wolsey

Tournemire's 'Improvisation sur le Te Deum'

Why not contact Dr Peter Wilton of The Gregorian Association?

The Siciliano was one of my AB grade 7 organ pieces all those years ago; and I played Flor Peeters' Aria for grade 8! Those were the days...

The orchestral suite preceded the organ version, i.e. organists are contending with a transcription. And he did record it; see and hear samples here.

As a Mac user myself, it should be made clear that we can watch 'streamed' programmes - which I've done many times, but cannot download them.

It's very good that one can now 'View Again' as well as 'Listen Again' with BBC's iPlayer. If you want to add it to your computer browser's 'favourites'/'bookmarks' now, the link is here.

The annual booklet Singing in Cathedrals published by The Friends of Cathedral Music may help. The 2007 edition is downloadable from the link at the top of the page here. The 2008 edition has yet to appear. Check carefully; the very early Easter (not since 1913 has this happened - and apparently it won't happen again this century) may cause a variety of starting dates for the easter term as far as [choir] schools are concerned.

The Canadian (Professor) Hugh McLean - who celebrated his 78th birthday yesterday - was a King's organ scholar, but he served under Boris Ord. David Willcocks was Fellow and Organist at King's from 1957-73.

Do remember that the broadcast (like so many other radio - and TV programmes now) can be heard/seen again on the BBC website. Choral Evensong can be heard for up to seven days after transmission.

There is an error in Enid Bird's book 20th Century English Cathedral Organists. It was indeed 1968. As Dr Jackson was an OBE, the CBE is regarded as promotion within the Order. Neither of us should lose any sleep over it though.

Dr Jackson was promoted - rather than appointed - to CBE. The public have been able to nominate people for a national honour since 1993, and the criteria for the different classes of honour are explained at the link given. Honours in the Royal Victorian Order, however, are in the Queen's gift. The LVO, which just precedes the OBE, is the usual honour today for organists at St Paul's and Westminster Abbey who have performed personal service to the Sovereign, viz. Christopher Dearnley, John Scott and Martin Neary. Organists at other royal peculiars are usually honoured by the Queen in due time. Sir John Dykes Bower was Organist at St Paul's from 1936-1967; he was appointed CVO in 1953 [the year is perhaps significant] and knighted in 1963. I am unable to ascertain though whether he was a Knight Bachelor or a KCVO. Harry Gabb (Sub-Organist at St Paul's 1946-74 and also Organist, Chapel Royal, St James's Palace 1953-1974) was appointed MVO in 1961 and promoted to CVO in 1974. Douglas Guest (Westminster Abbey 1963-1981) was appointed CVO in 1975 and Organist Emeritus in 1981.

Hmm... The hymn O come, O come is a paraphrase of the Advent antiphons, and for me, it seems to sit more happily in an Advent carol service, or else in the seven (or so) days up to and including 23 December. Interesting idea though.

Both Gardner's 'The Holly and the Ivy' and 'Tomorrow shall be my dancing day' sound best when accompanied on the piano which, I believe, was how they were - and are - performed at the Christmas Concerts at St Paul's Girls' School, for whom they were written. Outside SPGS, one hardly ever hears the side drum and tambourine with the piano in the introduction and bridge between verses in 'Tomorrow shall be' as the composer intended. Like Francis Jackson, Gardner was 90 this year.

It may indeed make a wonderful opener, but its use at the end of service is no less valid. The 3rd line of the first verse makes all clear, "O come ye to Bethlehem".

Carol Service: Once in royal David's city (procession) O come, all ye faithful Midnight Mass: Of the Father's love (procession) O come, all ye faithful Christmas Day: O come, all ye faithful Hark! the herald angels sing

ditto

What precisely did you want to play? Just the Fugue (BWV552ii) - an Ass. Board grade 7 piece in the 1970s, or both Prelude and Fugue?

Sorry, but this is untrue. Ashley Grote was a keyboard (i.e.organ) finalist in the 2000 competition; he played Simon Preston's Toccata. His appearance in the competition on television generated some discussion at the time.

If indeed MusingMuso is referring to the Passacaglia quasi Toccata sopra 'BACH', then volume 40 of Priory's Great European Organs features a performance by John Scott; it's still available. Nicolas Kynaston's 1988 recording on Hyperion's Concert Pieces for Organ CDA 66265 is deleted, as apparently, is George Wilson's recording from Dunblane Cathedral which I have.

Correct

I think, 'guilmant', you mean The New English Hymnal (NEH) and its supplement New English Praise.

Dame Gillian Weir studied both piano (Cyril Smith) and organ (Ralph Downes) at the RCM. It was her success in the 1964 St Albans competition and the impact on her of the sound of Dutch baroque organs that led to her carving a career as an organist.

Some clarification of this is needed. The 3-manual Willis III in the Grand Temple and the Robert & William Gray of c1796 (restored by Michael Broadway last year) in Lodge Room 3 are the only remaining pipe organs in the building; there were Willis organs in two other Lodge Rooms, but these have been removed. The other eighteen (?) Lodge Rooms of varying sizes have electronic organs, large and small, of variable quality.

Gillian Weir's 1975 recording from the RFH is on the fifth CD of Argo's boxed set of her, King of Instruments - The Art of Gillian Weir. Discs (new) now available separately on Amazon for under £3; look for The Art of Gillian Weir Vol. 5

He is.