Wednesday 15th June 2016
12.30 Lunchtime Concert John Eagles Organ Recitalist & Teacher |
Sponsors: 2016 Season Sponsor: Patricia Morgan Optician Supported by: Leatherhead Concert & Arts Society 
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Programme
In Honour of Her Majesty's Official 90th Birthday
Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1634-1704)
from Te Deum (H146) in D major (1688-1698)
Prelude: Marche en Rondeau
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes (1920)
1 Bryn Calfaria
2 Rhosymedre
3 Hyfrydol
Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
from Three Pieces for Organ, H63 (1905)
Adagio in E major
Arthur Wills (b 1926)
Lullaby for a Royal Prince (1982)
Max Reger (1873-1916)
Benedictus Op 59, No 9
Herbert Howells (1892 -1983)
from Six Pieces for Organ
Master Tallis’s Testament (1940)
William Walton (1902-1983)
arranged for organ by Robert Gower
Orb and Sceptre Coronation March (1953)
Free Concert, with a retiring collection to cover costs. Tea and coffee will be available after the concert.
John Eagles
John first became involved in church music as a treble chorister under Martin How at the former headquarters of the Royal School of Church Music, Addington Palace in Croydon. He later read for a BMus degree at Goldsmiths College, London, where he also undertook teacher training. He then returned to the RSCM as a full-time student and obtained the FRCO and LRAM diplomas. Subsequently, he attained an MMus. in performance and related studies and the Choral Directing Diploma of the Royal College of Organists. During these periods he was a pupil of Timothy Farrell, Michael Fleming and David Sanger.
John has combined holding several teaching appointments in secondary schools with church posts, maintaining a vibrant musical tradition, including at Cheshunt Parish Church, Hertfordshire; St Philips', Norbury; St Mary’s, Merton; and latterly St Mark’s, Bromley. These involved directing and accompanying a high standard of choral repertoire, playing for services at many cathedrals around the country and during a choir’s continental tours of Belgium, Germany and France.
He participated in the annual International Organ Conservatoire at Oxford where he played in masterclasses under Naji Hakim and Ewald Kooiman, and on the choral side pursued the intermediate course of the Association of British Choral Directors.
John has been an examiner for RSCM chorister awards of the London diocese and has been on the staff of many RSCM courses. At local level he is a former Chairman and Meetings Secretary of the East Surrey Organists’ Association, and has been a member of the Croydon Bach Choir and the Allegri Singers. As Organist of St Mark’s, Bromley, he has accompanied the choir for services at St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.
Today’s Programme
The music has been selected mainly to commemorate this week's official 90th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and the composers represented include some well-known names among her English musical contemporaries.
Specifically, Walton’s Orb and Sceptre Coronation March was played the Queen’s Coronation in 1953. By association, the Vaughan Williams Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes are linked to Prince Charles, whilst the Wills Lullaby for a Royal Prince was composed shortly after the birth of Prince William, now Duke of Cambridge, in 1982.
As a departure from the royal theme, this year is the anniversary of the death of Max Reger, represented here with his Benedictus. The Charpentier Marche en rondeau has become adopted as the European National Anthem in anticipation of next week’s referendum!
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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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Concert at Home:
Here are some links to online recordings of works that feature in John Eagles' concert:
Here are some links to online recordings of works that feature in John Eagles' concert:
John Eagles opens his selection for today's Royal Birthday concert with the joyful sound of
the Prelude to Charpentier's Te Deum in D major.
The organist is Arkadiusz Popławski, playing the organ of the St James the Apostle Cathedral, Olzstyn, Poland.
the Prelude to Charpentier's Te Deum in D major.
The organist is Arkadiusz Popławski, playing the organ of the St James the Apostle Cathedral, Olzstyn, Poland.
A slight distraction from our concert programme, this next item is also from Mr Popławski, this time playing the organ of the Basilica of Our Dear Lady of Święta Lipka (the Holy Linden Tree), a place of pilgrimage in Northern Poland.
He could easily be accused of "excessive use of zymbalstern", and you can see those stars really spinning as he plays Michał Kleofas Ogiński's Polonaise in A minor Pożeganie Ojczyzny, Les Adieux à la Patrie - or Homeland Polonaise.
He could easily be accused of "excessive use of zymbalstern", and you can see those stars really spinning as he plays Michał Kleofas Ogiński's Polonaise in A minor Pożeganie Ojczyzny, Les Adieux à la Patrie - or Homeland Polonaise.
Jesse Reeks plays the 2003 Holtkamp organ in the Cathedral-Basilica of St Louis King of France for the next three works, Vaughan Williams set of three Preludes "Founded on Welsh Hymn Tunes".
The sequence of recordings should play itself through: Bryn Calfaria, Rhosymedre, Hyfrydol:
The sequence of recordings should play itself through: Bryn Calfaria, Rhosymedre, Hyfrydol:
Next Nottingham City organist John Keys plays Frank Bridge's Adagio in E on the organ of St Werburgh's Chester.
John is Vice-Chairman of the Trustees of the Royal Albert Hall Binns Organ.
John is Vice-Chairman of the Trustees of the Royal Albert Hall Binns Organ.
Max Reger's Benedictus is played here by Martin Luecker, on the Rieger organ in
St Katharine's Church, Frankfurt am Main, Germany:
St Katharine's Church, Frankfurt am Main, Germany:
We turn next to Glasgow Cathedral where, on the Father Willis organ, Dr Malcolm Sim plays
Herbert Howells' tribute to the great Tudor composer Master Tallis's Testament:
Herbert Howells' tribute to the great Tudor composer Master Tallis's Testament:
What better way to finish than with John Eagles' chosen Orb and Sceptre Coronation March, played on a royal instrument, the 4-manual Harrison & Harrison in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Assistant Director of Music, Richard Pinel is the organist. You will find the full organ specification here, and Richard's website here.
God Bless the Queen !
We hope you have enjoyed your Concert at Home
We hope you have enjoyed your Concert at Home
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