Kevin Bowyer, a British organist participating in the current organ festival, speaks of how youthful fanaticism can help tame unplayable music, his research interests and his days as a university organist. His concert takes place on 2 November.
– You have won five international organ competitions. Which do you consider to be most representative nowadays?
– It’s not easy to say these days. There have been so many competitions, and so many competition winners. The most important thing about playing in any competition is making friends and contacts. Of course, it is always nice to win but to sustain a successful concert career any competition win is secondary. Charisma, energy and musicianship are what keep the momentum going. Having said that, I think that the older, established competitions, like St Albans and Chartres are the most noted and have the most respect.
– You are phenomenal virtuoso. Which is the most challenging work you have ever performed? Will you be playing it in St Petersburg?
– That is an easy question! Kaikhosru Sorabji’s Second Organ Symphony is the most difficult work I’ve ever performed. It is a solo piece, written in 1929-32 and playing for nearly eight hours (that’s just the music – a complete performance, including two intervals, takes nine and a half hours). Of course, the length makes it almost impossible to play, but its demands don’t just concern that. It is very busy for nearly all the time, and there are extreme difficulties of rhythm and texture. The composer left very few registration marks, so the performer has to “orchestrate” the piece with the stops. Of course, this is often the case with many works including Commotio, which I play in my concert, but in the Sorabji the organist has to find sounds which sustain the logic of the music over a very long period. Organists call this process “registering”. Just to register Sorabji’s Second Organ Symphony takes at least five full days, 9 in the morning to 7 in the evening. The Mariinsky is a very busy hall so, if it were to be done here, the rehearsal/registering process would, I guess, need to be spread over a longer time, perhaps even three weeks, picking rehearsal slots between other events. Add to that the necessity of private rehearsal over a period of many months prior to the performance. So, you see, it is a very difficult work to programme.
– When did you first discover the music of Sorabji? How did it catch your fancy? Your dissertation focuses on his works, does not it?
– Yes, my PhD involved the production of a complete performing/critical edition of Sorabji’s solo organ works. It runs to about 800 large format pages of music, plus a long introduction and very full critical notes. I remember very well the day that I discovered Sorabji. I was standing in the music library of the Royal Academy of Music one day in October 1979 and noticed a large red book on the top shelf to my right. I pulled it down and found the 1925 Curwen edition of Sorabji’s “ORGAN SYMPHONY” (this was No. 1 of course). I’ve always had a rather obsessive nature (without it I could never have played any of this music) and in my early days this meant “achieving the impossible”. This work had never been played complete (only a shortened version of the middle movement had been played, just once, in 1928), and it had acquired a reputation of being unplayable, impossible. So I set out do it, although the opportunity to do so did not arrive until 1987.
– To what extent has your familiarity with the Mariinsky´s organ influenced your selection of works that you will be performing at the Concert Hall during this trip?
– The Mariinsky organ has a very clear sound, very crisp. I was thinking of specific sounds when I chose to programme the Reincken and the Vivaldi/Bach. They should sound excellent here. 2015 is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Carl Nielsen, so it seemed appropriate to play Commotio, but the Mariinsky organ also has the colours for this music, as well as the possibility of providing smooth crescendo/diminuendi.
– You have recorded a huge number of discs. Did you use different organs? Would you like to record something using our organ? What are the strong and weak features of the Mariinsky’s organ?
– Yes, I used many organs to record. My recording career began in 1986 and I’ve now lost count of the number of CDs. Of course, it would be excellent to record on the Mariinsky organ. Each organ has its own distinct character so it isn’t always easy to identify particular strong and weak aspects, particularly in such a good, reliable instrument as this. However, the strong points certainly include the fact of the two consoles, one with mechanical action, the other with electric action. This eases the performance of a very wide repertoire. The possibility of having the console on stage, close to the audience, is a big plus. The clarity and energy of sound I’ve already noted elsewhere. The only sound missing from the organ, that would really add something, is a 32 foot pedal reed, although this stop would take a lot of space and there may not be room for it in the case. It would add gravity and “terror” to the sound.
– This will be the first performance of David Aprahamian Liddle’s Mnemonic Suite In St Petersburg. Why did you decide to include this piece in your programme?
– David is himself an organist, so writes very naturally for the instrument. Two things led me to programme this piece. Firstly, the sound of the organ will suit the music very well. The music sometimes demands a lot of “fizz” and energy, and the Mariinsky’s clear sound, even at quite high dynamic levels, can achieve this. Secondly, the eight movements are all very short and this provides the opportunity to display very widely different sounds. The musical language is similar in many ways to late Marcel Dupre. Tonality is pushed to the limit in some cases, although tonal centres are always nearby. It has many characters, from dark and mysterious through to exhilarating.
– What do your duties as a university staff organist involve? Where, how often and on what occasions do you perform?
– My duties in the University in Glasgow include accompanying the very fine choir, organising the organ concert series, playing for graduations and seeing that the organs are as well maintained as possible. Occasionally I lecture, mostly to the composition students on how to write for the organ or harpsichord, and I have occasional organ students. The University chapel also has many weddings – about 150 each year, and I play at many of these. I encourage the wedding couples to have any music they like and consequently often play pop music, rock, blues, as well as music from films and shows. Three times this year, for instance, I have played the theme music from Jurassic Park as wedding exit music!
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