With your Newsletter you will find, if you reside in the Kingston area, two tickets to Thomas Annand’s recital on Friday, February 3rd, 2006 at St. George’s Cathedral. These are NOT free tickets, and it is your Executive’s wish that you buy these tickets, either for yourself, or to give to a friend, perhaps for Christmas. You may pay at the door, or you can send the money to Joan Egnatoff, our Treasurer, made payable to Kingston RCCO. Thomas Annand is the best organist I have ever heard. His noon recital at St. George’s last year was wonderfully received, and I was thrilled that he agreed to come back. He divides his time between his church St. Andrew’s Presbyterian in Ottawa, the NAC Orchestra (organ and harpsichord), The Thirteen Strings (which he conducts), Capital Brassworks (he founded and conducts), Les Violons du Roi, many recital engagements, and composition. In 2004, he received the top marks on his FRCCO examination. He also won the RCCO National Playing Competition in 1987. Please come and bring your friends!
This is my last year as Chair of the Centre. Perhaps you would like to serve on the Executive next year. We certainly try hard to plan a program that has something for all of our members. New ideas (and faces) are most welcome! Let your Executive know what you like, and what you don’t.1
Christmas fast approaches. The malls have had the music going from just past Hallowe’en, and although I find this galling, I have always loved the Christinas rehearsals with my choirs which started in early November. A choir is certainly a family. Maybe you will have the opportunity to attend someone else’s concert or service this year. Too often, musicians do not really have worship and listening opportunities. Take some time for yourself!!
Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year! See you at the Twelfth Night Party!
Carol Ramer
1This is a request that 1 and other past Chairs have often made in this Newsletter. I don’t believe it was ever granted! Please....make Carol’s day! (Ed.)
The concert in honour of St Cecilia which was held at St George’s Cathedral on Saturday November 19th was not an RCCO event, but it was one which was of great interest to all members, and indeed to all local music-lovers who are choral enthusiasts. Its successful — one might even say, its triumphant — achievement certainly seems to deserve recognition in these pages.
I shall not attempt a detailed review, for which there is hardly space. I am concerned rather to share my appreciation of the tremendous effort which went into this highly enjoyable concert. After forty years in Kingston, I cannot claim to have heard all the commendable choral productions that have taken place in this very musical city; but I dare to suggest that this performance was unsurpassed. The outstanding body of singers assembled for the purpose, including some highly competent soloists, did full justice to a programme consisting entirely of masterpieces which challenged the performers both by their profundity and, very often, their technical difficulty. It was fitting that the programme started with works by Purcell and Britten, who are arguably the two finest choral composers that England has produced. The relevance of the pieces chosen to the saint and the theme which we were celebrating was a pure bonus. Britten’s Ode to St Cecilia presented perhaps the most original technical problems, which were convincingly surmounted. It is a work which I have enjoyed many times on recordings but never heard in a live performance. Vaughan Williams’ Serenade is, I suppose, known and loved by us all. Parry’s Blest Pair of Sirens and Willan’s Apostrophe to the Heavenly Hosts I confess that I have never heard before, and the same is true of the Lotti Crucifixus, which I have in my choir’s library at St Mary’s thanks to the generosity of a one-time choir member, who optimistically supposed that I might one day have a large enough choir to sing it!2 It was certainly worth hearing, though its relevance to the material of the rest of the concert was not obvious.
Brian Jackson earned our gratitude for his inspired direction. I have never forgotten his superb performance with the K.S.O. of Mahler’s Second Symphony some years ago, and can’t entirely suppress a feeling of regret that so much of his talent is spent on light music. Matthew Larkin’s organ and (in the Vaughan Williams) piano accompaniments were as usual impressive. But I really want to congratulate above all the indefatigable Sarah Pugh, whose brainchild I am told this was, and who must have worked exceedingly hard in the background to bring about the realization of her dream.
St George’s was packed for the occasion, as it deserved to be; and considering the debt that the Kingston Centre owes to that great church and its staff for constant friendship and support of our programmes over the years, it is good to think that this splendid event must have made a not inconsiderable contribution to its Restoration Fund, hi times when churches all over are debasing their musical currency, the musical — and religious — communities in Kingston are indebted to it for its unyielding support of great music.
2At least, it wasn’t the forty parts of Spem in Alium!
Kingston concertgoers were treated to a fine recital at Charmers United Church on October 22nd, performed by distinguished Ottawa organist and choral conductor, Matthew Larkin. Mr. Larkin was born in England, but moved to Canada as a young boy. He received his early musical training at St. George’s Cathedral here in Kingston, becoming the Cathedral’s assistant organist while he was still in high school. He went on to study organ at the University of Toronto, and later was a student of Nicholas Danby at the Royal College of Music in London, England. Mr. Larkin began his career as organist and choirmaster in Victoria, B.C. at the Church of St. John the Divine. In 1995 he took up a similar position at St. Matthew’s, Ottawa, and during his tenure he built the St. Matthew’s Boys’ Choir into an ensemble of national significance. He has now succeeded Frances Macdonnell at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa.
The Chalmers program began with Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in G Minor (BWV 542), in which Mr. Larkin immediately established a commanding and well-articulated rhythmic style. During the Fantasia he employed a subtle use of rubato, and cadences were tastefully ornamented. The disjunct theme of the fugue was detached, standing out clearly against the legato counter theme. The fugue was played at a vigorous tempo, with a driving rhythm that was, for the most part, steady. Registration was sparse; the Chalmers organ combines pipework with electronic voices, and Mr. Larkin did well in combining these elements to produce a reasonably good Baroque chorus effect.
The remainder of the program featured nineteenth-century music by Elgar, Brahms, and Widor. This was a challenging choice of repertoire, composed as it was for performance in reverberant European cathedrals; the dry acoustics at Chalmers seemed to accentuate the chiffy flues and bright reeds, which this reviewer found somewhat disconcerting. That being said, Mr. Larkin still was able to give us a commanding performance.
Edward Elgar’s Sonata in G (opus 28) is a large work in four movements. In the opening Allegro maestoso, Mr. Larkin again displayed his characteristic command of rhythm, along with admirably clear phrasing and articulation. The short Allegretto movement featured a flute melody imposed over a rather delightfully whimsical accompaniment on the closed Swell Organ. The third movement, Andante Espressivo, began with soft foundation stops, and ended very quietly — yet with a sense of expectation — on the strings. The final Presto (comodo) movement did not disappoint us; it began with great energy. The development section which followed was brooding, with frequent changes of key and dynamics reminiscent of César Franck, the whole being punctuated by occasional outbursts from the reeds. Eventually a jaunty, songful theme emerged. The movement built rapidly to a full-organ climax, concluding with a satisfying finale which was very rhythmic, very accented, and very grand!
After a short intermission, the program continued with Brahms’ Prelude and Fugue in G Minor. This is very early Brahms — written when he was in his early twenties, just after the death of his friend and mentor, Robert Schumann. It was interesting to hear this work, composed as it was before many of the characteristics of Brahms’ mature style had developed. The prelude is improvisatory throughout, with flashes of virtuosity in both manuals and pedals. The fugue began solidly, reflecting Brahms’ mastery of the earlier techniques of the Baroque masters.
The final work on the program was Symphony VI (Opus 42, No. 2), by the great French organ master, Charles-Marie Widor. This is an extensive work in five movements. Mr. Larkin displayed stunning virtuosity in the opening Allegro, especially during a tremendously flashy pedal solo, which he played extremely well. (This was all the more admirable inasmuch as I am told that he arrived to play the recital missing his organ shoes, and had to perform using large-soled street shoes!)
The second movement was a quiet Adagio, which was played expressively on the strings, accompanying a beautiful flute solo. The Intermezzo Allegro movement began forte, with a strong, rhythmic melody accented by urgent arpeggios in the accompanying voices; masterful phrasing, as usual. The fourth movement, Cantabile, featured a reed solo. This stop sounded cold and bright, lacking the softer Oboe tone which would have added warmth to the movement. The detached pedal part provided some very effective contrast, however.
The last movement — Finale Vivace — was impressive and regal, beginning as it did on the full organ, with trumpet fanfares, and moving forward to an exciting finale in the inimitable tradition of the French masters.
Some of the most exciting moments of the evening were yet to come, however. For an encore, Mr. Larkin performed a magnificent improvisation on the hymn tune, “Slane.” It began in the free style of a fantasia, followed by a section of “fluttering voices” on the flutes. Next, the theme was harmonised in fourths and the pace began to pick up. Finally, after a brief period of relaxation, the music built to a glorious climax — at which point Mr. Larkin seemed to abandon himself completely to the music, in a passionate ending that to this listener, at least, seemed to eclipse everything else that was played that evening.
Bravo!
The Kingston Centre Newsletter is edited by Norman Brown. It is published four times a year, in September, December, March and June, and is sent free of charge to all members of the Kingston Centre of the R.C.C.O., and to current scholarship holders. It will be sent on request to others on payment of an annual subscription of $10.00, which should be sent to the Treasurer, Joan Egnatoff (cheques should be made payable to R.C.C.O. Kingston Centre).