Maestoso

Description

The Parish Church of St Matthew, Northampton was consecrated on 21 September, 1893, with Canon Rowden Hussey as its first Vicar. The church quickly became known for its dignified worship and excellent music, and both were developed further in the time of Walter Hussey, who became the second Vicar or the church and commissioned and outstanding succession of fine works of art and music including works by Britten, Finzi, Rubbra, Mathias, Howells, and Leighton.

The magnificent 4-manual 1895 Walker organ was built in the same year as the composition of Elgar’s Organ Sonata in G, Op 28, and is an ideal instrument on which to perform this music by Elgar and Bairstow.

This is the first recording of the St Matthew’s organ for many years.

Callum Alger is one of the most promising organists of his generation, and is currently Director of Music at St Peter’s Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton. In 2019 he graduated with a first-class honours degree in Music Performance from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, studying organ with Henry Fairs and David Saint, and choral conducting with Paul Spicer. He has recently completed the Advanced Postgraduate Diploma (Professional Performance) course there, under the guidance of Daniel Moult. During his time at the Conservatoire he has been accompanist to the critically-acclaimed Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir, accompanying the choir on their most recent CD Rosa Mystica with SOMM Recordings. Callum also studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater ‘Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’ in Leipzig under the tutelage of Martin Schmeding as part of the ERASMUS scheme. He has previously held positions at Portsmouth Cathedral, St Matthew’s Church, Northampton, St Thomas’ Church, Stourbridge, and Westminster Cathedral. Callum has performed extensively as a soloist in the UK. Recent recital venues have included Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, and St John’s Smith Square. He won first-prize at the IAO/RCO Organ Playing Competition (2018) in Peterborough, and Dame Gillian Weir Messiaen Competition (2018) in Birmingham, and was a finalist in the St Albans International Organ Competition (2021). He is a prize-winning Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, and an Associate of Trinity College, London. He has performed on BBC Radio 3 and 4, and was a Making Music Selected Artist 2020–21.