Malcolm Farr
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Posts posted by Malcolm Farr
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Any Aubertin is worth a visit, in my opinion.
DW
Well that's good to hear, for a start. Where I live these days (Perth, WA) is, I expect, a very long way from any Aubertin instrument. So, for the moment at least, Aubertin can only be a "mere name" for me; but I expect that will change ...
Rgds
MJF
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When my daughter came home earlier this year from student exchange at Vertus, near Épernay in the Champagne district, she mentioned that the church has a pipe organ - something along the lines of, "It's got a pipe organ there, the sort of thing you might like, dad." (Her tastes fall more towards bands like Panic at the Disco and Fall Out Boy - heaven forfend!) I've found out that it's an Aubertin, and am wondering if anyone here has played or at least heard it.
We should be going through Vertus early next year, and I'm wondering if the organ is worth a visit.
Rgds
MJF
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Healey Willan accompanies the recessional hymn (Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones / Lasst Uns Erfreuen, taken at a very stately pace) at St Mary Mag, Toronto and improvises the postlude ... at the age of 86!
Rgds
MJF
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I've played various instruments in the past which have the Great reed(s) separately drawable - is that a real word? - on the Choir, but never one which has a Great Reeds on Choir transfer. I assume that this operates such that, when drawn, the Great reeds (even though they are bunched with the other Great stops) sound only on the Choir and not on the Great. Is this correct?
Yours in ignorance
MJF
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The Howells thread brough up the oft-read remark of Howells’ music being redolent of Gloucestershire. And we read of those who ‘hear’ the Malvern Hills in Elgar. Is there anything in this, or is it just pseuds corner writ large, an elaboration of something we know to be true? Do people ‘hear’ Thuringia in Bach, or Schleswig-Holtein in Buxtehude? Paris in Franck, (why not Liège)? Vienna in Schubert? People say they hear York Minster in Bairstow, and yet I think neither Blessed City nor Let all mortal flesh was written for that place (one for Wigan PC I think). Is there anything in these conjuctions of art and place or is it all just hokum?
Many (most?) composers and performers take it for granted that music can in some ways transcend the "merely" aural. Messiaen, for example, heard colour in music, even going to the extent in the score of the brass/percussion piece Couleurs de la Cité Céleste of indicating the colours then being played. He described his Catalogue d'Oiseaux as representing not only the various birdsongs, but also the colours of the birds' plumage. But places so specific as particular hills or churches? Hmmm ...
Rgds
MJF
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Hi all
For various reasons, I haven't been "on board" for a while, and I therefore apologise if these have already been posted somewhere in the preceding 22 pages. Interesting transcriptions of organ music for another medium:
(Only the first 4:30 of 7:18; remainder apparently blank)
Toccata from the Suite Gothique
Rgds
MJF
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As to appropriate repertoire, well I must admit that I used to hold more "worthy" views on this, but now ... Where I am these days (Perth, WA), there seem to be so few who can recognise anything liturgically appropriate, unless it be an improvisation very clearly based on a hymn that was sung only a few minutes before. (I'm not sounding a little jaded here, am I?) Perhaps more appropriate to another thread, but the "Christmas voluntary" I'll be playing this year is Bach's G P&F bwv541.
Which reminds me that quite some years ago I played a service for the dedication of a new Catholic church. Thinking myself very clever, I played Willan's prelude on Urbs Hierusalem Beata as the recessional, as what I considered a liturgically appropriate piece - only to be told something to the effect, "Didn't you happen to note that it was written as a prelude, rather than a postlude? In any case, it's the worst dirge Willan ever wrote!" (Which I don't think it is - but there I had it, I'd been well and truly put in my place.
Rgds
MJF
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Thanks very much for sharing this, Nigel - truly appreciated.
Rgds
MJF
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Me?
Seriously, at a tangent, the initial post in this topic set me thinking; as we are only talking four weeks of Advent, I always ensure that every voluntary I play during the season has some direct relevance - chorale preludes, selected French Noels, dare I admit also to some Mayhew publications?! - etc. surely there is enough suitable repertoire out there not to have recourse to repertoire that could be played at any time? I follow the same line during the Christmas season, although I will include suitably "flashy" general repertoire for big occasions - Vierne, Widor etc.
I would be interested to hear others' views.
I'd assumed immediately that you were referring specifically to the well known B and g P&Fs, and not to the others, which (at least compared to all the recorded and recital outings the B and g get) appear not to be so well known - a great pity, too. Any way, my once proud tail is now between my legs ...
As to appropriate repertoire, well I must admit that I used to hold more "worthy" views on this, but now ... Where I am these days (Perth, WA), there seem to be so few who can recognise anything liturgically appropriate, unless it be an improvisation very clearly based on a hymn that was sung only a few minutes before. (I'm not sounding a little jaded here, am I?) Perhaps more appropriate to another thread, but the "Christmas voluntary" I'll be playing this year is Bach's G P&F bwv541.
Where were we? Ah, the Cortège & Litanie. Well, how about the 15 "Vêpres du Commun"? Or the Sept Pièces? There's some good stuff in there - a reasonable introduction to Dupré, I would have thought. (But never the Carillon, please. How could he write such dreary hash?)
Rgds
MJF
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Compared to, say, the Preludes & Fugues which I have never attempted in public, I found this relatively straightforward to learn.
While the A flat P&F still requires a fairly solid technique, it's not nearly so daunting as the earlier B and g pieces. Imho it's well worth the effort.
Rgds
MJF
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In another thread, Nigel Allcoat mentioned that his church was St. Augustine's, Kilburn. This rang a dust-laden bell in a rather musty corner of my mind and, sure enough, on checking NPOR, I was pleased to discover that I was correct (for once!) in recalling that the instrument there is an old Harrison with numerous registers prepared for, including the entire Solo division. It is also the recipient of a Historic Organ Certificate, grade II.
Not having been in England for quite some years, I must confess my ignorance of the way in which Historic Organ Certificates work there. In particular, what is the position regarding Certificates and future work? A hypothetical question: if some wealthy philanthropist were to march into St. Augustine's and say, "I have pots of money, and can think of nothing better to do with it than funding all your prepared-for stops!", could the work be carried out under the terms of the grant of the Certificate?
Rgds
MJF
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As far as I know, the name gives it away entirely in both cases (Toulouse as well as Saint-Sulpice). The stop is a Clarion for half of its range, probably notes 1 to 24 or 30, and then changes into a Doublette, i. e. a Fifteenth, principal scale.
Best,
Friedrich
I had previously understood that these stops were (what I would call) Octave Clarions at 2' pitch until C25 or so, thereafter changing to Doublettes. Thanks for this correction.
Rgds
MJF
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A common method of producing a convincing flue treble for a reed is to make the pipes of Diapason scale but slot them above the tuning slide like strings - this encourages overtones. To be honest, however, the human ear does not seem to mind what happens anywhere out of melodic range, a steady tone of sufficient volume is what seems to be required. This is the critical thing ... The ear can be very tolerant.
This is my experience too - and causes me to wonder, when the result is satisfactory to the ear, why so often there seems to be a reluctance to include manual Clarions in schemes.
Rgds
MJF
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Given adequate access to an original stop, which would include taking it back to the works, one could certainly make a copy of (for example) the Tuba at Hereford. It probably wouldn't sound anything like the Hereford one once it got to its new home though as the acoustics have a very significant influence on the way it sounds.
John Pike Mander
Which leads to the next question, I suppose ...
All builders must know at the outset the sound they are trying to achieve, so one might imagine a customer, with this in mind, saying, "I want to have a stop on our new instrument in building X which sounds the same as stop Y does in building Z" - which conceivably may entail rather different scaling, pressure, etc to suit building X's acoustic. (Not a question, I admit, that I've ever actually asked, or previously thought of asking, any builder!) Practical to any degree? Totally impractical? Or do we just look, as I've heard it said before, to particular stops for "inspiration"?
Tgds
MJF
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I am sorry MJF - it wasn't very clear was it! Some of my comments have been cleared up on replies after yours, but what I meant was, the lights were on, there were candles on the altar, all the furnishings were still in place, and nicely polished, it was sunny, warm, a pleasant welcome and the place felt "lived in"!
NPOR lists proposals that (having played it) clearly never happened, although at some point the blowing equipment has had an overhaul, and I think I read somewhere in the church that David Wells had carried out some "patching up" in the '90s.
I would agree completely with Cynic's comments concerning how it sounds at the console - it blasts you completely (especially the tuba and Gt OD No 1). The pedal reed is a bit on the soft side though. I didn't hear it from the floor, but can see why it might sound weaker from down there - the entire instrument is elevated by 20 feet or so, and boxed in.
Best wishes
Richard
From what you and Cynic have said, St Mary's sounds far more alive than a number of supposedly "active" churches that spring to mind in my little corner of the world.
Now I haven't spent a huge amount of time in the UK, and therefore know nothing at all of the rules of Redundant Churches Fund (and a lot else, besides), but I was reading a little the other day of royal and non-royal peculiars, and it sounds rather like a number of the good folk of Shrewsbury might be very happy to have St Mary's as their own little peculiar, beyond diocesan intervention.
Rgds
MJF
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I've never come across anything like it on any other CC instrument. Was this trompette harmonique à forte pression indeed unique in his output?
Rgds
MJF
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I haven't come across the expression '"living" church' before in the context of an otherwise redundant building, but assume that it comprehends something along the lines of community / council upkeep for historical purposes. Is this correct?
You mention that the instrument is in 'pretty good condition considering its history' (being made redundant in the '80s), so I would naturally have thought that there wouldn't be sufficient funds to keep it in really good shape. However, the information on NPOR refers to proposed alterations on which there was no apparent progress as at October 1993, which (since it post-dates the building's redundancy) nevertheless implies an ongoing interest in the instrument such that one might even imagine funds one day becoming available.
Now, I could very well have misread or misinterpreted something, so I'd appreciate you putting my confusion out of its misery!
Rgds
MJF
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BTW, the name adopted by the merged organisation is "Orgelbaugesellschaft Reichenstein mbH" - a bit of a handfull.
Rgds
MJF
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Thanks for the information, Hector.
Innate, I've now found the merged organisation's website at www.organisten.de - it is said to be still "under construction", and certainly doesn't seem to contain the information that the old Oberlinger site did.
Rgds
MJF
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I understand that Oberlinger Bros. and Hammer & Furtwängler have entered some sort of business relationship. Does anyone know if it's a full merger, or a loose association, or what? Which is senior in the relationship?
Rgds
MJF
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Following on from GP's thread about playing to the gallery, I thought I'd ask for opinions about 'crowd pleasers'. By this I mean pieces of legitimate organ music that an uninitiated crowd might be likely to get into even if they haven't heard them before*. Pieces like Vierne's Carillion de Westminster, Mushel's toccata or the Lanquetuit toccata that has been discussed here recently.
I'm especially interested to hear of lesser known music that you have found has gone down well whenever you have played it.
Best wishes
J
*So I'm excluding (for the purposes of this thread) transcriptions like Thunderbirds.
Lemmens' Fanfare always goes down well with the punters. However, although I wouldn't say it's not well known, it doesn't seem to get much of an airing these days.
Rgds
MJF
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If we are allowed cases in any country, then this "son of Haarlem" in Zaltbommel is one of the best.
If we were allowed cases outside the UK, then Sydney Town Hall would have to be right up there. Otherwise Beverley Minster for my money.
Rgds
MJF
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Did any one else hear a short programme on Radio 3 last night - a talk given by Vaughan-Williams in July 1950 titled “the Great Bourgeois” in which he spoke about performance practice in Bach’s music? Here is a snippet:
“We have no longer, thank heaven, the baroque style of organ, which we are told, with very insufficient evidence, was the kind of instrument Bach played upon. By the way, I see there is a movement a-foot to substitute this bubble and squeak type of instrument for the noble diapason and soft mixtures of our cathedral organs …”
Hi All
Been away for a while; hope all is well in Discussion Land.
For what it's worth, I wonder if the above means only that RVW, seemingly unfamilar (?) with the great instruments of the Baroque, was nevertheless aware of the rather exaggerated neo-Baroque organ then coming into vogue, and had all his fingers crossed, hoping that this wasn't actually the sort of instrument on which Bach had to play. For our part, we can look back with hindsight at such organs and acknowledge that, while they certainly tried, they really missed the mark. He didn't have the benefit of hindsight, but thought the neo-Baroque instrument to be unsatisfactory. A great deal of this may come down to being schooled in Romantic traditions both of what an organ "should be" and of performance generally (and there is in what he says, I think, a clear sense of the self-satisfaction that each generation carries, that what it does is "right"). But perhaps some of it may be an unspoken recognition that the neo-Baroque instrument was in some respects almost a caricature (of that of the Baroque). (And, as I say this, I realise that it is just as easily open to argue that the high Romantic instruments whose "noble diapasons" and "soft mixtures" he extolled were no less exaggerated.)
By the way, who was it who said something to the effect that he preferred nothing better than Bach as played by Harold Darke at St. Michael's Cornhill?
Rgds
MJF
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Peter Clark opened the "O Mensch, bewein" thread by referencing Patrick's comment in the "Why do we bother" thread regarding Bach pushing boundaries to the limits, without stepping over the edge. This in turn reminded me of Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr BWV 715, a setting in which the hallowed cantor surely came fairly close to breaking out of the envelope. I've only played it, and heard it played, on equal-tempered instruments, but suspect that it could have sounded positively terrifying on organs with old tunings. Your thoughts?
Rgds,
MJF
Vertus Aubertin
in General discussion
Posted
Thanks for that - looks Very Interesting (at least on paper) even before the III manual arrives.
Unfortunatey, my French isn't particularly good these days - alright, it never was - but am I right in thinking the prepared III "pectoral" manual would be a brustwerk of sorts?
Rgds
MJF