Author: Paul

Anne and I have just spent a very happy few days on the Isle of Wight, where I played a recital on the beautiful Mutin / Cavaillé-Coll (restored by Andrew Cooper) in Quarr Abbey and gave some organ advice at Holy Trinity, Cowes. Wonderful weather and the Island was as delightful as ever: we managed two serious walks and rather more serious meals. Let’s hope the former balance out the latter.

Well, that’s it: all good things come to an end! Last night the wonderful Nottingham Bach Choir sang their hearts out in my final concert as their Musical Director — after 29 years at the helm. From the VW Mystical Songs, Parry’s Blest pair of Sirens to Haydn’s Little Organ Mass and Bach’s exceptionally challenging Singet dem Herrn — all were sung accurately and stylishly, with expression in the romantic pieces, elegance in the Haydn and sparkling vivacity in the Bach. No conductor could have wished for more — nor for a more enjoyable and stimulating three decades with a choir. I wish all my friends in NBC the very best wishes for an exciting future with my popular and talented successor, Dr Peter Siepmann, to whom I — literally — passed the baton at the end of the evening. Au revoir, NBC!

It has been a challenging week for our family. My lovely mother died, aged 93, on the same day that Notre Dame, Paris, burnt, my father having died (aged 98) at the end of 2017. On Thursday June 13th (their 72nd Wedding Anniversary) we buried their combined ashes in the peaceful Arboretum Cemetery here in Bingham, following a beautiful service in Southwell Minster, conducted by my old friend and colleague Canon Nigel Coates. Family and friends came together from all over the UK, from the USA and from Italy, so it was an amazing and enriching gathering. All went well, though we do now feel emotionally and physically drained, and it’s odd — even at our age — being without parents.

It’s been a while since I played the organ for an Organ Dedication service, so it was a special pleasure to do so at Barcheston today. The Bishop of Warwick dedicated the new organ—built by Henry Groves & Son in divided cases designed by the late Kenneth Tickell—and a glorious Choral Evensong was sung by a small choir of Oxford and London pros assembled and ably directed by Nigel Howells. This little Warwickshire country church will never before have experienced singing quite like that! A very happy occasion—as was the party which followed.

This weekend Anne and I have been staying in Orford, on the east coast, in whose parish church Benjamin Britten conducted the first performance of Noyes Fludde and of his Church Parables. It now has a fine organ, the 3-manual Peter Collins formerly at Southampton University, restored by Cousans Organs, which looks and sounds as if it had been made for its new home. There were three major concerts: I played the first, followed by Bernhard Haas (performing from memory) and then Catherine Ennis, whose vivacious performance of the Poulenc Concerto (with Prometheus Orchestra) brought the house down. A truly memorable weekend.

On Monday 15th April all my friends were glued to their screens watching in horror as the medieval roof of Notre Dame, Paris, burnt. For the Hale family, that came at the end of an already sad day in which my beloved mother, June, died. Aged 93, she had enjoyed 70 years of happy and fulfilling marriage to my father, Lawrie, who died at the end of 2017. Her last 16 months had been spent close to us in a Care Home, where it was a joy to have seen her regularly. She will be hugely missed but remembered with enormous affection.

Nicholson & Co Ltd, organ-builders of Malvern, today put on a stimulating training day for Diocesan organ advisers. Attracting DOAs from all over England—Devon to Carlisle—the day was packed with sessions on all aspects of organ restoration and conservation, including how to approach assessing what work needs doing, actions, wind, soundboards, electrics, pipe restoration, voicing, casework restoration, and so on. Warm thanks are owed to Managing Director Andrew Caskie and his skilled team for giving up an entire day to this event.

Today will long remain in my memory, for it was the last time I shall conduct the St Matthew Passion with Nottingham Bach Choir. Everything came together so well on the day—Orchestra da Camera (since my youth my favourite chamber orchestra for choral society accompaniment) on top form, along with all soloists, Rogers Covey-Crump delivering a memorable interpretation of the Evangelist’s core role. NBC sang as well as or better than they ever have—they really worked hard since January on this. The long silence at the end proclaimed the effect Bach’s stupendous masterwork had on everybody in Southwell Minster. And now on with preparing for my final concert with NBC, after 29 years conducting them, on June 22—Bach, Vaughan Williams, Haydn and Parry: yummy!

Had a lovely birthday today, following a superb week’s holiday for Anne and me in Madrid and Toledo. Such wonderful art to be found, and the balmy weather allowed us to walk for miles around each city in comfort. The three monumental organs of Toledo’s utterly magnificent cathedral are glorious to behold—not so lovely to hear. Here are two photos—the back case of the organ on the south of the Quire and the renowned Emperor’s organ in the south transept.

It’s not all that often that one returns to give a second recital in later years, on an organ where one has acted as consultant and given one of the opening recitals. But today I played again on the 2005 Harrison & Harrison rebuild of the important 1928 Skinner-inspired Henry Willis III in the Memorial Chapel at Glasgow University. The organ sounded utterly magnificent, was a pleasure to play and—mercifully—nothing seemed to me a bad decision 14 years ago. A relief and a real treat!