The Battle of the Organs at Chester Cathedral on 28th August was a wonderful affair featuring the Makin Windermere, Makin Derwent and the Cathedral’s chamber and Grand Organ. Canon Precentor Rosie Woodall introduced the evening with her usual wit; Philip Rushforth, Alexander Lanigan-Palotai, Daniel Mathieson and Graham Eccles entertained us all with a very varied programme which included some standard repertoire together with some excellent arrangements by Graham Eccles.
Toccata & Fugue in D minor (J S Bach)
Andante from Piano Concerto No 21 (W A Mozart)
Devil’s Gallop (C Williams)
Samson & Delilah (C Saint-Saens)
Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana (P Mascagni)
La Danse des Chevaliers (S Prokofiev)
Grand Choeur Dialogue (E Gigout)
Air on a G string (J S Bach)
Morning mood from Peer Gynt (E Grieg)
Will o’ the Wisp (G B Nevin)
Toccata in F (C-M Widor)
The programme balance was good, with enough traditional organ music for the serious organists but with a good dose of popular arrangements of orchestral pieces for the general music lover. Indeed, I would go as far as to say that, for the very large and varied audience, this was exceptionally well judged.
Keith Harrington commented: “Knowing the specification and many possibilities of combinations on the Makin instruments, I was really taken aback by some of the beautiful ‘synthesised’ sounds created on various divisions by Alex and Daniel in particular who found some wonderful combinations for the delicate solo lines.
For me the highlight of the evening was Daniel’s organ solo of the Gigout masterpiece on the Grand Organ. With simply superb registration and phrasing, taken at a statelier tempo than is often the case, the Tuba and other reeds really did sing out well. I think the phrase 15 out of 10 is appropriate.
Philip told us of the ongoing fund raising work for the organ rebuild which has benefitted from a £1.4 million grant from a Trust. Sadly changes in the VAT treatment, with a cap of £25,000 in relief means than an extra £300,000 will need raising to cover the VAT.
We did good trade in our own published sheet organ music, iconic bottle stoppers and organists keyrings.
Will there be a repeat next year? I hope so, we would be very happy to support it again!”
A very decent size of audience more or less filled the nave with fifteen minutes to go … by the time we started all the raised seats at the back were also filled
