AJJ

just about says it all - best to all here for Christmas! A

Goodness only knows what we are doing at the Lessons & Carols on Christmas Eve - I've not been told yet! They'll be getting some French Noels before and BWV 729 followed by Richard Elliott's 'I saw Three Ships' after though. A

Some 4 manuals have just a single stop -Turvey for example from a while back and our host's much more recent instrument at Chelmsford Cathedral) or derivations (St Albans following it's recent work). Sometimes this makes sense but I wonder whether the ammount of extra action etc. to provide a 4th manual and one (or even ) two stops is sensible when instead more stops could have been provided elsewhere without much loss of versatility. Does anyone have an opinion? There are also coupling manuals with no stops but more uses I would think - maybe one could combine these two ideas........though didn't this happen sometimes in France? A

Some of his music is published by Dr J Butz Musicverlag in a couple of quite good value albums of 'jolly type' organ music (look at the volumes concerned and you will see what I mean - in the nicest possible sense!) - you can also contact him via here which I did and received a very quick reply and assistance etc. Butz are also very quick to reply to requests for information. A PS Butz also publish music by Andreas Willscher - some fun stuff here too - does anyone else play his Toccata a la Rumba?

?? A

I used this once and it went down well. A

There's a good piece based on Go tell it on the mountain by Emma Lou Diemer - Googling should secure but if not PM me. A

Quite often if the 8' Swell/Cornopean is big enough in the bass it is almost of more use to have a 16' flue instead of a 16' reed. Some of the smaller to medium F. Willis organs show this well. One place where I play has some of the best sounds for service use by using selective quiet flues up an octave on the Swell (as Cynic says above) - including a lovely mid Victorian 8' & 1' - not strictly authentic but nice at Christmas! A

I liked the Leon Charles St Philips Canticles from Canterbury this week. A

Youth Hostels (Google YHA) are also good these days - we use them - family room for 4 - excellent value and the food is usually decent if you eat 'in'. Our two (10 & 12) enjoy them. There is a nice one in Bath if you want to see the sights and visit the Abbey with its Klais. Bristol is easy from there too as are Wells, Salisbury etc. A

One thing.......take care with the fan heater - I use one where I play and on occasions the manual keys have stuck with the unexpected heating/drying effect - the rapidly induced 'near tropical' conditions at last year's lessons & carols lead to at least one piece with quite a festively quaint drone to it as notes cyphered. A

Can't help I'm afraid though it was good. Did anyone catch Christchurch Oxford? I felt that the Goodall Mag. & Nunc. was rather too much like background to a 'Dibley' episode and personally felt the way the psalms were done was just a touch odd - especially the ends of each chant 'section'. I liked the overall sound though and the organ sounds better over the air than it should. I'd better stop..... A

Oops - yes - of course! A

I've just come across these on a CD - they sound rather fine to me - do they get played much? I certainly have not heard them in recitals recently. A

Amazingly........I've just sorted it!! Thanks mrb. I knew someone could help in here - actually achieved by feeding your answer back into google and doing as suggested there. A

Sorry - rather off the strictly organ track - my new pc operates on Windows 7 and the up to date version of Audacity will not record 'anything' played on the pc as was the case on my last machine. The drop down menu in Audacity preferences says that there is no input device - so what do I need to do to connect the pc to Audacity - so to speak? I have tried Windows troubleshooter and it just suggests plugging in a mic - which is not what I need to do. On line forum details are very complex and seemingly written by experts for experts! Thanks A PS Sorry for the blooper in the title - can one actually edit these?

I agree - 'especially liked the MacMillan Mass setting - 'shame we didn't hear the final voluntary beyond the first few notes - Fantasia on the Te Deum by Andrew Wright if anyone's interested. A

'Will try it next weekend in Sainsburys! A

Thanks Paul - another effective piece in this idiom is Continuum by Iain Quinn published here - not too expensive either. You can hear it here too. A

I quite enjoy certain aspects of the more minimalist end of the repertoire and indeed the music of Part (sorry - couldn't find the required accent!) generally - does anyone play this piece and how challenging is it technically please? A

Very nice - please do let us know when the rest is available! A

Where did the Hay organ come from? A

Checking the list- one of these seems at least to be still a member on here! A

Or even IKEA.

I once sang in a performance where the organ was a 2 man victorian job with few registrational aids .....and where about a third of the way in the pedal pneumatics gave out. The organist had a very sharp learning curve that evening! A