mrbouffant

If you need a specialist blower man, then James at the Duplex Pipe Organ Blower Company (not too far from you I guess) was very helpful when I used him last...

Looks a bit like a Trio Sonata...

Thanks for all the great info, guys. It really is a pretty thing, isn't it?

At the end of JKR's episode, she was standing in a nice church in Brumath in Alsace-Lorraine which seemed to boast a very pretty organ with a Ruckpositiv. I wondered if anyone could shed some light on the builder and specification?

May I recommend a hydration backpack, so beloved of runners, cyclists and long-distance walkers, as a means to solve this issue. Mine takes a capacious 3L of fluid and the insulated lining means that 6 pints of bitter are kept at the optimum temperature throughout the service. Of course one does get funny looks departing the vestry with said pack hidden beneath the cassock. The temptation to limp, Quasimodo-like, is strong. However, as the service progresses and the fluid is consumed, one's appearance quickly returns to normal.

Apologies for being off topic on an organ forum, but board members' advice on the subject of choir stall design would be welcome. A new set of stalls is being designed at a local church and I have been asked to contribute ideas around the design. Whilst I have a few thoughts of my own, I would appreciate any ideas around ergonomics and lighting especially. Should the back rows be taller than the front, for example? Thoughts would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance!

Fairly par for the course. Over the years I have performed that fairly often for weddings (actually "The Throne Room" is a better movement, in my opinion) and quite a lot of John Williams stuff (Raiders, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park...). One memorable ceremony concluded with "Highway to Hell" interpolated with "Another one bites the dust". Another bridegroom insisted on the opening material of "Jaws" as the bride arrived at the South Door. In my youth I had the fun of playing for the wedding of a fairly well-known "name" in the 80s music scene. For all his stylised demeanour (white powdered face, sneakers...) the choice of music was fairly traditional, save for "Tara's theme" from "Gone with the wind". He who pays the piper.. etc..

It certainly is if paired with the dreadful harmony offered by the Mayhew hymn books. However, I find Dr. Erik Routley's harmony in NEH to be pretty sublime and it helps lift the tune a number of notches.. That is a talent shared with RVW who could breathe new life into a saggy old tune through the provision of both skill and art.

The Tickell at St. Barnabas, Dulwich has flamed copper pipes if I recall from my dim and distant ARCO days...

Chandos Records have the complete symphonies and more besides... I first bought these in the early 1990s, but they still sound super...

It was a little bit disappointing IMHO. I suppose I was expecting a TV version of Prof. Dibble's excellent book but what we got was a lot of HRH wandering about saying "marvellous" at everything and a fairly random pick of works. There was little chronological order to it. HRH went on about the symphonies, but all we got were snippets of No. 5 -- Where were the rest? No organ music either, which was a pity. Strange that Shulbrede was featured so heavily, even though Parry never actually lived there. I appreciate the lady living there might be Parry's last living descendent or something, and their collection of Parrybilia is unparalleled but even so. In short, a missed opportunity I thought and certainly not on the same level as the recent RVW and Elgar documentaries produced by the BBC.

Quite right. You only have to hear Parry's "straight" orchestration to appreciate the skill (and thrill) of the Elgar orchestration.

He is a shrewd guy, so I guess it will be eminently approachable for many choirs, for obvious reasons.

Nice to see some Percy before the ceremony. Shame about Love Divine !....

Blatant ageism in the article, viz:

No, it dates from 1911. The Rach is from 1900/1. I see from the Proms Archive (http://bbc.co.uk/proms/archive) that there was a performance of it in 2008 -- not sure how I missed that one, normally I would be at a concert like that in a flash.

This is a piece which I have known since about 1990, when it appeared on Chandos played by Margaret Fingerhut. The Concert Variations included on the same disc are also worth exploring.

Click reply and then start typing below the /quote tag... Then just click Add Reply as normal

The main problem I have with Mr Richell's posts is his inability to quote a post and reply to it within the same message. Call me an old stick-in-the-mud... (PS Delighted to see Crawley Town get promotion to the Football League )

What is the rule-of-thumb cost for a new pipe organ these days? In the past I had heard £10K/stop estimate bandied around, so I am assuming therefore that a new, III/P instrument with 50 stops would be around the £500K mark. Is this still a sensible estimate?

Interesting thought - I guess it depends on your circumstances but would that be enough to allow one to indulge one's vocation? We all have to pay the bills!

35K a year and a free house, but only 1 day off in 7 -- reasonable remuneration for such commitment?...

I love playing the Scherzo from the 8th - it really is a lot of fun. In the symphonic version, there seems to be little for the organ to do! I did give the first movement a bash at Chester Cathedral some years ago after Mattins. Always had the orchestral version in my head and never quite managed to get it up to the speed of Tortelier and the BBC Phil. Oh well. Does anyone know if it is possible to purchase the orchestral versions in full score (perhaps with the organ part as a separate booklet) ?

I bashed this out on the Liverpool Cathedral organ a few years back. Using the (then new) Trompette Millitaire for the left hand chords in the last few bars was lots of fun - even if it did make the ears bleed a bit

I love Spotify. Having just started subscribing I am delighted with being able to cache hundreds of albums on my new Android phone with 32Gb of storage. If only some of the major classical labels (Chandos, Hyperion) were on there, it would be perfect!