Philip Dore

[Stephen Dutfield]

I'm in the process of writing an article on the Pavilion, Bournemouth Compton for an enthusiasts' newsletter, but I'm finding it very difficult to find information about Philip Dore anywhere on the web. I know the details of his time at Bournemouth thanks to Malcolm Riley's excellent book on Whitlock, but can't seem to find any details of other appointments apart from Ampleforth, and no dates for anything - including his birth and death.

 

If anyone could give me a quick run-down of his career, I'd be very grateful. Thanks in advance!

 

Steve

[Malcolm Kemp]

I've got a feeling he was at one time Director of Music at Brighton College so a starting point might be Dr John Pemberton (curator-organist of Hull City Hall organ) although I'm sure he was a student at Brighton College well after Philip Dore's time. Is he any relation of William Dore whose name seems to crop up quite frequently in musical circles? I've heard many tales of him in times past; some may be apocryphal and some unprintable.

 

I hope this helps a bit.

 

Malcolm

[Clavecin]

His son William is the present organist at Ampleforth Abbey and is on the music staff at Ampleforth College.

If you drop him an email at the College I'm sure he will furnish all the information you need.

 

DT

[Stephen Dutfield]

His son William is the present organist at Ampleforth Abbey and is on the music staff at Ampleforth College.

If you drop him an email at the College I'm sure he will furnish all the information you need.

 

Thanks David - I had no idea about this. I shall write to him this weekend.

 

S

[pcnd5584]

His son William is the present organist at Ampleforth Abbey and is on the music staff at Ampleforth College.

If you drop him an email at the College I'm sure he will furnish all the information you need.

 

DT

 

Post deleted - I had missed the fact that you were already aware of his former appointment at Ampleforth.

[Malcolm Riley]

Post deleted - I had missed the fact that you were already aware of his former appointment at Ampleforth.

Someone who knew Philip Dore very well from the 1930s until his death in 1974 is Leslie Barnard. now 93, and residing in an old folks' home near Havant. The October 1993 Whitlock Trust Newsletter includes Leslie's reminiscences of Dore. I could let you have a photocopy if you're interested. I also have a few photos of 'Jumbo', as he was known to his intimates.

 

Dore recorded several 78 rpm sides on the Pavilion organ for Parlophone, c 1930, which I have on cassette. They're very much of their time but show what Dore was capable of drawing from the Compton, which was only a year or so old. It was slightly enlarged in 1934 when the Theatre's flytower was added.

 

He was an inveterate hummer at the console. I have BBC radio broadcasts of him playing Whitlock's Fantasie Choral No 1 (which was dedicated to Dore) and the complete Sonata in C minor - a wildly wayward interpretation! Both recorded at Ampleforth in the '60s.

 

Malcolm Riley

[Stephen Dutfield]

Someone who knew Philip Dore very well from the 1930s until his death in 1974 is Leslie Barnard. now 93, and residing in an old folks' home near Havant. The October 1993 Whitlock Trust Newsletter includes Leslie's reminiscences of Dore. I could let you have a photocopy if you're interested. I also have a few photos of 'Jumbo', as he was known to his intimates.

 

Dore recorded several 78 rpm sides on the Pavilion organ for Parlophone, c 1930, which I have on cassette. They're very much of their time but show what Dore was capable of drawing from the Compton, which was only a year or so old. It was slightly enlarged in 1934 when the Theatre's flytower was added.

 

He was an inveterate hummer at the console. I have BBC radio broadcasts of him playing Whitlock's Fantasie Choral No 1 (which was dedicated to Dore) and the complete Sonata in C minor - a wildly wayward interpretation! Both recorded at Ampleforth in the '60s.

 

Thank you very much Malcolm. This is all very interesting information, and I'd like to take you up on your offer of a photocopy of the Barnard article if I may. I'll message you privately about that. I also had no idea that there had been any solo recordings made of the Pavilion organ as long ago as that. I'm glad I asked now!

 

I have also had a reply from one of the brothers at Ampleforth who has forwarded my enquiry to William Dore.

 

S

[S_L]

It seems you might have your reply.

 

I have two LP's of Philip Dore playing the Ampleforth organ in, I think, the Mendelssohn Sonatas. They are around somewhere and I must look them out. I remember being very impressed with the recording - but it is a long time since I listened to them.

[Stephen Dutfield]

It seems you might have your reply.

 

I have two LP's of Philip Dore playing the Ampleforth organ in, I think, the Mendelssohn Sonatas. They are around somewhere and I must look them out. I remember being very impressed with the recording - but it is a long time since I listened to them.

 

I had meant to catch up with this thread before. Acting on the information provided by list members I was able to contact William Dore at Ampleforth, and he sent me the following about his father, which may well be of interest here:

 

 

 

Born: Portsmouth 25 September 1903

Educated: Prebendal School, Chichester (chorister) and articled organ pupil of Dr FJ Read. FRCO awarded (c.1921)

Queens College, Cambridge (organ scholar, originally to read History, but changed to Music. Double First Class Degree).

N.U.I. Dublin (MusB)

Borough Organist of Portsmouth (1926) followed by a stint as Organist at the Bournemouth Pavilion (succeeded by Whitlock in 1932)

Settled in Eire in 1930s, freelance organist and examiner/teacher, and Organist at Savoy Theatre, Dublin (1930s)

War Service: Office of Censorship having returned to UK.

Organist at Christ's Hospital Horsham (1948-53?)

Director of Music at Brighton College (1953-58)

Director of Music and Abbey Organist, Ampleforth Abbey and College (1958-70)

Numerous recordings made at Ampleforth and elsewhere for Radio 3, and 2 LPs released under RCA Victrola of Mendelssohn's Complete Organ Works in 1971, recorded by Michael Smythe at Ampleforth.

Appears also on 'Six Famous British Organs' (released in 1974) (Smythe recording)

Continued to examine and teach after retirement, and started work in a doctorate at York University on Tournemere's L'Orgue Mystique. (unfinished at the time of his death and manuscript lost).

 

Died: 25 March 1974 after a short illness.

 

 

 

 

I am indebted to everyone here for their help and suggestions, and of course to William Dore.

 

S

[gerco1956]

It wasn't the recording of Mendelssohn's Sonatas (which sounded quite dull to me) but the Vista recording of Franck's Grande Pièce Symphonique at Ampleforth Abbey which fascinated me. The Final is on the second record of a Reader's Digest series called Great Organ Classics (1977). It's typical you still can find the Mendelssohn LPs on many car boot sale and charity shop, whereas the Franck recording is quite rare.

[Gerco Schaap]

[JRWSG]

I did a bit of reserach into Philip Dore when I was writing an article on the Organs & organists of St Mary, Portsea for the centenary book of 1989.

 

Philip Dore 1903-74 MA MusB (Cantab) FRCO

 

native of Portsmouth

Chorister Chichester Cathedral (later Ast organist under Dr F J Read)

1922 - Organ Scholar, Queen's College, Cambridge - studied under Charles Wood, E W Naylor, Dr C B Rootham

Held cinema posts in London & Maidenhead

Municipal organist Portsmouth Guildhall

Organist, St Mary, Portsea 1925-28

Municipal organist, Bournemouth

Organist - Mullingar Cathedral

Wartime service - customs and excise

Christ's Hospital, Horsham

Brighton College

Ampleforth Abbey - designed "new" 4 manual Walker organ 1960s.

See "The Organ" Vol ix p27

 

I hope this is useful. I have some chorale preludes by him. Whitlock dedicated his Fantasie Choral No 1 to Dore

 

John Radford

[chatfield]

PGD was, for us, a hugely inspirational teacher when at Brighton College in the mid 50s. His musical appreciation classes were a delightful trip into the world of Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn and others and his organ improvisations always inspired. As one of his organ students along with John Pemberton and John Dillistone, I was privileged to turn pages for BBC recordings at the Temple Church of the Reubke and, I fancy, the Liszt As Nos. His opening of the latter was extremely thrilling, memorable now over 60 years later and I have never heard bettered. He had a way of visualising and presenting an entire piece as a work of art rather than a succession of sounds or movements. 

His flare for the cinema organ undoubtedly coloured and enhanced his classical performances too. 

I have heard many fine players in my time but, at his best, I have yet to hear better.