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mrbouffant

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Posts posted by mrbouffant

    John Rutter

    in General discussion

    Posted

    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.

    John Rutter

    in General discussion

    Posted

    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?

    Favourite British Player Of Bach

    in The Organ

    Posted

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

    A typically British way of approaching performance styles, if I may be so bold!

    ...

    I'm sorry, but there are amateurs and there are professionals, and I know which I would choose every time.

    Each to their own! :rolleyes:

     

    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.

    Favourite British Player Of Bach

    in The Organ

    Posted

    I think, only in Holland, have I heard Bach so carefully studied and researched, that I once heard a re-creation of the expressionist way of playing Bach, in the German style of Straube, using the Straube editions and played on the Walcker at Doesburg.

    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)

    Guitars And Organs

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I've seen some of the problems that can arise when anyone who is working for a church, but who doesn't believe, can cause - and organists (and other musicians) have a responsibility to lead worship - and you cannot do that properly if it's just an intellectual exercise and you don't believe and have faith in the object of that worship, no matter how brilliant a musican you may be.

     

    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?

    Guitars And Organs

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I also think that to make enquiries about an individual's beliefs or non-beliefs is an assulat on privacy. The relevant trait of a musician is their musicianship.

    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)...

    Guitars And Organs

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I agree - closely followed by organists who play too fast. Recently I heard a service on the radio. The choir was immaculate - very well drilled and in tune. The organ playing too was as clean and accurate as you could want. It ought to have been a really uplifting spiritual experience. In some ways it very nearly was. But in fact the music just sounded trite and perfunctory - all because the speeds were too fast. I am sure the DoM's intention was to make the music vital and indeed it was. It's just a pity that he didn't manage to maintain nobility with it. There's a happy mean, I think.

    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?

    Appointments

    in General discussion

    Posted

    sorry to spoil a good conspriacy theory, but I was invited by KD last year to play in Warwick - long before I had even thought about leaving Guildford this summer - and for the record, I was nothing to do with the selection process for my successor...

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

    Appointments

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Hmm. A matter for PMs, methinks. I think it would be invidious to discuss openly who failed to get the job!

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

    Hymn Playing

    in General discussion

    Posted

    But what speed do you expect them to sing at - that of the 'playover' or the speed at the end of the 'rall' and how would they know??

    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!

    "lo He Comes" Descant

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Indeed - I have never found a better last verse arrangement for this hymn - it is superb.

    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! :o

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