Classical musicObituaryJohn Birch obituary
Organist, director of music at Chichester Cathedral and professor at the Royal College of MusicJohn Birch, who has died aged 82 after suffering a stroke, was interested in – but by no means limited to – every aspect of the organ and its world. Among those churches which benefited from his skills as a choir trainer and organist were Chichester Cathedral (1958-80) and the Temple Church in London (1982-97). He was also curator organist at the Royal Albert Hall, London, from 1984 until his death, overseeing the recent restoration of the huge instrument on which he gave many fine performances, notably of Saint-Saëns' Third Symphony with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was determined to play more performances of that work than his age and he managed it with ease.
John was born in Leek, Staffordshire, where his father was a businessman, and went to school at Trent college in Long Eaton, Derbyshire, and the Royal College of Music. After national service in the Royal Corps of Signals, he was appointed organist and choirmaster at two central London churches: in 1950, at St Thomas's, Regent Street, then All Saints, Margaret Street, in 1953, before becoming director of music at Chichester.
There, in 1960, he and a similarly enterprising colleague, Dean Walter Hussey, revived the Southern Cathedrals Festival, which in the early part of the century had brought together forces from Chichester, Salisbury and Winchester. In 1965, the festival commissioned Leonard Bernstein's demanding Chichester Psalms: Bernstein conducted it first in New York, and John its British premiere in Chichester, with great success.
Another lively and enduring commission from that year's festival was Bryan Kelly's Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, using Latin American dance rhythms. William Walton, Lennox Berkeley, Herbert Howells and the American William Albright also wrote works for John's choir. When the curtain first rose at the Chichester Festival theatre in 1962, John was its music adviser.
He loved working and touring with orchestras of all sizes, including the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. It was on a three-week tour of the US with the London Bach Society back in the early 70s that he and I really got to know each other.
His association of nearly 40 years with the Royal College of Music, where he was a professor (1959-97); his time with the Royal College of Organists, where he was a member of council (1964-2003); and the pioneering work he did at the new University of Sussex, where he was university organist (1967-94) and visiting lecturer in music (1971-83), combined to ensure that his skills were passed on to generations of cathedral and church musicians all over the world. He has been remembered in a choral evensong by the cathedral choir in Honolulu, and in Cape Town, which he visited every New Year. In recent years he made several visits to Mexico: he helped install a new electronic organ in the concert hall in Guanajuato, in the centre of the country, and advised the orchestra on choral programmes.
In London, John played in the recital series at the Royal Festival Hall, where in 1972 he gave the first performance of the Partita by Howells, commissioned by the prime minister at the time, Edward Heath. John could often be seen marching down Exhibition Road to South Kensington underground station with heavy bags after a performance at the Royal Albert Hall. Just days before his stroke in March he had played in seven concerts in one weekend in the hall's Classic Spectacular series, including the finale of the Saint-Saëns.
Hussey helped him to acquire a fine collection of modern British art, much of which can now be seen at the Pallant House gallery in Chichester. Friends who were fortunate enough to visit his home were given the "grand tour" and well entertained by this generous and jovial host.
John Anthony Birch, organist, born 9 July 1929; died 28 April 2012
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