Four Extemporizations iv.Fanfare

Dedicated to B.W. (Bernard Walker). Walker was a schoolmaster at Bournemouth Secondary School where he taught Art. A few of his pupils were recruited into the choir at St Stephen’s church in the early 1930s.

A ‘word-sketch’ about Walker appeared in Whitlock’s diary of 1934: ‘Bernard or ‘Johnny’. Art Master at Bournemouth Secondary School for Boys. One of his pictures hangs in our parlour, & he is a frequent & much appreciated visitor. V keen indeed on music and, has a considerable knowledge of organ & orchestral music, & a good eye for a score. A very vital person, intensely critical and yet appreciative & encouraging’.

Almost fifty years later in 1979, Walker wrote to Whitlock’s biographer Malcolm Riley with a description of his friend: ‘Prodigiously gifted, musically, & enjoying his gifts without a trace of pretentiousness or swank, quiet and unflappable yet always precariously poised between health & sickness – even life & death; basically kind, tender, sympathetic, yet with a stubborn streak in his make-up.’ (Riley p.61) A famous photograph exists of Bernard Walker walking in Bournemouth with Percy and Edna Whitlock, 1932.

The opening use of the time signature of 7/8 establishes an informal tone of ceremony and celebration, a feeling of vitality that increases with the entry of the Tuba! The opening pages are developed leading to a tremendous climax for full organ. ‘They think it’s all over’, yet there follows a sumptuous quiet section that as so often in Whitlock’s writing, reminds one of the influence of Elgar (d.1934) on his contemporary composers. Upward sweeping melodic phrases and rich harmony over long descending chromatic bass lines demonstrate a voice that can only be Whitlock’s. The fanfares return, repeating the second half of the opening section. I admit to using some earlier takes for this section but a new ending which is broader. It is a challenging piece, especially at the quaver=152/156 benchmark set by Noel Rawsthorne on his 1964 recording!