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Hello all. This search of mine has been bugging me for almost a year!
I am not an organist by trade; I have been a concert classical pianist for some years and play other instruments as well; I am not trained as an organist and, therefore, have only happened to play organ incidentally and never with the complete ease of a true organist. However, I have always been fascinated by the sound of a well-constructed pipe organ and the richness of the repertoire.
About one year ago (Aug 15, 2009, to be exact) I attended an Evensong service at the Westminster Abbey Cathedral in London, UK (I myself am from the US). The music was wonderful and the organist was excellent. My question concerns the final piece that he played, which I am assuming is a postlude of some sort, as the ministers and choir exited to this performance. It was a very fiery piece, exciting to listen to and heavily chromatic - 'modern-sounding' one could say.
I have been searching far and wide for the name of the piece that the organist played to no avail. An e-mail to someone at Westminster a few days after the performance was never responded to, and, as I have limited knowledge of the organ repertoire, I have not had (much) luck in finding the piece. Alas, I have sat on this for a year already, so the chances that anyone - the organist that day included - would remember what was played are rapidly approaching nil.
I do have very, very limited pieces of information which could prove helpful to those of you who have a more extensive knowledge of the repertoire. As I mentioned, I remember the piece as being very highly chromatic in nature. My own searches have turned up several pieces and composers that seem to echo much of what I heard, although the exact piece still remains elusive:
- The piece sounded very similar to the Toccata from the Suite Gothique by Leon Boellmann; that is, it could be described as menacing...my companion that day remarked that the piece sounded "a little bit like the theme from Batman"
- The tonal language was a bit more chromatic than the above Boellmann piece, however, something more along the lines of works by Jean Langlais
- Similar to the Boellmann Toccata, I remember a very prominent, ominous-sounding line played in the lower register (foot pedals, I assume). I will attempt to recreate it below (pitch above, duration below; Q. = dotted quarter, e = eighth, H = half)
| Bb-----Db-E------- | Bb-----Db-Gb------- |
| Q.----- e- H------- | Q.----- e -H-------- |
The above pitches or durations could be incorrect, but I seem to remember this pretty clearly.
Anyhow, I know this is very likely a futile search. For all I know, it could have been a really fantastic improvisation which only exists now in my inner ear...oh the dread! However, if you do happen to have an extensive knowledge of organ music and enjoy engaging in these types of intellectual queries, I beg you to indulge me! Feel free to ask any questions if you would like more information.
And, of course, thank you for your time and consideration in reading this and assisting me in my search!
Matt
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Welcome aboard MIMF, Matt.
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