Rochdale Parish Church Organ recital - Darius Battiwalla (Leeds City Organist)

Excluded from the Rochdale Town Hall due to renovation, Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside Organists’ Association (ORTOA) continued its series of organ recitals at St Chad’s, Rochdale Parish Church with virtuoso, Darius Battiwalla, on Saturday 7 August.

How wonderful it was to hear live music again as the Covid restrictions ease.

Darius was born in Islington, his mother from Lancashire and his father from a Parsee family in Bombay. He began to play the piano by ear at a very early age, later taking up the cello and finally becoming organist at St Mary, Islington at 13.

He graduated from Leeds University with a first and went on to win many prizes at the Royal Northern College of Music and Manchester University. He composes, plays and records regularly with orchestras and bands and performs Silent Movie accompaniments. He is also MD of Sheffield Choral Society.

Organ music at St Chad’s dates from 1532 with several upgrades to today’s fine instrument (details can be found on their website). Darius skilfully exploited its qualities in a varied programme which suited it admirably.

A tremendous opening featured its orchestral properties in Die Fledermaus Overture by Johann Strauss, arranged by Jonathan Scott (ORTOA’s Hon President).

This was followed by JS Bach’s magnificent Fantasia & Fugue in C minor BWV 537, Mendelssohn’s majestic Sonata 5 in D and a delightfully skittish Scherzo from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Heathcote Statham’s moody, shifting harmonies in Rhapsody on a Ground, written in 1944, gained in intensity as if signifying war before closing ambiguously.

English-American Edwin Lemare was once the highest paid organist in the world; his charmingly frothy Souvenir Joyeux lightened the mood. Finally, French composer Louis Vierne’s evocative Clair de Lune (Moonlight) led to his Les Cloches de Hinckley (The Bells of Hinckley) of 1927, which was inspired by hearing the carillon of St Mary’s Church in Hinckley, Leicestershire.

Also included was an interesting modern piece commissioned for the re-opening of Rochdale Parish Church organ in 2012 from local composer Robin Walker (who was in attendance) entitled “A Gladsome Excursion to Rochdale.”

Let us hope that Darius found his excursion to Rochdale as gladsome as the enthusiastic audience did.

 

The next organ recital at St Chad’s is on Saturday 11 September with Ben Morris.

Dr Joe Dawson