Recital for organ fund

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32568, 30 March 1971, Page 21

Recital for organ fund

The fund for the restoration of the organ in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament will be boosted next month by a share of the proceeds from a concert to be given in the cathedral by the Harmonic Chorale, with the chorale’s musical director, William Hawkey, as organist. The chorale will perform two major works from the calendar of ecclesiastical music—Liszt’s “Via Crucis (The Way of the Cross)” and Charles Wood’s “The Passion According to St Mark.” Half the net proceeds will go to the organ restoration fund. The . pipe work of the organ probably dates from 1871. It was made by Halmshaw and Halmshaw, Birmingham, was the first three-manual trackeraction pipe organ in Christchurch, and has been untouched since it was put in. It is still the largest and oldest tracker-action organ in New Zealand. It was first heard in 1879, when the following was reported in the “Tablet.” “The ceremony of the day was the Pontifical High Mass, Coram episcopo, celebrated at 11 o’clock by ' His Lordship the Bishop of Dunedin. The organ was first ■ heard preparatory to the entrance of the procession of I the bishops and priests from the vestry to the sanctuary. I I It is of mellow tone and con- - siderable power, well suited Ito the size of the church in

which it is placed, and under the able instrumentation of Professor Hughes will be a vast addition to the venerable ceremonies performed there. The Mass selected for the occasion was Haydn’s No. 1, which was nicely executed.” The Liszt work which was being composed at the time the cathedral organ was first heard in Christchurch, is one of the many religious choral works that Liszt wrote towards the end of his life. He made a special study of the Gregorian chant, and incorporated elements of it into his religious works. Liszt also made some experimen- ! tai use of harmony in this work, including whole tone chords, and there are some strange harmonic clashes here and there. Nevertheless, these devices are not just put 1 in for effect, but are an in- , tegral part of the structure ] of the work, and the atmos- , phere throughout is of simplicity and devotion. ; Princess Sayn-Wittgen- ' stein arranged the text from ' Biblical quotations, medieval ] Latin hymns and German chorales; the organ plays an i important part throughout L and has many solo sections. There are also a number of short phrases for solo voice. I In this concert the soloists will be Loma Harris (con- , tral’ \ James Cahill (tenor), i and Grant Dickson (bass). Charles Wood was bom } in Ireland 20 years before the f death of Liszt. He studied at t the Royal College of Music, * was appointed to the teachf ing staff there, and became i a member of the Board of . Professors and the Associated Boards of the R.A.M. 1 and R.C.M. i Wood’s talent as a com-

poser, his fastidious taste and his fine scholarship were shown in a number of short works for voices and orchestra which were composed during his years at Cambridge University, where on the death of Stanford in 1924, he was elected to the professorship of harmony and counterpoint. During his later years Wood became increasingly active as a composer of church music and of short choral works of the partsong and school song type. He wrote consistently for the church, including four admirable Communion services. His most important work for church use is his setting of the St Mark Passion, which appeared in 1921. If it shows the composer at his best, a likely reason is that his natural inclination to gravity and austerity find fuller scope here than elsewhere. Characteristic, too, is his avoidance of specially written or already popular Anglican hymn tunes on the one hand and of German chorales on the other, in favour of two plain - song melodies and two examples for the meterical psalter. This passion tells the Easter story as St Mark records it. The tenor soloist tells the story, the bass soloist portrays the character of Jesus, and Pilate and the choir i comment on the story or are ! the crowd. In keeping with this ' music will be the perfor- ' mance by William Hawkey, ! before, at the interval and ! the end of the concert of ■ five of the Passiontide • Chorale Preludes of J. S. Bach. This concert will start ■ at 7.45 p.in.