It was maybe only a year or two ago that I was made aware of the importance of the organ in the movie, Interstellar. A friend from my Spanish class sent me a link to a YouTube video, and I listened to a short clip. At the time, I liked it but pretty much forgot about it after that.

A couple of months ago, choirmaster Mike Dupre at St. Mark’s asked me to prepare a couple of organ pieces to be played as part of a choir concert. He suggested music by his cousin (LOL!), Marcel Dupré, and I thought I could resurrect the Prelude and Fugue in G minor. This was a piece I learned while in high school, many moons ago, and it still might be in my fingers, even though it’s been at least 12 years since I played it.

Mike then said I could play anything else, perhaps something secular or a piece I wouldn’t ordinarily play in a church service. For some reason, I found that video clip of the theme from Interstellar, and thought it would be perfect! I purchased a version online and found it easy to register on the St. Mark’s organ.

So when I say that the Three Choirs Festival was having a late-night organ concert called Interstellar, I told Bill Potter we had to go, even though I usually don’t book concerts which start at 9:45 pm! The organist was Roger Sayer, an internationally-recognized British organist.

Let me now quote from the program:

In 2014 he received a phone call from Hans Zimmer that changed his life: an invitation to record the organ part for Interstellar. Roger has since performed live with Zimmer at the Royal Albert Hall and in 2023 at the O2 in the show Hans Zimmer LIVE to an audience of 40,000. ‘He is without doubt an extraordinary artist whose humanity shines in the impeccable artistry that flows from his hands.’ (Hans Zimmer)

The score to the film Interstellar is without doubt the most significant to incorporate a major role for the organ. It celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. For composer Hans Zimmer, writing for the organ had been something he’d always wanted to do, and Interstellar gave him the opportunity to fulfil his ambition. Given that he had use of ‘Hauptwerk’, where samples of famous organs can be used electronically, he initially intended that the organ part would not be played by a person but, in a last-minute change of heart, he decided to record it live. Temple Church was selected, where Roger Sayer was in post at the time.

Last night’s performance was for me almost a religious experience, and Roger Sayer’s virtuosic performance was incredible! He performed his own version of the score, condensed from a movie of 3 hours down to about 30 minutes. it was a fantastic performance, one in which I could see that the demographic of the audience immediately went down a couple decades. I was really intrigued by the way he set up the paper score, with many spread-outs and single pages which he turned mostly easily. The music did not stop for 30 minutes.

Here was the entire program, which I thought fit perfectly with the Interstellar theme:

Richard Strauss 1864–1949 Extract from Also sprach Zarathustra 1′
Gustav Holst 1874–1934 The Planets 23′
Mars (arr. Arthur Wills)
Venus (arr. Arthur Wills)
Jupiter (arr. Jonathan Scott)
Hans Zimmer b 1957 Interstellar Suite (arr. Roger Sayer) 30′

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In the morning we went on a Three Choirs Festival outing to Beauchamp Community at Newland, a charity established by Earl Beauchamp in 1864, principally to provide accommodation for retired estate workers and their families from his nearby Madresfield Estate. We visited the St Leonard’s Church, All Souls’ Medieval Chapel, The Cloister, the Great Hall, and the theological library, in addition to the beautiful grounds. There was once a choir school here in which the boys learned primarily how to sing plainsong, which they sang for many daily services.

We were not allowed to take photographs in the beautifully-painted church, but were encouraged to download pictures from the website. Our guide was the archivist and emcee of the Anglo-Catholic liturgy and was most entertaining with many stories of the vicars.

Here is a recording of the richly decorated Nicholson two manual organ, the Franck Pastorale, played by Iain Simcock.

In the afternoon, the American Friends of the Three Choirs Festival visited the Madresfield home, not normally open to the public, and we were hosted by a family descendant. The house was located on a huge estate and reminded me of the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, and I found it most interesting that an actual family with children live here. We then went to dinner at the Swan Inn, and got the opportunity to meet other visitors from the United States.