Peter Allison
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Posts posted by Peter Allison
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I had the opportunity to go and hear Dr. Roy Massey play our annual recital last night. The organ he played is a 3 manual by Forster & Andrews 1862, Connacher 1934 , H & H 1989. It was very well played and attended ( just over 100 people
)Roy played some pieces I have not heard before, Intro and passacaglia by C. S. Lang and a prelude and fuge by Frederick Gore Ouseley. It was good to hear a well thought out programe and played with such pannache. it reminded me of a cd I bought many years ago of Bolton Town Hall as he also played the Bach P & F in D minor and the Percy Grainger, Handel in the Strand. What a fine musician he is, especially making light of the difficult peddle work in the Bach.
The organ is certainly a little jewel in the Darlington area, and well worth hearing.
Peter
ps. just thought I would submit this to let everyone know that there is still a wealth of good organs and music north of yorkshire
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I am up for this too
a yorkshire area meet would be good for me personally , and I am sure mine and Paul Derretts friend in Doncaster ( David Rogers) could open the doors to Doncaster Parish Church, ooops, I mean the Minster.Peter
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I went to a very fine recital last night - James Lancelot playing the magnificent 1902 Willis at St. Georges in Gateshead. He played the fourth of the Op. 58 Sketches for Pedal Piano (the Db major one) and I was very much taken with it. Does any one know where I can obtain a copy of these gorgeous minatures? I gather that there is a C. H. Trevor edition which thins out the texture very sensibly for the organ to make things less opaque. Can anyone enlighten me?
All the best
Charles
You lucky person, what a combination, James and father Willis (1901 I think??? ,the organ, that is) I have been to St. Georges quite a number times, and James Lancelot, well, as I have said before on this forum, what a marvelous player/interpreter he is. I recently bought the first comercial CD release of that organ and it sounds as good today as it did when I recorded a friend playing it many years ago. J.B.L. is playing at Beverley Minster on 15th October, I wish I could go, but as a member of the Darlington organists ass, we have our annual recital given by Roy Massey on the same night, and I asked James if he would let me record at Beverley, but he asked me not to
Peter
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What about Mainz Dom, all six manuals and 5.1 surround sound
Peter
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I'm not a statistician, but simply add my name to a list as someone with strong connections with Hull where I joined the choir at Holy Trinity as a boy chorister in 1948.
I lived in Hull (Cottingham) for 1o years and have a butchers shop in Goole, I now live near Easingwold (York). Hull is a great place, with some marvelous churches and organs.
Peter
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We should be grateful for Peter Allison for bringing Alan Spedding's recital to our attention as so many posts relate to instruments and so few to the people that actually play them. I was a student at Hull and can confirm the consensus view that Alan Spedding is a conservative player and is not inclined to such vulgarities as reharmonising the last verse of hymns. However, he is a man whose playing is informed by consumate taste and musicianship.
One other player who deserves praise is John Scott Whiteley who, in 2006, will have served as 30 as Assistant Organist at York. It is hard to think of another organist whose talents range so widely. There is a post on another page complaining about the narrow range of repertoire of concert organists. JSW seems to have an almost unlimited repertoire. He is known to a wider TV audience for his Bach playing; his scholarship on Jongen earned him a PhD; he transcribes Cocherau improvisations and his playing of the French masters such as Franck and Durufle is renowned.
However, it is in his daily work at York Minster where his talent is best served. His sensitive and inspired psalm accompaniment, his strong hymn playing and gift for extemporisation as well as his work in directing the girl's choir as well his as his recital work surely mark him out as one of the most significant chuch musicians of our time.
Why thank you, I am one of many who loves "the King of Instuments" (to coin a phrase, )but do not play said said instument
I have the utmost respect for those of you who do, including my father, who at 74 and a bit, still plays for the local chapel and is on the local "crem" rota). whilst I do not play, I take a great deal of notice of what is played at recitals and how the pieces compare to other players interpretations.Peter
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Hi
Rick Wakeman used pipe organs on other recordings - "The Gospels" and "The New Gospels" are ones that I've got - and don't forget that Mander's built a "portable" pipe organ for him - I'm trying to find some details (Do Mander's have anything in their archives?)
I've used electronic keyboards with a small pipe organ at times - mainly to get solo reed sounds that the organ lacks.
Incidentally, for the record, "6 Wives" was produced in 1973. Nigel Ogden broadcast part of Jane Seymore on "The Organist Entertains" last Tuesday. The recording is available on CD (American import).
Every Blessing
Tony
Thanks for that Tony, I always miss Nigel Ogden
I have been a Rick Wakeman fan for many years now, and have most of his LP's and CD'. I have a "Yes " video showing Rick at the console of a Swiss organ of 3 manuals, but no clue as to where. I also have a dvd of him play "Jane Seymore live where he says the synth he is playing has sampled sounds of various pipe organs including Liverpool,mmmmmmmm, do't think so really, do you?. it sounds ok, but not the real thing, not even a bit close unfortunatelyPeter
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The only pipe organ / sythesizer that I have come across is a recording of maestro Rick Wakeman playing the organ of St.Giles cripplegate and using Bob Moogs famous mini moog on the track Jane Seymore from the 197??? album The Six Wifes of Henry VIII. I know not played at the same time tho. Maybe the seventh manual at the console at the Atlantic Convention Centre is used for a Fairlight CMI synth??
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I am truly grateful to heva for the Dutch to English translation, or as Pierre says, Dank U!
What Paul Derrett says about Priory Records re-issuing a lot lately is spot on, although you wont hear me complaining about them re-releasing the Michael Woodward archive. That being said, it would be nice to see more bona fide new organ recordings, preferably of instruments in the UK and not the usual suspects.
I suppose the money must be in short supply to re-record the organs that priory (and others) have already recorded. As for the Michael Woodward reissues, I remember wanting to put the lp covers of the second Liverpool recording and St Pauls recording (Dearnley)on the bedroom wall,( then I reaslised I was not 12 years old any more, lol ) they were excellent, made with all the information you could possibly want and with a really good sound quality. When these two are released I am hoping that my neighbors will forgive me when I play them with the sub woofer employed. Any one know where I can get a copy of the picture taken for John Scotts (at St. Pauls ) first Dupre cd cover. It was taken with (at the time) the worlds largest fish eye lense camera.
Peter
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The Beverley organ is a marvelous "piece of kit" and a real yorkshire treasure. When I first moved to Hull a few years ago, I thought I would miss the Durham Cathedral organ, and the Shakespear pub, but after a few visits to Beverley recitals I was won over (oh, and a few in the Monks Walk helped too
). Alan is a first rate player, and after all these years spent in the minster, still puts on good programme that pleases nearly everyone.Peter
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I have just been to the last concert in the Beverley Minster summer series, and what a marvelous one it was too. Alan Spedding really "pulled all the stops out" (well, nearly all) How nice it was to hear a well put together programe of english, french and german music and played to Alans usual high standard. May I take this opportunity to recomend James Lancelots recital at Beverley on 15th october, to include (so mr.Spedding told me) Viernes fifth.
And the reason for the "mistakes" during Francis Jacksons recital at York the other day, was because his shoe came of during the F Major pedal solo,( as told by Francis to my friend David Rogers from sunny Donny ( doncaster
) Peter
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I remember a few years ago (1980 something) , the organ in St. Peters parish church in Harrogate was"sort of" rebuilt by a Bert Prested of Bearpark, Durham ( ex Harrisons), as I remember, it was a 4 manual Walker, complete with a good Tuba. As the organ had nothing below 16ft on the pedal and the newish organist wanted 32's, Ernest Hart of London added a 32ft open wood and a 32ft reed. these mixed in very well with the existing pipework, and , considering digital electronics had only just really got of the ground. A problem that does seem to occur is space and price, I do not know know what a pair of 32ft pedal stops cost these days. And with most peoples hearing, and the frequency response of these digital registers, its hard to tell sometimes. I know you cannot get a speaker, no matter how big it is, to "move" the air the same way as a true wooden/ metal rank shifts it. I do not want to start a digital V pipe debate as its all been said in O>R and The Organ etc
Peter
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Well perhaps not cynical but certainly very pessimistic. Obviously nothing lasts forever and in a few billion years the Sun will die and Earth will be incinerated, if an asteroid has not got us first or we have not done for ourselves with global warming or a nuclear holocaust between some of the new nuclear states. In the meantime we might have mastered space travel like they do it in Startrek and decamped elsewhere. I offer the following observations and reasons for cautious optimism.
(1) Butchery or, if you like, the conviction that their way was the right way was the spirit of the Victorian and Edwardian age. It resulted in Titanic self confidence that all progress was beneficial and to be embraced. They applied this approach across the board and many churches received a far from sympathetic Victorian makeover. It does not seem to me to be the spirit of our age. There is much more emphasis on conservation and heritage, as evidenced by the widespread support for environmental pressure groups, and the growing political significance of "green" issues. (That is not "green" in the Ulster sense I hasten to add.)
(2) I do not doubt that everything that Richard has mentioned has been said at some time, but how much of it has been done (Talk is famously cheap) and how much of that has been done recently ? There will always be exceptions or counter examples to any generalisation but my impression is that there is rather less unsympathetic restoration being done now than say 30 years ago. Hereford, Malvern, the RAH, all the subject of recent work, did not as far as I am aware emerge from the experience in a form unrecognisable to those that previously knew them. In so far as there have been changes, like fixing the wind supply at the RAH, these have attracted overwhelming approval. Conservation cannot mean changing nothing ! Parts wear out, leather perishes, the electronic mechanisms of a past age may be irreparable (the parts being unavailable) or vastly more expensive to repair than to replace with the modern equivalent. Restoration of an organ which has to be used and has to work cannot be approached in exactly the same way as the restoration of some Roman or Greek artifact which will be displayed in a hermetically sealed controlled environment and only touched by the gloved hands of experts.
(3) Money is no longer as available as it once was. Many churches benefitted from the munificence of wealthy members of the congegation both whilst alive and posthumously. I would be astounded if this source produced the same income ,adjusted for inflation over the years, as it once did. Likewise many civic organs were donated as an expression of civic pride. The Mulholland organ in the Ulster Hall in Belfast is one such. In so far as there are still captains of industry who actually own, as distinct from administer for a (very handsome)salary the assets of the nation's economy very few would be likely to put as their top priority funding a new civic organ. And why should they when so many existing ones have been so criminally allowed to run to rack and ruin.
(4) The culture of deference, still with us at the start of the 60's is now , dead and gone beyond rescussitation. This is not entirely a good thing but it does mean that the belief of a consultant that s/he is God is most unlikely to be shared by all around and that those who disagree with proposals will be far less reticent about voicing their objections than would once have been the case. This is aided by
(5) the modern phenomen of the net and the world wide web which makes sites like this possible. Today any one who learns of a proposal to replace the organ in Salisbury with a large synthesizer, two guitars and a drum kit can alert fellow organ enthusiasts all over the globe within a matter of hours. Those so alerted can make use of the same technology to voice their displeasure to the relevant authorities. Even 12 years ago this would simply not have been feasible. (I am aware you can spread news remarkably quickly by signal beacon but only news which the recipients have been warned in advance to expect, eg the Armada has been sighted off the South Coast).
Therefore, like MM, I am optimistic but that does not mean that vigilance is not required, nor does it mean that there will not continue to be instances of butchery. I am quite sure there will. However, for my money the more worrying threat to the organ (certainly in Church) stems from those clergy whose preferred form of worship involves "music" much more convincingly (and also far more cheaply) performed on some other instrumental combination, not merely as an adjunct to the more traditional forms, but as a complete replacement for them. Organs are expensive to buy, and cost money to maintain. Whereas if you get rid of the organ the space will make a nice store cupboard for the hoover, and the drum kit which is actually the property of Fred the drummer, who thus has to bear all the capital costs of acquisition and the running expenses such as insurance. The other advantage of a drum kit is that when you find the roof over it is leaking you can fairly quickly move it somewhere else out of harm's way. Only an electronic or a chamber organ share this advantage.
Brian Childs
"BUTCHERY?? , I am a qualified butcher, oooops, you mean a butcher of organs
, my mistakePeter
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Would that be the version as played by Pierre Pincemaille, Titulaire at S. Denis? If so, I think that it is a stunning series - the organs sound excellent and his playing is almost always brilliant.
Yes, it is rather good is't it, shame that Pincemailles recordings of toccata's at St. Denis does not sound as good, the microphone(s) are much to close. Got to start saving for a Soundfield mic so I can "have a go"
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There is a recording of the sonata as played by John Scott, on the Hyperion label. However, the Gower recording is pretty good, I think.
Yes pcnd, I have that one, I think I am a bit of an anorak when it comes to that bit of music, its probably one of my favourite pieces, and I have a few recordings of it including a live recording of John Scott playing it at Southwell minster a few years ago and Amphion released Roger Fisher playing it at Lincoln, Martin Monkman recorded it in the nave but used a section that my friend, David Rogers recorded in the choir
Peter
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No problem!
It has to be said that we do get over-charged for our recorded music in the UK. In the US, things are a lot cheaper. In fact, even in France, the prices are less.
Ah well, as you say, better to be safe than sorry.
I found on one of my Parisian trips that the boxed set of Widor Symphonies (complete) played on 10 C - C organs, was nearly £10 cheaper that the UK. I have been stung once or twice on paying uk taxes on some US product though
Peter
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PS,
does anyone know what might be the definative Whitlock Sonata recording, I thought it might be the Robert Gower one recorded at Selby Abbey on the Abbacus label, or Graham Barbers Coventry one on LP
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I am glad that you are only joking - it is comparatively easy to trace assigned IP addresses - a pseudonym would be about as much use as a chocolate chastity belt.
Speaking as one who has played the organ on a few commercially-produced recordings, I would be distinctly annoyed if some misguided person were to copy it (using digital or analogue means) and subsequently post copies on the 'net.
Personally, I find it much easier to listen to any recording if I know that it was produced legally.
Incidentally, would that be Bournemouth to Boscombe piers? - or do you mean 'peer'....
Yes, I was only joking, I still go and buy the cd's of my choice over the counter at Bank's in York, ( even at their prices
) even though I can get "copies of most of them, but they are not the same as owning the "real thing" so to speak Its the same with pc software, I still went and bought the full Publisher 2003 office suite, I would certainly not like the copyright people breaking my door down at 3.00 in the morning. My spelling is not as good as it used to be I am afraid -
Maybe we should all copy our Old recordings, and swap them with eachother using psysudo names so we can't get caught out, ONLY JOKING, got that from an 18 yearold who does a lot of pier to pier file sharing and has hundreds of low quality mp3's
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I do not buy as many cd's as I used to do, but this last few months I have had my ears opened, A very good friend of mine Mr David Rogers of Doncaster ( a friend of Paul Derretts also I believe) Has an Unbelievable collection of old spool tapes recorded by many organists over the years 1950something to the early 70's on hundreds of organs from all over europe as well as here (festival hall included ) some of these recordings are from the bbc and will never see the lazer of a cd player. Amphion could have a field day. What a joy to here the likes of a very young Ralph Downs, Francis Jackson, Kynyston, et all playing music on organs, some of which disapeared years ago. A recording I the other night was Conrad Eden playing on the 1935 H & H at Durham, recorded privately
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Did any one else hear Kevin Bowyer's stunning recital at Durham Cathedral this evening? Those who missed it - bad luck!! A superb programme on a fabulous organ. Amongst other treats such as St. Francis on the Waves (Liszt arr. Reger), and Iain Farrington's new suite "Fiesta", were two preludes for pedal piano by Alkan. These were superb and for those that are interested they are featured on Kevin's new Alkan disc due out shortly.
The more miscievous side of me also delighted in Giles Swayne's "Mr. Bach's Bottle Bank" - a gigue fugue on "10 Green Bottles"...... I'm not joking.
As this is a strand about interesting recitals I thought I'd also plug the Durham Cathedral Organ Recital Series that takes place every summer. The organ (1877 Willis and 1905/1935/1970 Harrison and Harrison of 98 stops) and the building are both glorious and need no introduction. James Lancelot, Keith Wright and the resident cathedral organ scholar always provide great programmes as do their guests who have recently included John Kitchen, David Goode, Roger Sayer and James Vivian all of whom have dug around and found some really interesting music to play.
The series has now ended for 2005 but if you want to support them in 2006 please keep viewing www.duresme.org.uk which is Richard Hird's website and always includes an up to date list of all the recitals in the North East, which boasts many fine romantic organs which can all be heard reasonably regularly in concert.
I must admit at not having gone to any of this years recitals, working till 6.30 and having a 60 mile journey did prohibit me
but when living in Durham ( I was born there) I used to go all the time, and I still think the H & H organ is one of the finest in the land ( I may be a bit biased ). I remember James Lancelot and a friend from the local organist association ( Andrew Christer) and I , locked in at 10.00pm and James playing for us, I will never forget the 32ft open wood at the end of Master Tallis's Testament, it just "shimmered" marvelous stuff, and I just happened to have a DAT recorder and a pair of AKG microphonedsw with me , I have just edited the tape and it brings back happy memories Peter
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Organists from other countries that I personally have come across over the years do like the fine romantic english organ literature, the Polish organist who I helped get recitals for in this country, on hearing the Whitlock Sonata ( as recorded in Selby Abbey a few years ago) , went and bought the music and practiced it on the organ of the Oliva Cathedral (I often wonder how it came across there) and played it at Durham Cathedral. I bought him a Francis Jacson Sonata after, and he plays it when doing recitals in Poland and Germany. He thinks English music is wonderful. now something a bit different,, Carlo Curley at Hull City Hall very soon, are the people of "ULL" ready for him??
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well, as a "non playing" organ enthusiast of a few years, I can only say, what ever the music and whatever the organ, if it sounds right and we enjoy it, so be it. I have recorded a polish recitalist in Durham, Liverpool met, Leeds T.H. manchester cathedral and others, playing similar programes at each, he played pieces that no english organist would consider playing on these organs, as it "would not be right" eg: Mass For The Parishes _ on the Hull City Hall organ and St. Oswalds, Durham (peter collins 1988) they both sounded right, well, to me they did. listning to them a few years on, they sound ok.A friend of mine who shall remain nameless, suffice to say he is a regular recording "artist" and organist and choirmaster of one of our main cathedrals, when asked what he thought of a famous german organ in the yorkshire (???) "its ok for german stuff, but not much else. Mmmmm makes you think
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There are more recordings due out of the Liverpool Met. !!
regarding Liverpool anglican, I have found that it seems that only "the staff" seem to play this instrument, I have asked on behalf of 2 organists if they could play for an hour and they said no, even though one of the organists was taking his choir there, and had to have one of the organ scholars play for him. . As regards "Paddies Wigwam" , they are a lot more open, I recorded there quite while ago and they were most helpful. I think that recording companies have a certain few "artists" and its they that play the organs to be recorded eg, Graham Barber, Jane Watts etc for Priory,,,, I may be totally wrong on this though
Peter
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I have the utmost respect for those of you who do, including my father, who at 74 and a bit, still plays for the local chapel and is on the local "crem" rota). whilst I do not play, I take a great deal of notice of what is played at recitals and how the pieces compare to other players interpretations.
). Alan is a first rate player, and after all these years spent in the minster, still puts on good programme that pleases nearly everyone.
) 
Fugue Chorale And Epilogue
in The Organ
Posted
I will ask my good "buddy" D. Rogers he will have it, have you any idea when it was recorded and what label ?? E-mail me with the details
cheers
Peter