Speech by Piet Kee to the Annual General Meeting of the International Organ Festival in February 2009

Ladies and Gentlemen,

What a pleasure to be again in your country. To escape from Europe.

Maybe you know the name of Charles Burney, the remarkable eighteenth century English musician, a universal man, author, composer and historian, who wrote books on his musical travels to Europe with wonderful stories about his experiences, meetings with great composers and visits to strange countries like Holland. Well, I am now in the land of Burney himself, and that is - fortunately - rather strange as well.

Each time it is a feast to be here, where people drive on the left side of the road and actually do a lot of things on the left side, so to speak. My first computer was a stubborn English Acorn with the Sibelius music notation program. I was almost the only one in Holland using it and felt left handed. And what about the English system of coins and measures and the names quaver and hemi-demi-semi-quaver for simple eighth and sixty fourth notes. I love it, and please keep it so!

And is it not England where they sing about the “Land of hope and glory”, the land of Edward Elgar, one of my beloved composers. When I hear the Enigma Variations, their theme and Nimrod, my God, it’s hard to avoid tears in my eyes. I am afraid those tears can appear more often listening to British music when I think for instance of Purcell’s “When I am laid in earth” from Dido and Aeneas, or John Dowland’s “Flow my tears” in his Lachrimae songs.

That brings me to another great speciality of your country: vocal music, the singing. When I attend a British church service I am always looking forward to the hymn singing of the congregation. It’s such a difference from Europe, and certainly compared to Holland. An eighteenth century English traveller (I believe it was Mr. Burney himself) described the psalm singing in the New Church in Amsterdam as the “lowing of the cows of Bazan”… The English tempo is always so natural, the spirit so musical, and when you look at the neighbour on the chair beside you, yes, you often see that he probably was a choirboy once. Maybe we must also drive on the left on the other side of the North Sea.

The first time I visited England was in 1957 because of a recital I had to play in the Royal Festival Hall. I found in good old England a modern concert hall with a good atmosphere, an excellent organ, cleverly designed, combining old and new ideas by a remarkable gentleman: Ralph Downes. A very special man.

The first time I was in St Albans I found in good old England an overwhelming, enchanting cathedral building, an excellent organ, cleverly designed, and I met a remarkable gentleman: Peter Hurford, a very special man. And - no coincidence - Ralph Downes was there as well. It was at your first Organ Festival in 1963. I still see the three of us, Ralph, Peter and me, walking from Abbey Mill Lane uphill, quite fast. “Peter walks fast and thinks fast” is what Ralph said.

There are so many memories, certainly, of that first festival. I had the privilege to stay at 31 Abbey Mill Lane, enjoying the presence of three lovely children in that home full of the great spirit and warmth of Pat and Peter, living, acting and thinking fast indeed. There are the memories, of course, of the jury members and participants from that first time. Of Marie Claire Alain for instance, whom I met afterwards so often in all kinds of spots in the world as a sister in art of the same age. And to Susan Landale, with whom I had dinner this week, who was forty six years ago the first winner of the interpretation competition…

I think this is a good moment to touch on the subject which is so central to us: the organ. The history of the English organ is dominated by Queen Victoria. Go to the Royal Albert Hall, to St Paul’s Cathedral, to Westminster Abbey and you hear and see an organ which reflects the power of the British Empire and the glorious industrial and technological progress of that time. It overshadows almost completely the organ culture of early music and sometimes also the progress of modern organ building and music. That has its advantages and disadvantages. It was very valuable that Peter started in the festival of 1967 an exhibition of small British organs, a splendid idea. Several of these instruments were inspired by historical organs, which invited people to discover the beauty of the rich early English organ history and literature. And it stimulated the organ builders to make instruments with mechanical action, tracker organs, a craft which was neglected in the Victorian era. Small organs can be so inspiring to make music in a delicate way; “Auch kleine Dinge können uns entzücken” did Hugo Wolff sing in that beautiful Lied (“Also the small things can be enchanting”). Or think for instance about the intimate beauty of Spielstück number 3 by Hugo Distler, written just for a small organ. There is a moving performance of it on one of Peter’s records.

I mentioned the cleverly designed organs of the Royal Festival Hall and St Albans Abbey, combining old and new. They have a good portion of Victorian cake (very tasty) but also the possibilities to make Bach and so much early as well as modern music alive. Quite progressive when you realise that they date from the early fifties and sixties, the time of pioneering. How often I have been moved, sitting in the abbey and thinking “how wonderful that a Schübler choral can sound so well here in the land of Dad’s Army”. The abbey organ has been standing like a rock in the ocean of the endless wide organ repertoire during those twenty four festivals since 1963! Being a symbol for the St Albans quality. The view on interpretation, especially the performance of baroque music, has often changed like the waves of the ocean. There were many discussions, often passionate, about Bach playing. I remember a forum in the festival of 1980, when I was on the jury with Hugh McLean and Ferdinand Klinda. In an answer to questions from the participants I compared the organ touch with the tonal attack on other old instruments such as the flute, oboe and so on, criticising careless legato playing. I probably overstated this. I still see the relief on the faces of McLean and Klinda after my jury recital - they were happy, they liked it, but they had been afraid they would hear dreadful staccato playing all the time, certainly from somebody coming from the pirate country of Holland.

Between that pirate country, the organ town Haarlem and St Albans, there is a warm connection. It started already in your first festival in 1963 when I was a member of the jury. Now, before the twenty fifth festival the director is even the organist of a Dutch church! While your last but one director, Andrew Lucas, travelled in his study years to Haarlem for lessons with me. Not to speak about the warm relations with Ben van Oosten and Jos van der Kooy.

You probably know that the Haarlem competition concentrates on improvisation. When I look at the list of winners in your improvisation competition it is remarkable that four of them were also the champions in Haarlem. Andre Isoir won in ‘65 in Haarlem as well in St Albans. And there are Jos van der Kooy, Naji Hakim and Gerben Mourik, who won in Haarlem last year.

In the year 2001 I returned to St Albans after a long absence. I was wondering, will it all be there again? And, yes it was all there, the St Albans quality, the wonderful atmosphere, the abbey still on its hilltop, the spirit, a real festival spirit. Andrew Lucas was the new director and very happy. The other jury members were Ben van Oosten, Marie Claire Alain, David Higgs and Thomas Trotter. There were the evensongs which give the festival an extra charm, there was the good hymn singing and there was a master class by Peter Hurford, of which I have special memories. It was named “Back to Bach”. I talked earlier about passionate, fanatic Bach discussions. Well here was passion, yes, Peter’s passion for music, accompanied by his wisdom in such a way that discussions were not necessary.

I was invited also as a composer. Thomas and me, we shared playing a jury concert with an unforgettable performance/arrangement of Wagner’s Rienzi overture by Thomas. After the intermission my composition Network for two organs (large and small), alto saxophone and descant recorder was performed. It has a rather British background: it was commissioned by the Incorporated Association of Organists in the time that Peter was its president. The premiere took place in St Peter’s, Eaton Square, London in 1994. When I wrote it I was often thinking of the ambiance of St Albans and the space of the Abbey. That it was played indeed in your festival, in a beautiful way, functioning musically and socially - it is a network - made me happy. In that same festival of 2001 my mini-oratorio The World on a text of Henry Vaughan was performed by the BBC Singers.

I mentioned earlier the spirit of your festival. Well, in that same year I received a commission from you, sponsored by Lesley and Don King, to write a composition for the five jury members, to be played on the Abbey organ and four box organs. I called it Festival Spirit. What a pleasure it was to compose it and to play it with my colleagues Marie Claire Alain, David Higgs, Ben van Oosten and Thomas Trotter!

The St Albans festival has so much magic. Now, on the “eve” of the twenty fifth edition, I would love to add some more magic. I’ll end my speech musically with the Saint Albans Waltz; a piece of music in honour of your honorary president as it is based on the musical letters of his name, sounding on the tiniest instrument I could find. And I hope it will please you.

To see and hear the St Albans Waltz click here .

Concluding his speech with this dedication to Peter Hurford, Piet Kee omitted to tell us that hidden within the St Albans Waltz are other musical references – can you spot them? The IOF members did!