A lecture-recital by Prof. David J. Smith on early English keyboard music, using the E J Johnson chamber organ in St Bride’s Episcopal Church.

William Byrd’s anniversary in 2023 was a great opportunity to reassess his keyboard music as it relates to the organ. We will explore which pieces are best suited to the organ (all of them!), what the fingerings in the manuscript sources of this repertoire tell us about how to play early English keyboard music, and how we can go about interpreting the mysterious single- and double-stroke ornament signs. Byrd composed music for players of all levels of ability, so come along to find out more!

David J. Smith was Head of Music and Master of Chapel and Ceremonial Music at the University of Aberdeen before becoming the Founding Head of Music at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne. He specialises in early English keyboard music and improvisation, and his edition of the complete keyboard music of Peter Philips (one of Byrd’s students) appears in the scholarly series, Musica Britannica.

Our opening syllabus event features two young organists in a joint recital at Cadder Parish Church, Bishopbriggs.

Ciaran Walker is the Organist and Director of Music at St Michael’s Parish Church, Inveresk and a music graduate of the University of Edinburgh where he held three organ prizes. He is the recipient of several diplomas including the Associateship of the Royal College of Organists. In addition to organ playing, Ciaran enjoys playing continuo with various ensembles.

Jonathan Smith is a final-year music student at the University of Glasgow where he is the Lanfine Organ Scholar, working regularly with the Chapel Choir. He also accompanies the University Choral Society and Opera Society, and collaborates frequently with composers, performers and students in various projects.

The recital will include works by Mendelssohn, Stanford, Franck, and Bach on the 2-manual Norman & Beard organ. The performance will be recorded and available to listen back for a short while after.

Outing to Dumfries:

St John the Evangelist (3 manual Harrison & Harrison)

Lunch at Crichton Campus

Crichton Memorial Church (2 manual Lewis, A listed),

St Michaels & South Church (2manual Willis)

Full details will be issued closer to the time by email.

Please join us for our 2024 AGM. Includes lunch at 1 pm.

A recital by Steven McIntyre (Cathedral Organist, St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Glasgow) on the 3-manual Harrison & Harrison organ at Pollokshields Parish Church.

RCO Scots Training Day at St Andrew’s West Church of Scotland, Glasgow. The workshop will be led by Ian Munro and Andrew Macintosh.

Free observer places for GSO members (drop in from 2 pm onwards).

More information on the sessions can be found here.

A joint recital by Jeremy Wan and Ronan McQuade on the 3-manual Lammermuir organ at Sherbrooke Mosspark Parish Church.

An improvisation session with John Riley.

John Riley is a classical musician based in Edinburgh, and  has enjoyed a varied career within music. He has a particular interest in the allied disciplines of composition and improvisation, not least the placing of familiar musical material in a variety of different styles and genres. John has contributed to various journals in the UK and overseas and provided organ improvisation classes for various groups, including several masterclasses for students at Cambridge University and recently also at Oxford University.

The RSCM Scotland Triennial Festival returns to Paisley Abbey for a celebration of George McPhee’s 60 years as Director of Music at Paisley Abbey. Music includes music by George McPhee, Stanford as well as a commission for the occasion by Peter Nardone. Attendees are requested to purchase the bespoke service book which is available from the RSCM shop.

Registration and seating from 13:00, rehearsal 14:00-16:00, service 17:00-18:00.

If you would like to attend, please register through the GSO Secretary by Friday 22nd September.

Our last event of the 2022–23 syllabus sees us travel down the River Clyde to visit three significant organs. The trip will include the organs of:

Langbank Parish Church
St John’s Episcopal Church, Greenock
Wellpark Mid Parish Church, Greenock

Full details to follow.

Please join us for our 2023 AGM. Refreshments (including home baking) served afterwards!

New Paisley Brass, directed by GSO member Robin Erskine and with GSO President Tom Ferguson at the organ, present a varied programme of well known and not-so-well-known music including Canzona 28 by Gabrieli for 2 brass choirs, settings for organ and brass of Nicolai / Bach Sleepers Wake and Karg-Elert's Nun danket, with solo organ music by Malcolm Archer, Ronald Watson and Denis Bédard, and music for brass ensemble from the 17th century through to Greig, Gordon Jacob, and Kraken by Chris Hazell.

Our planned event on early English keyboard music has unfortunately been postponed due to issues beyond our control. We will instead host a concert featuring the Abbey’s renowned organ, built originally by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll and subsequently rebuilt by HNB, Walker, and H&H.

Details of artist and programme to follow.

This virtual event is hosted on YouTube: https://youtu.be/AkauKbBfSv0

Anne Page presents and performs a lecture-recital, created exclusively for the GSO, exploring the history of the harmonium and how to approach playing it. The revival of the harmonium as a mainstream instrument has become Anne’s particular speciality: she has made recordings which have brought the instrument to a wider public and directs an annual course for the Royal Academy of Music—the first in modern times in this country. Born and educated in Perth, Australia, she moved to Europe to continue advanced studies successively with Marie-Claire Alain, Peter Hurford and Jacques van Oortmerssen.

Based in Cambridge, she directed the Cambridge Summer Recitals for eight years, presenting many world and UK first performances and bringing several major recitalists from Europe to Britain for the first time. She made her London debut playing 20th century repertoire at the Royal Festival Hall. She took a leading role in the Historic Organ Sound Archive, and is a founder and trustee of the Cambridge Academy of Organ Studies. During 2011-2012 she performed the complete organ works of Bach in Cambridge.

Our thanks go to Anne for her time and expertise in producing this video, along with Phil and Pam Fluke, Bruce Dracott, Tim Clayton, and everyone – GSO members or not – tuning in to listen. We hope to see you all in person at future GSO events!

Choral Contemplations II: Music for Choir and Organ

The Glasgow Society of Organists are delighted to return to the wonderful surroundings of the University of Glasgow Memorial Chapel to join the University of Glasgow Chapel Choir for this joint syllabus event.

The concert will consist of works for choir and organ, including the following pieces:

Panis Angelicus (Cesar Franck)
Magnificat in D (Percy Whitlock)
Finale from A Sequence for all Saints (Kenneth Leighton)
Leaf from leaf Christ knows (Judith Weir)

The Choir is directed by Katy Lavinia Cooper, and accompanied by University Organist Kevin Bowyer and organ scholars Jeremy Wan and Jonathan Smith.

https://fb.me/e/5eQarkydZ

Glasgow Society of Organists 2022–23 season kickstarts with an organ recital from Imogen Morgan, prizewinning Fellow of the Royal College of Organists and Assistant Master of the Music at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh. Her programme makes full use of the immense range of orchestral voices in Glasgow Cathedral’s 1879 Father Willis organ, marrying effervescent flutes, plangent strings and cataclysmic brass to create a fascinating symphonic experience.

César Franck, known as the father of the organ symphony, was a hugely influential composer and organist, with his twelve organ pieces paving the way for an entirely new style of instrument. His monumental Third Chorale was written just months before his death, and is saturated with emotion—building from moments of heart-rending introspection to a profound climax, it is a fitting conclusion to the life of such a significant composer. This performance, presented in collaboration with Glasgow Cathedral Festival, also features music by Joseph Jongen, and from the exquisite Psalm Preludes by Herbert Howells.

The day’s itinerary will include visits of: the 1868 TC Lewis organ, recently installed in the newly-built McPherson Recital Room at the University of St Andrews; and the 1890 Hill organ of Lochee Parish Church, the sister instrument to the grand organ of Sydney Town Hall.

1100-1230 Laidlaw Music Centre

1245 lunch in St Andrews, then drive to Dundee (c1415)

1500-1630 St Salvador's Dundee

1700 Lochee

1800 Go home

The GSO returns to this fascinating cinema organ, but this time in-person! Aaron Hawthorne, winner of the 2019 Young Theatre Organist of the Year competition, led a GSO virtual event in 2021 which gave us an excellent introduction to the theatre organ in general, alongside a wealth of information specifically about the Pollokshaws instrument. We now have the opportunity to experience the sounds of the instrument live, as Aaron offers an in-person demonstration. There will also be the chance for GSO members to try the instrument themselves, after Aaron’s performance.

Fr Gerard Byrne, Parish Priest of St Brigid’s, gives a lecture on the expressive power of Gregorian Chant. To explore the history and workings of this millennium-old style of worship, Fr Byrne draws on his personal passion for the subject, alongside his studies at the Pontifical Scots College in Rome and time spent as special assistant to the Roman Curia’s Vox Clara committee. The lecture is accessible to all, with no need for any prior knowledge of chant.

Update: This event will now take place on Zoom. Zoom links will be emailed out to GSO members before the day. If you would like to join in as a non-GSO member, please contact us separately for the link.

Join Prof Richard Michael BEM in a guided tour, where he will explain his approach to improvisation in all styles. Richard will show how jazz pianists and baroque specialist use the same tools in improvising, and will give practical instruction on how to change the basic harmonies found in many hymn books.

Richard is Honorary Professor of jazz piano at St Andrews University, and has received much praise for his new book Jazz Piano for Kids, published by Hal Leonard. He can be heard most Sunday nights on BBC Radio Scotland, analysing tunes from The Great American Songbook on Jazz Nights.

Please bring a copy of CH4 if possible.

Bill Kean gives a lecture including photographs of famous European organs, with recordings to match.

Simon Leach performs a recital across two significant organs from either end of the 20th Century: the 1919 Norman & Beard / William Hill & Son organ of Marchmont House, and the 1998 Frobenius organ of the Canongate Kirk. The Marchmont instrument was commissioned before William Hill & Son officially merged with Norman and Beard Ltd., and with its ornate case by Lorimer it represents a truly unique part of Scottish organ history. The Canongate instrument is rightly renowned for its exquisite voicing and tonal quality, and is the 1000th organ built by Frobenius. Simon Leach is Organist at Canongate Kirk and Marchmont House, and has recorded this performance especially for GSO.

The performance will be broadcast on YouTube at 3pm, and remains available for 1 month.