Peter Allison

Gareth, I do't think you are being unreasonable at all as one of those people who does quite a bit of recording recitals, I would always ask the recitalist, and for whatever reason, I would respect that. Just to be sure, I would ask a couple of weeks ahead, and then on the day. If you ask and they say yes, well the recording goes to myself only, and a copy sent to the recitalist. Last week was a prime example, Mr Philip Rushforth at Southwell Minster, no one will ever hear the fine performance of the whitlock sonata apart from him and I. you never know, in 30 years time, some one will say, oooo, can you remember that whitlock recital a long time ago? and you say "yes", and you have a bit of history on your PC Regards Peter I'm not very happy about this. Not only was I not asked, but I am slightly put off by the idea that a regular attendee seems to be in the habit of recording my organ concerts. I know that it's going to be off-putting for me in the future knowing that any tiny slip will be recorded, and I shall be aware of this at each of the monthly recitals and will find it somewhat off-putting. Am I being unreasonable?

I will let you off Vox, actually I cannot stand Messian, do'n know why, well yes I do, but the Bach partita "ach, was soll ich sunder machen bwv770 and the Lindberg Sonata in G minor were quite good and suited the organ. And As Philip said, " he was always on the lookout for new and "different" repertoire but a piece of Swedish, French and German played on an English Organ, came over very well to the good sized audience, who appreciated it regards Peter

Another one from me: did a 120 mile round trip to hear the Whitlock C minor Sonata (if I could play it, I would have had an early night, but I can't, so did't ) played by Philip Rushforth at Southwell Minster, along with a piece by Parry, Bach, Messiaen and Lindberg. All pieces played with masterly, and with conviction. The Whitlock is one of my favourite pieces, especialy the final movement. Altogether a wonderful recital ,,,,and a pint in the Saracens after regards Peter

Must mention tonights excelent recital at Holy Trinity, Hull, it was given by Matthew Martin, Ass at Westminster Cathedral, It was brilliant, and how he made the old girl sing, thats the organ, not Cynics wife, who I think was page turner for the evening. Mrs Cynic has done a marvelous job with the recitals at HT, and they are very well recieved by those who go. It was also nice to meet a fellow board member there who remembers the organ in it hay day, not long after it was built Peter

The first LP I bought was for my dad one xmas, it was Charles Benbow playing Bach at the german church in Paris the 5th Sonata (529) is wonderful, its been well used over the years. The other was a Nicolas Kynyston recording of, I think, Widor 8 and the Duccase Pastorale from Koln ???I am waiting patiently for it to be de-clicked etc. The 3rd one is Graham Barbers Whitlock Sonata (1st recording I think) at Coventry Regards Peter

Thats why my recording of the same piece, same organ and the same organist, sounds so right, although I did it a few years ago, what say you Pierre Regards Peter

I just want to say that those who live in or near Leeds, missed what I thought was the best played Dupre recital I have heard for quite a number of years. It was a young lady by the name of ELLI GLAROU who has been one of the organists at St. Bartholomews, Armley. She was born and raised in Greece, and has been doing her MMus, and was awarded a scholarship to further her studies and do her PhD in organ performance practice. As it was a sunday afternoon (4.00pm start) I am sure most people were relaxing before another service. Only a handful of people were there to hear amongst other things, the choral & fugue Op 57, miserere Mei, berceuse, cortege et litanie and the final. She goes back to Corfu later this month, which is good for them, but it means we will loose a very talented female organist. well thats my bit of promotion over with Peter

A few years ago (1988) I was on 3 weeks holidays in Germany, staying with family friends, after buying a Passau Dom cd on the mottete label. I was miffed that the sleeve was not nearly as good as the LP I had seen. My german friend rang mottete, and they issued me within 2 days a free LP sleeve (minus the LP of course) and also a catalogue of their current releases. I noticed that their was a recording of Organ and Saxaphone, but, as always, never gave it a thought until now. Does anyone know which it is, and could I still get a copy. Regards Peter

oooop's you are right Paul. Thats why David said to be ready early Peter

Malcolm Riley of the Whitlock Trust, is giving a recital at Bridlington Priory on sat. 31/05 to include the Plymouth Suite. I believe its at 7.00pm Peter

I have used crossed figure eights just inside the choir at Durham, and mounted 12 ft up, very good stereo seperation and not overpowered when full organ is unleashed. But it was a pair of AKG 414 uls, hired for a special occasion .What about a Rhode NT4. Looking at the site that you provided the link to, there was a wealth of stereo microphones and at all prices, will just have to sell more meat and forgo a couple of trips to Paris, and I might treat myself regards Peter

Adrian, have you thought about a pair of PZM's, I know they are not in the same bracket as more esoteric types, but I am sure if you ask Cynic, he will tell you what the results can be like, and he has the "profesional" Reviews to back them up. I have been surprised at the quality, for example a few years ago I recorded S.G. Lindley at Durham Cathedral, using a mk1 calrec soundfield, the same as Priory and M. Monkman use to good effect, and my friend had a pair of old, trusted and well used Tandy PZM's, he has recorded almost everywhere so has the experience, and he thought as I did that the soundfield would wipe the floor Wrong, the PZM's sounded just as good , so much so, that when I listen to that durham recording, I always listen to his version. Regards Peter

I have never had a problem with any hiss, (yet.) I use the ZOOM H2 and use the medium setting for the input level and recording level set at 95. I expermented with the higher 96.000khz 24 bit sampling, but the recording time was reduced to 70 minutes as compared to the 3 hours at 44.1 at a recital at hessle (Hull) last week, and after editing/normalizing in Soundforge 8 it saved the edits at the default setting of 44.1, but it did drop the sound level a bit. Quality wise, there was a marked difference listening through headphones. So will try it out on the nice small willis at liverpool on monday ( with permision of course) Check THIS out Regards Peter

with the permission of the organist I recently recorded in Liverpool Met, and after "a bit of fiddling" came out with a marvelous recording, even tho the Met is difficult to record in. I also tried the 96.000khz setting at Hessle Parish Church (again With permision) and it was stunning to say the least, better than my old Sony dat and stereo mic from yesteryear regards Peter

yes Tony, thats the one. I was there a few times with an organist called Peter Locke, I remember him playing a big Reger piece, and as the building was all hard surfaces, it worked so well regards Peter

my favourite bit of mendelssohn, first heard it when a Polish friend played at Liverpool Met about 18 years ago, luckily I recorded the concert so I can still "dip" into it now and again, only heard it once since then :angry: regards Peter

Paul, have you or anyone else come across a 2 man & ped H & H?? in a church in Fenham, Newcastle. I went there with a friend quite a few years ago, and recorded ( now lost :angry: ) it had a terraced cosole, and boy, what a sound from a small organ regards Peter

Talking about money ,,,,or the lack of it, I must tell on a totaly unrelated incident. A lady came to my shop this morning and asked for 2 pork sausages, and changed her mind and said can I have 3, to which I replied, are you having company I know its nothing to do with organs, but, just goes to show if there was ever an organ in Goole, it would stand no chance whatsoever of getting any public money , well not from the suporters of Goole Market regards Peter ( the poor butcher)

I heard and met her at St. Sulpice on one of my jaunts to Paris, bought one of her cd's that she had conveniently placed on a little table next to a bust of Widor Regards Peter

Swedish organist Gunnar Idemstam. He studied with Marie-Claire Alain in France and won the improvisation competition in Chartres. Now he works primarily in the fields of folk and rock music. He has composed (and recorded for BIS on the big Klais in Iceland) a series of virtuosic pieces called "Cathedral Music" which combine a variety of stylistic elements of the French Symphonic repertoire with a lot of very specific rock influences. The idea sounds tacky, but Idemstam does it SO well, (balance, form, everything just works!). He has made another CD of improvisations with a folk musician which is also brilliant. When he performs with the folk musicians he sells out churches in Sweden, (I have a colleague who says they get treated like rock stars). Surely when such things are done really really well, this is a way to 'popularise' the organ legitimately. www.idenstam.org (you can listen to bits of his recordings under 'music', including excerpts from Cathedral Music and Latar, the folk music CD). Happy listening! Now there is a blast from the past, many years ago I decided to go to the Festival hall 5.55 recital, ( after hitching from Weatheby for 4 days holiday) did not know who was playing or anything else, but what i saw was brilliant, a young Gunnar Idemstam playing amongst other things, the Reubke and G.T.B.'s paganini pedal variations, it was really well played, good registration, note perfect, I think, oh, and all from memory too. I still have the programme. Regards Peter

I see it another way, at least he had the guts to have it put on U Tube knowing it would come in for a lot of flak, and WHAT IF Vierne or Widor was around today, they would probably applaud the poor man And the American public probably like that sort of thing, and it would probably would get plenty of air time on Classic FM regards Peter

Speaking of Gillian Weir, I recieved a text from my father yesterday afternoon saying he was going to evensong at Durham Cathedral and DGW was playing, poor, poor him, he cannot stand Messian, and guess what she was playing regards Peter

and talking about full Bach sets,,, anyone come across what seemed like a newish recording by Andre Isoir "Les 4 Toccatas & Fugues on cal 3318 recorded at St-Cyprien-en-Perigord Regards Peter

I have recieved a short e-mail from Mr. Ian Tracey, which I am sure he would not mind sharing, which goes: Dear Peter, Many thanks for that -I was havign to fight quite a bit with things going off and notes not playing, and then the cipher.... but, as always, the old lady still sounded good! All contributions gratefully received. All the very best and thanks again, so now that Liverpool is the city of the moment (culture), maybe some kind, thoughtful and very rich donor may come forward and spend a bit, to gain a lot on what I have been told by others, is among the largest and best of the "civic hall" instruments that we as a nation have (and I do not even live there) Is this what the industrialists of yesteryear used to do ? I heard that a few years ago, Carlo Curley was taking a foreign chap round Newcastle city hall organ with a view to puchasing said instrument, wether that is true or not, I do not know

I was also impressed with Daniel Bishops playing, and give it a few years he will certainly be "up" there for a good top position. I have just listened to the riverdance piece that Tim Noon played at the met, and it really is good, I have never seen or heard any music from riverdance, and there I was thinking it was in the vein of something Mr Rick Wakeman might have wrote ( so much for having a narrow view on all things musical) If there is not a great deal of hope for the organ at St. Georges hall,, then there must be no hope at all for the nice Harrison at Newcastle City Hall then regards Peter