Martin Cooke

I played it on Ash Wednesday. Today I played Howells Set 1 No 1; Whitlock Canzona; Malcolm Archer Hymn Prelude on Aus der Tiefe; Craig Phillips Hymn Prelude on Caithness; Paul Drayton Pavane; Rowley Chorale Prelude on Hollingside and Rutter Elegy.

This new album, edited by John Scott Whiteley, has much to commend it. There is lots that is new and just a very few things that most of us will have known before. There are some excellent (unsurprisingly) arrangements of piano, instrumental and choral music by JSW himself, but also organ music that hasn't seen the light of day for a while. I can see myself wanting to play and use every piece in this new volume.

This is a beautiful and slightly unusual piece and I am really pleased that I snapped up a copy of it on eBay last year without knowing it. I just happened to see that there is another copy available on eBay now - I'm sure you'd be pleased to have it in your repertoire and it's very straightforward. It wasn't written for organ but is in an arrangement by Jennifer Bate. (Perhaps I should make clear that I don't have a shop of eBay!!)

Very nice, Thierry - thank you for sharing this with us. Is it possible to have a PDF of this, please?

Yes, that's right, Owen - this is the Dubois piece, cited above - Marche des Rois Mages - the held note supposedly representing the star. I think the composer actually specifies 'une gomme' to be used to fix the note!

Just wondering if any forumite has a copy of this little volume that they no longer want? It is no longer available new and though I thought I had secured a pre-loved copy from Abebooks, it appears to have been sold from under me! Perhaps PM me if you might be able to help. Good prices paid, etc, etc!! 😁

Don't know the Souster, S_L, must investigate... there is the Dubois 'three kings' piece and also a short piece by Noel Rawsthorne that requires this pencil jamming technique. By the way, the whole recital is well worth watching. Uranus is totally captivating and it closes with the Duruflé Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d'Alain. One of the great things about all these recitals is that one is brought up close and personal to the player and the console and can see what's going on. The other two recitalists have, as far as I could tell, used only the chancel divisions, but Simon Johnson used dome resources yesterday, opening on the Trompette Militaire. You can't see the dome chorus stop knobs from the camera/phone angle, but one can notice the pedal stops pop in and out (even if you can't read them) as they are right on the LH side of the picture. There was also some delicious Herbert Brewer and some Ravel yesterday.

Just watching Simon Johnson's Sunday afternoon recital from St Paul's - the first he's played in the current series commemorating 150 years of the 1872 organ. He's just opened with his arrangement of Holst's Uranus and has used his nose several times to play a note whilst his hands have been full! Thoroughly recommend this series of recitals involving all three organists.

Thinking about tessitura and the change over the years... I wonder what brought this about (the change). I have seen Easter Hymn in D major somewhere which, of course means a top F sharp. but the only 'high' hymn I remember back in Ancient and Modern Revised days is Austria in F.

I wonder, Rowland, if this is the letter I remember reading by Christopher Dearnley... I think someone had previously criticised the review perhaps speaking of 'spilt milk' but CHD followed up wondering if it 'tasted more of sour grapes.' Something along those lines... but it may have been about a different scenario.

I've heard it that the Tickell organ's electrical problems have now been fixed by Nicholsons. Great to hear... and I haven't forgotten the wonderful day by day photo history that Adrian Lucas gave us of this installation which we all enjoyed. Let's hope that all goes well now for this instrument and that we will hear news of the development of the transept organ one day.

It has been announced on our host's facebook page (here) that they are to rebuild this instrument with new casework in chancel and transept, and a new 32ft Sub-bass. A great start for the new company - well done to them!

Ah, Carey Humphries - now there was a gent. Very good to see mention of him, Rowland.

Yes, I love that sort of thing.

But is it working at the moment?

I have had no nexus at all with KM, but have a number of his albums in which there are some real treasures - I think of two pieces my Dom Gregory Manor, some excellent pieces by June Nixon, Alan Viner, Philip Moore, Christopher Tambling, Malcolm Archer, Stanley Vann, Noel Rawsthorne, to name but a few. His publications have frequently been maligned, but, I feel, unfairly. OK, I wouldn't buy his Bach or Mendelssohn editions, but there is much that is very valuable. More recently, I've come across new albums were produced which seemed to contain little new material, so you can end up with a volume of music which you already have in an older and different guise. OK, in amongst some of the treasures there is some that is less good - but isn't that always the case with albums?

Thank you, all. One of our number has kindly and helpfully provided a much clearer score and thumbing is one answer or, I can use my Organ Master shoes and play a triad with my right foot for a middle section. All under control!

Thanks David - no, I don't think that will work on this occasion - but is a trick I used in transcribing Howells' A spotless rose and Leighton's Lully, lulla for organ. They work very well like that though the Leighton needs a 2ft solo stop on the pedal - luckily I have swell and choir octave to pedal stops that help fulfil that function!

I need to play this on the organ after a funeral soon. I have downloaded the score (from MusicNotes) and at first glance it all looks straightforward enough but there are places where the voice and trumpet parts meander around each other which could be tricky given that one might rather needs different timbres to represent the two 'voices,' and one's other hand and a foot are busy holding chords. Has anyone a undertaken or come across a 'proper' organ arrangement of this piece. I might be able to get away with it by playing the chords with my feet but I haven't attempted anything yet. Many thanks, in case you can help.

That's what I am thinking, Nigel. But, I suppose a certain amount of organ playing is essential and it depends on whether they can manage with just two organists. 40/50 years ago, it would have been most unusual to have two music staff at any service. I wonder if two staff are needed on dumb days when you would think it quite possible for one to manage with a pitch pipe. It seems awfully dull but also luxurious for an organist to just have to turn up to play a few chords and no voluntaries. And speaking of pitch pipes (and tuning forks)... it is awfully irritating to see in some of even our most celebrated 'quires and places where they thing', the person intoning the responses using a tuning fork almost incessantly - not just at the beginning of the set, but before each and every intonation, and sometimes holding the wretched thing by their ear and banging it on their head whilst they actually sing!!

I can't help wondering if a modified St Paul's model could work elsewhere. Aim for a DoM who is a singer/choralist rather than an organist, and then have two organists beneath, though I accept that St Paul's has three organists in addition to Andrew Carwood. I suppose having a DoM who is a very competent organist as well as a choralist makes for greater flexibility in terms of covering the work though.

Thanks John - the Plymouth Suite beckons, I think.

Christopher Dearnley was given an LVO towards the end of his time, I think, but was not promoted to CVO upon retirement as he certainly deserved... at the very least. And we have seen others fairly recently who have made massive contributions at the organ or with choirs given an MBE which feels insulting to me. Yet in other walks of life it seems almost automatic that awards come one's way, followed by promotions after a fairly short amount of time. Of course, some of this inactivity might be attributable to those in high office in our cathedrals etc who don't submit names for honours.

I wish we could see more of these awards going to organists and our top cathedral/church musicians. As well as these drying up, Lambeth seems to have abandoned its degree awards which could be counted upon - think Dearnley, Birch, Jackson, Thurlow, Massey et al, who all got Lambeth DMus degrees, but although Durham gave James Lancelot a DMus in his final couple of years, just some new-spun medal from Welby, which, to me doesn't cut the mustard. FRCO at 16 and Organist etc at Durham for a huge period of loyal and devoted service with notable milestones prior. Not good enough, I feel. How long does James O'Donnell have to wait for something like a CVO? He has been in charge at countless royal events in the Abbey, and yet, no award - and Andrew Carwood, too... and many others.

OK - many thanks, both of you.