Martin Cooke

Other BR PofM music included two pieces by Heathcote Statham and also the Walford Davies Interlude in C. Not a fan of any of these, I'm afraid.

Thanks for those reminders, Stephen. I must admit that I never got on very well with the Christopher Steel organ music - though I very much enjoyed a carol of his called This Joyful'st Feast which was very popular with your singers - also published by BR, I think. The G Bush piece is splendid and I like very much how this and his Carillon on Es ist ein ros both speak with an interesting and different voice. Both are dedicated to Christopher Dearnley, I think. Is there other music by Bush?

With the recent death of Dr FJ, perhaps forumites have been to look at the BMP website, but it may be helpful to know that, in celebration of their 50th anniversary, they are offering a 20% discount on a lot of their wares for a limited period so this is a good chance to check out music by lots of their composers - try Andrew Carter and Antony Baldwin, for example. It also applies to Dr Roy Massey's and Dr Barry Rose's recent books. The code BMP50 should be applied at the checkout.

I wonder if friends play any music published by Basil Ramsay. Into my possession recently came an exquisite trio of pieces by Michael Jacques - Pavane, Alman & Galliard. They must have been on eBay. I had never heard them nor even heard of them and don't recall seeing their publication (1980) announced or reviewed, but they are excellent. There is also the delightful arrangement by Trevor Hold of an Irish lullaby - Suantraidhe - which is worth playing. Both of these are still published and are obtainable through the usual sources.

I picked up this quote of Dafyyd's from the other thread discussing new OUP publications and the Organists' Review article on the old OUP Modern Organ Music albums. I agree with Dafyyd and very much grew up with those OUP albums many of which had the black and white photo of the organ case from St George's, Hanover Square on the cover. I was first aware of them through Harry Gabb playing Gordon Jacob's Festal Flourish after services at St Paul's. This is is An Album of Praise which contains some other excellent pieces by, amongst others, Flor Peeters, Healey Willan and Peter Hurford. Could we consider what favourites other forumites have from any OUP albums of old? Which have stood the test of time? Have we heard any played anywhere lately... ever? I did hear one piece played on television once! It was in the days when organists played their own voluntaries at the end of Songs of Praise... so, actually, in reality I just heard the opening two bars before fade out. Must have been late 70s, very early 80s because they were using the Herbert Chappell piece* by the late 80s, I think. I'll reveal what it was another time and it will be interesting to see if anyone mentions it in the meantime. Meanwhile, I feel moved to start a thread about publications by another publishing house! * Not an OUP piece, but I did once hear this played by Alan Thurlow after a Saturday evensong at Chichester Cathedral... on the Allen. Not a bad voluntary (especially in the outer sections) as long as you have the right stops for the reed bits.

It really doesn't matter but there are two lots of two albums with the word 'easy' in the title. 'Easy Modern Organ Music' in two volumes, and 'An Easy Album for Organ' which was followed later with 'A Second Easy Album for Organ', which is the one with the Drayton, Rutter, Ridout, Lord etc contributions.

Dafydd, that's actually a different 'easy' volume from OUP, but I agree with you about it. The Drayton is a very characterful and unusual piece worthy of attention. This is the volume with the Rutter Toccata in Seven in it, if I remember correctly. Much of his Canticle of a Rose is worth playing and is very effective and colourful and there are also some very exciting dances that were published by Chappell in the 70s.

Has anyone any thoughts or comments about the latest crop of organ music publications from OUP? I'm thinking of: Elegy for the Time of Change - Robert Harris. You can hear this here. Celebration - John Rutter - You can hear and see this at 43.37 here. It is a memorial piece for Richard Shephard and was conceived as a sort of organ finale to a Missa Brevis for York. Organ Music of Gerre Hancock And thinking of OUP... the article in Organists' Review this month has caused me to dig out all my Modern Organ Music albums from the 60s and 70s but so far, I haven't felt moved to tackle anything new, despite it being an incredibly positive, well-written and encouraging article! As things stand, I play the Mathias and (most of) the Preston in Volume 1. I don't enjoy the Leighton Paean enough to give it the time it would warrant, which just leaves the Mushel in Volume 2 - (which I had anyway!) - and Volume 3 is beyond my scope and leaves me pretty flat. In the Easy volumes, I don't regularly play anything except the Mathias Chorale, but I have played the Leighton Fanfare in the past and also the Peter Racine Fricker Trio. In general, these OR articles that help us revisit the past are very good. Kevin Bowyer's contributions are lightly and humorously written and his, this quarter, commends to us the Scherzo from Flor Peeters' Suite Modale.

Nail on the head, Colin. Unless I missed it, the other issue with organs is that, unlike Faberge eggs or works by famous masters, is that there are so many of them! They are also very poorly understood by the populace. Old ones that need saving, even if they are quality instruments are often filthy dirty, and have been mistreated so that even if they began life looking like a work of art, by the time numerous drawing pins have been poked into them, ghastly light fittings have been clumsily screwed to them, their consoles have been covered with all sorts of musical detritus by the people who claim to love them most, they look anything but and, in some cases, and they have been poorly maintained and don't work properly We HAVE to sort the sheep from the goats if the right instruments are to be saved at all, and there just is very little hope of that. I do think organs could to some degree play a part in helping people find an interest in church, but it has to be the right organ and the right organist.

I know you're right, Colin... I just feel that if you said to someone, why don't you come to church with me on Sunday, it would be just a little easier for a first-timer if they could come and just listen and absorb as you can at Matins. And there's more variety and no great long intercessions (which are usually several minutes too long) and prayer of consecration. And so much is lost with all these modern translations (of the Bible as well as the liturgy) that in my view don't make anything any more digestible. Why is it that after so many years, I still cannot recite the modern version of the Lord's Prayer? It's because there is nothing distinguished and special about it. Anyway, it's all an un-win-able argument so there is no point in hankering after a change. I must re-read the Benedictus, Rowland - it's along time since I have sung it. A favourite morning canticle for me was always the Benedicite - such colourful words, and, of course, some terrific choral settings. I particularly think of FJ's and have great memories of John Dykes Bower enjoying playing it on the Choir School grand piano at St Paul's. And the organ part in William Harris's is tremendous. But I even enjoy the Benedicite to that extended double chant.

And linked to this - and point 3 in particular - reverse all the emphasis on the Eucharist and return to Matins as the norm for the morning service. Eucharist is not a good point of entry for people trying out church - just the whole thing of having to leave your seat to go and receive communion takes people out of their comfort zone - much better to come to Matins where one can shelter in the BCP with reasonable anonymity. On the whole though, clergy don't buy this and the vast majority of them haven't experienced it themselves as children so Matins is just something they do on their own, or they endure in one of the churches in their multi-church benefices because the PCC insists - but there is no choir and no proper organist who can lead things like the Venite, Psalm, Te Deum & Jubilate/Benedictus so it's grim all round.

Just to acknowledge from the start... the idea of this topic comes from a comment on the 'other site' to which I often refer. In a post about Norwich Cathedral organ, one contributor comments that we only get to hear our great organs at services and at half a dozen recitals (if we're lucky) each year. I think this is largely true, though I know that Truro runs an extensive lunch hour recital programme. Why, wonders that same contributor, aren't these instruments played for an hour each day so they can be heard. I am bound to say that I agree, though I don't want to suggest that our cathedral music staff are not busy enough! As we all know, funding for these great places has been severely curtailed because of Covid, so I suspect cathedrals are very keen not to do anything that might affect visitors' enjoyment of their visit, and loud organ playing would make it difficult to hear a tour guide. BUT... isn't there a balance... and that fact that you can barely visit a cathedral outside service time and hear the organ played on more than Swell 1, suggests the balance may be out. (And do read some of the guides for visiting organists available on cathedral websites about guidance for practising at certain times of day. In some places you really cannot go beyond the Lieblich. And, by the way, the instructions about use of the organ for service playing and how certain stops deafen this canon or that virger and can only be heard in the Lady Chapel when the wind is in North-East, etc etc are quite extraordinary! Some organs seem so difficult in terms of balance in the building that they seem hopelessly impractical and almost a complete waste of money! Would you install a pipe organ if you were starting from scratch in some places, one can't help wondering!!) And if the Great and Pedal reeds can only used so sparingly - (and in one cathedral's case, not at all during the first five minutes of any voluntary because the clergy are conversing with the departing congregation) - mightn't they as well be removed altogether at the next rebuild and the instrument re-cast in an altogether more suitable format? (And couldn't the clergy stagger as far as the west end, well away from the organ to say their farewells????!!!) The other thing about hearing cathedral organs is that some cathedrals seem to delight in letting people hear the organ even at services. So, during the week, you perhaps get a minute or two of 'Organist's Creep' beforehand and a minimal voluntary at the end. Again, I have seen instructions that suggest the latter is what is desired so that the voluntary doesn't detract in some way from the nature of the service. Mind you, a BBC Choral Evensong a year or two back seemed madly out of kilter in having the huge Willan Passacaglia piece as the voluntary. What is that, 20 minutes' worth? Anyway, about hearing more from cathedral organs in non service times, what do forumites feel?

I realise you are deeply dismayed, frustrated and disappointed by all of this, David.

Without any knowledge of the existing organ, it's not possible to exercise any judgement on this matter just on principle alone, but as soon as I saw the announcement and read that three ranks from an H&H organ were the only ones thought worthy for inclusion in a new instrument, I realised there would be a lively debate, and this can be seen on the British Pipe Organs facebook site. It seems to me that there are bound to be exceptions to every rule and there must surely be instruments by our best organ builders that are not as good as others, for reasons of available finance at the time, alone, I assume. [As an aside, if funds had been available at the time, would Father Willis have put a small 32ft reed on the Truro organ? Or perhaps it was a space issue? But if funds were available next time the organ was 're-done' and space could be found, I know it would be regarded as anathema to proceed with the addition. But why?!] To me, the Charterhouse organ, as demonstrated in the first of the films that David has linked, sounds jolly good, but I am conscious that I am listening to it on laptop speakers, and I have never heard it in the flesh. With all the plaudits ascribed to the recent rebuilds by H&H at York and Canterbury, one cannot help wondering what a scheme by H&H to 'improve' the instrument would have looked like. But, if it genuinely isn't an example of the best work of that firm at the time, and bearing in mind that those who use the instrument on a daily basis will understand its shortcomings better than any, I would hate a school or church to be hamstrung in what it can do. However, David's point about preserving the whole existing organ for use elsewhere is a good one, even though I struggle to wonder who is going to want it? Can we imagine it going to Sheffield Cathedral, St John's Cambridge, Magdalen College chapel, St Bartholomew the Great, Devizes Parish Church... all of whom are without pipe organs or are seeking to change instruments? Leaving aside the Charterhouse matter entirely now, and looking more at the whole business of organ preservation, we are all going to have to be much more discerning about which instruments are worthy of preservation. There are simply far too many organs under threat, and they cannot possibly be saved unless the people who want them saved are willing to pay, and eventually, to house them, as more and more church buildings close. And those organs that remain need to be as versatile as possible so that organists, including young organists, want to play and learn on them, so that (dwindling) congregations may gain a new appreciation of them. Of course we should preserve the very best, but not every organ is the very best and was never going to be, and trying to persuade people that an organ is a 'fine organ' - (a careworn phrase if ever there was one) - just because it has pipes, is just bonkers. And, of course, some brand new and very expensive pipe organs can prove to be a disaster, or in some way unsuitable, from the start!

Before leaving St Paul's, Simon Johnson recorded a 2-CD set of organ music with the BACH theme. There's Reger, Lizst, Mendelssohn, JSB, Brahms, Schumann and Karg-Elert. The release date is 28th January and one can only imagine how superb this will be in terms of organ and organist. My attention was drawn to this by a tweet pointing out that the St Paul's Cathedral shop is selling it at 20% reduction this week. You have to add the code BACHCD at the checkout.

I originally started this post as a reply to the Rushworth and Dreaper post elsewhere but in the interests of possibly wanting to refer to other people's anticipated contributions, I have started a this new topic here... There is something rather special about the old music shops and their names and I'd quite like to see a list developing. A visit to any city always meant finding the music shops and a good browse through the organ music, LPs and latterly CDs. Could we make a list? And it would be useful to comment on whether they are still operating and whether they keep any stock of organ music? So... I'll start! Newquay, Truro, Plymouth - Yardleys - something remains in Truro, minimal organ music - perfunctory only. There was also a really good record shop in Pydar Street - long gone - I bought lots of organ LPs there including The King of instruments - a big moment! Yardleys in Newquay, I remember as a boy, but an old friend (Denis Osborne of St Columb and Newquay fame) some of whose organ music I inherited, clearly bought a lot from them as their stamp is on many items. St Austell - not sure of the name but there was a good stockist of all the old OUP and Novello folders in, I think, Fore Street, but that's been gone for many years - a shame Bath - Duck, Son and Pinker, Milsoms - (all one walk through shop) - all gone - much missed - in its hey-day, a great treasure trove. Salisbury - Stangers - now something else (was Percy Prior's) - minimalistic approach to organ music - Caleb Simper albums, Novello Bach, etc Winchester - Whitwams - gone. (Some of these names had a real ring to them - Stangers, Whitwams...) Chichester - Ackerman Music (West Street) - very good current and interesting selection of music - one of the best I know now for actual browsing and always call in when in Chichester York - Banks, of course - a long time since I've been - but judging by what I bought when on a conference in the city, the selection must have been impressive. And Banks Music Publications seem to always be producing interesting works - FJ, of course, but also Andrew Carter and especially Antony Baldwin - anything of his is worth playing and thoroughly enjoyable, in my experience London - where to start? Happy memories of visiting OUP and Novello as a teenager - (70s) - more recently, have enjoyed Chappells in Wardour Street, Foyles - a great character, who, I am sure, is well-known to some forumites, works in the excellent music department here with lots of browsing available. I bought a piece and found he had composed it! Also Schott in Great Marlborough Street - lots of organ music to view. Also Chimes in Kensington, but haven't been for a long while. Stoke on Trent - am I alone in remembering what was, I think Presto Music Supplies? Was it Maggie?? They used to source lots of stuff for me in my formative years and I had many phone calls with them. Gillingham (Dorset) - I still lament the loss of the wonderful Allegro Music and the excellent services of Barbara. Of course, they only moved to Dorset latterly. Could we keep going, please??

I don't know Guildford Cathedral at all other than from a very hasty visit 30/40 years ago. But it's very much on my list of places to visit. What has changed about the acoustic in recent times?

i believe the "Me in G" quote is correct - but I first heard it as a quote of Sydney Watson and "Me in E," so it may not have been original.

Such moves are frequently frowned upon in the organ world these days. Difficult to know what might be best without knowing more about the instrument's provenance, builder, current condition and stop list etc. Money and funding aside, suppose the Clarinet was actually very beautiful in tone etc right across its range, could you see yourself valuing it and using it? If so, then it could be best to get advice along those lines. There may be better second hand Clarinets around that can be swapped in. In considering popping a mixture in instead, assuming such a things can be made to work physically on the soundboard, again, without knowing the existing stop list it's impossible but I'd be wondering if there was already a mixture on the other manual - the swell, presumably - and if the great is up to 2ft at present and if that 2ft is up to the mark, as it were, and just right in terms of brightness. Your mixture could then be a nice Sesquialtera (12.17) which would have a nice reedy quality to it, but would almost certainly stay in tune better than any reed stop. If not, perhaps you need a nice new 2ft (principal tone) and a new Clarinet. But, back to where we started, you need to know first of all whether you should be preserving the organ because of its provenance etc, and your organ builder and diocesan organs advisor should be able to assist.

My Rector has been in touch to say remind me that Feb 6th marks exactly the 70th anniversary of the Accession of HM The Queen. Any thoughts on appropriate organ music? There are lots, I suppose! I'm thinking of swatting up the Rinck Variations which are pretty accessible. The recent RCO Sunday 6th March marks the 2nd Society of Women Organists' Woman Composer Sunday. Do people have favourite pieces in mind for this? I have several favourites: Florence Price: Adoration; Emma Louise Ashford's Fanfare in G minor - this is quite exciting. It's available on IMSLP, if I remember correctly, as a manuals only piece, but I bought my three stave arrangement (by Richard Williams) on Sheet Music Plus and printed it off. It's quite Lemmens-y! I shall also find some June Nixon and Rosalie Bonighton, and I need to finish learning Judith Weir's Tree of Peace. It's a shame that Anna Lapwood's compilation volume of female composers' organ music isn't published yet. I am sure that will be good.

Just following on from the above, I am just listening to a splendid (2019) recording of the Benedicite from York with Robert Sharpe and Ben Morris. I have also downloaded Remember for Good which I don't know but saw a rave tweet about yesterday. What are fellow organists playing by way of tribute? I will admit that I don't play very much FJ, but the two hymn preludes on Ireland's Love unknown and on his own East Acklam, are within my scope but neither is very seasonal just now, though East Acklam was originally written for the words God that madest earth and heaven rather than For the fruits so it could be suitable for Evensong. I am going to go for the Chorale from Toccata, Chorale and Fugue and the Improvisation on a chant by John Goss which has been recently published to mark FJ's 104th birthday.

Thank you so much for all of that, Paul - much appreciated.

In my 1965-1970 chorister days, FJ's Benedicite and his Communion in G were very popular. The Benedicite has a very exciting organ part with lots of 'fun for choristers' word-painting. The Communion is notable for the Tuba intro to the Sanctus!

Hello everyone - does anyone happen to know a bit about this piece and why it has this title? Does it not 'belong' in some way... to some thing? Would it have been an organ Nöel based on a Nöel that would have been unknown to the listener in Daquin's day? I would like to play it on Sunday but feel a word of explanation would be helpful to the congregation. Many thanks, in anticipation.

Well, indeed! wasn't there some sort of campaign to get him that? Or perhaps that was FJ. But, there again, GTB was not just at the Temple but there was the whole Birmingham Town Hall thing, so his profile was bigger than some people's... and didn't he teach at the RCM? But it is still a long way from an MBE to a knighthood. I do accept that organists who HAVE been knighted did go on to greater things in some cases.