SAINT THOMAS CHURCH FIFTH AVENUE
The Reverend Andrew C. Mead, OBE, DD, Rector
John Scott, LVO, D.Mus., Organist and Director of Music
Frederick Teardo, Associate Organist
ORGAN RECITAL SERIES
ROBERT COSTIN
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On the Arents Memorial Organ: |
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I. Intrata| The Partita, composed in 1971, is inscribed “For the Rt Hon. Edward Heath, M.P., Prime Minister”. Its five movements enjoy the almost improvisatory freedom that is characteristic for Howells’ writing, yet they are bound together by a kind of cyclic feeling engendered by a fairly consistent use of an original mode. The mode descends from C to C as follows: C, B, B flat, G, F sharp, E, E flat, C. The Partita exploits both the melodic and harmonic implications of the mode. ROBERT COSTIN studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Cambridge University, where he was Organ Scholar of Pembroke College. His organ teachers included Nicholas Danby and David Sanger. He moved to New Zealand in 1993, holding organist posts at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Wellington and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland, before returning to the UK as Assistant Director of Music at Blackburn Cathedral. He is presently Director of Music at Ardingly College, West Sussex, having previously held posts at Bedford School and Worksop College. As an organist he has performed at many prestigious venues in the UK, Europe, Africa, North America and Australia, and as a choir director he has conducted in St Peter’s Basilica, Rome and Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris. He has released a number of acclaimed solo recordings in recent years, and the International Record Review wrote of his disc of Herbert Howells’ organ music: “few CDs approach the excellence of performance of this issue...It is first-class in every respect, from the choice of repertoire to the depth of understanding given to this music by Robert Costin.” |