Church organs, and the music written for them, are enjoying something of a revival in Ireland. Catherine Foleyon the popularity of a complex but often breathtaking instrument
What is it about organ music that is so visceral and affecting? The deep, reverberating notes, the rising, swelling octaves and the echoing chords can fill a vaulted space and raise the hairs on the back of your neck in double quick time.
Organs are taking centre stage at a number of arts events this summer. Following the restoration of a number of the instruments in recent times, the instrument's appeal is steadily growing. The organ at St Canice's Cathedral in Kilkenny has just been restored, and visitors and citizens of the marble city will hear the reinvigorated 1853 Bevington organ for the first time when it is showcased by Malcolm Proud, concert virtuoso and the cathedral's organist, at this year's Kilkenny Arts Festival when he plays Bach's Clavier Übung III.
The organ at Waterford's Christ Church Cathedral, a Georgian building dating back to 1773 that is now in pristine condition following its restoration a couple of years ago, was a highlight at a number of summer events. At the Spraoi 2008 festival the screening of Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror was given a live organ accompaniment, played by Donald McKenzie, house organist at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London. Sitting under the classical arcades and the stucco plasterwork of this beautiful building, the audience was transported into a contemplative mood, perfect for viewing a creepy black and white horror movie. Not for the faint hearted, it was a rare chance to enjoy the 1922 silent movie in a spine-chilling atmospheric setting. Another event later in the month in Waterford will feature the young Dublin-born organist Aaron Marchant, who will give a recital on Sunday.
A new organ in the classical style is currently being built in the Holy Trinity Church in Crosshaven, Co Cork, while the organ at Galway Cathedral underwent a major overhaul in recent months, to the tune of €450,000. According to Galway Cathedral's organist, Raymond O'Donnell, interest in a series of summer concerts there has been growing steadily over the years. Numbers can vary, but "we'd be disappointed if we got less than 100 on a Thursday evening", he says. With an organ, "it's like having a whole orchestra at your disposal. "You can have thousands and thousands of different combinations. That's the greatest appeal. It's what attracted me as a teenager. That very loud sound, it's absolutely thrilling and then you can have very soft, subtle sounds."
Organ music has an elegance, a gravitas and an impressive weight of history behind it, whether the bars are the opening notes of Hear Comes the Bride, Beethoven's 5th or Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor (now associated with Captain Nemo from the film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). The secret, according to Gerard Gillen, organist at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral in Dublin and a former professor of music at NUI Maynooth, is that, like no other instrument, the organ is "wedded to place". Gillen says that for most organists, "the best stop on the organ is the acoustics. It's location, location, location."
Gillen will be playing at a number of festivals on the continent over the summer, including concerts in Fontan in the south of France, Borghetto in Italy and Thuringia in Germany. His repertoire varies with the age of the instrument, he says. In Fontan, where the organ dates from the 17th century, "I'll be playing 17th century music. That has its own spooky resonance."
Raymond O'Donnell recalls attending concerts in Cologne Cathedral, where there were thousands in attendance. But the organ is gaining in popularity in Ireland now. In Dublin, approximately 3,000 attended the Pipeworks Organ Festival in Dublin over its 10-day run in June earlier this year.
Restoration of the instrument in St Canice's Cathedral will, says Malcolm Proud, "make a huge contribution to the musical and cultural life of the whole of Ireland". The organ is now "capable of playing the full repertoire of organ music composed over the centuries" and it is no longer hidden away in a side chapel beyond the choir stalls, he points out.
"It now makes its presence felt even before it is heard, standing forward of the arch just to the left of the pulpit." The organ case has been brought forward from the arch and new side panels, in "the same beautiful Gothic style as the original case", have been added.
According to Raymond O'Donnell, the length of a pipe "determines the pitch which it sounds; for example, the pipe for bottom C might be about eight-feet long, whereas the pipe for middle C in the same rank would be about two-feet long". On an organ with a 61-note keyboard, "we have 61 pipes, each of the correct length to produce its respective pitch". There is "a single pipe for each key on the keyboard, and so in Galway, which has 59 stops, there are 59 by 61 pipes, or about 3,500 pipes. That's a lot of tuning."
In Kilkenny, Trevor Crowe, the organ builder, "enlarged the organ, adding many new ranks of pipes to the old ones" to ensure the instrument was capable of playing the full repertoire of organ music composed over the centuries. The old organ was used just for accompanying the choir and it needed only to make sufficient sound to fill the chancel. It did not need to be heard in the rest of the cathedral. "Of course the role of the organ has changed completely since then," says Proud. "It now needs to fill the whole building in order to support congregational singing and be used as a concert instrument."
When he was appointed organist in Kilkenny in the early 1980s, Proud says "it was clear that something needed to be done". Today, the organ's position in the cathedral's north transept allows it to be heard throughout the whole building.
The organist's contact with an orchestra and conductor on the stage, which is constructed each year for the Kilkenny Arts Festival, is also ensured, since the organ case was raised to allow the organist to sit at a higher level.
• Malcolm Proud plays at St Canice's Cathedral on Saturday, as part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival. www.kilkennyarts.ie