A Percy Whitlock Centenary Tribute #0321
One thing he never lacked was grace and charm. This week, we explore the work of a prodigiously talented yet short-lived minor English master. Whether writing for cathedral or parish use, or for his later involvement as a municipal organist, Percy Whitlock’s gentle and engaging personality made many friends for him. His compositions were conservative for his time but each possess a rich emotion and sly wit. After one hundred years, we remember him still, with A Percy Whitlock Centenary Tribute.
PERCY WHITLOCK: Fanfare, from Four Extemporisations [1933] –Christopher Herrick (1984 Harrison/Westminster Abbey, London, England, UK) Hyperion CDA66121
PERCY WHITLOCK: March for the ‘Phoebe’ –Gordon Stewart (1881 Henry Willis/Town Hall, Huddersfield, England, UK) OxRecs CD-72
PERCY WHITLOCK: Plymouth Suite [1937]; Chanty, Toccata –Jennifer Bate (1957 Rushworth & Dreaper/St. Andrew, Plymouth, England, UK) ASV CD-6233
PERCY WHITLOCK: Psalm 137, By the waters of Babylon –Wells Cathedral Choir, Anthony Crossland, conductor; Christopher Brayne (1857 Henry Willis; 1974 Harrison & Harrison/Wells Cathedral, England, UK) Priory PRCD337
PERCY WHITLOCK: Folk Tune, from Five Short Pieces [1929] –James Parsons (1985 Frobenius/Oundle School Chapel, England, UK) Intersound 2858
PERCY WHITLOCK: First Movement, from Sonata in c [1936] –Nigel Potts (1929 Skinner/Woolsey Hall, Yale University, New Haven, CT) Integrity CD-112601
PERCY WHITLOCK: Canzona and Scherzetto, 2nd and 3rd movements, from Sonata in c [1936] –Robert Gower (1947 Hill, Norman & Beard/Selby Abbey, England, UK) Abacus CD-505
PERCY WHITLOCK: Choral, 4th movement, from Sonata in c [1936] –Wolfgang Rübsam (1928 Skinner; 2008 Schantz/Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL) Organ CD ORG7206
Whitlock’s Sonata is dedicated to Dorothy Leigh Sayers and Harriet Vane, the heroine of the former’s Lord Peter Wimsey thrillers.
