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Wednesday 14th March
12.30 Lunchtime Concert Graham Thorpe FRCO organ Pettman Organ Scholar, London Oratory, Brompton |
Sponsors: Julie West Solicitor Supported by: Leatherhead Concert & Arts Society 
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Programme
John Nicholson Ireland (1879-1962)
from Miniature Suite (1904) 1 Entrada Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876) Choral song and Fugue Henry Purcell (1659-1695) Voluntary in D minor for the Double Organ Herbert Norman Howells (1892-1983) Psalm Prelude Set 2, no 2 (1930s) Soorjo Alexander William Langobard Oliphant Chuckerbutty aka Wilson Oliphant (1884-1960) Pæan: A Song of Triumph (Fanfare) (1948) Herbert Howells Psalm Prelude Set 2, no 1 (1930s) Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Toccata in F, BWV 540 (c1712-1717 ?) |
Free Concert, with a retiring collection to cover costs. Tea and coffee will be available after the concert.
Graham Thorpe
Graham Thorpe is a postgraduate organ student at the Royal College of Music in London. He is studying with David Graham, and is specialising in English Romantic repertoire. He completed his undergraduate degree at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied the organ with Susan Landale and Clive Driskill-Smith, and won several performance and academic prizes.
Graham has recently taken up the Pettman Organ Scholarship at the London Oratory where he accompanies the Oratory Junior Choir. Prior to this he was the assistant organist at St Michael's, Cornhill. Graham is in demand around the country as a recitalist and accompanist. Notable venues include St Paul's, Hereford, Guildford and Southwark Cathedrals.
Graham is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and recently won the Worshipful Company of Musicians F E Smith medal. He has been awarded a scholarship by the RCM and is the recipient of the RCO Peter Wiles Scholarship. He is passionate about liturgical accompaniment and wishes to return to cathedral music when he completes his studies in London.
Graham has recently taken up the Pettman Organ Scholarship at the London Oratory where he accompanies the Oratory Junior Choir. Prior to this he was the assistant organist at St Michael's, Cornhill. Graham is in demand around the country as a recitalist and accompanist. Notable venues include St Paul's, Hereford, Guildford and Southwark Cathedrals.
Graham is a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and recently won the Worshipful Company of Musicians F E Smith medal. He has been awarded a scholarship by the RCM and is the recipient of the RCO Peter Wiles Scholarship. He is passionate about liturgical accompaniment and wishes to return to cathedral music when he completes his studies in London.
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The Christ Church organ was built by Hill, Norman & Beard in 1970 with 16 stops, using some pipes from previous organs plus some neo-baroque sounds typical of the 1960's and '70's (Chimney Flute and Fifteenth on open-foot voicing, like the Royal Festival Hall organ). In 1995, HNB moved some loud stops from the Great to a new double case in the nave, 6 stops were added, and the tone was refined. In summer 2015 the nave organ was re-voiced to produce a more robust tone. |
The Hill Norman & Beard organ at Christ Church (United Reformed), Leatherhead
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You will find more concert inspired poetry by clicking this link to our Poetry Page
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The Long and the Short (Haibun)
Soorjo Alexander William Langobard Oliphant Chuckerbutty – surely the longest named composer in musical history. This organist of Anglo-Indian descent, little-known except for his Song of Triumph (Fanfare), successfully pursued simultaneous careers in cinema and church music.
This piece of music lasts for just three minutes. The key of B flat expresses jubilation, to be replaced by a short, slower section in pensive G minor, before re-asserting the dominant, soaring mood.
Peter Horsfield 28/3/2018
Inspired by the lunchtime organ recital given by Graham Thorpe at Christ Church United Reformed Church, Leatherhead, on 14th March 2018. |
Concert at Home:
Here are some links to online recordings of works that feature in Graham Thorpe's concert:
Here are some links to online recordings of works that feature in Graham Thorpe's concert:
Graham Thorpe opens our season of organ concerts with the Entrada from John Ireland's Miniature Suite.
The organist here is Marco Agostinelli, at the 1960 Francesco Zanin organ in Jesi Cathedral, on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Jesi is twinned with Devizes in Wiltshire:
The organist here is Marco Agostinelli, at the 1960 Francesco Zanin organ in Jesi Cathedral, on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Jesi is twinned with Devizes in Wiltshire:
Next we hear SS Wesley's popular Choral Song and Fugue. Although this is quite a familiar English sound, the organ is actually a Hook & Hastings instrument from 1893 in the Convenant Church, Houston, Texas. It was restored in 1999 by Bradley Rule:
Jonathan Yip performs Purcell's Voluntary for Double Organ (being an organ with two manuals, a Great organ and a Chair or Choir organ). In this 2010 recording Jonathan uses historic fingerings. He is currently Sub-Organist at St John's Cathedral, Hong Kong:
We seem to be travelling widely this month as our next instrument is in New York's Episcopal Church of St Mary the Virgin. This 4-manual 93-stop Aeolian-Skinner organ is played by Douglas Keilitz, and the music is Herbert Howells' beautiful Psalm Prelude Set 2, No 2:
Soorjo Alexander William Langobard Oliphant Chuckerbutty aka Wilson Oliphant, or Oliphant Chuckerbutty, is probably the longest composer name on record. He was of Anglo-Indian descent.
To make all that typing of his name worthwhile here are two of Chuckerbutty's pieces.
First, Frederick Swann plays the Paean that we will hear in the concert. He is playing the 1998 Quimby organ in St Margaret's Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, California:
To make all that typing of his name worthwhile here are two of Chuckerbutty's pieces.
First, Frederick Swann plays the Paean that we will hear in the concert. He is playing the 1998 Quimby organ in St Margaret's Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, California:
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And following the Paean, you may enjoy this lively piece, The Queen's Procession for Organ. The organist is Hans-André Stamm, at the 1871 Holdich organ in Sankt Stephanus, Leverkusen-Hitdorf, close to Cologne and Dusseldorf. The organ was originally built for St Paul's Chiswick. Feenstra dismantled and rebuilt the organ for Hitdorf, added a Ruckpositif Choir organ, and had the case built, designed to resemble the one in St Mary-at-Hill, London Billingsgate. See what you think of the comparison.
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This next recording may bring us the closest to home we have ever been. The Organist is David Hughes, of Albury Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul, and the organ a 3-manual Compton. Here David tackles Herbert Howells' Psalm Prelude No 1 from the 2nd set:
Our concert closes with JS Bach's Toccata in F, BWV 540.
The recording is of the Finnish Bach exponent Markus Wargh, organist of Lulea Cathedral, member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music:
The recording is of the Finnish Bach exponent Markus Wargh, organist of Lulea Cathedral, member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music:
We hope you have enjoyed your Concert at Home
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