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Vierne - Carillion De Westminster


Guest Lee Blick

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I think that the worst I ever heard from the pulpit was during a sermon given by a retired priest, who was rather genteel and possibly slightly naïve.

 

He was preaching on St. Paul's journey to Antioch (or whichever one involved a journey by sea).

 

The offending passage went something like this:

 

"... and suddenly a storm began! The sailors were afraid, the ship began to sink - it had a hole in its bottom."

 

Gazing down benignly at the assembled congregation, he continued, "Are you in the storms of life? ... Are you sinking? ... Do you have a hole in your bottom?

 

 

 

....Approximately three minutes later, he was able to continue with his homily. After the service, he left the church, still with a bemused expression - clearly he was wondering what on earth fifty-seven people had found so funny during his sermon.

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=======================

 

It's a funny thing, but whenever I play French music, I play it very fast, so as to get it out of the way as quickly as possible!

 

Head to head in the Widor, I'm not sure whether Jane Parker-Smith or myself would claim the chequered flag.

 

Mulet's "Tues es Petra" .....now that's given me an idea for a new thread....organ-works you really HATE! 

 

B)

MM

 

I thought the record for the Widor was held by Reginald Goss- Custard at something like 3.56 but then he did leave a bit out. In order to make the race fair we have to know the guidelines for it -

 

Is it (1) necessary to play all the notes and if yes , must they (2) actually be in the right order or is it acceptable if they are all there but moved around a bit ?

 

As to the the idea of organ works you really hate you have to be careful this does not degenerate into composers of organ works I really hate , especially in the case of those still alive who might sue!!!

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As to the the idea of organ works you really hate you have to be careful this does not degenerate into composers of organ works I really hate , especially in the case of those still alive who might sue!!!

 

Well, indeed! Having said that, are you not allowed to 'hate' someone, purely because it is a personal (and subjective) viewpoint?

 

I remember, some years ago, reading a review (in OR) of some new work by William Mathias; the reviewer was Marc Rochester. He was somewhat candid in his language and forthright in his opinions, to the effect that he did not think much of the piece under review.

 

In the following edition, there was a letter from a reader who pointed-out that, since (at that time) Marc Rochester was working in the same university as William Mathias, it might have been safer to adopt a slightly more diplomatic approach.

 

As far as I know, William Mathias never instituted legal action against Marc Rochester!

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Well, indeed! Having said that, are you not allowed to 'hate' someone, purely because it is a personal (and subjective) viewpoint?

 

I remember, some years ago, reading a review (in OR) of some new work by William Mathias; the reviewer was Marc Rochester. He was somewhat candid in his language and forthright in his opinions, to the effect that he did not think much of the piece under review.

 

In the following edition, there was a letter from a reader who pointed-out that, since (at that time) Marc Rochester was working in the same university as William Mathias, it might have been  safer to adopt a slightly more diplomatic approach.

 

As far as I know, William Mathias never instituted legal action against Marc Rochester!

 

Christians as I understand it are not supposed to hate anybody: hate the sin, love the sinner. However, relatively few are able to control their emotions to the extent that they achieve total compliance with this desideratum. Nevertheless, what you feel and what you say about what you feel should not necessarily or even ordinarily be the same thing, if for no other reason than that malice defeats defences in libel which would otherwise be available. So you can reach this situation. A writes a book . X and Y both review it in identical damning terms. X has never met A and his opinion represents a dispassionate judgment. Action against him will fail. Y has met A and absolutely loathes him. It is argued in court , and believed by the jury, that Y's review was influenced by his attitude towards A. So A succeeds in his action against Y and Y has to pay damages for saying exactly the same as X said. Difference Y was motivated by malice and X was not.

 

If Rochester was a University teacher I am not surprised Matthias did not sue. He would have known what his salary was ! In any event if M was R's Head of Department he had plenty of other ways to give vent to his displeasure after all someone has to do the 9.00 am tutorials and someone has to take charge of the evening extra- mural class on Friday night and someone has to be secretary to the exams board and draw up next year's timetable and in a relatively small department with few candidates for these various jobs. Well that's what I would have done . Not that I did but I was only Head of Department for a relatively short time and had no occasion to.

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Hi guys,

A little off topic, I know, but I felt that I had to share the following typos with you. I swear on the life of my family that they are all genuine and taken from services at which I either played or directed - although the third one was noticed at a choir practice, after which the entire stock of service booklets (400+ for an Easter Sunday morning service) was reprinted.

.'..to save us all fron Santa's power when we were gone astray.'

 

'Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face;

Her would I touch and handle things unsen.'

 

And one to keep the theologians excersised 'till judgement day,

 

'I know that my Redeemer lies.'

 

Microsoft Office spellchecker is an instrument of Satan. Discuss.

 

All the best,

Paul.

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Microsoft Office spellchecker is an instrument of Satan.  Discuss.

 

All the best,

Paul.

 

 

=========================

 

 

I tried this in a Russian Translator, and then re-translated it back using another programme:-

 

"The controller of a pronunciation under letters of office microsoft will be Satan"

 

B)

 

MM

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HA! Even better, MM.

 

OK - I just saw this one tonight on a service sheet in a church (not my own) where I was playing for an Evensong to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (21-iii-1556).

 

The sheet listed Holy Week and Easter services, together with the name of the organist responsible for playing at each service, and the offending line ran thus:

 

"Maundy Thursday 7,30pm Communion and stripping of the altar organist Peter Dutton"

 

:blink:

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Hi guys,

Microsoft Office spellchecker is an instrument of Satan.  Discuss.

 

All the best,

Paul.

 

Or perhaps a timely reminder to read the small print ! Microsoft spell checker does a good job of checking spelling once you have configured it to recognise British English so that it stops trying to "correct" eg the spelling of labour to make it labor. As far as I know it does not promise that the correctly spelt word will be the correct word to use in the context or the word the author meant nor does it promise to identify the occasional missing word of some significance , for example, "not" whose absence can tend to radically affect the meaning. Human proof readers not quite redundant yet !!!

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As far as I know it does not promise that the correctly spelt word will be the correct word to use in the context or the word the author meant nor does it promise to identify the occasional missing word of some significance , for example, "not" whose absence can tend to radically affect the meaning.
That, in theory, ought to be what the grammar checker is for. But don't get me started on that!
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That, in theory, ought to be what the grammar checker is for. But don't get me started on that!

The grammar checker is pure nonsense, as far as I can see. It usually suggests pointless alternatives for syntax which is perfectly correct and often, where there has been error or awkwardness, suggests something equally flawed.

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Guest Nigel ALLCOAT
============================

 

I wonder if Germani really wanted to play this work for the Selby recording?  I often wonder.

 

One thing I can tell you about that particular EMI release; the organ was recorded with an abundance of ambience, possibly using ribbon mics which further increased the "warmth" of the sound. The pressings weren't exactly state of the art !

 

It's actually quite difficult to hear what Germani was actually doing in fine detail, but there is a very interesting quiet moment, where he "thumbs down" and picks out the chorale theme; something which Reger often did apparently. Also, in the sheet-music, (I think it's Universal) there are specific references to the use of manual to pedal couplers at strategic points, and I very much doubt that this could have been achieved without a registrant on hand; the fingers and feet being fairly fully occupied in the usual Reger musical traffic-jam.

 

 

MM

 

Germani was taken to Selby (so he said) by the organ builders HN&B. It had recently been completed and thus he was booked to demonstrate. He had little idea what to expect. The Widor Toccata was a filler and recorded (he says) off the cuff and no doubt from memory, knowing him, I suggest. It does not fit into the other repertoire at all. Under no circumstances would anyone help him with registration. He boasted that he could give a complete concert using only 4 generals and mixed the pistons of each department with it - a little like a Chef and a béchamel!

His rendition of the Reger Hallelujah! is filled with numerous 'extras' - I have his pencil markings still.

Best wishes,

NJA

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But for the prize, I think that it would have to be Lefébure-Wély. I completely detest everything which I have heard by this composer. Strangely enough, according to Saint-Saëns, L-W was actually a good improvisor - in a totally different (and more serious) style to the stuff he wrote.

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But for the prize, I think that it would have to be Lefébure-Wély. I completely detest everything which I have heard by this composer. Strangely enough, according to Saint-Saëns, L-W was actually a good improvisor - in a totally different (and more serious) style to the stuff he wrote.

 

Last year I bought the computer programme `Sibelius' and for a considerable time I was tied to the house. For fun and to gain fluency in using the programme, I decided to have a go at orchestrating some of the better known Lefebure-Wely (sorry I haven't discovered how to get the accents on yet) organ pieces and through the magic of `Sibelius' I was able to hear what I had done.

 

The result was as I had always though - a second Offenbach or music for a Moulin Rouge revue. It can be very enjoyable, particularly to non-organ lovers, when listened to in this format.

 

 

Frank Fowler

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Last year I bought the computer programme `Sibelius' and for a considerable time I was tied to the house. For fun and to gain fluency in using the programme, I decided to have a go at orchestrating some of the better known Lefebure-Wely (sorry I haven't discovered how to get the accents on yet) organ pieces and through the magic of `Sibelius' I was able to hear what I had done.

 

The result was as I had always though - a second Offenbach or music for a Moulin Rouge revue. It can be very enjoyable, particularly to non-organ lovers, when listened to in this format.

Frank Fowler

 

Perform a search for 'charmap' - then add a shortcut on Desktop. If the Arial font is selected, there are a variety of accents and foreign characters (including Russian) which can then be cut and pasted.

 

I do not doubt that many do like his works. However, we were asked for our own personal dislikes - and he is my most hated (with the possible exception of Sorabji)!

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Perform a search for 'charmap' - then add a shortcut on Desktop. If the Arial font is selected, there are a variety of accents and foreign characters (including Russian) which can then be cut and pasted.

 

I do not doubt that many do like his works. However, we were asked for our own personal dislikes - and he is my most hated (with the possible exception of Sorabji)!

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