THE KING OF INSTRUMENTS
Having had the privilege of hearing Keith Hearnshaw play in Down Ampney Church last summer, when he coaxed the most amazing sounds from their tiny organ, I was greatly looking forward to seeing what he could produce on St. Mary’s far larger instrument.
There was a large audience gathered to hear him play, and we were all thrilled to see that Big Screen Video Projection had been provided at the top of the nave which enabled us to see the keyboard and pedals as he was playing. A rare treat, especially for those of us who are keyboard players and/or budding organists. By the end of the performance a number of eagle-eyed members of the audience spotted the music – displayed on a large iPad – seemed to be turning itself over and asked how this was possible. Keith explained that the wonders of modern technology mean that either a foot control – not so useful to an organist, whose feet are already had at work – or the blink of an eye can serve for active page turning. For instrumentalists this has been a huge step forward in navigating awkward page-turns.
Keith is a natural raconteur, with a mission to make the organ accessible to all and to secure its rightful place as ‘The King of Instruments’. He introduced each part of his programme with an interesting insight into the music itself and the odd story about why he had chosen it for this concert, where he had played it before etc. We learnt that he knew Carlo Curley, the amazing American concert organist, known as ‘The Pavarotti of the organ’, who spent much of his later life in the UK, giving spectacular performances on many of our Cathedral organs, including Gloucester and Salisbury. He, too was a showman and raconteur, and I still remember a stunning performance of ‘The Ride of the Valkyries’ in Salisbury Cathedral which made the building shake! Keith’s performance of Widor’s ‘Toccata and Fugue’ in the second half of the concert was similarly outstanding. Keith and Carlo Curley played together on many occasions, in what became known as the friendly ‘Battle of the Organs’!
Keith’s programme was very well balanced with a mixture of well known and loved pieces, such as Londonderry Air, ‘Nimrod’ from ‘The Enigma Variations’ and Bach’s splendid Toccata and Fugue in D and lesser known gems such as ‘ Boellmann’s ‘Suite Gothique’ and ‘The Hymn to the Fallen’ from ’Saving Private Ryan’.
All in all it was a concert to remember, and the length of the applause and demands for an encore showed how much the audience had appreciated it. We all left hoping that Keith might find time in his very busy schedule to return to Fairford one day.
Meg Ralph
Updated 19th November 2025