in The move to London had its compensations who churned out sentimental ‘religious’ music Book 26 of The Vesper Voluntaries makes Worcester his first instrument was the violin, – the happiness of married life, the birth of by the yard, often under exotic-sounding French a lasting impression that belies its modest and he also played the bassoon in an informal a daughter, and unlimited opportunities to pseudonyms. This of course was something appearance on the printed page. wind quintet with his brother and some friends. hear and absorb a wealth of new music in Elgar could never do, and his contribution The piano was an essential requirement for a the concert hall and the opera house. But on (Volume 26) is a real curiosity. Attracting no In the early 1890s one of Elgar’s closest friends music teacher and composer, and Elgar played the whole this was a difficult time: Elgar was attention at the time, it soon went out of print, and most loyal supporters was , it well enough for his own purposes, but it hoping to establish himself in the capital, but and only resurfaced with the appearance of a the acting organist of . was no more than a useful tool, and not a he failed. His health began to suffer and in 1891 modern edition in 1987. It was Blair who conducted the premiere genuine source of inspiration. Another useful he retreated back to Worcestershire. Here, his of Elgar’s first major choral work, The Black keyboard instrument was the organ – Elgar’s native soil provided a more fruitful foundation The eight voluntaries fall into two groups of Knight, in 1893, and in 1894 he commissioned father William was organist of St George’s for his development during the next ten years four, framed by an Introduction and Coda, a ceremonial piece, , for a royal Catholic Church in Worcester for nearly forty into a composer of real stature. But in London with a brief Intermezzo in the middle. If the visit to the cathedral. In April 1895 Blair heard years, and he encouraged his son to learn the he advertised for teaching work (‘Mr Edward regular two- and four-bar phrases and repetitive that a party of American church musicians organ too. Edward was only fifteen when he Elgar begs to announce that he receives sequences perhaps betray a self-taught was visiting the UK in the summer; they were began to deputise for his father at St George’s; PUPILS for VIOLIN, ACCOMPANIMENT, composer who was still finding his way, the coming to Worcester on 8 July, hoping to hear he continued as assistant for ten years until ORCHESTRATION etc’) and received no replies. music rarely does exactly what one expects, the fine four-manual organ which William Hill William’s retirement, and in 1885 accepted the And he trawled round the music publishers, and its superficial simplicity conceals an had installed transept in 1874, and Notes on the music

Blair once again asked his old friend to write France were claiming to write ‘symphonic’ Predictably, only five days’ preparation, Discouraged by the negative reception, Elgar something for the occasion. Elgar clearly organ music, but the surging ebb and flow of the premiere of the Sonata was not a success. never wrote another big organ piece, though relished this rare opportunity to compose a theme, texture and tone-colour in this Sonata Elgar’s devoted admirer Rosa Burley thought the instrument plays a significant part in many substantial non-liturgical concert work, and comes far closer to a truly orchestral style of Blair was to blame: ‘He made a terrible mess of of his orchestral and choral works. As his he began to make plans for a four-movement organ writing; this was conclusively proved poor Elgar’s work. I was present at the débâcle fame increased, Novello (and other publishers . In an initial fit of enthusiasm fifty years later, when made a and commiserated with the Genius’. But the too) – no doubt somewhat regretting their he found a suitable ‘intermezzo’ (Allegretto) in wonderfully effective orchestration. composer was more generous: ‘With a splendid hasty decision over the Sonata – filled an existing instrumental piece, and copied and flash of loyalty he refused to blame the murderer, their catalogue with organ transcriptions re-arranged it straight away; the transparent With its wealth of memorable melody and who, he said, had not had time thoroughly to of instrumental works, and three of these four-part texture with pizzicato bass and tight motivic construction, the sonata-form study the victim.’ Novello in London refused complete this programme. The earliest is the cantabile tenor melody, and the salon style of Allegro maestoso is the work of a real to publish it, fearing its scale and difficulty Gavotte, a pretty salon piece for violin and the central section, suggest that the original symphonic composer; Elgar had never would deter prospective buyers, but it was piano from 1885, written in a fashionable may have been a string quartet. But as the written anything like this before. The delicate accepted by Breitkopf & Härtel in Germany mock eighteenth-century style that recalls end of June approached, no further progress Allegretto (an interlude of relaxation, an (resulting in a foreign typeface that remains the work of Georgian composers like William had been made. As so often with Elgar, the intermezzo rather than a true scherzo) slightly disconcerting even today, being more Boyce. The ninth of the ‘Enigma’ Variations stimulation of an imminent deadline inspired leads straight into the slow movement, associated with German composers). Writing (1899) needs no introduction, but it is worth a fever of creativity, and the other three whose noble elegiac theme will also play a more than thirty years later, an early purchaser, repeating that the funereal associations of movements were written in one week, as he key role in the finale. Here in the Andante who bought his copy in 1896, recalled that Nimrod are entirely posthumous. For Elgar proudly noted on the score, finally giving it to it is joined by, and finally combined with, ‘Elgar was a new name then’, and ‘no excessive this was the record of a long summer evening Blair on 3 July, five days before the recital. a tranquillo second subject of exquisite enthusiasm was shown’. The conservative organ talk with his publisher Augustus Jaeger, ‘when serenity. The sonata-form finale begins establishment was dismissive: ‘This young my friend discoursed eloquently on the slow At this stage in Elgar’s career things were with two new tunes; the lively rhythm of man certainly doesn’t know how to write for movements of Beethoven’ – hence the tune’s beginning to look up. Success brought new the first is underpinned by soft drumbeats the organ!’ The Sonata was taken up by some subtle reference to the slow movement of the self-belief, and the Sonata is the work of on the pedals, while the second has a younger players (including , the new Pathétique Sonata. an assured and confident composer. We distinctly jaunty, whimsical air. In the central cathedral organist, who played it at Worcester can only imagine Blair’s reaction when he development section, the mood becomes at one of his first recitals in 1898), but as late The organists of the Three cathedrals saw it for the first time, but he was surely darker and more pensive; the theme of the as 1930 we are told that ‘One fairly often hears were all devoted Elgarians. At Worcester, not expecting anything quite on this scale Andante returns, with other expressive motifs single movements from it, but the opportunity Atkins used to play the Variations and excerpts – a work of symphonic proportions, whose that are craftily derived from fragments of to hear the whole comes more seldom.’ It was from the symphonies and concertos, while technical and registrational demands require the jaunty tune. The recapitulation is crowned only after Elgar’s death that the Sonata gradually Herbert Brewer at Gloucester specialised in weeks of detailed study. Lacking a truly by a final appearance of the Andante theme, gained universal acceptance, and was fully excerpts from the , as we can hear idiomatic keyboard style, what Elgar had ending in a triumphant coda that resounds recognised for what it is – a unique landmark in in his superb arrangement of the Prelude instinctively done was to write an orchestral with a ‘Beethovenian energy of trumpets and the literature, from the pen of one of England’s to ‘The Kingdom’. This second of Elgar’s work on three staves. His contemporaries in drums’ (Percy Young). very greatest composers. New Testament oratorios was not completed Notes on the music Organ of Merton College, Oxford: Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, Lake City, Iowa, 2013 until 1906, three years after , Great Organ (II) Swell Organ (III, enclosed) Pedal Organ but initially he conceived them as a single Bourdon 16 Open Diapason 8 Open Diapason 16 work, and they are united by countless cross- Open Diapason I 8 Lieblich Gedeckt 8 Subbass 16 references and shared symbolic motifs. The Open Diapason II 8 Salicional 8 Bourdon (Great) 16 Prelude sets the scene in Jerusalem as the Harmonic Flute 8 Voix Celeste FF 8 Principal 8 disciples meet after the Ascension of Christ Chimney Flute 8 Principal 4 Bass Flute 8 and begin their work to establish the church Principal 4 Nason Flute 4 Fifteenth 4 on earth. The first few pages are retrospective, Spire Flute 4 Fifteenth 2 Trombone 16 with echoes of scenes from The Apostles; the Nazard 2 ⅔ Mixture 15.19.22.26 IV Trumpet 8 ardent, aspirational music of the opening bars Fifteenth 2 Double Trumpet 16 Great to Pedal recalls Christ’s command, ‘Go ye therefore and Recorder 2 Trumpet 8 Swell to Pedal teach all nations’, and then the mood darkens as Peter reflects on his own denial of Christ Tierce 1 ³⁄₅ Hautboy 8 Choir to Pedal before the Crucifixion. The second part of the Mixture 19.22.26.29 IV Vox Humana 8 Prelude looks forward: dominated by the noble Trumpet 8 Clarion 4 tune that Elgar called ‘New Faith’, it finally Tremulant Tremulant Zimbelstern merges into a foretaste of The Kingdom’s Swell to Great Mechanical key action concluding prayer, a rapturous sequence of Choir to Great Choir Organ (I, enclosed) Electric stop & descending chords above an ascending bass: Geigen Diapason 8 combination actions ‘Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer, Geigen Celeste FF 8 61/32 and we are Thine.’ Gedeckt 8 Gemshorn 4 © 2016 David Gammie Open Flute 4 Doublet 2 David Gammie studied the organ with H.A. Sesquialtera 12.17 II Bate and Peter Hurford, and regularly gives Mixture 26.29.33 III recitals in London and elsewhere. In 2001 he Corno di Bassetto 8 was appointed Organist and Assistant Director Tremulant of Music at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Major Trumpet 8 Wimbledon. Swell to Choir Biography

Benjamin Nicholas is a former pupil of Temple Church, and broadcast on BBC Radio David Sanger for organ and Denise Ham for 3 and BBC Television, as well as recording conducting. He held the organ scholarships five CDs to date. He also recorded extensively at Chichester Cathedral, Lincoln College, for Delphian as the founding director of Oxford and St Paul’s Cathedral before moving Tewkesbury Abbey Schola Cantorum, including to Tewkesbury Abbey, where he directed discs of Weelkes, Mozart, Stanford and Rutter. the Abbey School Choir and oversaw its Other recent performances as a conductor transformation into Tewkesbury Abbey Schola have included Holst’s Sāvitri in the Cheltenham Cantorum of Dean Close Preparatory School. Music Festival, Mozart’s Requiem in Saint- He has directed the Choir at Merton College, Germain-des-Prés, and Elgar’s The Dream of Oxford since 2008, and in 2012 became the Gerontius with Oxford Philomusica. first full-time Reed Rubin Organist and Director of Music at Merton. Benjamin Nicholas has collaborated with numerous composers, and is a significant force During Benjamin’s time at Merton, the College in the creation of new choral repertoire. He is has established the annual ‘Passiontide at partly responsible for the Merton Choirbook, Merton’ festival, and in 2013 the new Dobson upward of fifty-five pieces commissioned to organ was installed, a project with which he celebrate the 750th anniversary of the College was closely involved. He made the instrument’s in 2014, and has conducted the premieres first solo recording (The Merton Organ, of – among other works – Gabriel Jackson’s DCD34142) in 2014. With Merton College The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ in Oxford Choir, Benjamin has toured internationally, and New York, and of new choral works by given concerts in the Cadogan Hall and the Birtwistle, Dove, MacMillan, Saxton and Weir. Also available on Delphian The Merton Organ: the new Dobson organ of Merton College, Oxford Advent at Merton Benjamin Nicholas Choir of Merton College, Oxford / Benjamin Nicholas & Peter Phillips DCD34142 DCD34122 In a golden age of organ-building, Merton College’s new Dobson The beginning of Advent is celebrated with a particular solemnity at Merton. instrument stands out as exceptional. It is only the third American-built For its second recording, the choir explores the musical riches that adorn this organ sent to the UK since the Second World War, a bold commissioning most special time in the church’s year, centring on a newly commissioned choice by Benjamin Nicholas, Reed Rubin Organist and Director of Music, sequence of Magnificat antiphons from seven leading composers including and his colleagues in Merton’s recently established choral foundation. From Howard Skempton, Eˉriks Ešenvalds and Sir John Tavener. The mingled the pre-pedalboard sophistication of native Stanley, to the mesmerising hopes, fears and expectations of the season are beautifully articulated by this hues of Messiaen – and encompassing snapshots from the instrument’s fervent body of young singers. vast literature in between – Nicholas combines flair and intelligence as he ‘an immensely accomplished and responsive mixed-voice choir … presents the stunning instrument he helped mastermind. Delphian’s recorded sound is beautiful’ ‘lithe, supple and pleasingly nuanced performances … Delphian’s — International Record Review, December 2012 characteristically clear, focused and framed recording’ — Choir & Organ, May/June 2014

In the Beginning The Merton Collection: Merton College at 750 Choir of Merton College, Oxford / Benjamin Nicholas & Peter Phillips Choir of Merton College, Oxford / Benjamin Nicholas & Peter Phillips DCD34072 DCD34134 Established in 2008, Merton College’s new choral foundation is rapidly In 2014, the University of Oxford’s Merton College celebrates its 750th emerging as a major force in collegiate choral music. Its debut recording year. Benjamin Nicholas and Peter Phillips’ specially conceived journey – bookended by Gabriel Jackson’s ravishing version of the rarely set through seven centuries of choral repertoire provides a bird’s-eye view of Johannine Prologue and Copland’s glowing account of the first seven some important moments in musical history, and features two composers days of creation – makes inventive play with the theme of beginnings and personally associated with the College – John Dunstaple and Lennox endings, in a sequence of Renaissance and modern works that reflects the Berkeley – as well as three new works commissioned for the anniversary range and reach of the choir’s daily repertoire. celebrations. The choir, a relatively recent addition to this illustrious college’s ‘… will undoubtedly establish them as one of the UK’s finest choral complement of treasures, gives stylish and committed performances in the ensembles. Listening to their superb performances and seamless blending famous acoustic of Merton’s thirteenth-century chapel. of voices, it’s hard to believe that the choir is only four years old’ ‘fine musicianship, commitment and versatility … emotion untarnished by — Gramophone, December 2011, EDITOR’S CHOICE world-weariness’ — Choir & Organ, January/February 2014 Also available on Delphian The Marian Collection The Organ of Rochdale Town Hall (Overture Transcriptions Vol II) Choir of Merton College, Oxford / Benjamin Nicholas & Peter Phillips Timothy Byram-Wigfield DCD34144 DCD34143 A new work by Judith Weir (newly appointed Master of the Queen’s Music) Built in an extravagant Gothic style, Rochdale Town Hall is one of the most heads a set of the four Marian antiphons, all specially commissioned from impressive examples of the civic pride of the Victorian and Edwardian female composers, while two further premiere recordings represent eras. Positioned within is J.J. Binns’ fine organ, proudly displayed in three the work of regular Merton collaborators Gabriel Jackson and Matthew beautifully crafted wooden cases. At its high point, the British town hall organ Martin. At the other end of the chronological spectrum, Peter Phillips’ tradition represented something entirely new and extraordinary, in social, expert direction of Byrd’s rarely performed Salve Regina, a bold statement mechanical, aesthetic and commercial terms; and the transcriptions made for of Catholic faith from Reformation England, and of John Nesbett’s Eton these colossal instruments demonstrate remarkable syntheses of ingenuity, Choirbook Magnificat, a piece whose neglect on disc is astonishing, skill and ambition on the part of both organ-builders and musical arrangers. completes this portrait in sound of a woman who is at once virgin and Timothy Byram-Wigfield here follows up on his celebrated 2004 exploration mother, human and God-bearer, suppliant and Queen of Heaven. of orchestral overtures at the organ of the Kelvingrove Gallery in Glasgow. ‘astonishing versatility’ — Gramophone, December 2014 New in February 2016

Viri Galilaei: Favourite Anthems from Merton The Usher Hall Organ Vol II Choir of Merton College, Oxford / Benjamin Nicholas & Peter Phillips John Kitchen DCD34174 DCD34132 Now firmly established amongst Oxbridge’s finest choral foundations and The Usher Hall’s monumental organ celebrated its 100th birthday in 2014. at the same time certainly its youngest, the Choir of Merton College can Delphian artist and Edinburgh City Organist John Kitchen has established be relied upon to present a selection of favourite anthems which similarly a hugely popular series of concerts at the Hall, and draws on its repertoire combines fresh inspiration with timeless musical values. The choir’s fifth to follow up his 2004 recording of the then newly restored instrument with Delphian recording in five years again showcases the talents of its joint a programme that further represents the vast variety of music that draws directors Benjamin Nicholas and Peter Phillips, with Phillips’ love of polyphony in the Edinburgh crowds. Opening with an evocative new work by Cecilia complemented by Nicholas’s flair and commitment in some of the twentieth McDowall, the first part of the programme resounds with the theme of bells century’s major choral works. Bookending these ‘favourites’ are Patrick (including the instrument’s extraordinary ). Jeremy Cull contributes Gowers’ now iconic Ascension Day anthem Viri Galilaei and Jonathan Dove’s a compelling transcription of Hamish MacCunn’s The Land of the Mountain newly minted Te Deum, commissioned by Merton College as part of the and the Flood, while a recital of this nature wouldn’t be complete without a Merton Choirbook – the largest series of commissions of its kind in modern major piece of Bach, here dispatched with appropriately Edwardian swagger. times, created in celebration of the College’s 750th anniversary. ‘performances that blend aesthetic nuance with bravura showmanship … New in March 2016 Delphian’s vivid recorded sound adds to the considerable pleasure’ — Choir & Organ, May/June 2015, ***** DCD34162