Tom Winpenny organ
Willowhayne Records WHR101 (2 CDs)
Geoffrey Álvarez was a pupil of Giles Swayne and Paul Patterson at the Royal Academy of Music. He later did postgraduate work at York University with David Blake and Richard Orton, and obtained a D.Phil. His works include Symphonies, seven to date, choral music, an Oboe Concerto and operas.
The writing of his St Paul’s Shipwreck: Organ Symphony was due to an invitation he received to adjudicate a composer’s competition in Malta. Malta has a thriving school of composition that draws inspiration for the landscape and the monuments such as the megalithic temple to the Great Mother. Charles Camilleri (1931-2009) was inspiration for this current Maltese school, and Álvarez was aware that the organist Kevin Bowyer had recorded some of his music.
This is not the first work to treat St Paul’s shipwreck as the basis for a composition. George Dyson’s choral work St Paul’s Voyage to Melita (1933) was one of a sequence of substantial choral works that Dyson composed for the well patronised festivals of that period, most notably the Three Choirs Festival. J. B. Dykes’ hymn tune for ‘Eternal Father, strong to save’ is also called Melita, the old form of the name for Malta.
Another aspect of the matter is that organ music with a programme is much less common than in the past. In his book Organ Playing, Its Expression and Technique, (1911) Arthur Eaglefield Hull gives a classification of pieces. One section is headed ‘Declared Programme Music’ and includes the Storm Fantasia by Jacques Lemmens and another by Neukomm, as well as Paulus by Otto Malling, as series of pieces depicting the life of St Paul.
This organ symphony, whether intended or not, is taking its place as part of a recognised tradition in programme music for organ. The other Symphony on the second disc is one of four symphonies by the composer for groups of various sizes, and Citrinitas (2015) is for the organ and was inspired by Kevin Bowyer’s première of ‘St Paul’s’ and some alchemical research. Space does not permit a fuller discussion of this work.
The tonal idiom is uncompromising, dissonant, but with moments of relative repose. As always, Tom Winpenny has complete command of this very taxing music, both technically and I would guess, emotionally. His discography is wide-ranging and includes music by Elgar, Schumann, Judith Bingham, Messiaen, Malcolm Williamson and Elisabeth Lutyens, to name only a few. An amazing achievement. The organ in St Albans Cathedral is full of colour and the requisite power when required. The quality of the recording is excellent.
Review by Martyn Strachan