Peter Allison
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Posts posted by Peter Allison
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the mention of Mirabilis, got me thinking, am sure I have one that I ripped to the SSD to listen too.... and sure enough, there it was , Mr Fletcher at Warwick 🙂
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As way of a taster, here is a You Tube Video of one of the pieces to be found on the disc.
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Further to the words of Darius, I just want to say it was a pleasure doing it. It was dedicated to my late father, who was just your normal "Hymns and Psalms" village organist of many years, from the 1950's, and incl a 26 year stint on the rota of Durham Crematorium.
The recording is so "life like", possibly due to the very high quality recording chain in both DSD and PCM Hi Res SACD (read that as very expensive), and was edited and mastered on what I call "proper Hi Fi Speakers", again costing 1000s, and by an organist/recording engineer, who understands that recording an organ is unlike any other instrument.
The recording was done at the beginning of September last year, amid the Covid Pandemic, and will be the last recording of the present instrument, as the hall is o be closed for renovation and that will include a few organ upgrades, I believe
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Just found this on Google, so may not be correct... "Marcel Dupré, Helmut Walcha, Arthur Poister and most recently, Paul Jacobs.
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A late friend of mine, Mr David Rogers played the closing ode in the form of an improvisation, in Durham Cathedral in 2008, its on my soundcloud, along with another "Masonic" based one, (as my late father and I and David are/were Freemasons) https://soundcloud.com/peter-allison-571354835/masonic-improvisation
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With All religions taking part in Masonry, the word "so Mote it be" is a simple non denominational phrase... I think
"So mote it be" is a ritual phrase used by the Freemasons, in Rosicrucianism, and more recently by Neopagans, meaning "so may it be", "so it is required", or "so must it be", and may be said at the end of a prayer in a similar way to "amen". The phrase appears in the Halliwell or Regius Manuscript, the earliest known document relating to a society of Masons in England, dating from the first half of the 15th century.[1] "Amen! amen! so mot hyt be! Say we so all per charyté".[2]
The phrase has been taken up by neopagans and they use it in a similar way in their ceremonies and rituals
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I have found that an older Michael Woodward recording that were reissued by Priory, show SGH in a better state
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11 minutes ago, Peter Allison said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WroPrruS6bs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr7EEqzSErw
and I sponsored a friends recording of the Whitlock Sonata (and other works) in Rochdale Town Hall, was there for the recording with Darius B. He used mega expensive (£1800 each) Mics (5 of them) plus a core sound/soundfield type for an experiment (tho not used in the recording itself) and recorded in DSD SACD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL5nRpk1Fb8
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I am an avid watcher of his channel an a couple of others. But I personally feel that Richard speaks to my inner geek ( recording wise). And as you said Martin, he is a great communicator and is so enthusiastic. Pity there are not more like him
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11 hours ago, DariusB said:
A terraced house complete with pipe organ installed in the stairwell.... been in the same family for generations apparently!
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/76533279#/
Get Kirsty and Phil in quick, it needs a serious makeover for 2021
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My late friend, David J Rogers, was a frequent visitor to the Town Hall and other Leeds venues, (and no mean organist himself) He was always sat in the middle of the first row, ready to stick his trusty Tandy PZM microphones on the stage lip. I know he always had permission from 99% of the performers, but I always wonder if he had it 100% of the time
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On 07/02/2021 at 16:56, Martin Cooke said:
Just watching Simon Johnson's Sunday afternoon recital from St Paul's - the first he's played in the current series commemorating 150 years of the 1872 organ. He's just opened with his arrangement of Holst's Uranus and has used his nose several times to play a note whilst his hands have been full! Thoroughly recommend this series of recitals involving all three organists.
Watching? As on You Tube... is there a link if it was
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It just so happened I was in the middle of listening to one of her CD's, when I heard (via FB) RIP Catherine Ennis
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43 minutes ago, Cornet IV said:
Thank you Peter,
Curiously, this performance is not available on my YouTube programme and, more pertinently since it was a CD i was wanting, I am unable to find it as a CD either.
Remember a wonderful rendition at Selby Abbey by Fernando Germani a long time ago - wish that had been recorded.
I will have a look through all the DAT tapes I inherited from a David Rogers, as I know he got hold of all the original reel to reel tapes of those recordings (somehow), and if he transferred them to DAT or Minidisc, I will have them, if not, A friend in Liverpool has all the reel to reel recordings, OR he may have returned them to the original owner. But it will be after Christmas
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another thought, and it MAY have some bearing, although negligible.... I was looking through my CD collection (which is now on a PC) and a great number of discs by Priory, in the GEO series, feature many organists playing music that to many I think, would not be played at a recital... even if it was a collection of organist🤔I know I have seen a few really nice instruments, but on reading the track listing, I put it straight back on the shelf.
Likewise, when going to recitals/concerts, if the programme is NOT available before entering the place, I avoid going. I once went to support a local church, but after I paid my entrance fee and was given my programme, found it was an all Messiaen affair. I just turned round, handed my programme back, and left... (I personally cannot stand his music😬)
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That is good news. It brings back good memories of when I went to most of the Bank Holiday recitals in Tim Hones time there (as was self employed and they were the only ones I could attend).
A friend of ours, a Colin Wood of Sunderland allowed me to make one of my first recordings there, on an old reel to reel in 1986
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12 minutes ago, Martin Cooke said:
Don't miss this recital by Anna Lapwood = part of the Ryedale Festival - https://ryedalefestival.com/event/anna-lapwood-organ/
Excellent playing all through but great performance of Bach Trio Sonata No 2 in C minor - super little Nigel Church Organ at Coxwood.
I lived a couple of miles from Coxwold, a few years ago, passed the church every day nearly, but never went in.... as Easingwold was our church at the time
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22 hours ago, Phoneuma said:
A valuable exercise indeed. There’s probably a case for saying it might be too late but there are some points where the marketing and planning of recitals falls way short of similar events in, say, local music societies.
One of my biggest gripes is the abject failure to publish the programme of music in advance and this is pretty widespread. I simply won’t go to any recital if I don’t know beforehand what is to be performed. There’s really no excuse for it and it strikes me as lazy and even amateur. You wouldn’t be expected to turn up at the Wigmore Hall not knowing the programme so why is it that this happens at organ recitals? Organ recitals.com has the facility to append programmes, easily. Leeds TH, for instance, publish their full programme at the start of the season.
I attended one recital in which a respected organist programmed the entire Elgar Vesper voluntaries, a guaranteed turn off. These are of such insignificance as to be rightly forgotten, the sort of bland doodlings to be found in those Victorian Vademecums, serviceable music to fill a gap but nothing more.
My other bugbear is the outdated ‘every organ recital should include Bach’ statement. Colin’s analysis appears to quash that. Why Bach? Why not Buxtehude for instance?
And, biggest turn off (for me) - transcriptions (or, more accurately, arrangements). It’s almost admitting that there’s no decent organ music and I’m inclined to agree at times with that. Decent organ music is there, it’s mostly written by organist composers (much like guitar repertoire) and can I think capture the imagination of the audience. This ‘transcriptions’ lark reaches its absolute nadir in a certain organists fixation with Mahler symphonies, an utterly pointless exercise, futile.Maybe some of my comments are abrasive, possibly prejudiced, but the organ recital business is a victim of its own narrow mindedness. There are exceptions of course but joe public isn’t going to be persuaded by a lack of publicity/programme, obscure repertoire, attempts at popularity (arrangements of lollipops from other genres) and a feeling that there is some sort of special alchemy involved - there isn’t.
As a "non player", I have been to 100's of recitals all over from 1977 until 2019, and for me there is nothing worse than travelling many miles, paying an entrance fee and finally getting a programme with music by some composers I have never heard of. Transcriptions... I can take them or leave them, realising that at certain Town Hall venues, they are expected, but I get the Mahler thing (I recorded one in York Minster with permission of the recitalist and RS).
I organised my own recital a few months ago, with an eminent player, good church, quality programme etc, and more advertising than you could shake a stick at, incl radio..... played to an empty church bar 4 of us -
Very sad news. I only heard her the once, at York Minster in July of 2011
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19 minutes ago, Rowland Wateridge said:
I once had the experience of turning up for a recital which I had sponsored and being asked to pay for admission and the programme! It wasn’t the fault of the lady on duty at the door - she wouldn’t have known. The surprise, for me, when I received the programme was that it contained no reference at all to the sponsorship which was my personal donation on behalf of my organists’ association, equally unmentioned. The degree of professionalism in promoting and advertising recitals varies enormously, as discussed recently on another thread.
In ‘defence’ of Coventry, my good fortune there has always been to receive the warmest of welcomes. My admiration of its splendid H&H organ knows no bounds - but I believe that also needs a lot of money spent on it.
A friend of mine was going to make a professional recording at Coventry about a year ago or 2 (with Wayne Marshall), they wanted just over £3000 for the recording session. So as it was a tad rich for his blood, they had the good fortune to go to a large church in Portugal with a new ish large organ, and record for free (was an RC church)
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17 hours ago, Vox Humana said:
I don't do organ DVDs because, quite frankly, I'm not committed enough to the instrument, but it seems to me that the problem with the traditional British organ is that it hasn't generated any really great music that justifies the medium. Such decent music as has been written for it sounds - or would sound - infinitely more convincing when orchestrated. He obvious candidate is the Elgar Sonata, but it would be equally true of Whitlock, all of whose output would benefit immensely from orchestration. There probably are odd exceptions to my sweeping statement, but I can't think of them offhand.
I shall now duck for cover, but please remember that, 'sending the boys round' is against government guidelines.
A few years ago the Durham University along with James Lancelot and the amazing Cathedral Organ, made and produced a good DVD of the Elgar Sonata, complete with interviews of scholars of the subject (I think)
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James Lancelot had H & H build one for his large sitting room when he was at Durham
New CD, and thanks
in General discussion
Posted
I agree 100%. The recorded organ music enthusiasts has had to for so long do with offerings from so many people, some know what they are doing, but with average quality recording equipment and others with big budget gear, but just produce so so sound.
This is from a personal point of view, and not a dig at some well known companies with large catalogues of music to their name