Five questions for…..Jennifer Bate

26 March 2020: With great sadness, I heard this morning that Jennifer had died.  She was a huge inspiration to many organists, and a role model for women organists in particular. 

I was proud to have known her, and very proud that she was prepared to give me this interview, at a very early stage in my own writing career.

This interview was first published in the run-up to Jennifer’s recital on 1st March 2014 at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church – which was fabulous by the way: the Liszt Ad nos, ad salutarem undam a masterclass in orchestration. 

Jennifer Bate is in the top rank of international organists and has long been a favourite at all the world’s great festivals.   I was lucky enough to hear her play locally (at St James, Muswell Hill in north London, where her father was Organist and Choirmaster) a few years ago, when I was really rather hazy about the organ repertoire – she introduced me to the sound world of Olivier Messiaen, in a recital I will never forget.  Jennifer became Messiaen’s organist of choice after her recordings of his then complete works at Beauvais Cathedral in the 1980s.   All her scores are marked with his personal nuances of interpretation, and she continues to play his last masterpiece for organ, Livre du Saint Sacrement, from his own manuscript.

Her vast repertoire ranges from the 18th century to the most modern virtuoso scores – much of this is available in recordings, including the complete works of Franck, Mendelssohn, Messiaen, and a historic anthology, From Stanley to Wesley, all of which have received high acclaim.  More details from her website.

Jennifer gives masterclasses worldwide (and can deliver her education programme A Guide to the King of Instruments in any of five languages), and leads the annual Jennifer Bate Organ Academy for Girls.  She will open the first series of recitals on the refurbished organ at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 29th September 2014,  and you can hear her in London before then at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church on 1st March, in a recital which includes a UK premiere of one of her own works.   Full details at the bottom of this page – in the meantime here are Jennifer’s answers to my five questions:

Which piece of music are you studying at the moment and why?
My programmes are all completely different because I design them for each individual instrument and occasion. This means I often have a large number of works in preparation. I generally try to work about six months ahead, so I am now starting revision on the Suite Op 5 by Duruflé, which I am due to play at the Royal Festival Hall, 29 September.  Meanwhile, I am also working on my next London recital (Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, 1 March, 6.30) where the programme includes Liszt Fantasia and Fugue on ‘Ad nos, ad salutarem undam’ and the UK première of my latest composition, Suite on ‘Veni Creator Spiritus’.

What has been your best experience as an organist?
There have been many highlights, but one great event was the British première of Messiaen’s last great organ cycle, Livre du Saint Sacrement to a packed Westminster Cathedral, in the presence of the composer (7 October, 1986).  We worked together for three or four nights beforehand at the Cathedral and Messiaen was delighted with the organ.  The audience gave us a standing ovation for 25 minutes. The numerous press notices were stunning. The concert was televised and shown later on Channel 4.  The following week, I worked with Messiaen in Paris at Radio France.  When we finished rehearsals, he took me to his wonderful organ at l’Église de la Sainte Trinité and invited me to make the world première recording of Livre du Saint Sacrement on that instrument, with his help.  That was another thrilling experience.

What has been your worst experience as an organist?
I used to do a lot of work for the British Council, combining recitals with teaching and lecturing.  This sometimes took me to exotic places where the instruments were not always maintained very well.  Once, I gave a series of programmes in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and one of these was at a Methodist church.  There were 20-30 stops on the organ but no rank was working completely and some were not working at all.  Fortunately, different notes were missing on the few stops still speaking, so by combining them, transposing passages or improvising round the holes, I managed to put a programme together.  The front pipes leaned out at a dangerous angle and looked likely to fall on my head. The sound of the full organ was like a cow in labour!

What’s the best piece of advice you were given by an organ teacher?  (and who was it?)
My father was a great teacher of the organ and had many students from all over the country as well as some from abroad.  He was the Organist and Choirmaster of St James’s Church, Muswell Hill.  The church was bombed in the war and the organ destroyed, so post-war he designed a remarkably beautiful instrument built by Harrison & Harrison.  I was so fortunate to be taught by him and allowed to practise on a “Rolls Royce” of an instrument.
One of his best pieces of advice was to befriend as many contemporary composers as possible.  He encouraged me to learn new concertos and to commission works. He would then invite the composers to the church to hear me play their music and give advice. Among the British composers that I got to know were Humphrey Searle, Sir Lennox Berkeley, Peter Dickinson, Andrzej Panufnik, Peter Racine Fricker, and Malcolm Williamson.  In 1975, at the invitation of the BBC, Olivier Messiaen and his wife, (the great pianist Yvonne Loriod), heard me for the first time playing a recital of Messiaen’s music at St James’s. They then came home for tea and it was the beginning of 17 years of friendship.

What would be your own best piece of advice for student organists?
Probably one of my father’s sayings: “Always use your brain before you use your feet or fingers”!!