Martin Cooke

Thanks for your response, Richard - and for introducing two very interesting pieces I had never heard of before. Just the sort of thing of which we need more! (Would hate to think, though, that my original post was imprecatious!)

I think I remember the Full Organ piston or a red indicator light playing a part in one of these programmes.

And as a follow through to the above... I wonder what we would like to see filmed next? I'm hoping for Truro and then a new one of Canterbury when the new organ has settled down in a year or two's time.

Priory have announced the availability of their new Westminster Abbey DVD which Daniel Cook features in. Interesting that he has come back to do this, or perhaps he had started it before he left. Anyway, it looks like an excellent programme and it's firmly on my Christmas list. I have all the Priory DVDs and I wonder what others have made of them. I have found some of the organ tours a bit stilted - nobody better than Ian Tracey on the very first one and Simon Johnson at St Paul's - and some of the choices of music a bit weird. I do have an affinity to St Paul's but I think that, so far, at any rate, it is the best of all of them. By the way, you can see and hear a snippet from WA on the Priory website - Daniel Cook plays the Dignity and Impudence March.

I think it's a shame that this is the case, but I cannot help but feel that this forum is dying on its feet. Days go past when no new contributions appear and although lots of forumites clearly look in from time to time, they don't appear to want to contribute or start new topics - and I do feel that I have tried over the years. Perhaps everyone is just too busy. Instead of looking forward to reading new thoughts from fellow members each day, I now turn to the site with the expectation that there will be nothing new to read. I would just say "well done' to the young organist from Harrow who started a number of interesting and popular topics but, enthusiast though he doubtless is, he even seems to have dried up now. Perhaps we are just in a rut! I would love to feel that everyone might be stirred to think of something and I might have a go at starting a few new topics over the next few days.

I am sure that many forum members watched/listened to the service from the Abbey last evening. If you didn't, there were any number of points of interest, musically - a new anthem by Judith Weir which sounded to me as if it would repay a further visit, but especially, an exquisite performance of Elgar's The Spirit of the Lord - and Peter Holder's accompaniment of it was simply wonderful. You can catch the Westminster Abbey Solo French Horn twice during the performance - just towards the end of the organ introduction, and then again a few seconds or two before the end of the anthem... and very good it sounds, too. I believe French Horns are not always very convincing - as choristers at St Paul's, we used to listen out for it in this anthem, but I remember it being rather a weak and quiet stop, but my memory could easily be playing tricks. Whatever, the Abbey's can be heard by all in this broadcast and it sounds spot on to me. And then, I was sent running to the internet to find out what the organ voluntary was... York Bowen, Fantasia in G minor - what a piece!

Nail... head... a truly grim experience listening to that clip! An awful way to start a Sunday morning. Don't do it to yourself!

Amazing - York, Salisbury, Canterbury and Edinburgh all in Durham at the same time!

Following on from yesterday, Princess Eugenie's marriage service (ITV) is well worth a listen - two magnificent descants by James Vivian (to be published by Encore), beautiful performances by the choir of a Gaelic Blessing, My Spirit sang all day and Ubi Caritas... and an exquisite little improvised filler by Luke Bond taking on from the orchestra's Pieds en l'air - a magical example of just how it should be done - and the whole service accompanied outstandingly by him, too.

We've just had some of the middle movement of Pièce d'Orgue for the way in, and the Vierne Final from Symphonie 1 to retreat to, at St George's, WIndsor, today. Great choices as far as I am concerned and a successful 'splice' in the Bach to accommodate the length of the aisle. Mind you, you would need a heck of an aisle for a bridal procession to take in the whole of that!!

Any idea as to who will be undertaking this work, Dave?

Ah - any more details/links?

Interesting to note that from today, two of our most important cathedrals (Canterbury and York) are without their pipe organs for quite a while, with Salisbury joining them in January. Do we know if major work is scheduled for any other cathedrals or major churches over the next couple of years?

There is more to listen to now including a second superb recital, this time by Ben Sheen, the Associate Organist, and yesterday's choral services. The organ was dedicated at the morning Eucharist (Langlais). If you haven't heard Tom Winpenny's arrangement of Walton's March "The English Speaking People" do listen to Ben Sheen's performance of it. It is the opening piece in his recital - here.

It was the opening recital of the new Dobson instrument last night, given by Daniel Hyde. This link should lead you to a webcast of it. Other events to follow.

Try the Psalms - maybe a few verses from Psalm 84?? Or the whole of Psalm 100??

Not so in my experience with high end modern digital organs. There were any number of beautiful (sampled) sounds on the large 4-manual digital instrument I played regularly before retirement, and the same is true of the three manual home instrument I have now which uses synthesised sound. I don't think some folk realise how much tonal polishing some digital builders put into their installations. I do know what you mean though about small pipe organs. There is a one manual Hill near me which delightful tonal quality, and I could happily play on it all day. I would be slightly more inclined to do so if it were tuned and maintained properly and if a modern pedalboard could replace the twelve pull downs it has and the instrument be fitted with a 30/32 note pedal 16ft. Conversely, I once took one of this country's leading church musicians to play a large (50-stop or so) three manual pipe organ by a major builder of the day - (no names, no pack drill). He played it very thoroughly for about 90 minutes listening carefully to every register and combination. At the end, he declared that there was just one stop on the entire organ that he could live with - a 16 foot wooden stop on the Great.

Yes, the organ came through magnificently at times. I understand your wondering who was playing it, Dave, but just wonder if the organist is any more worthy of special mention than any of the other individual orchestral players, some of whom, after all, played solos.

If approached in all the right ways, there are many churches and possibly cathedrals that would let you play if it was all fixed up in advance. You need to decide where you want to go, look up their website to find the name of the person in charge of the music, and write them an email introducing yourself and asking if you might be allowed to visit the organ and play it. Now, most cathedrals don't want their organ being played during the day because it disturbs the visitors and tour guides, so if you are lucky and they say 'yes' it's likely to be first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon, possibly after evensong so that will be less easy for you travelling from London. Why don't you make a start and - plucking somewhere out of the air - see if you can visit St Mary, Redcliffe in Bristol. You can get to Bristol Temple Meads station direct from London Paddington. It's an hour and 40 minutes on the train and an adult ticket is £60 return (on a Saturday afternoon) but perhaps you have a student railcard. The church is no more than a 20 minute walk from the station. It is a stunning church with a wonderful Harrison and Harrison four manual organ - one of the very finest instruments in the country. It's no so easy on their website to find who the Director of Music there is, and I resorted to looking at the parish magazine. It looks as though all contact has to be made through the parish office. So, you write, asking for your email to be forwarded to the DoM, saying that you are a young organist at Harrow School and generally saying a bit about yourself. You have heard that the St Mary Redcliffe organ is a wonderful instrument and you wonder if you would be allowed to come down and play it one day. You might then want to suggest a few dates when you could get down there. Do make sure you have practised your pieces thoroughly, and take into account handsoff's caution about loud music. They know you will want to try the tuba and the devastating 32 reed there, but not in every piece. In a nutshell, I think that is the sort of approach you could take. As far as exeat goes, can't your Director of Music or your organ teacher or Chaplain give you an introduction to a local church?

A tiny bit of follow-up to the above... I the last few days, I have purchased OUP's Bach Transcriptions for Organ, which has been arranged by Martin Setchell. This was published in 2014 only 4 years before the Funeral and Memorial Music for Organ album that this post is all about. But, again, I can't help wondering why this later volume includes different arrangements of some of the music that Martin Setchell included in his album only four years previously - eg: God's time is best and I stand with one foot in the grave. There seems to me to be a need for a little co-ordination over the contents of these albums.

There's a super little album called Fanfares and Processionals which was published by Novello in the early 60s. All the pieces require a Tuba at some point and none of them are too difficult. Particularly recommended from this is the Fanfare by Arthur Wills, but, really, most of the pieces are worthy, useful, and enjoyable to play. You can listen to the Wills here - it only lasts a couple of minutes! Well worth laying hands on this album - it is still available. In your dusty pile of OUP albums, you may discover a green volume called An Album of Praise. There are three pieces in here which, in my opinion, are worthy of attention and two are not too complicated at all. One is Festal Flourish by Gordon Jacob - a wonderfully arresting start on the Tuba and some great concluding chords where you can couple it up! Another is a piece by Flor Peeters - (it might be called Festal Voluntary or something like that) - he doesn't specify a tuba, but you could use one to solo a few obvious passages. And finally, there is another Paean by Peter Hurford. I feel that this is a piece that has never really caught on, and I confess to finding it a bit tricky, but it's there and anything by Peter Hurford is worthy of respect and attention. (You might like his Two Dialogues - not really Tuba pieces, but the first, though over in a few minutes, is very exciting.) There are also some splendid Tuba pieces in all sorts of Kevin Mayhew publications composed by June Nixon. I have enthused about her before on this forum - she writes wonderfully well for the organ and her fanfares are excellent. I will be more specific about where these are to be located amongst the dozens of Kevin Mayhew if you want. Antony Baldwin is another composer to watch whom I have only just discovered. His Three Tudor Cats is reviewed very favourably in the latest Organists' Review - though these are not Tuba pieces. However, seek out his Mr Theo Saunders - His Trumpet Tune, published by Banks. Well worth it! And finally, another new discovery - what about this?!

Not sure of relative merits of the two, nor have I seen a copy of the Dupré, but the Guilmant is on IMSLP. If you search on Wir danken dir under J.S. Bach, then go to Arrangements and Transcriptions, you will find it and a few others, but not the Dupré. There are others - Noel Rawsthorne and Martin Setchell both come to mind.

Well, the world is our oyster here, really, and it depends on how technically competent one is and how much money one wants to spend buying music - though, of course, it is inevitable that you will need to buy some service music. It's a bit of a shame if the people you observe only improvise before your chapel services because although you can learn from this yourself, you don't get to know good pre-service music. I think I once mentioned before, in reply to one of your queries, the volumes by Oxford University Press - Oxford Service Music for Organ - see here. If you look at the sample music on that OUP site, you will see straightaway, some music that would make worthwhile pre-service music which is not too demanding technically. There are at least two volumes of these books - I think there are 2 for manuals and pedals, and 2 for manuals only. Don't be reluctant to use manuals only music - OUP publish several volumes of these - see here. There are six volumes in this series, and when I was your age, playing regularly for chapel services, I certainly used volumes 1-4. You may be able to buy some second hand - always worth looking on Ebay - type in "Sheet organ music" but watch out for silly prices being asked. So, those volumes could be good starting points. Yesterday, I was perusing this volume. (OUP's, Autumn Festivals from their new Hymn Settings for Organists series.) There are several lovely pieces here - try David Blackewell's beautiful prelude on the hymn tune, Thaxted, for example. Now, you're not going to want to play every piece in this volume, but maybe 25% of them - and that's about how it goes with volumes of organ music. If yours or your parents' wallets are feeling generous and expansive, you could also buy the Advent and Christmas volume - some lovely hymn and carol preludes there ready for December. Here's the link. With this one, don't be put off by the sample material which may look a bit complicated! There are some really lovely, approachable pieces in this volume, including Aland Bullard's piece on Stille Nacht, which you can see at the end of the sample material. The other starting points for you could be Bach's Orgelbüchlein - that's volume 1 in the Bärenreiter edition. People like me (!) grew up using the Novello edition of Bach's organ works - and very good it is too, but it has dropped out of favour since new, more scholarly editions have appeared. However, volume 15 of the Novello edition of the Orgelbüchlein could be very valuable for your purposes as, in addition to Bach's actual chorale preludes, you get a version of the chorale itself. Thus, a chorale prelude lasting, say 2'30" can be spun out a bit by playing the chorale through before and after, if needs be, varying the registration accordingly. Then... another 'little organ book' - the one, very appropriately this year, in memory of C.H.H. Parry. See here. (You may want to invest in one of the second hand volumes of this that are around - they will probably be hard bound and much larger than this later facsimile edition - but also more expensive!) This is a treasure trove of beautiful miniatures, several of which are pretty straightforward and almost all of which are attractive. They make ideal pre-service pieces. Finally, get to know some of the delightful miniatures by Percy Whitlock. OUP publish a volume of all his short pieces - see here - and although it's £35, it's priceless really. You will have to settle to learning the notes, but start with Fidelis. If you don't want to shell out £35, I have spotted, online, two second hand copies of Whitlock's Four Extemporisations which is where Fidelis comes from for £3, and then you will have inserted your toe in the water without too much outlay. The links to these are here - (look for the secondhand music tab on the left) and here. Once again, if you live in London, go to Foyles for an hour or two, look up some of these suggestions and have a jolly good browse through everything. In the meantime, I hope this is useful.

I think you might be muddling Crown Imperial with Orb and Sceptre because there isn't a Gower version of Crown Imperial. The original version of the Murrill arrangement does have suggested cuts, I believe, and I think I am correct in saying that the more recently published version in the Oxford Book of Wedding Music (still by Murrill) incorporates those cuts. Without looking it all up, I believe it ALSO suggests further cuts that may be made. Does that help? As far as Robert Gower is concerned, he produced the excellent William Walton Organ Album in which there is an arrangement by him of the Orb and Sceptre which is MUCH more approachable than the original arrangement (by William McKie) published by OUP. This latter version is really pretty tricky - and the Gower version is no pushover, in my view. In the process of writing this, David has replied, and I wholly agree with his point re the rhythm at the start of Crown Imperial. I have never understood why Herbert Murrill didn't reproduce this rhythm exactly as it must (presumably) appear in the full score. A further improvement, if I might be so bold, concerns the reprise of the opening dotted theme after the big tune in A flat major, where, if you listen to the orchestral version, a loud timpani plays on the first beat of the bar. I have got in the habit of replicating this by playing bottom C and C1 on the pedals ( together) before picking up with the rhythm that David mentions. If you search out an orchestral version of the piece you will quickly hear what we are going on about and then you can decide for yourself. Listen here, for example. Altogether, Crown Imperial is a great piece which is not too difficult at all and it should work well on the organs that you have access to. Enjoy!

Yes!