mrbouffant

Yay!

The point made about the orchestrated carols is a good one. Some of the more trite ones are definitely given a lift by the accompaniment of a full orchestra. Before I get labelled a Rutter-basher, I should point out I attended a 60th birthday concert given in St Pauls Cathedral a couple of years ago - Tavener's Protecting Veil followed by the Rutter Requiem. With the LPO I think. The composer conducted the latter work. Very moving in the cavernous acoustic.

Of course. The tradition stretches back beyond Buxtehude.

I played for a wedding this afternoon where a visiting quire sang three pieces, including two by Rutter. They were pleasant enough: sugary, schmaltzy and appropriate for the occasion. It set me thinking. Does Rutter write in this style to attract the lucrative, American audience or because he can't do any better? I tend towards the former view simply because I think his Requiem is a very reasonable work and the orchestration is nicely done. Of course his early carol stuff is now 'classic' but a forty-year career based on a recurring formula (nice melody with pianoesque accompaniment - a harmony verse - a lower voice verse - an upper voice verse - a final verse with descant) could be interpreted by some as a lack of imagination. Undoubtedly he is hugely successful - especially across The Atlantic - and has no doubt made a comfortable living from this style of music, but I do wonder.... Any thoughts?

Each to their own! Seriously, I don't doubt the musicianship nor the technical and intellectual rigour required to achieve such a performance. I just question the value and, indeed, what it ultimately represents. To be fair, you were mentioning this performance straight after your statement about "Bach ... carefully studied and researched". I think you'd misrepresented the point which you have subsequently clarified, so thanks for that.

I find it hard to reconcile "Bach ... carefully studied and researched" with the kind of recreation you describe. An organist seeking to recreate a 100-year playing style in repertoire written 200 years earlier than that is surely just going to fall into the trap of creating some kind of facsimilie layered with assumption upon assumption? I find Richard Taruskin's writing (as neatly summarised in 'Text and act: essays on music and performance') to be enlightening in these matters. He writes persuasively that all we can hope to achieve is to “reinterpret Bach … for our time” (p.143)

I don't agree with this statement. Can you describe what you mean by doing it "properly"? I had a similar debate on another forum and the outcome was that it was felt that knowing an organist was not a believer somehow 'tarnished' a believer's opinion about the organist's performance and their contribution to worship. Of course, in a "blind listening", being an organist of faith or not would make no difference at all, it was just troubling on a personal level for that believer. Is it not therefore just a human failing to be affected by such a subjective matter? If clergy want the church to be inclusive, they should be prepared to accept non-believers who can do the job and do it well. Who knows, perhaps it will be a route for them into the faith. I would think at the very least any non-believer would be in sympathy with the environment - why be a church organist in the first place? Can you explain what some of the problems are that you've experienced? Do we infer that you've never had any problems with an organist/musician of faith?

I've often wondered about this in terms of job adverts. To advertise for an organist who "must be a committed Christian" smacks to me of some kind of religious discrimination. Clearly this board demonstrates that it is not always the case that a decent organist and musician IS a believer. Fundamentally though, is that kind of advertising illegal? (insofar as discrimination on the basis of sex or race is illegal and I had a feeling age discrimination is also nearly illegal)...

How do you measure that? You comment as if it is the same as boiling an egg for the 'correct' amount of time. What are the secrets to achieving the desired result? Too slow is bad. Too fast is bad. How do we achieve the happy medium?

Are they playing the right notes?

I don't see the issue here. It's her wedding, why can't she choose her own music? Is your concern that it might have been unsuitable or too difficult to play?

So what happened to Rushworth and Dreaper? I am sure I went into their shop in Liverpool once and played Bongo Drums...

Of course. I was merely struck by the beauty of the conincidence!

Nice to see the departing Guildford organist played a recital at the new Guildford organist's current church back in August...

Err, that's what I was saying wasn't it? At least with Amazon you get it shipped from the UK...

Idly browing Amazon today I note that a new edition of this excellent book has been published: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dieterich-Buxtehud...5367&sr=8-1 At least that will save some souls from shelling out hundreds of $$ for a copy of the original edition!

Exciting times all round. I still await a response to my application at Liverpool Cathedral

According to Dibble's excellent "C. Hubert H. Parry His Life and Music", the tune was written during 1903 and was written for Novello's Parish Choir Book. The incorporation into A&M came later.

Yes Liverpool's fairly new Trompette Millitaire made my ears bleed at it's inaugural appearance at the Anniversary Organ Recital in 1997...

I see the advert for this post in The Church Times today. Anyone here fancy applying?

www.musicroom.com

I think it's a matter of 'know your audience'.. an authoritarian approach may work well in an unfamiliar church, but again if they are fighting you all the way into the second verse and beyond, perhaps for the sake of a good service, it might be better to give in and observe the 'house style'... As for me, being in my post for 7+ years, we just adapt to each other I think. If I'm not hungover on a Sunday morning, my tempi are brisk and if I'm tired at evensong they are more relaxed. And yes, I admit I like to rall a bit at the end of the playover.. The cong will already have heard you play the opening phrase or two in tempo, so they are hardly going to forget that by the time the playover comes to an end!

I have a copy which I nicked off an old mate and never returned about 15 years ago. If things don't work out with the current supplier, let me know...

And to play it, is electric; just the feel of the notes under the fingers, the shiver down the spine at the modulations... A sensual experience!