iy45

I can't help, except to prevent you going down a blind alley. Novello's "A Christmas Collection for Organ" contains In Dulci Jubilo and Come, all you worthy gentlemen, but not the one you're after. Ian

I think this may have been Peter Williams' (the Bach guru) arrangements of the complete Opus 7 set, published by Oxford in 1988. I hardly dare disagree with Cynic, who has probably forgotten more than I ever knew about these things, but I rather like the arrangements. I'm not sure if they meet the requirement for "easy", though. Also worth looking at (IMHO) are Andrew Moore's arrangements for manuals only of William Boyce's Eight [Orchestral] Symphonies. They're about the difficult of the average Voluntary for Organ of the period, very tuneful, and fit well on the organ. They were published by Mayhew in 1994. Ian

John Henderson (Dictionary of Composers for Organ) says "He composed only a few pieces", then lists the three already known to Cynic. Ian

I was standing in the Arena. I could see the string players scraping away like crazy on their instruments, but couldn't hear a thing from them. However, in the RAH what you hear depends on exactly where you are so others would have heard the strings more and the organ less. For the record, the organist was Graham Eccles - currently acting DOM at Bangor according to Google. Ian

Attending a service in St Mary Boltons in West London a few years back, it quickly dawned on me that what I was hearing wasn't what I was expecting. My suspicions were confirmed later by church people - it's a mixture of pipes and electronics that served the purpose perfectly well but wasn't quite the "right" sound. I don't know if it was http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=N17245 or not. The date seems a bit unlikely, but the spec seems, from memory, about right. Perhaps others will know. Ian

Harvey Grace seems to have had a soft spot for this movement. "With a knowledge of the fine Passacaglias by Reger and Karg-Elert the present writer does not hesitate to describe this example of Rheinberger's work as the only rival of Bach's. Indeed, so far as effect is concerned the palm may go to Rheinberger, for it can hardly be denied that some passages in the Bach work - e.g., Variations XV and XVI - suffer from its having been written for the clavicembalo." (From the Notes to his Novello Edition of the Sonata.) Any comments? Ian

Years ago, I arrived at Golders Green to conduct a funeral and found the organist practicing the fugue from the Reubke. I played at Honor Oak about a month ago; it's a Miller toaster, the Sprowston model. Smallish two manual and pedals, no playing aids, separate swell pedals for great/pedal and swell. Doesn't sound wonderful, but not horrible either; I thought the reed was much too loud, though. If you're playing it, watch your head as you go through towards the console - I once really banged my head on the bit of woodwork that holds the panels up. Ian

Widor - Marche Pontificale; because it's fun, and it'd be interesting to see if anyone noticed. Ian

A few years ago, an outfit from the States called the Bethlehem Bach Choir did a Prom, preceded by much hype. I left part way through the first half because I thought they were dreadful - stodgy, dull, much too well upholstered. The frustrating thing was that if they wanted to know how to do it properly all that they needed to do was listen to the orchestra that they'd brought with them. Anyone else hear that concert and agree/disagree with me? Ian

David Willcocks "Postlude on Mendelssohn" in Oxford Book of Christmas Organ Music - maybe starting at bar 9. He's 90 on 30 December, so you'll be celebrating two birthdays at once! Ian

Oh dear - I didn't mean to start anything like this! It happened in a church in what is now Harare in Zimbabwe; I was there from 1972 - 76, so it was sometime in that period. Common sense says that my account is probably not verbatim, but I remember it well because it's a story that I've often told in the appropriate context, so I'm confident that the gist is absolutely right. He was talking about Exeter, and I understood him to be talking about his congregational accompaniments. Ian

I once heard Lionel Dakers tell this tale at an RSCM course he was leading: "People used to say I played too loudly, which was nonsense, of course. One day, I asked my assistant to play while I sat in the nave. I gave him a list of stops to use; he looked at it, gulped, and said 'All of them?' And do you know? I had been playing too loudly." Ian

Sorry to be pedantic, but are you sure GTB was an Englishman? Ian

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

Dennis Brain FRCO, I believe. Ian

I used to think these pieces weren't worth bothering with. Then I heard Simon Preston play them at the RFH in the recital series just before the refurbishment, and discovered that I'd been wrong. They're not easy, though! Ian

Not strictly answering the question, but IMHO the Chaplain's reading of "Journey of the Magi" on BBC2 was well-nigh perfect - every word given it's proper weight, no false emphases, no distractions. Just like good choral singing! Ian

Really generous. Please count me in. Ian

Fernando Germani used to enjoy playing it as well. I remember hearing him improvise his way out of a memory lapse in Mozart K608 there once back in the 60s. Ian

I was present in St Paul's on that famous occasion forty or so years ago when Daniel Chorzempa substituted for an indisposed Fernando Germani. He played the programme that Germani had planned (which, if memory serves, was the Reger BACH and Vierne No. 3); he'd had three or so days notice, played the programme from memory, and played it superbly. He was asked about it in the interview before his last RFH recital and seemed to make light of it, but wow! Ian

I've mentioned this elsewhere on the board; I gather the documentation on that disc is not very clear, but the Reubke was recorded in the Abbey and the Liszt in Hull City Hall. I still have the LPs, and remember enjoying the Hull tubas in the Ad Nos. But H&H they ain't!

You need to contact Ronald Frost, who was at one time the Halle's chorus master and probably played the organ for some of their concerts. (Please don't mention the "particularly nasty noise" in the St Matthew in case he was the perpetrator.) You can find his contact details by Googling him. Good luck.

This brings back memories. The story around Manchester used to be that Barbirolli refused to have a pipe organ in the re-built Free Trade Hall, fearing that it would steal attention from the Halle. I have an abiding memory of a late 60s St Matthew Passion, when a particularly nasty noise from the organ produced a wonderful (involuntary?) grimace on the face of the leader - a young Michael Davis, if memory serves.

Many thanks for this, which leads to the details of the Epistle organ, restored in 2000-2001. Judging from the spec, it must be an absolute nightmare to play - goodness knows how you'd get on trying to duo with the Gospel organ. Next question - the casework of the Gospel organ looked identical to that of the Epistle; presumably the contents are different? Has anyone actually heard the organs being played? For a little harmless amusement, try using Google to translate the organ spec; apparently "Octava tapada" renders into English as "Eighth woman who hides herself with mantel". Thanks to everyone for sharing their knowledge. iy45

Thanks for this. I don't speak Spanish, so had to use Google's translation facility - which can produce amusing results! However, as far as I can tell the article and the photographs are all to do with the historic instrument in its unrestored state. Or have I missed something?