Well known as an organist and harpsichordist, Douglas Hollick studied with Peter Hurford whilst organ scholar at Hull University, and subsequently with Marie-Claire Alain in Paris and Gustav Leonhardt in Amsterdam. He has played widely both here and abroad, including the 1991 Prague Early Music Festival, and in Melbourne, Sydney, and the 1992 Fremantle Bach Festival in Australia. Visits to the Czech Republic have continued, with teaching and concerts in Prague, Brno and Ostrava, a member of the jury of the 1996 Organ Competition in Opava, and a Czech Radio recording. In 1999 he played in the Dolní Lukavice Haydn Festival in Bohemia. In visits to Germany he has played concerts on the Silbermann organs in Dresden and Pfaffroda, and in 2004 and 2005 on the restored 17th century organ of St Johannis, Hamburg-Neuengamme. Elsewhere in Europe have been organ recitals in Stuttgart, Roskilde Cathedral and Helsingør in Denmark, and Helsingborg in Sweden. 2003 saw a return to Sydney in Australia, and four concerts. Other concert venues have included Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and St John’s Smith Square in London, Winchester, Ely, Carlisle and Chester Cathedrals, Southwell Minster, Trinity, Clare, Wolfson and St Catharine’s Colleges Cambridge, and in the Edinburgh, King's Lynn, and Finchcocks Festivals, together with Hull, Southampton, Nottingham, Warwick and Edinburgh Universities. He teaches both organ and harpsichord at Cambridge University and the Birmingham Conservatoire.
A wide repertoire includes major works like the Goldberg Variations and Clavierübung III of Bach, and also works by lesser known composers such as Kuhnau, Benda, Moyreau and Séjan. Programmes often have a particular theme (such as Fantasy, inebriation and madness), and mixed harpsichord and organ programmes can be particularly interesting. The musicality, authority and virtuosity of Douglas Hollick’s playing ensure that his concerts are always stimulating and enjoyable. For harpsichord recitals and chamber music in the UK, he uses his own 1989 copy of the 1711 Pierre Donzelague instrument. Lecture recitals and educational work are also undertaken with this instrument - Douglas Hollick made early keyboard instruments for 15 years up to 1990 in parallel with his playing, so he is uniquely qualified in this respect.
Chamber music with various other artists is under the group name Chameleon, and ranges from duo and trio sonatas to larger groupings and chamber cantatas. A key player in this is the brilliant Czech baroque violinist Iva Fleischhansová, with works by composers such as Biber, Schmelzer, Rebel and Bach contributing to exciting duo programmes with harpsichord. A new development from early 2004 is the availability of a chamber organ for concerts, and this together with the theorbo of Robert Foster opens up yet more of the 17th century violin repertoire. A programme of late 18th and early 19th century music for flute and piano called Classical Magic with the young Czech baroque flautist Iva Junková is available using Douglas’ restored 1811 square piano by Muzio Clementi, together with solo recitals of music from the same period. Concerts are also planned using the Clementi to accompany the soprano Jill Gomez in late 18th and early 19th century English songs.
A year 2000 Churchill Fellowship enabled Douglas to pursue further research into the keyboard instruments from the period of Buxtehude and the young Bach, and to assess the performance implications of the acoustics in churches where Buxtehude worked as organist. His project took him to North Germany and Denmark for a month, visiting such places as Hamburg, Lübeck, Lüneburg, Copenhagen, Roskilde, Helsingør and Stralsund, visiting museum collections and historic organs. The results of the trip have been seen in Douglas’ playing, teaching and writing, and in the recent recording called ‘Buxtehude, master and pupil’ made in Buxtehude’s church in Helsingør.
Concerts and masterclasses are available for the Buxtehude tercentenary year in 2007. These will reflect the great diversity of music from this period, placing the genius of Buxtehude in the context of his contemporaries and pupils. This is a unique opportunity to celebrate the music of this great composer with one of today’s leading interpreters of this repertoire.
Recordings available from Riverrun Records: World Première recording of harpsichord and organ works of Christophe Moyreau (RVRCD 60). This is enigmatic and wonderful music of mid-18th century France, superbly performed on Douglas Hollick’s own Donzelague harpsichord and the Metzler organ of Trinity College Cambridge (by kind permission of the Master and Fellows of Trinity College). Buxtehude, master and pupil (RVRCD 67) contains organ music by Buxtehude, his teachers Lorentz and Scheidemann, and his pupils Leyding and Bruhns. Recorded on the Marcussen reconstruction of Buxtehude’s organ in the church of Sct Mariae, Helsingør, where Buxtehude was organist from 1660-1668, this recording illustrates many aspects of Douglas’ recent research into performance practices of this period, and is attracting very good reviews. The latest recording just released on Riverrun is ‘Revolution’ (RVRCD 71) - Music from the period of the French Revolution, featuring organ, harpsichord and square piano. Please go to http://www.rvrcd.co.ukfor further information and to order.
Comments from the press have included:
A musician of substantial worth .....
Played with flair and conviction ..... this was a jewel in the University early music series.
Douglas Hollick possesses a vitality and spirit which brings a freshness to all his performances. His remarkable technical skills and imaginative ornamentation succeeded in restoring to the music that charm which lies beyond the mere notes.
The Prelude opened with a brilliantly executed and lengthy passage for the pedals ....... The clarity with which each subject entry was contrived together with the seeming ease with which rapid virtuoso manual and pedal sections were dispatched, added to the excitement of a masterly performance.
Extracts from recording reviews:
The Young Bach (Supraphon SU 3015-2 131) ‘vivid, imaginative and exciting ..... the quality of this recording is superb’ (Choir and Organ); ‘utterly delightful playing of a most intelligent programme’
Moyreau: Pièces de Clavecin 1753 (Riverrun Records RVRCD 60) ‘His playing has an expressive spaciousness …… he is certainly up to all the technical challenges – on a par with those of Scarlatti and Rameau – that Moyreau presents.’ Early Music Review; ‘Douglas Hollick weaves his way dexterously around this frequently challenging music ….. there are expressive, imaginative, even zany moments to enjoy.’
Buxtehude, master and pupil (Riverrun Records RVRCD 67) ‘A sheer delight’ Choir and Organ; ‘A programme thoughtfully put together, sensitively played and offering a rewarding insight into the genius of this wonderful period of organ composition’
Douglas Hollick
Willoughby House
West Willoughby
Grantham
Lincolnshire, NG32 3SN
United Kingdom
Tel. +44 (0) 1400 230363
E-mail: dwh@globalnet.co.uk
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