Meet the Artist 2010- 2011

• Louis Robilliard
• Terence Charlston
• Konstantin Volostnov
• Christopher Bowers-Broadbent
• Stefan Engels
• Jean-Baptiste Dupont
• Bartosz Jakubczak
• Patrick Russill

Meet . . . Louis Robilliard

Please tell us a little about your concert programme.

Bach is the dominant figure in this recital. He is the alpha and the omega of the programme. He appears in the history of music like a shining beacon whose powerful light shines on those who go before him and those musicians that are to come.  Each of the composers in the programme have been touched by his genius.  It is very clear in Brahms’s Op.122 but also in the Liszt and Widor.
 
 

What first attracted you to the organ as an instrument and how old were you when you started playing?

My father was an organist and we lived as a family in a very musical environment.  I played a lot  of piano, and after having thought about being a conductor, I decided at 20 years old to concentrate on the organ. This instrument fascinated me by its capacity to restore the symphonic orchestral style and lend itself to the art of improvisation. The organ builder Cavaille-Coll had a big part to play in this orientation.

Who (or what) has had the greatest influence on you as a player?

I began organ lessons with Jean-Jacques Grünewald at the Schola Cantorum (Paris).  I had a great admiration for him. He was a composer,  had a great musical culture, he improvised: all these qualities attracted me enormously. Later, recordings of the great pianists of the 1930 from which one notices the manner in which the music is liberated from the score without ever betraying the text.

What is a typical day in the life of Louis Robilliard like?

For many years my day began with organ or piano practice followed by teaching.  Today, if I don’t pay attention, the computer keyboard replaces the keyboards of the organ! The world changes!

What are the highlights of your forthcoming schedule?

In 2010, I had some great moments of my career, for example a week in Seoul for a concert and masterclasses. I was very struck by the enthusiasm and quality of the students that I came across. Other big moments await and I think particularly of a concert I will give in Notre-Dame in Paris on the 12 October.

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Meet . . . Terence Charlston

Please tell us a little about your concert programme.

This programme is all about style! I have something of a reputation for exploring unfamiliar repertoire, especially English music, and I have chosen pieces from all over Europe in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. J. S. Bach epitomises the union of these many trends and fittingly I end with him, although in two very unusual works. I’ve included a lot of dance music which is not often associated with the organ and which I hope will be fun. The Vivaldi concerto is good example of my programming style. Its not one of the well-known German arrangements but a home grown offering from a contemporary English player, Anne Dawson.
 
 

What first attracted you to the organ as an instrument and how old were you when you started playing?

Hearing (and seeing) my cousin play Bach when I was very young got me enthused. I started playing in a local RC church (Blackpool) aged about 8 or 9 years old. Good local teachers, regular doses of Radio 3 and an excellent public lending library (now closed) helped me along the way.

Who (or what) has had the greatest influence on you as a player?

In truth, I think I have learnt something from everyone I have heard, worked with, been taught by or come in contact with through chamber music or my own teaching. My solo playing has certainly benefited from working with distinguished interpreters. David Hill and James O’Donnell at Westminster Cathedral and the lutenist Robert Spencer were formative influences as are my colleagues in London Baroque: the high benchmarks they set inspire and encourage my own efforts. I am increasingly drawn to Schweitzer’s personality and I admire his extraordinary achievements in musical performance, scholarship and organ building reform.

What is a typical day in the life of Terence Charlston like?

My working life is organised by projects. I aim to do some playing every day, even if it is just practice at home, and it’s a rare day that has no access to a computer!! I enjoy teaching and have been closely involved with conservatoire education for many years. Research on instruments and musical sources is close to my heart and this generates publications and recordings. I have several music editions to finish before Christmas and I am pleased to be getting more closely involved with organ design and building as a consultant.

What are the highlights of your forthcoming schedule?

I’ve just returned from a second concert tour of historic organs in Slovakia, I gave a concerto performance in Istanbul last month, next week I will be playing harpsichord in the Edinburgh Festival and the following week I will be playing Eben on the organ of the Sanctuario de Torreciudad in Spain. I’m excited to be starting a series of recordings at the Cobbe Collection of historical keyboard instruments next year.

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Meet . . . Konstantin Volostnov

Please tell us a little about your concert programme.

The program covers organ music of various types: from classic to transcription and contemporary revolution works. The brightest music of its time. The program begins and ends in mode C. It begins with the famous Passacaglia by Bach which had been written as dedication to Dieterich Buxtehude.  I will then be playing early romantic works by Schumann, for his 200th anniversary this year - 'Six Etudes in Canonic form'.  These are followed by the late romantic 'Fantasia in G' by Russian composer Alexander Glazunov. This piece in very conservative style is his last work, which he wrote in Paris in 1935 and dedicated to Marcel Dupré.  The next Russian composition is really famous - 'Andante cantabile' from the 5th Symphony by Tchaikovsky, is a very good example of organ transcription  which was made by English virtuoso Edwin Lemare. My programme ends with a brilliant futuristic toccata by contemporary Russian composer Daniyar Dianov named 'Perpetuum mobile'.
 
 

What first attracted you to the organ as an instrument and how old were you when you started playing?

One day my mother had shown me the organ on the TV screen, and said: "Look, this is not only a beautiful 'wall' behind the orchestra, this is a musical instrument". Very soon I had listened to this instrument and this was really fascinating for me. About 3 4 years later, when I was 11, I got the opportunity to study the organ.

Who (or what) has had the greatest influence on you as a player?

Difficult to say, of course my teachers were a great influence. If asked whom I prefer as musicians, perhaps:
Violinist -  David Oistrakh
Pianists -  Emil Gilels, Martha Argerich
Conductor -  Mariss Jansons
Organist -  Thomas Trotter  
(but it doesn't mean I try to play the same way)

What is a typical day in the life of Konstantin Volostnov like?

Always different and full of surprises.

What are the highlights of your forthcoming schedule?

I am going to perform two series of solo recitals: one cycle of five recitals will take place in State Musical Museum in Moscow; another six recitals will be in Tsaritsino Palace. I travel to concerts throughout Russia, and of course I look forward very much to my concerts resulting from the  St.Albans competition.

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Meet . . . Stefan Engels

Please tell us a little about your concert programme.

In contrast to the organ composers of the French Romantic period, many organ composers from the German cultural sphere remained practically unknown until recently. In addition to being obscured by the overwhelming significance of Max Reger, they were were also the victims of the “Orgelbewegung” or organ revival movement in Germany, with its harsh ideological stance on the romantic and late-romantic eras. It was not until the 1970’s, when the music of Sigfrid Karg-Elert was rediscovered, that an unbiased assessment of the composers who had not taken the road of “the renewal of church music” after 1918 became possible. Karl Hoyer is one of those “forgotten” composers. After studying in Leipzig from 1907 until 1911 (organ with Karl Straube and composition with Max Reger), Hoyer was sent off by Reger with the words: “Herr Hoyer has a very exceptional talent as a composer. His organ sonata won the Nikisch Award. One can expect a great deal from him”. The Nikisch award aroused considerable attention, since the prize, named after the conductor Arthur Nikisch, was given to Hoyer by the Leipzig conservatory in 1910, when Hoyer was still a student. After positions in Riga and Chemnitz he became organist at St. Nikolai Church in Leipzig in 1926, where he was master of the Ladegast/Sauer organ, which was restored and enlarged in 2004. Hoyer died in 1936, from complications resulting from a knee injury that incurred while starting up his motorcycle. The Variations on a sacred folk tune heard tonight were written in Chemnitz in 1922. The piece was very familiar among the organists in Leipzig’s immediate sphere of cultural influence and ranked among Hoyer’s most often performed pieces.

 

Born into a musical family, Johann Sebastian Bach received his earliest instruction from his father. After his father's death in 1695, Bach moved to Ohrdruf, where he lived and studied organ with his older brother Johann Christoph. He also received an education at schools in Eisenach, Ohrdruf, and Lüneburg. Bach's first permanent positions were as organist in Arnstadt (1703-1707) and Mühlhausen (1707-1708). During these years, he performed, composed taught, and developed an interest in organ building. From 1708-1717 he was employed by Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar, first as court organist, and after 1714, as concertmaster. During this period, he composed many of his best organ compositions; in his capacity as concertmaster, he was also expected to produce a cantata each month. In Weimar, Bach's style was influenced by his study of numerous Italian compositions (especially Vivaldi concertos). From 1717-1723 Bach held the position as Music Director for the Prince Leopold of Cöthen. In 1723, Bach was appointed cantor at the St. Thomas Church and School, and Director of Music for Leipzig, positions which he retained for the rest of his career. His official duties included the responsibility of overseeing the music in the four principal churches of the city, and organizing other musical events sponsored by the municipal council. For these performances, he used pupils from the St. Thomas School, the city's professional musicians, and university students. Bach divided his singers into four choirs (one for each of the four main churches); he personally conducted the first choir, which sang on alternate Sundays at St. Thomas and St. Nicholas. His usual performing group consisted of around sixteen singers and eighteen instrumentalists, although these numbers could be augmented for special occasions. During his first six years in Leipzig (1723-1729), Bach's most impressive compositions were his sacred cantatas (four yearly cycles), and the St. John and St. Matthew Passions. Bach apparently gave virtuoso organ recitals in Leipzig and on various tours, although he had no official position as organist in Leipzig. In the 1740s, Bach made various journeys, most notably to the court of Frederick the Great in 1747. He continued a lively interest in the building of organs, and kept informed about the latest developments in the construction of harpsichords and pianofortes. Johann Sebastian Bach himself represented the end of an age, the culmination of the Baroque in a magnificent synthesis of Italian melodic invention, French rhythmic dance forms and German contrapuntal mastery. The Concerto heard tonight occupies a special position among the five Concerti that Bach transcribed for the organ. The main reasons are the extended cadenzas created by Bach in the first and last movements. He was certainly intending to transfer the extensive idiomatic violin figurations to the organ. But Bach went further by creating a unique type of compositional texture, turning this Concerto into a modern transcription of his time. The second movement, with its freely designed right hand, reminds one of a highly ornamented chorale prelude.

 

Mendelssohn’s intense and thorough studies of Bach’s organ music at an early age in his life provided him with many ideas for his own compositions. The works that you will hear tonight demonstrate Mendelssohn’s desire to experiment. These compositions were originally composed without a formal intention. The Fugue B-flat Major belongs to Mendelssohn’s last organ compositions. After several alterations the piece was integrated as the last movement into the Sonata op. 65 No. 4. The theme of the Andante D Major consists of 16 measures and is then followed by four variations. In the Allegro d-Minor Mendelssohn experiments with the combination of various sections. The virtuosic opening leads into a self-created chorale which then transitions into a Fugue.

 

Sigfrid Karg-Elert is among the most intriguing and interesting personalities in the sphere of organ composition of the 20th century. Born Siegfried Theodor Karg on November 21 1877, in Oberndorf am Neckar, the family relocated to Leipzig in 1883. Karg-Elert’s teachers at the Leipzig Conservatory included, at the time, well-known personalities such as Salomon Jadassohn, Alfred Reisenauer and Robert Teichmüller. 1905 until 1915 marks Karg-Elert’s first period of composition with works for piano, harmonium, organ, voice and choir. In 1919 he was appointed to the Leipzig Conservatory as Professor of Music Theory and Composition as successor to Max Reger, who died in 1916. His second period of composition followed from 1921 until 1927 with works for piano, organ and chamber music ensembles. The slow beginning of National Socialism in Germany in the 1920s had its impact on Karg-Elert and the general musical life. His ‘cosmopolitan’ and unique style of composing was different from his contemporaries. Only ‘pure German’ music was appreciated in Leipzig and at the Conservatory. Karg-Elert was considered an outsider. His interest in the music of Debussy, Skrjabin and Schönberg was viewed as suspicious. During his third period of composition from 1930 until 1933 Karg-Elert composed organ and chamber music as well as orchestral works. A concert tour through the United States in 1932 was unsuccessful and financial problems and sickness continued. Karg-Elert died on April 9, 1933 in Leipzig. In truth, Karg-Elert was no organist and his efforts to obtain an organist's post in Leipzig were unsuccessful, yet his writing for that instrument shows a clear understanding of organ technique and a most resourceful use of the instrument's capabilities. His treatment of the organ is characterized by an ideal transparency of sound, which is often not easily achievable on the rather massive instruments of the German Romantic period. Therefore, many of Karg-Elert’s organ compositions can be realized quite well on American or English organs rather than the German Romantic type.



 
 

What first attracted you to the organ as an instrument and how old were you when you started playing?

I started piano at the age of five. My teacher was the organist of my hometown in Germany. At age 12 he introduced me to the organ and I had both organ and piano lessons from that point on. I also accompanied the choir and played many masses as a young boy and as a teenager. This teacher created the technical, musical and philosophical basis for my career.

Who (or what) has had the greatest influence on you as a player?

Wolfgang Rübsam, Robert Anderson, Gillian Weir, Ewald Koimann, Helmut Walcha, Pierre Cocherau. All kinds of historic organs, ranging from the 17th century to the middle of the 20th century.

What is a typical day in the life of Stefan Engels like?

Every day is different. Practice, study, teaching, family time, I have almost every day.

What are the highlights of your forthcoming schedule?

Karg-Elert recordings, III. European Organ Academy Leipzig 2011, Engagements in the US, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Dresden, St. Albans! A sabbatical!

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Meet . . . Jean-Baptiste Dupont

Please tell us a little about your concert programme.

The program was set in consultation with David Titterington. After exploring a few possibilities, we thought about a concert of improvisation on the Way of the Cross. I'm very pleased that the Fourteen Stations will be read by Timothy West. I'll improvise musical comments on each of the Fourteen Stations. The Way of the Cross is an extremely strong episode in the life of Christ, and an extraordinary source of inspiration for improvisation.

 
 

What first attracted you to the organ as an instrument and how old were you when you started playing?

I became suddenly interested in the organ when I was 9. My mother had an old vinyl disc from Bach's organ works and I was highly impressed both by the music and by the sound of the instrument.
I started playing when I was 11-12. I might add that my very first organ CD is a recording from Peter Hurford called "Organ Spectacular" where I heard for the first time the organ in St-Sernin in Toulouse (I didn't imagine that I'd become assistant organist there, and that I would come to St Albans so often) !!!

Who (or what) has had the greatest influence on you as a player?

The first thing that influenced me as a player or an improviser is the fact that I'm fond of the organ as a complex machine, and I think that a great knowledge of the technical parameters of the instrument itself has a great influence on the way you use it. I should add that international competitions have given me a lot, by the important pressure, amount of work, and the contact with others musicians.
About the personalities who had a great influence on me and my music :
Direct influence :  Michel Bouvard, Willem Jansen, Louis Robilliard, Frederic Blanc, Philippe Lefebvre...
Indirect influence : Cesar Franck, Tournemire, Dupré and Duruflé, Messiaen, Reger... Cochereau, Wolgang Seifen etc.
 

What is a typical day in the life of Jean-Baptiste Dupont like?

No days are typical but I like to spend my days with my wife and our baby ; playing the organ ; working on the rebuilding of my (English) pipe organ... when not here and there for concerts...

What are the highlights of your forthcoming schedule?

- October 2010 : 1st recording from Reger's complete organ works at Magdeburg Dom, Concert tour in Italy
- November : concert in Notre-Dame in Paris
- mid December to mid January : Holidays !!!
- March 2011 : concert in St-Albans cathedral
- May 2011 : tour in USA

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Meet . . . Patrick Russill

Please tell us a little about your concert programme.

The focal point of my programme is Francis Grier's 'Te Deum' which he wrote for me in 1996, as the culminating item in a Gregorian chant concert given by the late Mary Berry and her Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge in the London Oratory on the theme of the Last Judgement.  Its an immensely powerful and varied work, whose seven organ versets alternate with the ancient Gregorian chant.  I've always wanted to play it in a great medieval church (the Oratory is rather baroque in inspiration), and where better than St Alban's with its ancient monastic resonances and magnificently rebuilt organ, whose original designer, Ralph Downes, also designed the Oratory organ?  The rest of the programme both connects and contrasts: the charming Dandrieu Magnificat will also be performed with its proper chant, Franck's majestic Choral No.3 - a true 'passage to glory' - was the last work he composed, and the Vierne pieces are immensely evocative of the two great Parisian liturgical spaces he served in - St Sulpice and Notre-Dame. 

 
 

What first attracted you to the organ as an instrument and how old were you when you started playing?

Hearing Bach's 'great' B minor Prelude and Fugue and the Fantasia and Fugue in G minor played on the Samuel Green organ in the chapel of New Wardour Castle in Wiltshire, where I was an altar server as a lad: I knew I had to play this music myself.  I got my chance to start playing when I was 13.

Who (or what) has had the greatest influence on you as a player?

Nicholas Danby, my teacher when I was organ scholar at New College, Oxford (elegance, refinement and a passionately European outlook, coupled with truly perceptive insights into the British choral and organ traditions) and the legendary Ralph Downes, who I succeeded as organist at the London Oratory.  Though I was never a pupil of his, his constant advice and exhortation in my early years at the Oratory (he was then Organist Emeritus there) profoundly shaped me as a musician in general, not just as an organist.
 

What is a typical day in the life of Patrick Russill like?

The major part of my working week is divided between being Director of Music at the London Oratory and Head of Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music - choral conducting and teaching young choral conductors - a combination I absolutely love.  My organ playing is now devoted to projects: my preparation is immensely helped by the two superb instruments at the Oratory, the 1952 Walker/Downes organ in the main church, and the beautiful little 1975/2005 Flentrop in the Little Oratory.

What are the highlights of your forthcoming schedule?

Recent projects have ranged from concerts on the reconstructed Tudor organs of the early English Organ Project to the massive Willis III at Westminster Cathedral.   I'm doing the complete Brahms Chorale Preludes Op.122 at the Oratory and of course there are choral engagements too, including a concert of Roman polyphony with the Oratory Choir in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum's exhibition of the re-united Rapael Cartoons and Tapestries from the Vatican, mounted in connection with the Papal Visit.

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