By Michael Reckord, ContributorLIKE SPANISH Town of which it is an integral part, the St James Cathedral is hundreds of years old. Like the old capital, the church is a treasure.
It should be a tourist attraction, what with its antique architecture, its quaint wooden pews and the dozen or so marble tombstones - some dating back 300 years - which form much of the church floor.
The tomb over which I sat on Sunday evening covered the grave of 'Elizabeth, wife of John Blair Esq, who departed this life the 7th of (month unreadable) aged 27 years'. A number of plaques on the walls indicated that people, women especially, died young in that far-off time.
One of the treasures of the church is its organist Trevor Beckford. His annual recital was the occasion which drew me, and about 30 others, to the church that evening.
The recital deserved a larger attendance, for the featured composers included masters like Bach, Sibelius and Handel and the performing talent was immense. Aside from Beckford, there were soprano Pat Gooden and tenor Orville Manning, who were introduced by church officer Dennis Henry, the people's warden.
Gooden, he said, was trained in Scotland and has made concert tours of Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Cayman Islands. Also a voice teacher and actress, she got an 'Award of Excellence' for her contribution to the arts. Manning, the choirmaster of the Spanish Town Methodist Church Choir, has been the principal tenor in numerous oratorios and cantatas by Handel, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and others.
Beckford was described as one of the world's longest-serving cathedral organists, having been chief organist for 41 years and assistant organist for seven. He has represented Jamaica at international organ festivals and conferences in Britain, Aruba, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. He became a member of the team of national adjudicators in 1983 and has taught music at Shortwood Teachers College, Dinthill and St. Andrew Technical high schools, and Glenmuir and St Jago high schools. He has received a number of awards, including the Order of Distinction, for his contributions to music.
After the introductions, Beckford, clearly at home in his church, gave a brief introduction to the pieces he was about to play and to the duet from Handel's oratorio Samson which Good and Manning were to sing. Among the items of information he gave was the news that Jamaica Military Band trumpeter Fernando Campbell would not play as scheduled, because he was off the island with his band.
Beckford said that he would play the trumpet part on the organ, and thus ended up, curiously, accompanying himself on the one instrument. And he did, successfully, in Albert Malotte's The Lord's Prayer.
PLEASING
Among the more pleasing, perhaps because they were familiar, pieces were Bach's Fantasia in G, the segment from Sibelius Finlandia which is used for the Finnish national anthem, and Geoffrey Shaw's version of Adeste Fideles. The last named gave an evocative hint of the imminent Christmas season.
Other composers featured were Du Image, Fela Sowande (an African composer who visited Jamaica), Douglas Guest and Widor.
In his appreciation, Dr Anthony Lewis congratulated Beckford and the singers for "a wonderful performance." Reverend Trevor Keen Dawes welcomed the audience to the church and said the opening prayer.
