Martin Cooke

Quite right, S_L, I don't know it very well at all - only visited once and that was not for a service. Martin.

Won't the organ be used to smoke in S Sulpice? Has there official word about the organ yet from anyone?

You could write to the schools within striking distance and offer your services, and if you live near a cathedral or 'place where they sing', see if you might be allowed some observation at the console to see what the resident organists get up to. You might also enjoy having a look at some cathedral websites at the section they sometimes have called 'visiting choirs.' Here you can read some advice from the resident organists - usually the assistant, I think - about the cathedral organ can best be used to accompany a choir. Quite informative this! Try, for example, Gloucester or York.

I think I heard that the Hammond was played simultaneously with the pipe organ for hymns etc - by another player, obviously!

I've only posted today (St David's Day) to draw attention to the lovely piece mentioned above 'David of the White Rock' by George Towers. I have just played it through and also the RVW and quite concur with David's comment as to which is the better of the two - though... there are three or four bars of the RVW which are golden. I really must get the Fagus edition of the Towers pieces - I have the Oecumuse version of this and The Gentle Dove. The Welsh folk in our congregation always comment appreciatively if I play either of these pieces - one does say, 'not Rhosymedre, AGAIN!' when I play that. And speaking of Rhosymedre, does anyone play the other two in the set? I heard them once, and only once (for all!) played by Sydney Watson at the re-opening recital on the organ at Monkton Combe School in 1971. This was a Willis of sorts with a Willis III console with all the teeth, which Percy Daniel turned into a 2-manual - rather making the best of a bad job, to be honest. It has, since then, been changed again by the Deane Organ Builders into a hybrid, retaining all (as far as I can see) of the pipework which has been replanted a little with added digital stops. It was re-designed physically with the console moving back to the old loft on the 'south' side of the chapel with an almost upright staircase, and with the pipe chambers placed separately either side of the 'west' window to excellent effect and screened by shiny metal pipes. The original organ screen was an ugly arrangement of wooden louvres and plasterwork which, together with the pipework, meant the 'west' window couldn't be seen - a huge improvement,. In fact the whole Monkton Combe chapel has been modernised very beautifully since 'my day' there in the 70s.

Yes, me included, but only a very small number which I feel sound very effective.

Welcome to the forum - stay with us! I agree with S_L on all points. Make sure you know what a Gavotte is, as well. I don't know the Bonnet arrangement of the Gavotte but these pieces were, as I am sure you know, originally written for manuals only. If you are playing an arrangement with pedals, I suppose that's fine, but when talking about the music it would be sensible to say that you know they were written for manuals only and say how you come to be playing a version for pedals. As it happens, I use both partly because my 'with pedals' version is a very ancient copy handed down to me by an old friend and I always think of him when I play from that copy. You may not know that there was a lot of this sort of thing going on in the 1940's and 50's. Organists then played lots of arrangements of music by people like John Stanley, Maurice Greene, William Felton and others, in which there was filling out of the two part original music and, as I say, the addition of a pedal part. Such editions are frowned upon these days but some are very effective. (You might come across Suite in D major by John Stanley arranged by Henry Coleman - it has an unmissable arrangement of a cracking trumpet tune as the final movement) Your Air and Gavotte comes from 'Twelve Short Pieces' - (there were actually 13) - but I don't think I have ever come across arrangements for manuals and pedals of any of the 13 except nos 8 & 9 - your Air and Gavotte. (I bought my Hinrichsen edition of the Twelve Short Pieces 45 years ago this April - (when I was in Year 11 - or 5th form as we used to call it.) Anyway, good luck with your audition - and do tell us what else you are playing and how you get on. We're a friendly bunch with a wide range of experience, skill and interest - and that includes a number of very eminent organists indeed. It is always great when they join in a thread as one just has on the York Minster thread. There are few young organists on the forum though and it needs new blood. One young organists joined fairly recently and initiated some really interesting new threads so I am sure I speak for all members in wanting to encourage you to join in.

First of all, welcome back to the forum - we haven't heard as much from you of late, which is a shame as you started lots of really interesting and popular threads... but don't let posting here distract you from what needs to be done with your exam prep! Ha! It really is only a matter of practising these skills as much as you can in the days that remain and being as self-critical as you can be. Aim to get full marks in both disciplines - also in your scales! Overall, try to aim for a good Distinction - ie, over 140. And then... with your skills nice and sharp keep them going so that these are ready for ARCO in the not too distant future. If you could get that diploma while you are still at school, that would be a really useful achievement. Good luck! (But, I don't really believe in luck - people make their own luck... growth mindset sort of chap, me!) PS - Are you going to tell us what pieces you're playing?

Well said, Rowland!

I think this is truly shocking. Why would anyone install a pipe organ of this type ever again if they knew that within a few years they would also need a digital instrument to perform the basic functions for which a church possesses an organ?

I understand, but nobody did give their right arm for it and so, this is what has happened. I fear that we are going to see much more of this as time goes on. There are just so many pipe organs out there in churches and chapels that nobody is wanting to attend anymore that it is inevitable that these buildings will be sold or demolished, and their pipe organs disposed of. And many of these instruments have nobody to play them, even if they had more than two or three to hear them being played.

I know this is contentious, but looking at the photos and details on the NPOR link, is this really such a loss? The pictures don't give me the impression that this is a well-loved instrument.

Ok - many thanks, indeed.

Whilst we're not mentioning digital options, folk may be interested in the article on the Viscount UK website about the organ at St Bride's, Fleet Street, that has suffered from a lightening strike. This is the third lightening strike on a pipe organ that I have heard of - Llandaff (before the new instrument) - Salisbury in 2018, and now St Bride's. (a) are such things more common than that, and... (b) what can be done to prevent such damage?

Just wondering if anyone can relate what recent work has been carried out on the Metzler. I happened to see a very enthusiastic tweet from David Hill who was clearly much impressed with some recent improvements.

The other Hurford pieces to look out for are the Chorale Preludes - all of them have their uses - and you can't always say that. I had a number of enquiries after the service today about the Rebecca Groom te Velde Minuet and Trio based on The Three Kings. It is in the Epiphany volume in the OUP Hymn Settings for Organists series. My other contributions today included the Buxtehude Chorale Fantasia on Wie schön leuchtet (from OUP Christmas Album) and an arrangement of the Cornelius originally published by Basil Ramsay. And then, as the concluding voluntary I played the Postlude on Was Lebet by Chris Tambling (from the Epiphany album mentioned above.)

Yes, it is Meditation and it is a real gem. A good, mysterious piece for communion, too.

Welcome back! Are you going to tell us what you have chosen to play? I took Grade 8 in 1974 and played JSB, Prelude in G major, BWV 541, Flor Peeters' Aria, and Peter Hurford's Dialogue in G major. I don't think the Peeters was worthy of Grade 8 - more 6, I would have thought. Anyway, in those days there were no scales for organ Grade 8, but you did have to do a pedal exercise, sight reading and transposition of a hymn tune. I managed a low Distinction. The Aria was very popular and well-known at one time but it seems to pop up less frequently now. The Hurford Dialogues are both, in my view, excellent short pieces and I must work them up again. Not sure if Hurford's Suite Laudate Dominum is used by anyone now. There are some very good movements in that.

Not sure if it was Winchester, but MN certainly has a DMus from Southampton... but also a Lambeth one.

That would be most fitting but we all know how things have changed as far as honours go for church musicians. Having said that, he has a CBE already which is richly deserved. I'm saddened that the Archbishop of Canterbury appears to have shelved Lambeth degrees. Plenty of esteemed and long serving cathedral musicians have been awarded DMus as a Lambeth degree upon their retirement - think Martin Neary, John Birch, et al. James Lancelot wasn't, despite his huge period of prodigious service at Durham and Winchester. It also seems a great shame that Cambridge has not awarded Stephen a DMus, but perhaps they intend to do so next year. I live in hope.

We have the mighty Crib Service on Christmas Eve afternoon - I shall play a range of music before hand based on Christmas carols including things like Ireland's The Holy Boy, Thiman's Postlude on Adeste Fideles, some of the Lloyd Webber Christmas improvisations, and some Rawsthorne from his album, The Holly and the Ivy, etc. Afterwards I'm going for the Lefébure-Wély Sortie in E flat. At Midnight, I shall play the 9/8 C major Bach as the main pre-service offering, and then the A major In dulci, and Pièce d'Orgue afterwards.

There are some transcriptions of one or two movements from Bach's Christmas Oratorio in various OUP albums which you would enjoy, too.

I agree. And in any case, a 16ft oboe is no match for a decent swell trumpet. And no 16ft tone on the Great on a large instrument such as this? And no solo Clarinet?

Thanks, Fiffaro for trying harder! A thought or two as an immediate response... Parry - I was glad, Parry - Blest pair of Sirens Parry - Hear my words ye people Rutter - Gloria Rutter - Te Deum Schubert - Mass in G Fauré - Requiem Handel - some Messiah choruses Haydn - Insanae et vanae curae Stanford - Te Deum in B flat Handel - Let the bright seraphim - (an opportunity for a soprano solist) & Let their celestial concerts Handel - The heavens are telling and/or Achieved is the glorious work Berstein - Chichester Psalms - All of these (except possibly the Rutter Gloria) can easily be organ only and they are all things I have done in the past with school choirs. Is this the sort of thing that you might have been looking for? Martin.

I think I have commented along these lines before but at our church, we go firmly along with the hope in the Resurrection, and therefore, the closing music is always a 'confident' sounding piece - think Bach Great E minor or B minor. So, 'confident' rather than 'happy' - I have been asked to play the Widor but I think that is just a little too much, but all these things are a matter of personal taste and preference. 'Jesu joy', though pleasant enough, wouldn't fit the mould for me. I hope the service goes well.