UNISSUED RECORDING - Elgar’s “Organ Sonata”: John Scott St Paul’s Cathedral 1984
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- čas přidán 6. 11. 2016
- Recorded in St Paul’s Cathedral in October 1984 but never issued and hence unheard until now, we are delighted and honoured to share with you this unique item as a tribute to the genius of John Scott. The “Sonata” was recorded in very few takes on the post-Mander rebuild, and John Scott plays with great sensitivity and passion.
The recording was made by Nick Ware Sound Recordings and was intended to be included as part of the Guild LP GRCD7022, produced by Barry Rose, but was not used due to time constraints. It has never been issued or heard since that day in October 1984 and, to use Nick’s own words, ‘that can’t be right!’ So we thank him for his generosity in donating this recording to the Archive and allowing it to be heard once again.
All copyright remains with the copyright holder.
Elgar’s “Sonata in G major” (Op. 28) was written in 1895 at the request of Hugh Blair, organist of Worcester Cathedral, who wanted a new piece to play on 8 July of that year to a group of visiting American organists. Unfortunately, Elgar handed Blair the finished manuscript only five days before the première, which proved to be insufficient time for him to prepare it properly. The first performance was described by one attendee as ‘a terrible mess of poor Elgar’s work’, although Elgar was magnanimous in refusing to blame the ‘murderer’, who, he said, ‘had not had time thoroughly to study the victim.’ After Elgar’s death, the Sonata was orchestrated by Gordon Jacob and was first performed in this new version on the BBC Home Service in 1947.
1. Allegro
2. Intermezzo
3. Adagio
4. Finale - Hudba
I was privileged to know John when he was Organ Scholar at St John's College Cambridge: a charming man and of course a wonderful organist. His early death was a tragic loss.
By the esteemed organist, John Scott.
This performance defies superlatives.
I was honored to have met John Scott and to have worshipped during his tenure at St. Thomas, NYC
I’ll never forget being in the audience of his stirringly beautiful recital of Bach’s music on Saturday June 20 2015 (I saved the program).
SOLI DEO GLORIA
Rest in peace John Scott. I think of you when I visit St. Thomas Church in NYC. You would be proud of the new organ there.
I have lost count of the number of times I have listened to this recording and it never fails to thrill, wonderful piece of music, fantastic organ played by a genius so sadly lost to us so young. Rest in peace John.
Same here.
The finest performance I have ever heard, live or recorded. A tremendously difficult piece to learn - - - I played it myself back in the early '80s, but this beats anything I could ever do, then or now And yes, this is the finest sonata in the entire organ literature, and of all composers since Beethoven, only Johannes Brahms rivals Elgar.
Such a majestic place perfectly executed by an incredibly talented young organist R.I.P.
Utterly brilliant- fiery, colourful and full of musicality. What an extraordinary performance, and what a talent the world has lost.
In my opinion, the combined genius of Elgar,s writing and John Scott,s registration make the "Adagio" one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces in the entire organ repetoire
Superb, such bounding, striding energy. What a musician John Scott was.
Scott knew the cathedral's reverberation times and sound resonances well and chose tempo and stops thoroughly adapted to this vast room.
What a wonderful performance by a truly skilled organist, on an incredible instrument. I have many recordings made by John Scott at St. Paul's, all of which are outstanding. His use of the organs extra stop ( the accoustics ) impeccable. His recording of the music of Maurice Durufle, and His interpretation, flawless. I pray His talent lives on in the heavenly realms.
One of the best organists in the world, recorded by one of the best recording engineers. Stunning. Thanks for allowing us to hear it!
Amazing that two maestro's met and created a masterpiece. The serendipity of this is a gift to us!
What a fabulous performance and recording! This reminds me of the David Wyld Mirabilis Andrew Lucas St. Paul's recording from 1991 using the Calrec ST250 microphone. That is my definitive St. Paul's recording. I would love to hear this recording in high resolution FLAC or even CD! CZcams doesn't do this amazing performance and recording justice!
Was never a fan of this piece until I just listened to this recording. I met John a few times and page turned for him as a teenager and Uni student in Cardiff. I went on to study at the RAM where he was a tutor but he sadly left the year I got there. What a musician and thoroughly nice man. The organist’s organist.
What a Brilliant Organist and Musician John Scott was. He is very sadly missed by all professional organists who new him. No wonder New York stole him from St Pauls Cathedral
John was such a wonderful artist, gentleman and a wonderful teacher, I feel so very lucky that I got a chance to do some post graduate studies with him in London that time... Thanks for uploading this.
Elgar must go down as one of the world's greatest composers of all time ✈
The greatest composer since Beethoven, excepting only Johannes Brahms.
A brilliant organist, but the composer was a genius too!
Indeed.
Lovely piece and stunning photos.
Pure Beauty!
Sublime performance, and the acoustic circumstances must have been hell for the recording technician....
During the Barry Rose (my Brother-in-Law) years at St Paul's, I more-or-less had the free run of the place. We did a lot of recording, and got to know the building and the organ intimately. "Hell", you say? Honestly the best experience of my entire life and career!
ES LA GLORIA Y EL TRIUNFO DE LA BELLEZA
The dialogue below regarding whether this was the same recording as one released years later, and the statement regarding the "identical nature" of the two recordings is a testament to Scott's genius. He knew how he wished to interpret the piece, and years later duplicated his performance sufficiently well to fool educated ears. THAT is how genius can work, often. The opposite would be a reinterpretation which would be obvious to all listeners.
Splendid
I think the Elgar is the ultimate in our repertoire. After a lot of unsatisfactory performances I gave a reasonable one in Kiev in 2000 and vowed never to play it again. Then for some reason I played it again in Chernivtsy last week, and they seemed to like it. I envy John Scott and his registration aids. Mine were mostly me, 4 general pistons and a short sighted assistant.
I don't care for the registration in the second movement, but that might be me, nor some bits of the third where I would be more subtle. That might be as I have never played it on that sized instrument
Wow!
Just discovered this.... ! Wonder and excellence. Off the scale . Will listen again. Brains is not everything but... it does hurt. Awake ye that sleep in the dust. Arise, oh Israel . Awake. Your minds and hearts are necessary to participate upon a forum. Arise. Ye who sleep in the dust, ye who sleep in the waves and in the air and outter astral planes, and beyond... the solar system, etc., etc.... Upon this Christmas Eve. 2019 AD round the world. Radiant... old and living "on earth as it is in heaven." This very hour.
This is an absolutely terrific piece love it always
The finest sonata in the entire organ literature. Brutally difficult to learn, but what richness!
I beg to differ. It was released by Priory in the Great European Organs series (No.34) along with the Bairstow and Harris organ sonatas and was recorded on 6 - 8 January 1992.
Our understanding is that this a different recording, made six years earlier.
I compared the two and it is exactly the same. Identical timing and registration.
This recording, which came direct to us from the sound engineer who made the recording in October 1984. It is not the recording on Priory Great European Organs.
How odd. Excellent playing as always
I've been talking to my friend and colleague Paul, who records for Priory. Their Great European Organs CD no 34 is definitely not my recording from 1984. He tells me he recorded John and at the same time page-turned for him. I wish I had thought of doing that too! Regards, Nick.
He played Elgar's op. 28 at the age of 28...
Wonderful performance - JS was inconsistent and sometimes downright odd, but this is excellent. BTW, that photo looking straight up into the dome isn't St Paul's - it's a much smaller edifice, probably Swiss or German by the look of the glazing.
If you mean the picture at 26 minutes in, yes, it's definitely St. Paul's.
Duncan Courts
No, I mean the one around the 4 and a half-5 minute mark.
Richard Harrold - ah, I missed that one. You're quite right.
Ooh! Just found out. It IS from a St. Paul's Cathedral, but this is St. Paul's in Mdina.
Equally, the photograph of the console isn't the one which John Scott was playing. It shows the "new" second (very sumptuous) mobile console built by Mander Organs.
4 minutes ago•
I have a rather odd recording of this work orchestrated by Gordon Jacob, played by the National Orchestra of Wales. I must say, the original organ statement is far better.
Shame the second photograph is not of the interior of the dome of St Paul's, London. It is of a smaller structure; and more research would be needed to identify it.
Es klingt so toll, aber warum man sieht keinen Organist an der Orgel wenn er spielt?
Weil es nur eine Tonaufnahme ist.
The photo at 51 seconds and 4 min 28 s is not St Paul's
This is true.
Shame the first picture of a domed interior is not that of St Paul's Cathedral!
hopefully the music transcends any photographs!
A brilliant performance spoilt in places by the echo in St. Paul's. The middle two movements are simply superb, but full organ played at speed in the outer movements looses many details when one piece of harmony clashes with the echo of the previous one. This ruins an otherwise superb performance.
Sounds mostly awfu,l obviously the more stops that are selected the worse it gets, but other than that it's okay.
I would suggest that you save your remarks for thingz you know about, as obviously organ music isn't one of them.