Die Kunst der Fuge

Last week to the Royal Festival Hall to hear Anne Page give us the art of fugue on the organ there, the third time I have been to hear this organ since it was refurbished. The third time that I have been to hear the art of fugue this year, with the other two occasions being noticed at reference 2 (consort of viols) and reference 3 (harpsicord). I think the occasion before that was, when the work was played on a small organ which had been moved onto the stage of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, getting on for ten years ago now. I think the chap next to me mentioned at reference 4 also knew all about the machines used for making spectacle lenses.

Mild evening, but off to a slightly bad start with a young man coming through the West Hull tunnel under the railway a good deal faster than he should have - particularly since cyclists are invited to dismount at this point.

A good programme, which included helpful diagrams of both the organ console and the organ pipes and a musical glossary. Plus notes on the concert itself.

Next move was to sit in row 'G' rather than in row 'J', an interesting slip between two similar sounds. The (right) seat in front of me was sponsored by Clifford Chance, which I noticed because I think I know someone who used to work for them, with the catch that the person sitting in a sponsored seat only gets to know about the sponsor of the seat in front, which does not seem quite right. Hall not full, but the stalls were probably two thirds full, which I thought quite respectable for an off-piste work of this sort. Which the programme told me was probably never intended for performance as a whole. It also reminded me that Bach died before he completed the last fugue, with his son marking up the end of the incomplete manuscript to this effect. On this occasion, we got a new completion from P. Binski. I don't think this was the one offered by Fretwork in September, not that I would have known.

The organist turned up in trousers and a smart looking cream brocade frock coat, open at the front. Not a style which I have seen before.

For the first time I heard the point of having such a big organ, with the different lines of music being highlighted both by their timbre and by their position - with the organ being perhaps as much as 90 degrees wide from where I sat. The drill seemed to be that the organist - or someone - had set up stop settings for each of the twenty or so sections - settings which could each be activated by pulling a single piston (I think this is organ speak for the control in question). Apart from a couple of spots where I thought it was too loud and another spot where I seemed to be getting an odd echo from the right hand boxes, it was so successful that I could no longer see why one would want to play the work on anything other than an organ! No doubt I will change my mind again when I next hear it on something else.

There did not seem to be anything like as much foot work as was noticed at reference 4. I would not have thought there was much doubt about which lines are to be played by the feet, so I can't see why this should be. On the other hand there is, presumably, plenty of scope for the organist doing his or her thing with the many stops - which could make a lot of difference. A lot more difference that one usually gets from scored music.

I was not sure about the wisdom of an encore, but she gave us the chorale, 'Voor Deinen Thron tret ich hiermit' - 'Before Thy throne I now appear', probably the last thing that Bach wrote (or rather dictated), and which was bound with the first edition of  'Der Kunst der Fuge'. It worked rather well. Appendix A of the Tovey version at reference 1. Of which I have read a little more this time around.

Just about two hours, including the interval. Out to catch the 2139, on which I learned some of the mysteries of train timetables on telephones. With the ones that I was using not appearing to come from any train company that I recognised.

PS 1: Anne Page comes from Perth in Western Australia, but is now based in Cambridge. I did not catch an accent in the little she said to us, but there was something a little foreign about her manner. But she has a properly Cantabrian bicycle with wicker basket in the picture at reference 5. She also did rather well at the slightly tricky business of walking across the wide, empty stage of the RFH to take her bow, and then climbing up to the organ loft in full view. Neat little jump over the bench to take her seat on it.

PS 2: regarding feet, it came to me overnight that maybe it is to do with the number of  manuals available. The RFH organ had four, while the much smaller QEH organ may have only had three. This for music which comes in up to four parts. I notice in the Tovey that there are instructions about manuals & pedals for the Appendix A chorale, which there are not in the work proper.

Reference 1: Die Kunst der Fugue, edited by D. F. Tovey, 1931. Score plus three appendices and a separately bound companion.

Reference 2: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/wigmore-two.html.

Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/kings-place.html.

Reference 4: http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=fccla.

Reference 5: http://www.theladyorganist.com/five-questions-for-anne-page/.

Reference 6: http://www.pjb.com.au/mus/arr/a4/thron_kbd.pdf. To whom I am grateful for the illustration used above.