by Nigel C.B. Durrant
Often having thought that some sort of column from The Netherlands might interest readers of our Journal, I passed this idea on to the Editor in September 2005. He seemed genuinely enthusiastic. So then I had to decide how and where to begin. Of course. Cairo. Where else? Neutral territory. My first, somewhat unexpected, introduction to a ‘new’ organ in 2005 was in January, when I heard, and later spent a couple of hours playing, the organ in the Anglican Cathedral in the Egyptian capital. This instrument (currently 8 8 4 2 11; 8 4 2 11/3; 16 8 4) by Bevington & Sons of West London, might be seen as a tangible reminder of the British occupation of that city from 1882. Although direly in need of serious attention, sound Victorian craftsmanship was, as could be expected, very much to the fore, but at present it seems unlikely that any, much needed, professional care will ever be forthcoming. Nobody could tell me anything about the organ’s history.
Nearer home, a project that had for some time interested me was completed and introduced to the general public on May 26: the refurbishment (a collaboration between Kaat en Tijhuis and Flentrop Orgelbouw) of the 1973 Koenig/Fontijn & Gaal so-called ‘Couperin’ organ at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. I was unable to attend the inaugural recital but I am enthusiastic about the various snippets I have heard in the meantime: the sound of the organ has gained in virility and — a dangerous allegation from one who has not yet played the instrument since the overhaul — one feels the action has become ‘crisper’. Anyone whose appetite was whetted by the little Cacheux-Fremat instrument of 1739 in the church of St. Walburga in Brugge (which the KCOA visited in October 1999) will find in this reconstruction of a four-manual-and-pedal classical French organ un véritable banquet.
The organ in one of the churches where I regularly play was originally built in 1849 by a well known builder in the south of The Netherlands: Vollebregt of ‘s-Hertogenbosch. After the tower of the mediaeval church collapsed, a new building was erected and the original organ, extended by another eminent local firm, Smits, was installed in 1894. From then onwards the history of the instrument has been undistinguished, characterised by unfortunate rebuilds and an increasingly unreliable action, confounded by the presence of Mr. Woodworm. But then plans for a complete overhaul suddenly began to gain momentum. In 2004 the instrument, completely restored with the 1894 situation as starting point, was delivered by Flentrop Orgelbouw of Zaandam and is a real joy to behold. (The casework was conceived as an integral part of the rebuilt church so visually the organ and its surroundings achieve a splendid architectonic unity.) Despite a rather heavy, but responsive, action the instrument sounds stunning and playing it is a great joy to me. I finished a recital on this instrument in August with Kenneth Leighton’s Paean which proved, surprisingly, to be completely unknown to the audience. We also introduced some settings with organ accompaniment by Max Reger of songs (from the Spanish Songbook) by Hugo Wolf in which the accompaniments sounded perfectly at home on this instrument, so different from the type of organ for which Reger (and, for that matter, Kenneth Leighton) wrote.
In the summer months a number of churches in the centre of Utrecht open their doors to visitors, with guides in attendance and ridiculously cheap informative booklets providing a potted history of each building. I was completely unaware of this initiative — the scheme has only been running since 1988 — but visited all of them (there are three cathedrals, a Mennonite and a Lutheran church as well as the more usual Roman Catholic and Dutch Reformed parish churches) including those churches I have known for years. In some of these buildings an organ recital can be heard on Saturday afternoons, so the manifestation becomes a haven for lovers of organ music. Two such recitals stuck in my mind for non-musical reasons: in the St. Janskerk the organist played his programme to one listener — me — while in a building called de Leeuwbergh the organist actually removed his jacket and laid it neatly beside himself on the bench whilst playing, amazingly not fluffing a single note! De Leeuwbergh started life in 1567 as a hospital for plague sufferers, became a military hospital, the university’s chemistry laboratory, a pharmacological laboratory and a Protestant church before being transformed into a cultural centre in 2004. What makes it particularly interesting for readers of this Journal is that the organ (by the above-mentioned Flentrop), which introduced significant changes in Dutch concepts of organ building, was ordered in 1952 on the personal advice of Albert Schweitzer. Any member of the KCOA visiting The Netherlands in the summer would do well to spend a couple of days (preferably including a Saturday) in Utrecht to see and hear what is on offer.
Readers for whom a trip to The Netherlands is too far and who, unlike me, have (and know how to use) the internet will certainly be interested in an initiative of one of the several Dutch broadcasting organisations, the NCRV. For many years this association has presented a regular series of organ recitals on the radio and maintains an extensive recorded archive of these performances. In July they introduced a dedicated internet site: orgelconcerten.ncrv.nl, on which a number of these recordings can be heard. I have been assured that those who have no knowledge of Dutch will have no difficulty in using this site. Some of the material on offer is described as ‘half-forgotten, displaying a large diversity in quality’.
Organ-lovers in, or visiting, The Netherlands will doubtless be acquainted with the 1859 Kam organ in the Grote Kerk in Dordrecht, just near Rotterdam. Not so many people will be aware that there are now advanced plans for the construction of another monumental organ in the same church, in 2007. It is to be a new three-manual tracker-action instrument ‘after Silbermann’ and is to be built by Verschueren of Heythuysen. Concomitantly with this, a new organ festival and academy based in the town was inaugurated in June ‘Stichting Internationale Orgelacademie Dordrecht’; the first festival is due to take place in the autumn of 2007.
November 18th saw and heard Olivier Latry in Amsterdam, where he gave an all-Bach recital in the Westerkerk. The playing was, of course, superlative, the programme frankly popular (Preludes and Fugues in D and G, Pièce d’Orgue, Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, etc.). After all this, an encore: Wachet auf (though no one could possibly have slept through any part of the performance). Somehow it was this chorale prelude with its beautifully shaped ornamentation, which made the perfect end to my week. I can now close this article with this Latryvian Bach still permeating my brain.