KINCOPPAL - ROSE BAYSchool of the Sacred Heart
New South Head Road, Rose Bay, Sydney
NSW 2029
AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 9388 6000
Email: annhenderson@optusnet.com.au1
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KINCOPPAL - ROSE BAY School of the Sacred Heart New South Head Road, Rose Bay, Sydney NSW 2029 AUSTRALIA Tel: +61 2 9388 6000 Email: annhenderson@optusnet.com.au1 |
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Andrew Grahame, Organ Music Presenter from 2MBS-FM About Organs and Concerts ReviewOrchestration is the art of choosing the right instrumental sounds to suit different musical textures. The equivalent concept in the organ world is REGISTRATION choosing the right organ stops to suit the music. The link between tone colour and musical texture within the organ's repertoire is vital, yet some composers left little or no overt evidence of their music's registration requirements. Bach, for example, gave only limited indications of which stops to use in his music, and then only as general suggestions. Even though the majority of Australian organs are not designed in strict accordance with the Baroque North German tonal palette, acceptable performances of Bach's music is still possible on many of them. By contrast, French organ music has for centuries maintained a powerful partnership between organ timbres and musical textures, combining them in ways which are highly specific to the point of being proscriptive. This colourful, vibrant music can’t be adequately appreciated without the right registrations. To play French organ music using inappropriate sounds can be likened to using a chisel as a screwdriver - the wrong tool for the job. In the Baroque period the title of a French organ work foreshadowed both the texture of the music and the sounds upon which it must be performed, and organs were built according to these needs. Into the Romantic period this link between organ tonal design and composition further developed to the point where French composers marked registrations on their scores in precise detail, confident in the knowledge that a performer could readily find the required tone colours in the organs of the day. The first organs in Australia came from England, so it is not surprising that indigenous organ building initially followed the English style. Although instruments have since been imported from many other countries and the work of local organ builders has encompassed a wider range of styles, organs of the French school have always been under-represented on these shores. Despite the high international profile of this substantial branch of the organ's repertoire and its long-standing popularity with Australian organists and audiences, only a handful of organs in this country offer the authentic registrations needed for the stylistically correct interpretation of this stimulating music. The Puget organ of 1890 at Rose Bay is one such instrument, and its significance in the Australian organ music scene cannot be overstated.
Andrew Grahame Presenter of "Colours of the King" - the monthly broadcast of the Organ Music Society of Sydney - on Sydney's Fine Music Station 2MBS-FM (102.5) - 2nd Saturday each month at 5 pm. 15th August 2004 I've attended a large number of organ recitals over many years - most of them rewarding, only a handful that I can honestly say that I didn't enjoy, but even fewer which were truly memorable. Into the last category falls the concert given at Kincoppal Rose Bay School of the Sacred Heart on 15th August 2004. Visiting young French virtuoso Vincent Dubois cajoled the ailing Puget/Noad organ in the school chapel into delivering sounds which belied the instrument's altered and deteriorating state. A capacity audience was treated to masterful interpretations of an all-French programme on a French instrument, albeit still speaking with the Australian accent introduced at the rebuild 40 years ago. Since then the instrument has been dismantled, packed and shipped back to its country of origin for a thorough-going restoration (by Yves Cabourdin) which will, in 2 years' time, equip this country with its finest French romantic organ. Small though it is, the requisite tone colours are there for the authentic interpretation of this significant and colourful slice of the organ repertoire. Equally enthralling in the same concert were the contributions made by soprano Sylvie Renaud-Calmel and harpist Marshall Maguire. This event, like others before it and more to come, was held to raise funds for the organs restoration. Ann Henderson is the driving force behind this important initiative, with David Rumsey the project consultant. Vincent Dubois, former student of Olivier Latry, winner of numerous prizes in organ, composition, organ improvisation, harmony, counterpoint and fugue, and with an international reputation as recitalist, is just 24 years of age. He possesses a stunning technique matched with mature interpretative insight. He commanded this difficult instrument with apparent ease, performing his programme entirely from memory. His registrant was assistant project consultant Pastor de Lasala. It was hard to believe the sounds, given the state of the instrument, and its congratulations also to Peter Jewkes and his team for keeping the organ hanging together and functioning as it was for this and other events throughout last year.
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