[Who Are The Best Organists You've Heard Live?]

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It's amazing how Germani's name comes up time and time again. Was he the greatest of his generation, I wonder?

 

He certainly left an indelible impression on me as a 15-year-old, when I first heard him. Oddly enough, I can still recall the feelings I had on the lengthy journey home. Before that, I just didn't realise how good organ-music and organ-playing could be: in a word, stupendous.

 

Sadly, I never heard his equal as a Reger exponent, the late Anton Heiller.

 

MM

I was never lucky enough to hear Germani live in concert but it was his Bach recording at Alkmaar which lit my musical fires at the age of 16. My school music department had a copy which I must have worn out comprehensively playing it over and over again in sheer excitement at the novelty of the sounds I was hearing.

[New Beckerath At Marlborough College]

Ian and Tim, may I add our thank you for a most memorable and enjoyable afternoon. As a one time organ student at MC it was a most revealing and fascinating experience to hear in such detail and see around the new instrument and to have it put so comprehensively through its paces by such a wealth of talented and knowledgable enthusiasts. Wandering around the familiar pews and gallery on Saturday afternoon was a stirring and at times most moving occasion. A rare treat indeed and a real privilege to have been in your company one and all. Once again congratulations Tim and Ian on a wonderful achievement and thank you MC for making it all possible. Peter, David and Diana Harris

[New Beckerath At Marlborough College]

This is an Open Invitation to any interested organ enthusiasts to come to Marlborough on Saturday 24 February 2007 to meet, play and explore our Beckerath.

 

I suggest that we meet in the College Chapel at 2.00pm. I am happy to provide more detailed directions/instructions if required.

 

If you would like to join us I would be grateful if you could contact me on tjwr@marlboroughcollege.org so that I can get an idea of numbers. I hope that this can be a friendly, interesting day. No doubt it will provoke reactions and opinions, but I would be grateful if we could keep the day non-combative! We're very proud of our new instrument and welcome the opportunity to share it with other musicians. Discussions on this board can become quite heated - and while I quite accept that one invites criticism in the course of informed debate I would hope that this day can be viewed as more of a day of celebration and discovery.

 

I can read what you really think afterwards on this board!!

 

Finally, a further reminder of the Simon Preston opening recital at 8.00pm on Sunday 4 Feb, free admission but contact musicsec@marlboroughcollege.org for a ticket.

 

Tim

 

What a magnificent achievement the new Chapel organ is. I was fortunate enough to attend both the Festal Evensong and Recital. Despite sitting well down the Chapel the organ sounded clear and precise throughout which the old HN&B would not have managed. Yes there was an unfortunate and persistent cypher but this did not marr the occasion, nor Simon Preston's performance which was as electric and exciting as I recall his previous appearance was in 1965. He declared the Beckerath a very fine instrument indeed and a complete joy to play. I would have thought that for the player, placing the console back under organ case would have been a retrograde step but SP said that Beckerath had managed to make the instrument speak clearly to player and congregation alike. I know I have a thing about pedal quints (a la StLaurensKerk Alkmaar) so cannot quite understand why a 10 2/3 stop was not included. Was there not a 5' quint on the HN&B?

 

Greatly looking forward to the Open day on the 24th Feb. Thanks for making this possible.

 

Peter H

[New Beckerath At Marlborough College]

This is an Open Invitation to any interested organ enthusiasts to come to Marlborough on Saturday 24 February 2007 to meet, play and explore our Beckerath.

 

I suggest that we meet in the College Chapel at 2.00pm. I am happy to provide more detailed directions/instructions if required.

 

If you would like to join us I would be grateful if you could contact me on tjwr@marlboroughcollege.org so that I can get an idea of numbers. I hope that this can be a friendly, interesting day. No doubt it will provoke reactions and opinions, but I would be grateful if we could keep the day non-combative! We're very proud of our new instrument and welcome the opportunity to share it with other musicians. Discussions on this board can become quite heated - and while I quite accept that one invites criticism in the course of informed debate I would hope that this day can be viewed as more of a day of celebration and discovery.

 

I can read what you really think afterwards on this board!!

 

Finally, a further reminder of the Simon Preston opening recital at 8.00pm on Sunday 4 Feb, free admission but contact musicsec@marlboroughcollege.org for a ticket.

 

Tim