Gordon Stewart (Organist Emeritus, Huddersfield Town Hall)
Edwin Lemare: Thanksgiving March
Bernard Johnson: Pavane in A
Johann Sebastian Bach: Fugue in D minor (The Fiddle Fugue)
Sydney Hugo Nicholson: Impromptu No 2
Alexandre Guilmant: Scherzo (Sonata 5)
Dan Miller: Prelude on Faithfulness
Fernand de la Tombelle: Toccata op.23/3
Gordon Stewart, long associated with Huddersfield Town Hall, makes a welcome return visit to the Albert Hall and begins with two composers connected with the Binns organ. Edwin Lemare inaugurated the instrument in October 1910, and his Thanksgiving March commemorates the end of the Great War. Bernard Johnson was installed as resident organist by the donor Jesse Boot and served here for almost a quarter of a century. JSB’s “Fiddle” fugue reminds us of its earlier provenance as a piece for solo violin, while Sir Sydney Nicholson had a great impact on English church music as director of music at Westminster Abbey and founder of the Royal School of Church Music. Alexandre Guilmant, who played in Nottingham at St Mary’s, is recalled by the assertive Scherzo from his fifth sonata, then we hear Dan Millar’s meditation on the much-loved hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness, which begins quietly and then gets pretty loud! Finally we hear the Toccata by Fernand de la Tombelle, a pupil of Guilmant. If this piece makes you think of Dubois’s Toccata in G: well, he studied with Dubois too.
The concert runs from 1.10pm to 1.55pm.
Admission £5 at the door, or book online.
Feel free to bring your own lunch.
Gordon Stewart was born in Dundee and after studies in Manchester and Geneva he was for 15 years a cathedral organist, first in Manchester then in Blackburn. For 30 years he was Borough Organist of Kirklees where he played regular concerts on the 1860 Father Willis organ in Huddersfield Town Hall. He is now Organist Emeritus.
He has recorded on organs in the UK, USA and in South Africa and has played concertos with the BBC Philharmonic, the Northern Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North and Orchestra Victoria. For over 20 years he broadcast regularly on BBC, chiefly as a musical director on Daily Service, Sunday Half Hour and Songs of Praise.
Gordon taught for several years at the Royal Northern College of Music and Cambridge University. He has appeared as visiting tutor at courses in the UK, Sweden, America and South Africa.
Gordon has played throughout the UK including Celebrity Concerts at St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, throughout Europe, and in the United States, South Africa, and Australia. He has been awarded honorary fellowships by the Royal College of Organists, the Royal School of Church Music and the Guild of Church Musicians, and an honorary doctorate by the University of Huddersfield.
He was awarded the British Empire Medal in the King’s first Birthday Honours.