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iy45

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Everything posted by iy45

  1. The number of times I've said to ever-protective and over-officious custodians of organs: "You can't break an organ by playing it". You can, of course, break an organ simply by under-using it. Ian
  2. This is really helpful. Thank you both. Ian
  3. I've recently bought a pair of OrganMaster shoes, and was surprised to discover that the soles are suede, rather than leather. (I see they've now made that a USP in their advert, but it didn't used to be.) Can anyone tell me how long they might be expected to last given, say, eight or ten hours use per week. Also, is it possible to have them re-soled and, if so, with leather or with suede? And how? Advice would be much appreciated. Ian
  4. From the Manchester Cathedral News, July 2103: "Organ Task Group The Organ Task Group has recommended to Chapter that Tickell is the preferred organ builder for a new organ, and has received Chapter approval. Tickell will now be asked to enhance the design somewhat on issue of aesthetics. A visit to the Tickell workshop in Northampton is currently being arranged so that further discussions on case embellishments and structural issues can occur. Further conversations regarding the social outreach projects that could be created around the new Cathedral organ are currently being worked through, with particular reference to children from deprived backgrounds." Ian
  5. I was in Liverpool Cathedral yesterday - a friend was one of three priests who were being installed as Canons. What a happy coincidence that the Mag and Nunc (Weelkes' Sixth Service) both contain a passage where the altos duet in canon! Ian
  6. A very long time ago, I got a trombone-playing friend to reinforce the pedal line of the Widor for a wedding. It seemed to work quite well! Ian
  7. I know one professional player who always swaps hands for that bit. I suspect there may be a lot more of them around. Ian
  8. i) The key signature has three flats. ii) Schweitzer says "The prelude in E flat major ... symbolises godlike majesty". [Albert Schweitzer, J.S.Bach, Vol 1 p.277] iii) Peter Williams notes that the structure has three ideas, and adds that "It has also been seen as a depiction of the Trinity", with the first idea (bars 1-32 painting "majestic, severe Father", the second (bars 32-50) painting "the 'kind Lord'" (Son), and the third (bars 71-98) painting "fluid, incorporeal (Holy Ghost). [Peter Williams, The Organ Music of J Bach, Vol 1 pp. 184-5] Given all the internal evidence that Bach regularly got up to that kind of thing in the Cantatas and elsewhere, it would be a little rash to dismiss such notions out of hand. Ian
  9. I'm sorry about the delay in posting the programme. It's as follows: GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL (1685 – 1759) arr. W.T Best Overture to the Occasional Oratorio JOHAN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685 – 1750) Chorale Prelude ‘Dies sind die heilgen zehen Gebot’ (BWV 678) JOHAN SEBASTIAN BACH Fantasia and Fugue in C Minor (BWV 537) GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL “ I know that my redeemer liveth” Emma Penrose: Soprano JOSEPH FIOCCO (1703 – 1741) Arioso, Andante and Allegro PERCY WHITLOCK (1903 -1946 Folk Tune (Five short pieces) Andante Tranquillo (Five short pieces) Toccata (Plymouth Suite) JOAO DE SOUSA CARVALHO (1745 – 1798) Allegro ALEXANDRE GUILMANT (1837 – 1911) March on a theme by Handel SIGFRID KARG-ELERT (1877 – 1933) Nun Danket alle Gott GEORGE THALBEN-BALL (1896 – 1987) Elegy SAMUEL BARBER ( 1910 – 1981) Emma Penrose: Soprano IAIN FARRINGTON (b 1977) Animal Parade Barrel Organ Monkey Hippopotamus Penguins Critics GORDON BALCH NEVIN (1892 – 1943) Will O’ the Wisp WILLIAM WALTON (1902 – 1983) Crown Imperial Hope to see some of you there. Ian
  10. Responding to the suggestion that we might try to re-enliven things on here, a little stir before I go on holiday later today. Is anyone planning on doing anything with "O Tannenbaum" on 3 June? And if so, what? All the best Ian
  11. http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N17533 has been transplanted, with modifications, to All Saints, West Dulwich, Lovelace Road, London SE21 8JY, by David Wells of Liverpool. Stephen Disley will give the inaugural recital on 2nd June at 7.30 pm. Admission £10 (concs. £8). I'll try to post his programme here when I return from holiday in a couple of weeks time. Best wishes Ian
  12. And there was the - shall we say? - over-enthusiastic organist whose wind supply disappeared altogether part way through "Worthy is the Lamb". An unrepentant blower told him "Messiah teks two thousand four 'undred and thirty-seven pumps, and tha's had 'em". Ian
  13. Is that the film in which an organ teacher declines to hear his student's performance on the grounds that "I know exactly what it will sound like"? Ian
  14. Didn't I see somewhere that FJ played one regularly in his local church after his "retirement"? Ian
  15. iy45

    Appointments

    I think I read somewhere that Widor was "Acting" for the whole of his time at St Sulpice. Does anyone know if that's true? Ian
  16. I don't know about pork pies, but stick with English. Admittedly others have told me that the one Stephen described as the best is a right so-and-so to play, but he thought it qualified as good. Ian
  17. When the late Stephen Ridgley-Whitehouse was involved in the commissioning of a new organ for St Peter's, Eaton Square (after the fire), he told me that the best and worst organs that he'd tried were both by the same builder. Go on - have fun trying to work out which two organs he was talking about. Remember that the trying-out was done in the early 1990s. Ian
  18. During the interval of the 2010 Prom which included Parry's 5th Symphony, a TV crew in the arena of the RAH asked a number of Prommers what they thought about the piece. I told them that I thought it was very old-fashioned for its time, considering what Brahmns had done by then. Since all the interviews were left on the cutting room floor, I guess I wasn't the only one who didn't share HRH's enthusiasm for it. Two telling quotes from HRH though. "It took a lot of pressure on the BBC" to get them to programme the piece. So he was bombarding Nick Kenyon with his famous letters, was he? At least we now know beyond doubt who chose the music for his son's wedding. And, in a conversation about Parry's relationship with his wife, "Marriages can be very complicated"! Ian
  19. It was surely Elgar's orchestration, as heard at the Last Night of the Proms annually! Elgar arranged it only six years after the original was published, which suggests that Parry's setting caught on rather quickly. Ian
  20. I see that Stephen Farr is playing this in his Prom. What's the latest state of scholarship on who might have written it? Ian
  21. Francis Westbrook was the only Methodist Minister to have an earned DMus; I know there's some choral music of his, and you might be able to find something for the organ. I'd be surprised if they are members of this board but if you can track down Martin Ellis (Dorking Parish Church), or Revd Ivor Jones they probably know as much between them about Methodist music as you're ever likely to be able to find. I sometimes play the little chamber organ in the Foundery Chapel at Wesley's Chapel in City Road, London; it's believed to have been Charles Wesley Snr's house organ, and I find salutary the thought that Sam Wesley might have played it before me. Good luck with your research. Ian
  22. I looked Harris up in John Henderson's Dictionary, and discovered that he used to be organist of the Church that I attend - St. Leonard's, Streatham. A bit of googling led me here - http://www.bardon-music.com/music.php?id=H...s_Cuthbert_1870 - some pdf files of the first page of several compositions, together with midi files of the complete pieces. Sadly, IMHO the quality leaves everything to be desired. Does anyone know of any decent stuff of his (organ and/or choral) and where it might be obtained? Ian
  23. Sorry about this but: Q. What's the difference between a terrorist and an organist? A. You can negotiate with ... Ian
  24. The R3 messageboard has been closed down. Like this one, some of the more opinionated stuff could be infuriating but it was a good place to widen one's knowledge of things musical. Ian
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