Three Splendid Pieces for Organ by David Halls, Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral houses three organs; the grand 1877 Father Willis and two chamber organs. One of these, by Peter Collins 1985, is a box organ with 4 stops and we use it regularly to accompany the cathedral choir when early music is being performed. With this Fantasia and Fugue, I wanted to challenge myself by writing a serious piece of modern music for an organ without pedals and with limited tonal colours. It can of course be played on a larger instrument but giving the feet a rest.
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This is a march unashamedly in the English tradition of Elgar and Walton with a big tune which returns triumphantly towards the end. The Salisbury Cathedral Willis organ has a magnificent 8′ solo reed (there’s another one at 4′ pitch which is even better) so I reckon I had that at the back of my mind when I wrote this. It has some difficult passages but stick to the time-honoured truth, that if you make a mistake, make it a loud one.
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The first of these, Salisbury Fanfare, started life as a short anthem although I remember being dissatisfied with it in that form. Its rebirth as an organ piece is far better and it even quotes some Sarum Plainsong which no doubt was sung at the original Salisbury Cathedral back in the mists of time. The second of this set, Meditation, has a simple feel to it with characteristic false relations between the different strands which I always enjoy when we perform music by proper composers such as Byrd and Tallis. The third piece, Impromptu, is basically a scherzo although it wanders off to France in a slow middle section, which evokes the sound world of Messiaen.

David Halls was born in 1963, David Halls was taught the piano from the age of four. Whilst a pupil at Harrogate Grammar School, he was Assistant Organist at St. Wilfrid’s, Harrogate, studied the organ with Adrian Selway at St Peter’s Church, Harrogate, Ronald Perrin at Ripon Cathedral and later with Thomas Trotter in London.

David won an Organ Scholarship to Worcester College, Oxford and graduated in 1984 with an Honours Degree in Music. He passed both the Associate and Fellowship Examinations of The Royal College of Organists in the same year, being awarded five prizes and the Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians. He studied in Winchester for a post-graduate Certificate in Education and was Organ Scholar of Winchester Cathedral under the guidance of Martin Neary and James Lancelot. He was appointed Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral in September 2005.

In addition to his daily duties in the cathedral, he has toured Austria, Estonia, France, Holland, Italy, Latvia, Sweden and the USA with the cathedral choirs and has appeared as conductor, accompanist and soloist in many concerts and recordings. In demand as a recitalist in cathedrals and churches throughout the UK, he has recorded three solo CDs on the Willis Organ in Salisbury Cathedral and his latest recording of organ music from St Wilfrid’s Church, Harrogate, was released in early 2015. His organ DVD and CD ‘The Grand Organ of Salisbury Cathedral’ was released in Summer 2012. He is active as a composer with many choral and organ works published in the UK and USA.

He is a member of the Salisbury Diocesan Choral Festival Group, regularly conducting Diocesan Choir Festivals and he is an Organ Consultant to the Diocese of Salisbury. He conducts the Salisbury Musical Society and the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra and recent work has included Bach’s “St John Passion” and “Mass in B Minor,” Berlioz’s “Requiem,” Elgar’s “Light of Life,” Schubert’s “Symphony No. 9,” Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” Poulenc’s “Gloria” and Britten’s “Spring Symphony.”

View all of David’s Choral and Organ Music with Paraclete Press Here