New Canon Pastor appointed - Truro Cathedral

Organorak
DIVERSE DELIGHTS
(AND DOUBLE ENTENDRES)
ORGANORAK’S ‘SUMMERY VIEW’
Well, NOT very summery as I’m writing this (the Curse
of St Swithun?) but possibly less relentlessly Cornish by
the time you read it. More than halfway through the
Friday Recital season now, and there have indeed been
delights, notably several David Briggs pieces – I
particularly enjoyed ‘Le Tombeau de Duruflé – and all
the fun of Organ Discovery Day (TWO days actually,
with a special schools event at Truro Methodist Church
and the Cathedral) culminating in a multi-organic
experience – duets, duels, trios – and Luke Bond playing
the Widor Tocc blindfold (but could he see the pedals
through holes in his sox?)
The concert season has been equally rewarding, from
Saint Mary’s Singers’ heady mix of Bach, Stravinsky,
Copland and VW, via Tavener’s ‘Towards Silence’ with
the combination of antiphonal string quartets plus
Tibetan singing bowl having a profound effect on some
listeners; then a truly monumental Greig Piano Concerto
(fortunately not accompanied by ‘offstage’ drumming
from Lemon Quay!) to the recent rare combination of
violin and organ from the Gough Duo, in which
‘authentic’ works by Rheinberger, Liszt and Karg-Elert
were contrasted with Rupert Gough’s own splendid
arrangements.
Howard Goodall has been a great advocate for Truro
recently, so it was great to meet him again at the
premiere of ‘A New Heart, a New Spirit’ which he
composed to display the talents of the four Cathedral –
based choirs – up to 13 parts lively organ writing, four
languages and one of the most memorable ‘alleluia’
melodies ever – more than a month later I still catch
myself singing it! The rest of the concert, featuring the
choir singly or in combination was also a truly
glorious showcase of Cornish choral excellence – I
only wish the whole evening could have been
recorded. And we’ve had two other World Premieres
recently – the commemoration of 50 years of Amnesty
International was marked by ‘The Harrowing of Hell’
by Russell Pascoe, a searing and evocative work for
vocal quartet and centrepiece of the Cathedral’s first
ever Evensong Webcast, an innovation which will
gladden the hearts of the choir’s worldwide fans.
By now, my regular readers (yes, both of you!) will be
wondering what happened to the promised ‘double
entendres’. In fact I meant it literally – we have had
the chance to hear some works twice, but in slightly
different forms. It’s been fascinating to contrast Julia
Hwang’s sublime ‘Lark Ascending’ at the SMS concert
with the Gough Duo version with organ (Mother
Willis provides some wonderful imitative wind, but
even she can’t manage a triangle!) Rachmaninov’s
‘Vocalise’ featured in Marcus Wibberley’s organ
recital in his own arrangement, and again in the
Gough Duo’s concert – Rupert Gough admitting he’d
been influenced by David Briggs’ own transcription
recorded at Truro (and in all our CD collections).
Truro Choral Society’s splendid Brahms Requiem was
followed a month later by Three Spires’ magnificent
performance of the version with piano duet
accompaniment (The Amazing Comeaus, of course!)
And at the Friday recitals, Marco Lo Muscio’s ‘Lord of
the Rings’ – inspired suite appeared again, played
by its dedicatee Alessandro Bianchi (we don’t see an
Italian organist for years and then two come along at
once.)
A final thought – why are we not getting the ‘big’ St
Endellion concert at the Cathedral in August – do they
really believe Wagner will sound better in the Hall for
Cornwall? As a protest, I hope to arrange for the
Operanorak Ensemble to perform the original version
of Wagner’s only true Cornish work – ‘Tristan on ‘is
‘Oliday’.
INFORMATION
For more information visit our website www.trurocathedral.org.uk
or contact the Cathedral Office, 14 St Mary’s Street, Truro, TR1 2AF
(Open Monday to Friday 9am –5pm)
tel: 01872 276782
Articles or adverts for the Oct / Nov edition should be submitted
where possible by email to philip@trurocathedral.org.uk by Friday 16th Sept