During an Adelaide Festival of Arts event in 1970, organist Catharina Corbett met Tom Way who introduced her to the Organ Music Society, thus beginning her long and valued membership of the Society.
In September 1983, Catharina joined the Committee, and from March 1984 until December 2005 held the position of Newsletter distributor. That was a meticulous and time consuming activity; addressing, sorting, and posting out the monthly Newsletter. It invariably involved much patient but firm dealing with the Post Office. "They know me there," she would often be heard to say.
As Membership Secretary, Catharina has been known to most OMS members as the welcoming face of the Society. She took that office in July 1985, collecting subscriptions, sending reminders, keeping accurate records, and welcoming new members with a personal letter. I know from my own early experience, when Catharina was there to greet me, how much a smile and friendly conversation can help a new comer to feel at ease.
In 1988 Membership Cards were introduced and Catharina inscribed them all by hand. Before the introduction of computers, Newsletters were also addressed by hand, piece by piece, "in front of the TV each evening". Society archives and concert programs have all been carefully preserved and stored "under the harpsichord" to keep the Society's memory alive.
Catharina's recollection of events and people is legendary. She tells me that she has been fortunate to have had the help and support of her husband Robert, who could so often be seen moving chairs, washing cups and carrying the legendary "tea machine". Long time members will also remember Catharina's late Father, a music lover who rarely missed a concert.
After 41 years membership, 28 years on the Committee, 21 years as Newsletter Distributor and 26 years as Membership Secretary, Catharina feels it is time to pass the responsibility to others. We are all greatly indebted to Catharina for her dedication to the welfare of the Society. We wish her and Robert a more leisurely life with plenty of time for music and possibly another visit home to the Netherlands.
As parish organist Brenton knows this organ and carefully selected and prepared pieces well suited to it. (See Aug/Sept 2011 Newsletter for specifications).
The first four pieces:
J S Bach's Chorale Prelude on Walther's 'Christ lag.in Todesbanden', F W Marpurg's Ein' feste Burg, J Stanley's Suite in D, and C Tambling's Concertina, Aria & Hymn on Campbell's 'Sagina', were chosen for personal reasons detailed by Brenton in his program notes. They took us on a musical time-trip from the 16th century to the present, demonstrating both organ and organist's versatility.
His final piece (chosen to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11) was John Knowles Paine's Concert Variations on 'The Star Spangled Banner' in typically Romantic style of the late 19th century. While only the theme was distinctively American, I did rather get the impression that the Fuga foreshadowed '76 Trombones' from 'The Music Man', but perhaps that was due to Brenton's registration. In any event it was appropriate and well done.
Overall I thought it an interesting mix of well-known and little-known pieces which reminded us of the fine parish instruments and players we have which it is the Society's aim to value and hear while we can.
It was a cold afternoon but a warm church with a worthy attendance awaited international organist, Benjamin Sheen from the UK. He is said to be the brightest young musician of his generation and with a profile dripping with place names including St Paul's Cathedral (London), Westminster Abbey, Eton, Oxford, Liverpool Cathedral, BBC and now New York, we could not be surprised by the talent that he presented to us.
He opened the programme with a clean and assured Imperial March by Elgar (arr G Martin.)
Four Sketches for pedal piano Op.58 (Schumann) followed which had a pianistic quality using delicate and subtle registration transitions. Another international organist also favoured us with this selection at Pilgrim earlier this year.
Durufle's Prelude et Fugue sur le nom d'Alain Op.7 shared sophisticated sequenced registrations including a pulsating tremulant section with chanson styled solo threads. Miroir by Ad Wammes (b.1953) really did sparkle like a mirror and was as delicate as walking on glass.
By way of contrast, Bovet's (b 1942) "Hamburger Totentanz" from Trois Preludes Hambourgeois intrigued us with blunt and sonorous versions of popular classical themes and one could almost imagine the sauce dripping between the layers of the offerings presented. Benjamin certainly had the art of extracting a luscious garnish from his intimate knowledge of the organ's extensive tonal palette.
The usual friendly Pilgrim interval allowed us to stretch our legs before entering into the entire Vierne Symphony No.3 in F sharp minor Op.28 comprising Allegro Maestoso, Cantilene, Intermezzo, Adagio, and Final. This mysterious and haunting work was written during tragic circumstances and Benjamin immersed himself in the complexity of its themes applying experienced use of rhythm and chromatic intensity. Whilst he liberally explored the vast resources of the organ, he always had command of the dynamics without imposing on the instrument or the audience.
A bouncy and seemingly effortless encore followed with the popular Bach Fugue a`la Gigue BWV577.
This was an exceptional recital and although Ben did not publicly acknowledge the instrument, one could not help but be grateful for the credible way in which it performed throughout such a rigorous "work out". In this instance, all praise must go to the Pilgrim community, the benefactors of its organs, the organ builder and those who tend to it on a regular basis. All have given significant contributions to Adelaide's diverse music culture of which this recital was a part.
Around twenty members and friends made the effort to venture out on a pleasant Saturday afternoon and were rewarded with a nice relaxed occasion with good friends playing nice music on nice pipe organs.
Fr Bruce Naylor started off at St Barnabas', Croydon with the music by Corrette, Guilan and Du Mage. All three pieces demonstrated the sharp French sounds of the "Fractions" ranks of the organ. A very versatile organ and, I might add, a very versatile organist.
At the next church, St Margaret's Woodville, Fr Peter Garland played music by J S Bach, Charpentier, and the 20th century English composer and organist Oliphant Chukerbutty. This last piece was unknown to me but it was clear that Peter had skilfully adapted this piece designed for a grand cathedral sized organ to the modest instrument available. Peter mentioned in his comments about the benefit of the newly added Mixture III on the Great and this indeed added just the right sparkle to the otherwise bland 8' and 4' sound characteristic of Dodd organs of the early 1900s.
At St Paul's Port Adelaide, Alicen Miller played music by J S Bach, Merkel and Dandrieu. In the Bach the solo played on the 4' Swell flute up an octave balanced particularly well with the accompaniment on the Great.
One of the highlights of this organ crawl was the way in which all of the organists added additional pieces to their programme when it was found that those organists in the audience had not bought their music, organ shoes, organ glasses or organ brains to have a try on each organ. (Ouch!)
Fr Bruce had prepared well and spoke of the five benefits of participating in such an organ crawl event.
Experiencing different churches, layouts, furniture & mystery
Hearing organs from different builders in different acoustic environments
Sociological – experiencing contrasting suburbs
Learning the history of each church/building
Experiencing the wonderful works of art and architecture in different buildings
I found that this organ crawl did all of those things for me and it had the added benefit that we were not stuck on hard church pews for any length of time. Congratulations to Fr Bruce, Fr Peter and Alicen and their respective churches for making this event possible.
