York Minster is famous around the world for its organ recitals and choral renditions. MATT CLARK goes behind the scenes with cathedral’s assistant director of music.

IT’S a tight squeeze and the age-old rickety ladder doesn’t inspire much confidence, but David Pipe promises it will be worth it as we clamber up to the top of the Grand Organ in York Minster.

We struggle through nooks caked in decades of dust, squeeze past shadowy crannies full of strange wooden contraptions and head towards a faint glow bathing a myriad of gleaming steel pipes.

Some are no bigger than a pencil, others the size of a chimney.

David is as good as his promise; it’s a sight like no other. The splendid painted pipes may be the view we are familiar with, but most are dummies and the pair of us are high up, right in the unseen heart of the matter; the engine room of one of Europe’s finest musical instruments.

David is assistant director of music at the Minster and says as a lad, church organs and the accompanying paraphernalia fascinated him. All those pedals and stops; what did they do?

Now he has one of his own and has just used it to record his first solo CD, the latest high point in a career already filled with pinnacles.

It all began when David took up the piano as a five year old. He turned to the organ at school before studying the instrument at the Royal Academy of Music and going up to Cambridge as organ scholar of Downing College.

He won the Minster job in 2010 and this year was appointed principal conductor of York Musical Society.

Not bad for someone who is still in his twenties.

“I always try not to let myself think about it too much,” says David. “This is a big job, we get big congregations and that brings pressures.

“We are also fairly exposed in the Minster because there is always an expectation that we are going to deliver the highest possible standard.”

This is what he does day in and day out. But when it comes to practising a new piece, David uses an electronic organ tucked away in his house in the Minster Quarter. There he can make mistakes to his heart’s content, free from the pressure of audiences. “Purely from a practical level, it’s warmer, I can have a cup of tea, wear my jeans and if I’m just note bashing I can do the dirty washing at home.”

It also means not having to stop for hourly prayers, services or tour groups and sometimes that can be a godsend.

“If I’m learning something modern and discordant I don’t really want the visitors group from Hull or wherever being subjected to me crashing through and repeating a phrase to get it right.”

He may be a virtuoso performer but even David makes the odd mistake. The trick is not to let it show; when he comes to a particularly difficult passage he takes a deep breath, sits back and simply trusts his instincts.

“We all strive for flawless performances but in reality that’s not going to happen and actually it can be a real danger. Gillian Weir, a very famous concert organist, once said right notes are the end of musicality and I understand what she means.

“A stream of flawless performances can be very clinical.”

Indeed some of David’s favourite albums are warts and all live recordings because he finds them thrilling. Yes there are moments when the performer didn’t get it right, but for him music of the moment has more atmosphere than well rehearsed studio sessions.

“I’m a big Queen fan and from the albums you know exactly how Brian May solos sound. Then you hear it live and you think that’s not how it goes.

“But that’s not the point it’s the spontaneity that matters; you hear a song in a different way when it’s live; you reassess it.”

David’s musical taste spans a gamut of styles from Poulenc to Pink Floyd, but he says organ music isn’t a regular on his CD player. Instead he prefers the escapism of something else.

“I don’t really listen to organ recitals too much, partly because it’s my job. But I doubt if accountants look at spreadsheets for fun in the evening. At least I hope they don’t.”

Perhaps because he is only 28, David is rapidly forging a reputation for exciting and groundbreaking recital programmes. Not content to conform to stereotypes he pushes boundaries to keep the music fresh, alive and relevant.

He calls on a curious mix of inspirations.

“Church musicians can get a bit pigeonholed, but when I’m improvising I find if I’ve listened to a wacky modern song there are aspects, strange as it may sound, that I can transfer quite well.”

The organ may be his first love, but there has been a tradition of choral singing at York for a millennium and David’s other job is to coach the Minster’s choristers. Choral Evensong is sung almost every day and on Sundays, Choral Matins and Sung Eucharist are also held.

There is a lot to get through, so rehearsals are held each morning at eight o’clock. Sometimes there are new pieces to learn; in other cases it’s making sure the choristers can remember hymns from the last time they sang them.

But it’s not only about singing the right notes in the right way.

“With any choir of children, as they get older their voices change, so we are constantly trying to develop the sound they are making. To sing the higher stuff with more control so they can do it quietly and develop the lowers notes to add richness.”

When not on duty at the Minster, David is much in demand as an organ soloist, accompanist, conductor and teacher. He has already appeared on five CDs and he has just released a solo offering of original works and transcriptions for organ by Liszt and Brahms.

It’s a fine introduction to his playing style and while there is the mighty gothic power of the Minster organ at full pelt on Brahms Prelude in G minor, David is equally passionate about exploring the subtle nuances of this great instrument. He ably demonstrates this on Liszt’s Consolation in D flat.

“As with all good projects, the album was hatched over a couple of pints in the pub. We bashed a few ideas around and one was the last movement from Brahms 4th Symphony.

“In a way it’s the centre piece of the album and the big novelty is the arrangement has never been recorded before. It was a fantastic way of getting into the heart of the piece.”

Not to mention a sublime example of David’s idiomatic virtuosity.

“If someone said to me at school, you’ll get the chance to play this huge Cathedral organ at full tilt; I would have thought that sounds like a lot of fun.”

Now he does… and yes it is.

• Liszt and Brahms by David Pipe is available on the Sfz label from York Minster shop at £12 or sfzmusic.co.uk at £12 plus £2 p&p.