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Review - Liverpool Organ Day 2008
THE fact that Liverpool can boast three of the most famous organs built in the last 150 years or so is remarkable.
The two cathedrals have two of the most significant 20th-century instruments, while the organ at St. George’s Hall should have World Heritage status. And the great thing is they are played regularly, with St. George’s Hall featuring increasingly as a concert venue which includes music for the organ.
This Bank Holiday extravaganza began with Daniel Bishop, sub-organist at Liverpool Cathedral, playing a range of music from the popular and competently played D minor Toccata and Fugue by Bach, through an inspirational performance of Howells’s Psalm Prelude Set 1 No 2, and a thoughtful performance of Darke’s overly-long Retrospection.
Bishop’s talents shone through in Whitlock’s Plymouth Suite, where a sparkling Toccata was accompanied by typically wistful interpretations of Lantana and Salix.
The high-point – and a chance for theatre – came in Bishop’s own arrangement of John Williams’s Hymn to the Fallen, from Saving Private Ryan. It might be somewhat sentimental but the inspired inclusion of side drum, played by former chorister Andrew Davey as he processed from the Rankin Porch under the central space to the High Altar, was much appreciated by the Audience.
The afternoon performance, by Tim Noon, at the Metropolitan Cathedral, perversely included the same Howells Psalm Prelude, totally different but nonetheless moving.
The somewhat French-inspired programme included the first movement from Widor’s Sixth Symphony and the rather trite Carillon de Westminster, by Vierne.
Particularly interesting was Noon’s ability to make the organ sound like a French instrument, especially in the excerpts from the Baroque Messe des Couvents, by Couperin.
The final performance was given by city organist Ian Tracey at St. George’s Hall, a curtain-raiser to what will become a regular series of recitals at the Hall – something abandoned in the 1980s and, surely, a welcome addition to the vibrant round of organ recitals in the area.
Review - Spring Bank Holiday Recital 2006
TALENT spotting is par for the course in this job. Although, as Alan Bleasdale always maintained, critics rarely ‘discover’ artists, publicity undeniably helps. Thus I was happy to list the 25-year-old Liverpool musician Daniel Bishop among those to look out for in 2006.
So far, Daniel has composed, played and produced a CD of piano music; written incidental music for a play, performed two sell-out Elton John tribute concerts at Sefton Park Palm House (with Andrew Davey) and been appointed sub-organist of Liverpool Cathedral.
It was in the latter capacity that he further achieved yesterday, heading up Liverpool Organ Day, which also featured concerts by Richard Lea, Terence Duffy and Harry Percy at the Metropolitan Cathedral and by Ian Tracey on the newly rebuilt instrument at Holy Trinity, Wavertree.
Few, except organ anoraks, do the triple whammy, but there is justifiable concern and disappointment that the concluding recital could not be, as usual, at St. George’s Hall.
Work on restoring the hall organ does not begin until next month, and the building itself was said to be available. So why wasn’t it? St. George’s Hall is a civic asset staffed by civil servants. Sometimes, one could be forgiven for believing it was a private club besieged by unwelcome intruders.
The turn-out for Daniel Bishop was a full house – despite a £3 parking charge as part of the Cathedral’s new-found zest for thrift. But the reward was sufficient, with a popular yet fairly conventional programme, by contrast with today’s emphasis on virtuosity.
There are many ways to register and play Bach’s three-part G Major Fantasia, most of them acceptable. Daniel Bishop chose that of the constantly engineered crescendo, without risking any final vulgarity.
There was additional restraint and delicacy elsewhere, including two self-arranged film score transcriptions from The Mission and Meet Joe Black.
From the conventional repertoire, showpieces by Gigout and Whitlock yielded more notes than on the printed page, but also an ability to salvage the situation without panic or alerting the uninitiated.
For power punters there was also the aptly named Suite Gothique of Leon Boellmann, capped by its sombre French toccata, a style echoed, this time in brilliant F Major, with a final encore from Widor’s Fifth Symphony.
Rating: 7/10. Rising Star.
Review by Joe Riley
Arts Editor, Liverpool Echo
Tuesday May 2, 2006
Review - Organ Recital, Rochdale Town Hall 2004
ORTOA (Oldham, Rochdale & Tameside Organists' Association) does a splendid job promoting organ music in the in area in general and Rochdale's town hall instrument in particular.
This concert itself was a fine example of the work that ORTOA does. Daniel Bishop as a promising young organist was given some assistance from the Brereton Fund, established in memory of two valued members. Now here he is as a music graduate on the early rungs of the ladder of a professional career playing the town hall organ.
He began with JS Bach's famous Toccata & Fugue in D Minor - more experienced players would not touch this because it is so popular, but youthful panache brought it off.
The rest of his splendidly varied programme was well suited to the 1913 J.J. Binns instrument. Powerful Herbert Howells, delightful Percy Whitlock, dramatic Suite Gothique by Boellman and the masterly Grand Choeur Dialogue by Gigout, truly gave the instrument an airing.
These monumental works were interspersed with smaller pieces by Andrew Fletcher, Arthur Milner and the Prelude on the Londonderry Air by Noel Rawsthorne - a classic of its kind.
This talent and boundless enthusiasm was a joy to behold. May his career and the future of ORTOA continue to blossom.
Music correspondent Dr Joe Dawson studied at Manchester’s Royal College of Music and University and held senior posts in schools and colleges in Rochdale as well as being an active performer, accompanist and conductor. He is now Artistic Director of Toad Lane Performing Arts Centre and teaches privately.
