Frederick originally gave me this interview in 2017: I’m republishing it to mark his workshops at the AGO National Convention in Seattle this year.
Along with Anne Marsden Thomas, his co-author for The New Oxford Organ Method (published by OUP), he’ll be giving presentations on teaching the organ, particularly to beginner organists.
A full list of his compositions, recordings, and his work as organist, musicologist and teacher, can be found on his website www.frederickstocken.com
Frederick Stocken is a British composer – he started composing as a child, though the first piece of music that came to the attention of the world in general was his Lament for Bosnia, which was top of the classical charts for several weeks. This has led to one commission after another – see his website for a full catalogue, and go to SoundCloud for clips.
Frederick began studying the organ with Kenneth Beard whilst a boy chorister at Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire, and passed his ARCO with five prizes while still at school. He gained an organ scholarship to St Catharine’s College, Cambridge where he studied with Peter Hurford, passing his FRCO with three prizes. He’s currently Organist and Assistant Director of Music at St George’s Metropolitan Cathedral in Southwark, London.
Before this appointment Frederick was Director of Music at St Mary’s, Woodford in north-east London – with its renowned Grant, Degens and Bradbeer organ, which I played on a class he gave there a few years ago. In fact many of us know Frederick best through his inspiring teaching – either via the Royal Academy of Music or through the Royal College of Organists.
Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?
I’m practising one of my own pieces – a ten-minute through-composed work called Mysterium Fidei, which I wrote to play at a recital at Rikkyo University in Tokyo in May. I am trying to depict a journey from doubt to faith in music – quite a challenge. I often find I want to make various changes after a first performance, and this piece is no exception; I’m working towards the first UK performance at Chichester Cathedral on 12 November 2019, as part of their series of lunchtime concerts.
What has been your best experience as an organist?
I remember giving a recital in King’s College, Cambridge where I was fortunate enough to get a bit more time on the organ than most recitalists enjoy. Having the experience of feeling connected to that wonderful instrument and sharing the music in that iconic building was a high point of my life as an organist.
What has been your worst experience as an organist?
On the organ I play at St George’s Catholic Cathedral, Southwark we had, until recently, unreliable transmission from the keys to the pipes, which could suddenly fail at any moment, totally unpredictably. In the run-up to the televised broadcast of Christmas Midnight Mass on BBC One in 2015 there were various outages, which meant I was not totally certain there wouldn’t be one for the broadcast. I suppose this counts only as potentially the worst experience because it was fine on the night.
What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher? (and who was it?)
I remember a revelatory lesson I had with Peter Hurford when I was 20, when I was Organ Scholar at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, in which I was properly introduced to nuanced touch in Bach, with the accompanying advice – ‘think of the organ as being as sensitive as a violin’. Of course, it depends on the instrument, but as an approach to the level of detail to which we should aspire when making music on the organ, it is an unforgettable piece of advice.
What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
Thinking about my current students at Junior Academy (the junior department of the Royal Academy of Music) I find they all need different approaches, and identifying that approach is part of the challenge of being an effective teacher. I think the most practical advice I could give to students is to find a good teacher who selects repertoire carefully to suit their needs.
