wolsey
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Posts posted by wolsey
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The RSCM publishes Music for Common Worship: Night Prayer (Compline) in Traditional Language (Ref: RCW107) which I have used.
The traditional-language version contains a plainsong setting of the text from Common Worship: Sunday Services, together with those contained in the 1928 prayer Book. Published for the Plainsong & Medieval Music Society.
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This is what we bought just over a year ago from a company called Y3K. The company recommendation came from Nigel Allcoat, and the system serves our needs. The three (fixed) cameras provide pictures of the West Door, conductor, and High Altar. The cameras' infra-red capability is useful on occasions when there is little or no light, e.g. a candle-lit service.
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At the risk of repeating myself, can I offer some advice on transposition for exams that I have given elsewhere in this forum (with particular reference to the RCO exams).
The best transposition exercises are real music, rather than hymn tunes or exercises written for the purpose of transposition. I have received this advice time and time again, starting with John Scott years ago, and with every teacher and examiner I have subsequently spoken to.
Hear, hear. For some people, other practice opportunities for transposing 'real' music might present themselves, e.g. accompanying a singer in a song which is set in an uncomfortable key; an exam candidate who turns up for a run-through with part and piano accompaniment in mis-matching keys; a church service - usually of readings and music - where achieving key relationships between items may necessitate transposition.
Incidentally, with current informed thought in some quarters about Tudor church music being that it should sound approximately a tone higher than it originally appeared in its sources (check the prefatory stave), try playing through the given organ or rehearsal part down a semitone if the editor's cranked it up a minor 3rd.
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It was Malcolm Hicks, who is the BBCSO's Organist, and has been playing at the Last Night (and on many other occasions) for years. And very good at it he is, too.
Ian
...and Malcolm's predecessor as BBC Symphony Orchestra organist was my organ teacher, the late Alan Harverson.
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Huw Williams - Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace.
DW
To clarify: Sub-Organist, Chapel Royal , St James's Palace
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The album Toccatas, Carillons and Scherzos edited by Rollin Smith (Dover Publications) contains:
Boëllmann: Carillon from Douze Pièces, op. 16
E. Bourdon: Carillons from Dix Pièces, op. 7
J. Grison: Les Cloches: Verset-Prelude for the Magnificat
A. Marty: Les Carillons de Saint-Paul d'Orléans
G. Morandi: Rondò con imitazione de' campanelli (Bell rondo, op. 17)
Mulet: Carillon-Sortie in D
Sowerby: Carillon
There is, I know, some duplication of pieces already mentioned by previous posters.
Also, Brewer's Carillon in A Little Organ Book - In memory of Hubert Parry
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I know that "old man" T. C. Lewis was still, shall we say, "dabbling" in Organ building in 1910 ( a good decade or so after his association with Lewis & Co Ltd effectively ceased) but is there ANYONE who can confirm who built the Apse Organ, Thomas Christopher Lewis himself, OR, Lewis & Co Ltd ??
If the organ was built by Lewis & Co Ltd, the job number should be plentifully teeped here & there within the instrument, even allowing for the (regrettable?) 1984 alterations. A 1910 Lewis & Co that I know well is, for example, job no 828.
Can you elaborate on the way T C Lewis was "dabbling" in organ building in 1910? His earliest proposal (dating incidentally from that year) was for a large organ in several parts divided between the Apse and Tribunes. Largely for financial reasons, only the Choir Organ in the Apse (i.e. the 'Apse Organ') was ever built. Other writers do specifically mention 'Lewis & Company' - not T C Lewis - as the builder. As you say, the firm had reformed without him in 1901. If the Apse organ was built in 1910, by what means would T C Lewis have built the instrument?
People who could provide definitive answers are Stephen Smith who maintains this peerless website which includes this authoritative article on the Grand Organ; Christopher Gray (of BIOS) who wrote "The Highest Style of Art": An introduction to the life and legacy of T.C.Lewis (1833-1915) in the BIOS Journal Vol 22 (1998); or even David Wyld whose firm, I believe, now holds the Lewis books.
Good luck.
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... but it was his series of LP recordings, (now all reissued on CD?)
I fear not: I have his LP recording of Neil Cox at the Frobenius and Walker organs of Lancing College Chapel, but have yet to see that on CD.
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.... I haven't come across it being published anywhere - is there a published transcription of the piece?
Also - the crucial question - how difficult is it?!
Many thanks in advance.
Yes. It's by Malcolm Riley, a longtime champion of Whitlock's music - and a member of this forum! It's published by Banks Music Publications. You'll have to PM him to ascertain the work's difficulty...
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Royal Albert Hall 2009-2010
Wednesday 21 October 2009 - Wayne Marshall
Sunday 27 June 2010 - Grand Organ Gala
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...At communion the Dean announced that it was bread only, no wine. A free churchman beside me said why not use their little cups...
Not lawful at present in the Church of England, apparently.
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No physical contact in the church!!
Much to the delight of the older brigade in the church, the hugging/kissing/shaking hands at the peace has been disbanded temporarily while the spread of the disease is brought under control. Those who have feared this part of the service since its introduction and have tried by legal means to not be part of it, have finally succeeded. So, what we had instead was the bizarre ritual of people turning to each other and 'waving' the peace.
The centuries-old instruction Offerte vobis pacem in the Catholic Mass has often been thought of by many as a new, trendy fad. I suspect that this is because 'The Peace' wasn't a feature of Anglican prayer books (though I stand to be corrected), and because of the 'mateyness' with which it can be exchanged today, so far removed from the sobriety with which the action should properly by carried out.
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Interestingly - we have just had Howells on our local BBC 6.30 news programme - interview etc. In reality a lost documentary about Holst that has shown up but HH was there too as was Rubbra et al - Adrian Partington from Gloucester Cath. was interviewed about it etc.
A
A link was given here in the broadcast to extracts from the lost Holst films. One of the available extracts is a six-minute interview with Howells.
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...I can't help feeling a little disappointed with the contribution made by the organ though. The organ was only really used to any great extent in the last two pieces - the Judith Weir and the Saint-Saens. I can't help but feel that, given that they had a brilliant organist like Thomas Trotter there, that more use could have been made of the organ. I don't quite know in what way, but good as the symphony orchestra are, we hear orchestras at most of the proms whereas the organ will only be seen at a few. Obviously, the Saint-Saens enabled Trotter to make full use of the organ's resources, which I think is what everyone wanted to hear, but I still feel we could have heard a bit more of it. Of course, the purpose of the evening was a celebration of the University of Cambridge's anniversary, but even still...
Just a few thoughts.
Well, this ex-Cambridge man - quite coincidentally - is listening to the concert now on iPlayer. I think your last sentence answers your own question. It wasn't an organ recital, and the sell-out audience (even the organists among them
) were glad to hear the organ at various points, but it shouldn't be any big deal. The organ comes into its own on Saturday at 5pm in the hands of David Titterington. -
... But the contributions here will make me start searching for the LP I brought back from GB nearly 30 years ago, beeing on a school visit in Norwich - "The organ works of Herbert Howells" it says on the cover, which shows vaults only (Norwich?) but no organ. Cant' remember the player.
Michael Nicholas, I think, and on the long-gone Vista label. I remember hearing that disc myself.
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I always feel with Howells that there is an element of posturing in his music, an angst (especially post-Michael), tension, call it what-you-will which makes it hard to love the music, though I agree that for the player performing in the right setting he can work his magic. [...] Howells himself, in the only film clip I have of him talking (taken from the BBC's 1970 documentary on Vaughan Williams) is also rather posed and stagey (eg the rather convoluted delivery, the luxuriant hair 'just so', seeking out the best light for the camera [...]
Yes, indeed. And this corresponds with what some of his pupils and colleagues say in Christopher Palmer's book Herbert Howells - A Centenary Celebration (1992). The dapper double-breasted suit; the tie; the breast hankerchief; the Ravel-like elegance in every detail of his dress and accessories...
A cynic, however, might call the "posturing" pretentiousness: choristers are forever fazed by counting note-lengths in his music when the final note of a passage (with a minim pulse) is a tied quaver - or a tied dotted crotchet followed by a quaver rest. It looks sophisticated, but to some young minds, it's all too fussy and daunting.
That aside, I regard the 2nd Rhapsody as an under-rated work, and David Hill's performance of it on BBC Radio 3 in the 1980s while he was assistant at Durham is, for me, the definitive performance - so much so that I've transferred my old cassette-tape recording of it (and Hill's playing of Set 2 No. 3) onto my iPod. The Piano Quartet in A minor is a work I took to on first hearing, and no-one has mentioned the beautiful Elegy for viola and string orchestra.
And to answer the OP, I learnt the Siciliano for my grade 7 decades ago and thought it worth learning - then. I also featured it in recitals, but received no positive nor negative feedback from audiences, so can't confirm whether or not they appreciated it.
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Heavens! There's much to see in Barcelona, and many of my favourites have been mentioned already. Get yourself out of the organloft and enjoy lots of Gaudi and Picasso. There's also the Old Quarter, and many splendid churches. Enjoy a promenade down Les Ramblas, and pause at Café l'Opera for a drink.
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I thought it was George Bevan's canticles which were the 'in' setting at present, but I stand to be corrected...
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After years of very little playing I am gradually re-visiting some of the repertoire that I learned as a teenager, and one piece which has arrived on the Wyvern in recent days is Parry's Choral Prelude on Rockingham. I always remember my organ teacher commenting that this is "very good" music... (though what that means I'm not sure!) Does anyone know if there are any recordings available? I learned it originally with strings and celestes as an accompaniment to the chorale - which appears as a tenor solo. But that seems kind of dull and unimaginative.
Noting what Nigel Allcoat said in another thread about swell box use, the copy marks crescendos and diminuendos but no instructions to add or subtract stops. So are the changes in dynamic range brought about by use of the swell box, or are stops to be added or subtracted along the way?
Does anyone else play this piece and if so how and on what sort of registration?
One version available was the recording by Graham Barber on the organ of Truro Cathedral, no. 4 in Priory's Great European Organs series. It's been deleted, but available to special order from Priory - though at a price. The track you want is also available in MP3 format for purchase and download here - NB it's on track 1 which contains two of the chorale preludes.
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Forum members may be interested to know that CC has cancelled his UK tour for this summer. His new (vastly improved) website gives no apology or specific reason, though its does state that the month of August is being used to record an all-Bach CD.
The website does collate a few YouTube videos and is much more informative, to the extent that he now includes on his press page, reviews from 'dissenters', a selection of publicly available criticisms of his musicianship from paper and internet reviews.
The reason is known to a few, and was discussed on another forum back in April. The consensus was that Mr Carpenter has done himself no favours, and it could be argued that he/his agent has scuppered the chance of a future visit here again. As one distinguished Dorset correspondent said about the cancellation of his UK tour, "This is, of course, to the great disappointment, distress and inconvenience of those involved in its organisation.
Mr Carpenter was to have played in five English cathedrals and six other venues. His and his agent's decision to cancel the entire tour seems quite extraordinary, but apparently a US recording was considered important enough to justify such a course of action. "
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John Bull's Rondo;
Alain's Dances (two sets);
Bovet: Tangos, etc;
Karg-Elert: Valse Mignonne
Calvin Hampton: Five Dances
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St John's (RC) Church, Islington, London: Walker 1963 (remember Preston's LP of the Hindemith organ sonatas?). Renovated in 1991-2 by Keith Bance, and a 32' Oliphant added.
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It always seemed that, whenever Radio 3 broadcast Choral Evensong from Hereford, there would be a minimum of 10 minutes worth of psalms.
It was the then Precentor's instruction (and may still be now) at Hereford that the appointed psalms for the day are sung in their entirety.
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If it is really out of print, someone will have to check - it's Hansen Edition - I could supply pdfs if people contact me as usual.
As mentioned, it's on the current AB organ syllabus (grade 8) so should be in print. It's published by Hansen, the UK umbrella company now being Music Sales Group.
) were glad to hear the organ at various points, but it shouldn't be any big deal. The organ comes into its own on Saturday at 5pm in the hands of David Titterington.
Solid State Sytem Misbehaving?
in Nuts and bolts
Posted
Many years ago, the organ in Queenswood School Chapel in Hertfordshire suffered terrible problems because of its proximity to Brookmans Park transmitting station. Ciphers would suddenly occur, and the stop and piston actions seemed jinxed. My scheduled organ recital there was cancelled because of the organ's sheer unpredictability.