DaveHarries

Hi all, I realise there is already a recital thread but thought I would post these in a separate one. To mark the organ's restoration - and very fine it sounds too - there are a number of music concerts coming up and these are to be as follows: Saturday 27th November 2010, 3:00pm: Thomas Trotter (*) Saturday 04th December 2010, 7:30pm: Celebratory concert of Organ & Choral Music (**) Saturday 22nd January 2011, 3:00pm: Andrew Kirk (St. Mary Redcliffe DoM, organ) and Petronella Dittmer (violin) (**) Saturday 19th February 2011, 3:00pm: James Lancelot (Durham Cathedral) (**) * Ticket prices: £15 / £12 / £10 ** Ticket prices: £8 in advance / £10 on the door. Hope this is of interest. Dave

Evening all, Attended St. Mary Redcliffe, bristol this evening for the 6:30 Choral Evensong to celebrate the re-inauguration of the 1912 Harrison & Harrison organ after 2 years of restoration work. The music was this: Introit: Locus Iste (Bruckner) Setting: Bairstow in D Hymns: 336, 394, 413 Psalm: 46 Anthem: Hear my words ye people (CHH Parry) Preacher: Rev. Simon Taylor Voluntary: March on Handel's "Lift up your heads" (A. Guilmant) A very good service with the theme of the sermon being music (appropriately enough) and the Anthem, where some parts were done by full choir and some were done by solos, led straight into "O Praise Ye The Lord" although, after the third verse, they went straight into the Amens at the end and missed out verse 4 despite it not being indicated in the order of service that verse 4 would be missed. Ooops! The Guilmant was extremely good and attracted a round of applause afterwards. The organ sounds in very fine voice. There are a few more events coming up in terms of concerts and I have put these in the "Upcoming Recitals" section. Dave

Hi, I believe there uis a modern hymn with the words "He is coming oh my saviour he is coming oh my king". Anyone else heard this (as I have on the radio a few times) and, if so, who wrote it and what is it called? A search on the internet turns up nothing. Cheers, Dave

A nice piece of playing here: Scott Dettra (Principal Organist, Washington National Cathedral, USA) playing William Walton's "Crown Imperial" on the organ of the WNC. Very fine it sounds too IMO. Dave

John, Thanks for the update. Good to know things are thriving at the works. I touch wood that this organ won't suffer a similar fate, but which English builder was it who - when they tried to export an organ to Nigeria - never got to install it there because the vessel carrying the instrument sank on the way? I seem to recall it was mentioned in C&O at some point but I could be wrong and haven't time to look through my archives of C&O (which I have every issue of excluding issue 2). TIA. Dave

Hi all, Just been looking through the lineup of organ-featuring music for this year's Proms at the RAH. Not as much as last year but potentially some quite good stuff including a couple of Solo concerts: Sunday 01st August, 4:00pm (Prom 20) Wagner, arr. Lemare - Overture: The Mastersingers of Nuremburg Wagner, arr. Lemare - Overture: Tannhäuser Wayne Marshall - Improvisation on themes from Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde" Wagner, arr. Lemare - The Ride of the Valkyries Wayne Marshall (organ) Wednesday 04th August, 10:00pm (Prom 25) Bach - Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch", BWV 769 Bach, arr. Stravinsky - Chorale Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch" Stravinsky - Threni Daniel Hyde (organ), Hillary Summers (mezzo), Alan Oake & Andrew Kennedy (tenors), David Wilson-Johnson (baritone), John Tomlinson (bass), BBC Singers, London Sinfonietta / David Atherton. Saturday 14th August, 5:00pm (Prom 38) - Bach Day Bach - Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor (BWV582) Bach - Chorale Prelude: "Wachet Auf, ruft uns die Stimme" (BWV 645) Bach, arr. Stainton B. Taylor - Aria: Schafe können sicher weiden (Cantata no. 208) Bach, arr. Virgil Fox - Chorale: "Komm süsser Tod" (BWV478) Bach, arr. David Briggs - Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D (BWV 1068) David Briggs (Organ) Note: Prom 39 (14th August, 7:30pm) features orchestral arrangements of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (BWV565, arr. Stokovski) as well as BWV645 and BWV582, of which the latter two are in the lineup for David Briggs' concert as organ solos. Tuesday 17th August, 10:15pm (Prom 43) Arvo Pärt - St. John Passion Andrew Kennedy (Pilate), Brindley Sherratt (Jesus) Iain Farrington (organ), Endymion, BBC Singers, conductor David Hill. And that, from what I have to hand, appears to be that. Some good stuff there IMO. I think an RAH debut for Iain Farrington (Prom 43) as I don't recall hearing of him in any previous lineups. How well known is he? Cheers, Dave

Good news for the organ at the Royal Festival Hall: the Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded £950,000 for its re-installation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/10342262.stm Dave

Hi, Does anyone know anything about the organ in Algiers Cathedral..... http://www.flickr.com/photos/amberinsea/4155472349/sizes/l/ ..... and also if the cathedral at Tunis has one? If Tunis has one, what of the organ's history? Cheers, Dave

Hi Churchmouse, Two organs I can think of: St. Nicholas, Amsterdam (nr. Central Station): The organ is splendid to hear but the church is well worth a look. Instrument by Wilhelm Sauer from 1889, opus 505. I have been to Sunday services here when in Amsterdam. A useful tip is that the director of music here is an Englishman (ex. Newcastle Cathedral and Guildhall School of Music). They have Choral Evensong here at 5pm every Saturday from September to June. More information: http://www.muziekindenicolaas.nl/english.html Grote of OLV Kerk (Church of our Lady), Breda: Splendid church that was restored during the best part of more than 50 years in the 1900s. Very well worth a look. Organ contains various parts from various ages. Too much information to post here though: feel free to give me a PM if you want more information. Cheers, Dave

Was at the 10:30am Eucharist on Sunday 25th April. Excellent musical direction from Adrian and a setting that was, according to the program notes, written for two organs: Setting: Messe Solenelle (Langlais) Motet: Tantum Ergo (Severac) Hymns: 125, 134, 262, 149 Psalm: 23 Excellent music & choir direction from Adrian Lucas with Christopher Allsop playing the electronic organ and George Castle (I think) playing the pipe organ in the choir. It was certainly not hard - for me - to tell which organ was playing: the Gloria in the Langlais used both organs (electronic was used mostly but chords were done by the pipes in the choir) while the second part used pipes only. Excellent! My parents were also with me: my Dad loved hearing the organ at the end. I am suprised that they still keep the electronic organ as, from where we were sitting, the pipe organ was perfectly audible. Dave

WHats going on in Cardiff on Saturday?

I heard quite a bit of it on BBC Radio 3. Very good concert and interesting interval interlude. Dave

"Fantasia in G" by JS Bach. Portsmouth Cathedral, Sunday 17th January 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGPvwawMMdQ I recorded this clip myself after the end of Choral Evensong. It is played by David Price (Organist & Master of the Choristers, Portsmouth Cathedral) who gave me permission to upload the clip onto YouTube when I spoke to him briefly after he came down from the organ loft. Fabulous sound but it is a pity about the talking, which was inevitable of course. I also liked the sound of the Cimbelstern (sleigh bells) at the end. Still the music is audible over the crowd which is great. I took a walk around the cathedral while the music was playing, as you can see from the clip. Enjoy! Dave

Hi all, On work today I took a break (tiredness from driving: it was 9:45am but I had been up since 5:30am although not driving for all that time) and popped into Llandaff Cathedral which just happened - because of where I was coming from - to be just off the route I was taking. So I took the oportunity to go and have a look at the organ. The appearence of the instrument certainly, IMO, enhances the appearence of the building and looks better than the somewhat ugly (IMO) grille that stood there before. There will, I reckon, be some who think that the best way to enhance the interior of the building would be to get rid of that arch. However I was informed that the organ pipes which were inside the top of that archway during the life of the last pipe organ are simply being left there as it was too complicated (and expensive?) to get them out. I got my camera out and, after assertaining that I did not need to purchase a photograph permit (as you do at Wells for £2 IIRC), I managed to get these snaps. They aren't perfect but I hope they aren't too bad either, and provide a slightly more recent update than the photos of August 2009 on the Cathedral's website: View from behind the high altar: View from the South side of the Chancel: View from the North side of the Chancel. The console can just be seen behind the Bishop's throne. View from the Northwest side of the Chancel showing the South case: In respect of photo 4, the case, with the exception of that small Positive, reminds me of the Klais organ (1998) at Cologne Cathedral, Germany. The same member of staff who informed me about the organ pipes in the arch being retained said that the building work on the organ is finished but it is not yet connected up. Hopr this is of interest. I look forward to the opening of the organ which is, I believe, scheduled for Easter 2010. Dave

Cheers Paul. I will be along for the Nine Lessons this year as well as for the midnight service on 24th December and the Festival Eucharist on 25th December. Very much looking forward to the music as always so see you there. Dave

Ones that I think I would consider using were I in your situation: - JS Bach: Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland, BWV 661 - JS Bach: Wachet auf! Ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645 If you want something basic then I would recommend Jane Watts' prelude on the carol "Past Three O' Clock" which I have somewhere and did, at one point, learn. If you want something quite grand then the improvisation on Adeste Fideles that we had in Bristol Cathedral after the 9 Lessons and Carols in, I think, 2007 (it may have been 2008) was spectacular - earned raptuous aplause to the organist playing (Paul Walton, IIRC) - buit may be too much preparation to get it ready now. BTW, Squinius: where do you play? Cheers, Dave

=> Dave

If the church didn't want it then why didn't they sell it before having the work done,. rather than fitting a false ceiling and leaving it covered for eternity? The organ should be sold to someone who will do it up. As for the person who decided that the organ should be permanently covered up......... Dave

Two more clips. Firstly, the famous 1610 organ in Fredriksborg Slot, Denmark played by Carol Williams. Secondly, a Spanish organ with its original blowing mechanism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qccBF1beTmY Dave

Thanks, tiratutti. Dave

Here's an interesting clip featuring numerous organs from around Europe but rounding off at Salt Lake City, USA. It isn't clear if the organ music being played (what is that piece?) is being played on one of the instruments shown. The clip is at The organ of St. Anna, Warsaw (shown with its red case in the above clip) looks splendid. The case is mid-to-late 1600s: pity the organ isn't as old as it was rebuilt in 1992. Dave

The only churches I know of in Abertillery are: - Congregational Church (Conarcher organ) - St. Michaels (WG Vowles 1910 / Lyndon Stephens, 1970s & 1992) Which one is getting the organ from the Christian Science church (which was where)? Dave

Just looked this one up on the NPOR. The record with index number N00170 gives this as being playable. Dave

That's a good one. Made me laugh. Dave

"Decani Cantoris Millenium Appeal £20,000 was raised fro the Choral Foundation. At 2:30pm a small ceremony will take place in the song school when a plague will be unveiled to thank the donors." ["News & Notes" section, Bristol Cathedral service sheet, 23rd November 2008] Dave