Good Recitals: What’s the Secret?
According to the organrecitals.com website, there is a huge number of organists giving recitals in all sorts of venues at the key concert points of the day, lunchtimes and evenings. If you have no forthcoming recitals your name does not appear. Some recitals are full evening events, some of which require a paid for ticket, others are shorter, advertising free admission and donations are acceptable. SSLSO members are amongst those who are brave enough to stick heads above parapets. Many recitals are in London but there are plenty others across the country, given on interesting, well maintained instruments by good players.
Audience numbers vary according to the how well known the player is, either at celebrity or local level, how much advertising has been done, where the recital is held, what’s on the programme, and at what time of day. Celebrities will always draw the crowds, many very good players continue to ply their trade, competing for attention; many others play for fun and quite a few play to raise money for charities. A somewhat cynical view of performing is that is a form of attention seeking, looking for approval from generous applause, kind words from critics, CD sales and royalties. Any form of music making, especially in the amateur world, is a form of being sociable and friendly.
Programme planning, however you like to present yourself, is a mixture of what a player likes to play, what he or she can play, with a strong nod towards what the projected audience would probably like to hear and be entertained by, given the constraints of programme lengths of anything between 35 and 75 minutes. The best programmes are full of contrasts, of style, everything from the earliest to the latest repertoire, using the whole range of sounds on the organ, perhaps with a foot tapping or easy on the ear number or two to send everyone away with a smile. A dash of virtuosity delivered with assurance and confidence also helps. I heard a grumpy remark from one attendee who was annoyed at a city lunchtime Messiaen programme, which was fff throughout. His ears hurt! Having done two all- Buxtehude recitals, I was glad to have played some of the Praeludia on different registrations: that is possible, given the style of the music, but music since the 19th century, especially French music, is very specific about timbral requirements. It is wise to choose a programme that has variations of loud and soft, also, of key. It is also wise not to play everything in the same key.
Organs with good electronic memory systems aid a good concert, as the pace, set between sections, movements, and pieces can really make an audience wake up. I recently heard two Bach chorale preludes (Herr Jesu Christ, dich du uns wend) played in succession, one lyrical and plaintive, the other dramatic and arresting (BWV 709 and 726). Brisk use of the stepper meant that there was no gap between the two preludes, and this certainly added to the drama of the second, shorter prelude. I felt the audience inwardly jump. This is not so easily achievable on tracker action organs, such as the Dulwich organ without the assistance of registrants. Electronic systems facilitate the continuing trend for orchestral transcriptions where the score is vivid and fast moving in terms of ever changing timbres. They require much time in planning and thinking how the piece will sound on a different instrument in a different acoustic. Hauptwerk and similar systems mean that the sky is the limit for switching between one beautiful sound and another. Today’s organists have to be well skilled in managing all this as well as playing the notes, not to mention sound systems in cathedral organ lofts.
For those without such ambitions, the old adage of ‘a simple piece played well’ is enough to move anyone who has ears to hear. The older I become, the more I will play to my limitations rather than ambitions, defined by mostly by taste and a little by technique. Twice recently came the opportunity to play on two organs built by Skrabl. I would love to have taken the smaller one home in order to practise Bach, Buxtehude and Byrd to my heart’s content for ever, beautiful sounds in a gorgeous case. Beautiful music springs from a purity of thought in writing it the first place, and secondly, from a real honesty in how one approaches the learning of it and the playing of it. An 8′ Flute and 8′ Diapason can supply lovely basic requirements, but you might not have a large audience or make any money from it. The heart, mind and musical spirit might be well satisfied, though, and if it is heard on high with a smile, one’s inner smile is reciprocated.
Marilyn Harper
