Always on
This project successfully funded on 29th March 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
The Guards’ Chapel: organ recording
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
Aim
The première recording of the magnificent new Harrison & Harrison organ of The Guards' Chapel, by organist Martin Ford
The Project
This will be the first recording of the new Harrison & Harrison organ of The Guards' Chapel, with the chapel's Organist & Director of Music, Martin Ford, at the helm. The programme will be focused on music with direct links to the chapel, as well as music reflecting the chapel's primary purpose as the spiritual home of the Household Division, focused especially on the theme of Remembrance. Repertoire will include:
Matthew Martin: Prelude and Fugue (composed for the inaugural recital in 2024)
Arthur Bliss: Praeludium (Bliss served in the Grenadier Guards)
Edward Elgar arr. Ford: Sospiri (composed just before the outbreak of WW1)
Max Reger: Trauerode ('Mourning Ode', composed in response to WW1)
Edward Bairstow: Sonata in E flat
Herbert Howells: Saraband in modo elegiaco
George Thalben-Ball: Elegy
The project will also include significant input from organ builders Harrison & Harrison, telling the story of the design and construction of this magnificent new instrument.
Your Support
We are hugely grateful to Harrison & Harrison for part-funding this ambitious project, for which we are seeking to raise the remaining £6,000. Funds are handled by The Guards' Chapel Trust, Charity No. 238694. Your support is crucial in producing not only a high-quality recording, but also
- Videographic documentation of the recording process and the insides of the instrument
- Detailed liner notes, with information on the concept, realisation and context of the organ, as well as the music performed
- Physical CDs, as well as distribution via platforms such as iTunes, Amazon and Spotify
Please read on for information about the organ, the performer, and The Guards' Chapel...
The Organ
With a relatively small footprint, The Guards’ Chapel organ was ingeniously designed by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, both in terms of its visual impact in bridging the two distinct architectural styles of the chapel, and in its ambitious tonal and musical vision. It takes musical inspiration from Harrison & Harrison’s proud history of building, restoring and maintaining a huge number of the great cathedral organs of the UK, but with some inventive and innovative modern touches.
Designed to accompany the chapel's professional choir, work alongside military bands & ensembles, and to lead congregational singing, the instrument is also hugely colourful and varied in its tonal palette for the solo organ repertoire. Ranging from quiet, atmospheric string sounds to a thrilling ‘full organ’, the instrument works hand-in-hand with the Chapel’s excellent acoustics.
Martin Ford
Martin Ford is the Organist & Director of Music of The Royal Military Chapel (The Guards’ Chapel) in Westminster, and a Professor of Organ at the Royal College of Music.
He has held the positions of Assistant Organist at St Martin-in-the-Fields and Westminster Abbey, and Acting Sub-Organist of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and St Paul’s Cathedral. Particular highlights include playing for the service of celebration marking the 60th anniversary of the coronation at Westminster Abbey, attended by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and broadcast live on television. At St Paul’s Cathedral, Martin appeared in the 2024 ‘Celebrity’ Recital Series, and in 2022 he performed Olivier Messiaen’s masterpiece, La Nativité du Seigneur.
His discography includes releases on the Harmonia Mundi and Naxos labels. Notable releases include Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs and Finzi’s In terra pax with baritone soloist Roderick Williams.
The Guards' Chapel
The Guards’ Chapel is the spiritual home of the Household Division, comprising seven regiments who have traditionally protected the Sovereign, and who take part in significant state ceremonial events such as the Queen’s Birthday Parade. The original Guards’ Chapel was built in 1838, but was tragically destroyed in June 1944 by a flying bomb during a morning service. The rebuilt Chapel was opened in 1963: the surviving apse from the earlier building, with its splendid mosaics, provides its focal point.
Open Monday to Friday from 10am to 4pm for visiting, the weekly Sunday service takes place at 11am, with choral music from The Choir of the Guards’ Chapel, and instrumental music from one of the Household Division bands or other military ensembles, including The Duchess of Edinburgh’s String Orchestra.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made