Peter celebrates Elgar for Fr Paddy
Earlier this month Peter went to the anniversary celebrations in Worcester, the city closest to the village of Lower Broadheath where the composer was born.
"There was a tour to his home from the city, and it was very interesting there," he says. "They have done a lot at his home in the last 10 years. Then there were recitals in the cathedrals at Worcester and Gloucester."
Peter has a wide knowledge of the composers whose music he plays, an interest for which he gives great credit to the late Fr Henry Flanagan OP, who taught him in Newbridge College.
"Brendan Graham was talking about Fr Flanagan on the radio recently on 'Miriam Meets'. It was nice to hear somebody else who appreciated him."
Elgar lived in London for a while, but came back to the countryside which he most loved. "He was very fond of nature and fishing and that sort of thing, around the Malvern Hills and the River Severn. And if you listen to his music, you can relate to the countryside that he lived in ... it's amazing, really."
Peter managed to get in some playing himself, on the organ at the Church of St Mary Redcliffe in Bristol. "It was a Harrison and Harrison organ, which goes back to 1911. It has been refurbished and repaired over the years, and all the stops are electro-pneumatic. It's a fabulous instrument in a fabulous building and it was an amazing experience."
Peter will regularly be found playing the organ in Kilcullen Church in his spare time. A leisure activity which has recently begun to bring him an unexpected bonus.
"I have about six weddings lined up now, from people who came in to look at the church for their weddings while I was playing, then asked me would I play for them."
And he has a small confession to make about Fr Paddy's evening and one of his Elgar pieces. "I actually mixed up a couple of the pages of music," he says with a grin. "But I don't think anybody noticed."
Brian Byrne.
