Tom Winpenny (organ of St Albans Cathedral)

The music on ‘Symphonies & Sundries’ contains the complete corpus of music for solo organ by Geoffrey Álvarez. This recordings concludes with his earliest work Transfiguration – a swirling dance full of youthfully vigorous serial counterpoint having been bought up on a rich diet of Messiaen and Ligeti as an organist at the City of London School, supplemented with side dishes of Schoenberg and Boulez served at the Proms… Whilst David Briggs, who commissioned the work, gave a very spirited performance in 1980 in Solihull, Tom Winpenny took up the baton during the pandemic when he had the opportunity to learn the piece in a quarantined Cathedral – the first step in his journey to master the complete works. A storm ravaged University of Glasgow Memorial Chapel was the setting for Kevin Bower’s 2014 premiere of the organ symphony St Paul’s Shipwreck which he described as ‘The first great organ storm of the 21st Century’. Both Bower’s rendition and Tom Bell’s later performance at St Paul’s Cathedral were both distinguished interpretations, but the colours Tom Winpenny coaxes from the great Harrisson and Harrison instrument at St Albans Cathedral are equally seductive and the listener will be swept away by the coruscating waves of notes as they pound the deck, a tone-soaked nave. The musical language is now modality (plainsong) and tempest-twisted tonality. The third work to be written Citrinitas confronts the problem of ageing head on; beginning with a ‘Raging against the dying of the light’ with frequent death-thunder of the tuba mirum later in the piece. However, citrinitas refers to the alchemical process of relinquishing the masculine, material animus which is like a lead weight (symbolized by opaque pedal double-stopping characterized by low sixths) allowing the anima to ascend to a radiant empyrean at the conclusion of this symphony or alchemical emblem.

The most recent work Ave Maria is an arrangement for solo organ, requested by Tom Winpenny, of a Maltese version of the Catholic devotion Is-sliem għalik Marija – originally for baritone, trumpet and organ. Gently oscillating harmonies are inspired by the sylvan flute rituals of New Guinea, a Banquet céleste served with Tom’s exquisite sensitivity, allowing the listener to bask in the radiant serenity and calm spirituality of a rich Messiaenic Malta.

2 CDs