Rochdale Parish Church Organ recital – Benjamin Saunders

St Chad’s, Rochdale Parish Church, has a wonderful instrument and this was put through its paces admirably by Benjamin Saunders

Organ fans enjoyed a live recital under strict Covid-compliant conditions at Rochdale Parish Church on Saturday 19 June after months of lockdown.

Whilst the organ at Rochdale Town Hall organ is mothballed during refurbishment, event organisers ORTOA (Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside Organists’ Association) is exploring other instruments in the area. Rochdale Parish Church, St Chad’s, has a wonderful instrument and this was put through its paces admirably by Benjamin Saunders. 

A former Cambridge organ scholar and Assistant Director of Music at the cathedrals of St Giles' Edinburgh, Blackburn and Chester, Ben has held the unconventional position of Director of Music for the Diocese of Leeds since 2002.

In addition to being an international organ virtuoso, Ben embraces rock drumming, jazz keyboard and is now studying the classical accordion. From January 2021 he has been leading the National Schools Singing Programme across the UK.

His innovative style was reflected in an unusual programme of tunes ancient and modern selected from 700 years of keyboard writing. From the lively Galliarde and The Carmans Whistle variations by William Byrd in the first Elizabethan age, we jumped four centuries to the second Elizabeth age, and the late Master of the Queen’s Music, Peter Maxwell Davies with his popular Farewell to Stromness (a Classic FM favourite).

From Estampie, the oldest piece of keyboard music in the UK, c.1325 we came bang up to date with Metamorphosis II by American minimalist Philip Glass.

The contemporary Florita - A Tango by Ronald Willis took us even further out of the traditional church organ context to the charming Three Jazz Miniatures by Oscar Peterson; then the haunting Waltz No. 2 by Shostakovich, beloved of TV detective soundtracks.

For the final set of this delightfully quirky recital, we had three pieces by Piazzolla: Sentimental, Chiquilin de Bachin and Libertango.

In Radio 3-speak all this could be called an ‘eclectic mix’. The curious morsels elicited an extraordinary pallet of colours from the fine instrument at St Chad’s. A joyous exploration of the wide range of riches of keyboard music available to the 21st century player… and audience.

Forthcoming ORTOA recitals at St Chad’s, Rochdale Parish Church on Saturdays at 3pm:

• 7 August - Darius Battiwalla
• 11 September - Ben Morris
• 2 October - Simon Lindley

Also, you can now follow ORTOA’s Twitter feed.

Dr Joe Dawson