Organ Masterclass and Recital, St Nicolas Church

I have never been to an organ Masterclass before and I had been invited by Carolyn Greenwood, the Secretary of the Newbury & District Organists Association to attend, I was really looking forward to this. On arriving, the first person I met was David Reynolds, whom I see most Sundays as he is the current organist at St Nicolas Church, but who is retiring in a week or so’s time. I noted from the programme that there were four ‘volunteer’ organists who had offered themselves up as students although all four were established organists. The first was James Woodhouse, a freelance organist whom plays in various churches in southwest Newbury. He gave a very polished performance of the third, the allegro imarziale, piece from 3 organ pieces by Frank Bridge. Ann Elise Smoot, who is an internationally recognised organist and much sought after teacher, applauded his playing and made a myriad of comments, including not to be too dramatic about the pace of playing “allegro imarziale”.

Steve Bowey, who is the organist at St Mary’s Shaw-cum-Donnington, gave a confident rendering of Sir Hubert Parry’s Chorale Prelude on "Dundee". If the name Parry sounds familiar, he did indeed write the music to “Jerusalem”, which everyone sings at the last Night of the Proms. Ann Elise gave Steve some useful hints on the phrasing of some of the passages.

The next performance was Billy Kirkpatrick, the organist at the United Reformed Church in Cromwell Place, Newbury and the musical adviser of the Good Companions, a group of singers who, dressed in early 20th century costume, entertained the members of Fairclose and other elderly residential houses. He played what I believe to be the most difficult piece the prelude and fugue in G minor by Dietrich Buxtehude a German 17th century organist and composer. Buxtehude spent most of his life as organist the Marienkirche Lubeck in north Germany. It is a beautiful church and I would recommend a visit there, with its fine organ. Billy played the piece with great confidence and Ann Elise commended him for it.

The fourth and last performance was Alistair Davis, who currently plays at St Mary’s Church, Stockcross. He played the prelude from the Prelude and Fugue in E minor by the great Johann Sebastian Bach, another north German, who was significantly influenced by Buxtehude. Alistair is a very accomplished organist who played who played the piece with great confidence. Ann Elise had very little comment on his performance, which must have been very encouraging for him.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Masterclass and it brought back memories of sitting up in the organ loft, listening to my father playing. I regret not having time to speak to any of the organists, I had to dash off home change into dinner jacket, collect Edwina from her house as we were off to a Lion’s Dinner after attending the subsequent organ recital at 6.00pm given by Ann Elise Smoot herself. She played four organ pieces, Epiphanie by Gaston Litaize, a blind French composer who wrote the piece in 1984 followed by a choral Partita by J S Bach, very contrasting styles but both beautifully played. The last two pieces were the Theme and Variations in D by Felix Mendelssohn , another north German followed by Fete, a modern piece, with a jazz beat to it, written by Jean Langlais another blind french Composer and organist. The playing was quite outstanding and the church rang with sounds that the church has not heard in years. Congratulations to him, and his four “students” for a wonderful afternoon of organ playing.