Pedal power

Musical Times, Summer 1999 by Bond, Ann

Pedal power

ANN BOND

The Cambridge companion to the organ Edited by Nicholas Thistlethwaite & Geoffrey Webber Cambridge UP (Cambridge, 1998); xiv, 340pp; L37.50 / L13.95 pbk. ISBN 0 521 57309 2 / 0 521 57584 2.

In spite of recent surges of interest, no instrument suffers more misrepresentation in the musical world at large than the organ, and the perspectives offered by this authoritative new compendium are sorely needed. Not only should it dispel much of the backlog of misunderstanding, but it will ensure that the younger generation starts out with a much better view of this vast subject. The book has three sections, dealing with the instrument itself, the player, and the major areas of repertory. Most of the 17 contributors are renowned experts in their particular fields, and almost all of them succeed in encapsulating, in a mere dozen pages or so, the essentials of their very considerable specialist experience. In fact, the demand for brevity has not been a drawback, but has often engendered creative and perceptive summarisation. Deft editing has ensured a fair consensus of literary style; the result is never less than readable, and sometimes positively compelling.

The first section starts with an excellent overview of the organ's ethos and evolution. Stephen Bicknell then explains clearly the workings of its mechanism (though more comment on the implications of slider chests might have been welcome); whilst John Mainstone tackles the question of sound production in pipes. This was the only chapter that came near to being a turnoff for me, but it is worth persevering, since useful information emerges from its scientific angle. Christopher Kent's lucid account of temperament and pitch should be required reading for everyone who plays music from before 1800, even if the obvious is nowhere stated - that the more sustaining power an instrument possesses, the more crucial the issue of temperament becomes. Organ cases are an important topic, and many fascinating architectural concepts emerge: the gothic organ-case representing a turreted city (perhaps even the City of God?), the Italian case a Roman triumphal arch, and so on. The lack of integrity in later developments - screens of nonfunctional pipes, 'open' and caseless layouts, the divorce of console and pipework - are trenchantly spelt out, and recur briefly in Bicknell's summary of present-day organ-building trends.

Two of the chapters in the next section are absolutely outstanding: Kimberley Marshall's penetrating exposition of the fundamentals of touch and articulation in organ-playing, and Edward Higginbottom's account of the interdependence of organ music and the liturgy. These could hardly be bettered, and should be required reading for all students of any age. Higginbottom is too tactful to rub it in, but the reader is made amply aware of how recent liturgical trends have cut us off from the roots of our organ culture. Marshall's survey of the vast tracts of historical performance practice struck me as a less satisfactory chapter, though she realistically acknowledges its patchiness. She is best on ornamentation and the French classical school; less helpful (though lengthy) on 16th-century Spanish and Italian fingering. Her aim was probably to let the principles of historical performance emerge from such details, but most students need them more explicitly set forth, and the attendant problems should at least be mentioned.

The remaining eleven chapters are devoted to the repertory. It is revealing that six chapters relate to pre-Bach, and four to post-Bach; whilst David Yearsley of Cornell, having as it were drawn the short straw, deals with the central figure. He contributes a masterly summary of Bach, managing to state most of the essentials, and even add something fresh, in his 14 pages. Sensibly, the editors gave Patrick Russell his head and did not restrain his evident enthusiasm for the music of the South German and Austrian school. Although it is probably the least 'useful' repertory to the average English organist, having neither liturgical relevance nor the expansiveness which makes for good recital items, a culture which gave us Ottobeuren and Weingarten cannot be ignored, and his substantial and imaginatively-written account had me reaching for my volumes of Muffat and Albrechtsberger. I was not so inspired by Geoffrey Webber on the North Germans: the chapter seemed to have a donnish preoccupation with the evolution of forms and styles, yet it failed to address a vital practical issue that much of the music comes to us from tablature, which does not indicate the division of the notes between manuals and pedals. Neither is there mention of the fact that certain items in extreme keys, such as the famous Buxtehude FO Praeludium, were transmitted in transposed versions, because of the prevalence of mean-tone tuning (Buxtehude's own organ being an exception). However, Edward Higginbottom is predictably excellent on the French classical school, and Christopher Stembridge is authoritative about the Italians up to and including Frescobaldi, an area now receiving welcome prominence. Organ music since Bach is well summarised by Graham Barber, Gerard Brooks, Andrew McCrea, and Douglas Reed, who contribute useful insights. Finally, there is a good bibliography for follow-up reading, helpful lists of editions, and a long-needed appendix dealing with the church modes, on which so much organ music is based.