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msw

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Everything posted by msw

  1. I most recently had to do this one on Remembrance Sunday, with a local amateur concert band that appears to have "insinuated" itself into the main service on that day each year - never mind that it makes our job as Organists more difficult... They position themselves in the North West corner of the Church, with absolutely no sightlines possible between them and the Chancel or them and the Main Organ console. Mindful of this, I provided their conductor with beat patterns for each hymn to ensure clean starts and stops of verses, and advised that all playovers would be given on the organ. (Whatever tempo we established, they would have to follow.) Despite telling their conductor that I would play "Lord for the years" in 2 rather than in 4, which makes it deadly dull and difficult for singers to breathe properly (in my humble opinion), I found them coming adrift from me barely a line into the first verse - obviously they were doing it in 4!!! Next year I'm asserting some authority: I'm happy to let them continue playing in that service in future, as it added an appropriate touch of grandeur to the occasion - but they'll be positioned where we say, and they'll be conducted by me with my Assistant at the organ throughout, like it or lump it... After all, amateur concert bands are not the most experienced accompanists of congregational singing!
  2. I've used that Willcocks many times and find it surpasses even the best efforts in the various hymnals. However, I often play a bare fifth to end each refrain except the last, when I'll succumb to "TdP" weakness. Haven't touched the Willcocks "Lo he comes" in years ... at Bath, we always used a last verse arrangement by Dudley Holroyd (Peter King's immediate predecessor) which required transposing the tune into A major so that the trebles could thrill with a long top A near the end. (And thrill they did - small wonder they looked forward to it every year, Boys and Girls alike!) Since hearing and playing that descant, I've used no other.
  3. Hopefully it won't be played at Christmas, as it's an Advent piece! (Sorry, couldn't resist! It's a sad sign of our times that even in Church we have to start Christmas at about the same time as the decorations go up elsewhere...) I shall be playing it on the 14th. Usually give it at least one outing per year, and have done since getting hold of it four years ago - in the Carter Album. (Andrew Carter told me that he's been on at OUP for ages to bring it out separately, but they have no plans to do so.)
  4. About six years ago I encountered a lady vicar at a small parish church in rural Yorkshire. The Choir of Selby Abbey were singing Evensong at the church (having done so every year by invitation) but this was the first such occasion during her time as incumbent. She was clearly not familiar with choral services and a few things caught her by surprise... She attempted to join in with the canticles - which, being Stanford in B flat, brought her to grief with the repeated phrases in the Magnificat ("of his, of his handmaiden") and the fact the only the Men sing the Nunc. Then, after the collects she announced the next hymn! Much tugging of sleeves and whisperings of "what about the anthem?" ensued. So the Choir got to sing the anthem, whilst she had another look at her BCP and realised her mistake... It's not just the congregation who need educating sometimes! To be fair, any worshipper (or member of the clergy) who has only ever known the ways of a small-scale parish church, with very little musical tradition left, is bound to be taken aback by a cathedral Evensong in which the Choir does the lion's share of the singing.
  5. I think the best thing would be to draw up a list of schools, then call them up and ask for the name of the Music Co-ordinator / Head of Music / Director of Music. It shouldn't take more than 30 seconds in each case, and most secretaries are happy to pass on such information if you tell them you want to personalise a letter or message instead of putting "Dear Sir or Madam..." Then you can write to each Music Co-ordinator, drawing their attention to the film and your planned event. The important thing is to make life as easy for them as possible - stress that you will be doing all the donkey work, and that the most s/he will need to do is let the children know about it. Supply posters for the school to put up... or better still, offer to come into the school and present the film at a mutually convenient time. It is probably wise to test the water first, by contacting only four or five local schools to begin with.
  6. My friend, Sandy MacKenzie (properly known as Alexander MacKenzie of Ord) has recently brought out a book that is quite interesting in light of this discussion: A. C. N. Mackenzie of Ord: The Temperament of Keyboard Music: Its Character; its Musicality; and its History. ISBN 978-0-9556030-0-6. Price: £75; available from bookshops or direct from the author at 24 Kingsdown Parade, Bristol, BS6 5UF If the cost seems steep, it's because the book comes with two CDs included, one of which features an experiment by the author, conducted in a church with suitably willing clergy, organist and organ tuner. Certain ranks of the instrument were tuned using one of Sandy's own temperaments, and a selection of music from Frescobaldi to Messiaen (yes, Messiaen!) recorded in it. The results are truly intriguing...... Critics seem to be divided by the book, which is conceived as a single narrative designed to sweep you along towards a single conclusion - that tuning and playing in equal temperament is rather like taking a black & white photo when you have a full colour digital camera at your disposal. It's quite a compelling argument, although I can see why people would take issue with it.
  7. Our Chancel organ at Kendal is a Bevington (circa 1880) with the following: Great Open Diapason 8' Claribel Flute 8' (TC) Dulciana 8' (TC) Stopped Bass 8' (12 notes) Principal 4' Mixture 12.15 Swell (lever pedal) Bell Gamba 8' Lieblich Gedackt 8' Harmonic Flute 4' Cornopean 8' Pedal Bourdon 16' Swell to Great Swell to Pedal Great to Pedal In accompanying the Boys and Men, plus various choral concerts, it has to cover a fair amount of choral repertoire. It is also used to play the Middle Voluntary at Evensong. My Assistant does a pretty good job of coaxing it: he's even managed a convincing rendering of Stanford in B flat using Adrian Lucas's arrangement of the orchestral version. It would be nice to have a 2' or Oboe on the Swell, though I suspect that would require getting rid of the Gamba or Cornopean (or both!) to make enough room. It would also be nice, on this or the organ described in the first post on this board, to have a Swell Sub-Octave coupler. It doesn't work for every instrument, but there are numerous places (e.g. the Klais at Bath, the Willis at Truro or the new Kuhn at Jesus Cambridge) where Swell Oboe with Sub-Octave creates a wonderful "Full Swell" effect that doesn't completely kill off any choir attempting to sing along downstairs...
  8. msw

    Franck

    Ditto Widor, in his later symphonies - by all accounts, he found the "Gothique" quite a challenge to play at St Sulpice. I'm sure I read somewhere that he ended up having to work out "pedalling" for the stop controls as well as for the actual pedal part! Of course, with a sequencer or stepper, the problems posed by registration are far less problematic.
  9. msw

    Franck

    Yes, I have a copy of it - a Fugue in four voices on a theme of Massenet, written by Debussy for one of his Conservatoire exams. It's published by Doblinger, who seem to be bringing out quite a lot of rare and early works by "great" composers. Whether or not this is a worthwhile exercise is a matter for debate, and I suspect that those arguing against the venture would probably win - it's not a great piece, not even recognisable as Debussy in the way that his mature works are. In fact, if you take a look at the preface (complete with a photocopied page of the original ms) you'll discover that it was originally written in open score with C clefs for the upper three voices, and has little analytical notes (subject, countersubject etc.) left by both Debussy and his professor. You could just as easily play it with a string quartet or on the piano... It might make for a novel bit of programming in a recital, or serve incognito as a voluntary in church, but there's nothing commendable that could be said about it.
  10. It was indeed a corker, and attracted quite a bit of interest up in these parts - John Robinson having made quite a mark at Carlisle and having been missed sorely upon his departure for Canterbury. It's probably been said elsewhere, but the only thing that put me off were the Psalms. I actually began to feel sea-sick with all the sudden pauses on words. David Flood probably has his reasons for doing it that way, but as I always tell my choristers - "would you really do that if you were simply saying the words out loud?"
  11. Join the club... At one of my old places, the congregational singing of responses and psalms at Choral Matins was a perpetual thorn in the DoM's side. He found it frustrating, as did everyone in the Choir, that it was necessary to do the boring Ferial Responses every week and have to lead the psalm as if it were a hymn, no matter how many subtleties had been perfected at Friday practice. Occasionally he got his way - set Responses by Rose, Leighton, Shephard et al for Festival services, or an unaccompanied Psalm 121 to Walford Davies, or a live radio broadcast in which the Choir could quite rightly "take possession" of the psalm. Of course, whenever he did, there were grumbles! (Incredibly, those doing the grumbling were in a minority, but had enough clout - well-lined pockets, perhaps? - that they were heard by the powers-that-be. Never mind that the service was, and still is, "Choral" Matins!) Tomorrow I shall find out if it's a similar thing in my new place: I'm doing the Haydn "Little Organ Mass," meaning that the Congregation and Voluntary Choir won't be able to do all their usual bits. The Boys are singing it wonderfully well, and I'm sure they'll do me proud, but I won't be surprised if there's some grumbling............
  12. My fiancee (a Primary School Teacher) had some serious doubts about it when she saw it with me the other day. We both reckon that it's a great idea in theory, and quite well executed, not least with Keith Hearnshaw's superb playing and choice of musical extracts. Where it falls down, oddly enough, is in the use of a human character as the protagonist representing the target audience - my fiancee thinks it would have been better to use a talking animal or some such interesting character to better capture the audience's attention and encourage them to engage with the film even more. We also agree with people who think that a more pro-active approach would help the film to achieve its ultimate goal. At the moment, it seems as though it's just been put out there in hopes of "flagging down" passers-by. Alas, school teachers are under too much pressure under this present government to be able to do any more than look at the film and say "very nice." It needs organists, RCO reps (et al) to take things into schools and offer workshops (etc.) so that teachers don't need to add to their already-heavy workload.
  13. These stories are all too distressing, and all too familiar! Robert Leach and Barry Williams both have excellent things to say in their book - in particular, they point out (quite rightly) that an organist can decline to play something if it is beyond his/her ability, or would have to devote huge amounts of practice time to it at the expense of whatever else might need preparing for Sunday services. It's also worth noting what Robert and Barry say about appointed organists - specifically, that no-one has the right to tell you that you cannot play for a service - and about playing CDs as part of weddings - "if you're going to do that, why not suggest having photos instead of flowers, or playing a video in an empty church rather than having a service at all?" - or words to that effect. Just to add my own 2p worth to the opening discussion: I was on about £120 for weddings and £80 for funerals in my previous appointment; now I'm on £65 for either type of service, doubled if a video is taken. I actually don't mind this so much: it makes calculating invoices a lot easier if you're only working with one figure... Obviously I'll set my own rates if I'm playing elsewhere, not including weddings / funerals for family & friends for which I will not charge. One thing I do find intriguing is that some churches intend their organists to be self-employed when it comes to special service fees, even though he/she is an employee in all other respects. A close friend of mine reported just that experience in his last job, i.e. he was taxed at source for his regular income from the Church, but had to pay his own tax for weddings and funerals. I've not had that experience myself, although my present Vicar and PCC allowed me to choose between having extra fees added to my gross pay for tax to be deducted from the whole, or having them paid separately by cheque for me to declare myself. (I chose the former option, as I'm used to having it that way...) I suspect that in light of the recent court case, such a situation would appear ludicrous - to be honest, I think it does anyway! Nevertheless it would be interested to know what other people have experienced in this regard.
  14. Oop ere in Kendal, we have two congregational settings in rotation with each other at the moment: Thorne (generally on even numbered Sundays) and our own "Holy Trinity Settings," cobbled together from one of those RSCM Music for Common Worship collections. (Kyrie from Healey Willan "Missa Sancta Maria Magdalenae," Gloria by John Barnard, Sanctus & Benedictus by Martin How, Agnus Dei by Katherine Dienes - all different, but all hanging together quite harmoniously!) I discovered a setting by John Harper about ten years ago - "Mass for All Seasons," which is in unison and can be accompanied by piano, organ, electronic organ, guitar ... or nothing at all, depending upon what's available. Melodic lines designed to be singable with or without a choir to lead them. Published by RSCM (well, who else?) and probably worth a look if you're nursing a choir that's down in numbers... Another useful one is Richard Shephard's "Wiltshire Service," although the congregational part doesn't always match the soprano of the choir part, thereby leading to the odd complaint "we can't sing that 'igh, tha' knows!"
  15. msw

    Franck

    Hear, hear - I find that, whilst the piece seems to stand up to being coloured by English or German organs, the one thing I can't stand is hearing sharp mixtures screaming away in the opening section. Interestingly, on my Willis/Walker in Kendal the Great Fifteenth, when used with 16'8'4' chorus, has been known to deceive listeners into thinking there's a mixture on. The fiery Swell Reeds have a similar effect; the best crescendo effect is achieved by saving the Mixture until all three reeds are on. (I believe this a Willis phenomenon, as I've found similar traits on Willis organs all over the country.) I'm not sure how far Willis was influenced by Cavaille-Coll, but it seems to me that he got closest to replicating the French "sound-world" on his organs and I find it's usually possible to play the Franck Chorals with relative ease on just about any Willis. It's a similar story on the Hill at Bradford Cathedral, incidentally; the Swell Mixture there is so shrill that it's best left alone, and the Reeds are so bright that it sounds like there's a Mixture among them anyway. Andrew Teague reckons it's an excellent instrument for Franck; I would most definitely concur!
  16. ... and perhaps even a few that are as-yet undiscovered? The RSCM's most recent Sunday by Sunday included a recently unearthed psalm chant by RVW, which we're pairing off with Psalm 23. It's a gem!
  17. I know that Tim Byram-Wigfield and John Scott gave complete performances around the time the album was launched, but I doubt that those were recorded. When I was Organist at Clifton College, I encountered a CD by the Chapel Choir under the direction of my forebear-but-one, Jeremy Holland-Smith, who had recorded a couple of organ solos including Graham Fitkin's "Wedding" from the album: http://www.heraldav.co.uk/showdisk.php?diskNum=261 Sarah Baldock included the Bingham "St Bride" piece in a "you-can-play-this" article for OR not long ago. I wonder if she's recorded it, or intends to?
  18. Indeed, it's not only a French trait: http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=N14450
  19. I'm very fond of Truro, although that's technically "caseless!" Happy memories of Chester too; also on my list would be Durham, Selby and York (main case, at least). Also saw Carlisle in the flesh for the first time the other day; found it quite pleasing on the eye from both sides, but I'm not sure I liked the sound all that much. (The Positive doesn't blend terribly well with the rest of it - curiously enough, we have the same problem with the Main Organ at Kendal PC!) Beyond these shores, two of my absolute favourites are in the South East of France, on which I've given recitals in recent years: St Barnard, Romans-sur-Isere, and its near neighbour St Antoine l'Abbaye. Nigel Allcoat has performed and recorded many times on the latter instrument, which can be seen here: http://orgues.free.fr/stantoine/index.html whilst the former instrument can be seen and heard here: http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/view_...tm_medium=email
  20. What about when it's spelled "Kornett," as is the case on a number of German and neo-Classical British instruments like the GDB at Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall in York? Here's an interesting one: "Sylvestrina" (as in nos. 26 & 27 on http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=N01130 ) - should the emphasis be on the second syllable, or the third?
  21. As it happens, it was on the first organ CD I ever got hold of: "The Archbishop's Fanfare" (Priory) played by James Lancelot at Durham Cathedral. A wonderful marriage of music, musician and instrument, in my humble opinion.
  22. It will be getting an outing at Kendal PC this Sunday - at least, the Prelude will. (I do also play the Fugue, but there isn't much time between morning services, hardly anyone would be there to hear it after Matins, and we tend to favour quieter Final voluntaries at Evensong, so it will have to wait for another occasion.) I find that the two movements work just as well apart as they do together, which isn't really surprising as Vaughan Williams composed them separately - Fugue first, in fact! It does seem a pity that Vaughan Williams, being so steeped in church music despite not being a regular church-goer, never wrote all that much for the organ. The hymn tune preludes are incredibly useful, but hardly in the same league as the Prelude and Fugue. Perhaps he thought it would get more performances if he orchestrated it - hence we also have that version, which is also seldom heard nowadays!
  23. We're having "Down Ampney" at Evensong (hence the inclusion of the Graham Steed piece I mentioned earlier) but the most we can do in the morning is sing "Come my Way" during Communion - the Boys Brigade are in and they always have the same Salvationist stuff every time: "One more step," "Will your anchor hold" etc. However, we're also giving the first performance of a new hymn written for us by Paul Wigmore and John Barnard - "Music sounds the joy." The text links Music and Song to key moments in the Church year, so we could perform it at any time, but the VW anniversary seemed especially appropriate.
  24. Anyone else marking the 12th October with VW's music? Here at Kendal, my Assistant and I are playing appropriate voluntaries (Prelude in C minor, Rhosymedre, Hyfrydol, Howells' "Sarabande for the 12th day of any October" and Graham Steed's Prelude on "Down Ampney" approved by RVW himself) and we're having an all-VW Evensong, except for the Responses.
  25. Indeed, on entering the Cathedral one gets the impression of a large double-cased instrument, with console built into the North side, there's nothing at all behind the South case and no apparent way of getting up there either. It's a three-manual instrument, originally by Isnard (Dominican priest and celebrated organ builder at the time) by heavily rebuilt by Ducroquet in 1849, getting rid of most of the original pipework - but using Isnard's facade pipes as the facade for the mute South case!!! It's a fine instrument and fun to play - the flutes on the Swell are gargantuan (sounding more like English Open Diapasons at ground floor level) and there's a little Roussignol playable from three or four keys beside the manuals.
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