Dear all,

Following on from previous discussion relating to the departure of the Organist of York Minster, John Scott Whiteley, I thought it would be of interest to members to note this Saturday as the date of his final recital as the Organist (advertised by the Minster as 'farewell concert'), which also closes the ever popular York Minster summer recital series.

His programme is as follows:

Allegro (from Symphonie VI, Op.42)
Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)

Passacaglia, Op.17 (2009)
John Scott Whiteley (b.1950)

Etude (Canon) in E Major, Op.56
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)

Sonata Eroica, Op.94
&
Papillons noirs (13 Preludes pour piano, Op.69 No.11, arr. J.S. Whiteley)
Joseph Jongen (1873-1953)

Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BWV 548, "The Wedge"
J.S. Bach (1685-1750)


At this recital, presumably at the end, I am informed that the Dean of York, the Very Rev'd Keith Jones, will formally present John with the title Organist Emeritus, in recognition of his long and distinguished service since being appointed to York by Dr Francis Jackson in 1975.

For those who wish to hear the doyen of the York Minster organ at what I am certain will be an emotional and still very thrilling recital, then this is not to be missed. Admission is £8, and the recital begins at 19:00 prompt.

Best Wishes.

Having long been an admirer of John Scott Whiteley as an organist of consummate musicianship, I could not have missed last night's recital. And what a programme ! Every piece and its performance were highlights, but if I had to single out any there were two which I most relished :

(i) JSW's Passacaglia, a veritable mixture of juxtapositioned influences and styles from the 17th - 20th centuries, from serious baroque to 'tongue in cheek' blues and rumba !

(ii)Jongen's Sonata eroica, an intense 'tour de force' by a somewhat neglected composer but championed by John Scott Whiteley who must be the leading Jongen scholar.

Copies of JSW's own detailed notes on the Passacaglia accompanied each programme handed to members of the audience, and these are helpful when listening to the work. They also make fascinating reading.

CDs and DVDs of JSW were available for sale after the recital including his very latest consisting entirely of his own works for organ and including the Passacaglia.

At the end of his recital, John Scott Whiteley received an enthusiastic standing ovation, and as usual afterwards, he was available and happy to autograph his CDs and talk to people.
Let us hope he may long continue to give recitals (and more of them now he has retired from his demanding post at York) compose and make recordings and be invited back to York to sound the praises of that magnificent organ in its glorious building and acoustic!

I live a long way from York but have several of JSW's recordings, the Jongen Organ Works being perhaps the most notable amongst them - Sonata Erioca played at York Minster is stirring stuff indeed (I didn't realise that I had an LP of JSW performing the work at York - when the 'complete organ works' were issued on CD, I upgraded, as it were). A copy of his DVD from York has been a welcome addition.

As a consequence of looking for the original piano work from which he had recorded an organ transcription, I managed to come across the sheet music for a few of Jongen's piano works - a couple of Sonatinas and a Petite Suite. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for more.

I'm interested in chasing Jongen's piano works. Who publishes them? I'd be grateful for any information.
bws.
rk

The three pieces I have are the following:

Chester Music (see Music Sales Ltd): Sonatine Op 60
Eschig (see UMP): Sonatine, Minuetto, Rondo - these three pieces published together as a set
Eschig (see UMP): Petite Suite

The references in brackets are what is given in the back of the AB syllabus booklet.

I don't know how many, if any, of these are easily available. I have stumbled across them sporadically over the years in my visits to Blackwell's Oxford.

Here here, rovikered.

Thanks, clavicembalo, for that information. I'll contact my music supplier and see what he comes up with.
Further to this, John Scott Whiteley in his introduction to his recital mentioned Jongen's chamber music and encouraged people to explore that, too. Recordings of it are available, and a number of them are on Amazon, so I'm putting those on my 'wish list'.

bws.
rk.

I have a few of JSW's discs, the Cochereau one is not to be missed. Did the programme/does anyone know if any of his compositions are published and available to buy? I have a couple of his Coch transcriptions (they are jolly pricey!)

I have an increasing number of JSW's discs including his latest on Regent consisting entirely of his own works.
The CD booklet with this includes a complete list of JSW's compositions but it does not make clear which have been published. One or two are marked in brackets 'unfinished' or 'MS'. So perhaps we may assume that some have been published.
Perhaps we could ask him (?) if we could find an email address (or at a future recital?).

I draw your attention to this:

http://www.yorkminster.org/documents/downloads361.pdf