Peter Allison
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Posts posted by Peter Allison
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A few years ago, my best friend who passed away a couple of days ago, (David Rogers) made a visit, when I lived in Hull, and were given free reign, so used "both" keys to get the blowers working, (you were asked to use just the one key for practising apparently) and David just improvise for a couple of hours, and took his recorder, and recorded everything. Its one of those days that I will remember for a long time
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14 hours ago, DariusB said:
I'm truly sorry to hear that. Dave was a constant and enthusiastic presence at the Leeds Town Hall recitals - he made some fine recordings - and his knowledge not just of organs, but of organ repertoire was astonishing. It's particularly sad as he was so pleased to have been recently appointed at Wentworth Parish Church. At the last 'request programme' we had, I'd finally got round to fulfilling his long-stand request to play Peeters' "Flemish Rhapsody" - but he never got to hear it. I'm sure it's not just at Leeds where his presence at recitals will be greatly missed.
I agree, his organ knowledge was extraordinary, and he was a very quiet ( but could be stubborn) his acquaintances in the organ world were much talked about. He made many commercial recordings for the likes of Paul Derett and always had good reviews. He went everywhere with his "bag of tricks", a simple portable DAT recorder and his 80's Tandy PZM microphones. The last time I actually saw him was at Leeds Town Hall, and he had just stuck his mics on the stage to record Jonathan Scott (last January)
I spoke to him the day before he passed, and he was in good spirits. I moved down to Sleaford last year, but we were going to have "a meet"
I have been in touch with his sister in Aylesbury, and have been asked to help with his gargantuan recording collection, 1000's of them on LP (stereo and mono versions of the same thing),, CD, R to R, DAT, cassette etc
PM me for more details
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I am sad to say this great personal friend, passed away yesterday (Thursday). What he did not know about organs, was not worth knowing. Some of the members on this forum may have been recorded at their recitals?🙂
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I like the Scott brothers, and have seen all the recordings, they show great musicianship and Tom is a fantastic photographer/videographer/sound engineer and pianist. Long may they continue to entertain
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I have a good friend who has original recordings on spool tape, that was recorded on in the 50's. And I have a couple of standard C90 cassettes that were used to make my first organ recordings on, in 1986. A lot of the vintage stuff may still work IF they are kept in the right conditions and looked after (and make copies/backups). the record label "Hyperion" seemed to have an issue with some recorded CD's a while back, so it seems even relatively new media can fail. I now have a backup of a backup of my "non organ" music plus the original CD's
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I have a Zoom H4 Pro, and previously a Zoom H2, and used the other mediums that Collin mentioned, except Mini Disk (I used a Sony DAT). As have mentioned on here before, I am a "non player", but knew more about the works of the organ, composers etc, than my late father, who was an organist from the late 40's until he died, last year. I have always asked for permission before recording anyone, from David Briggs etc to a humble village organist just rehearsing the hymns. I have over 300 recordings I can lay my hands on at the press of a few keys on the PC. They are an invaluable tool in the right hands, as long as any recordings are not put on You Tube or Face Book, breaking any copyrights
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On 24/11/2019 at 18:41, Contrabombarde said:
You mean organ cases without pipes? Like this?
Leeds Priory?? LPC surely 😉
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I was having a look on the "Old Hull" Facebook page, and came across this photo. I am not sure if its been posted on this forum before, But knowing a few people know its history after this happened, I thought they might enlighten us again
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1 hour ago, Phoneuma said:
Good for him - I’d suggest it’s perfectly in order for him to turn down any request to record any public recitals. This seems to be, or at least was, particularly common a few years back when I attended a few recitals in the north with, on occasion, more than one set of devices recording the concerts. Whether or not permission had been sought (and, I know it hadn’t in more than one case) I found it a very off- putting practice. This simply wouldn’t happen in, say, the Wigmore Hall or the RFH so why should it be considered acceptable at organ recitals. It appeared to me that it was nothing more than some sort of trophy-hunting and very disrespectful to the performer (and, I’m assuming, in clear breach of intellectual property rights).
just to point out that in over 200 recitals I have recorded, I have ALWAYS asked for permission to do so from both the organist and the place its being recorded. I have very rarely come across an emphatic no, apart from one at York Minster. I have recordings of the late John Scott, David Sanger and Carlo Curley, as well as Nathan Laube, Graham Barber and David Briggs (at York Minster) etc
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Did John Scott Whiteley not make a recording for Priory on the Sheffield organ, seem to remember a GEO one
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On 21/08/2019 at 23:28, pcnd5584 said:
I particularly like the Durham edition. James Lancelot appears entirely at ease on-camera, and he clearly delights in giving what is one of the best 'sound tours' of an organ in the entire series.
One or two musical (but not familiar with organ construction) friends watched it, and found it to be both interesting and informative.
He is VERY particular about recording him though. I made a midnight recording of him playing just 4 pieces, many years ago... But when I have asked him if I can record him in recital, he always says no, nicely of course. As he thinks that if he knows someone is recording, then he is "playing to the mics". I kind of get that, but at the same time it tends to be a generation thing, going buy all the U Tubes videos and other social media items
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A friend and I had a "lock in" at City Hall, for a couple of hours. Just 2 of us with a digital recorder.... happy days
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On 02/08/2019 at 09:01, Rowland Wateridge said:
Perhaps I should not have mentioned (grumbled?) about my church commitment! The very best hi-fi sound reproduction can never be a substitute for being physically present in the Royal Albert Hall - a venue (and organ) like no other. I posted the programme details thinking that Olivier Latry’s choice of repertoire would be of interest, and might lead to some discussion about transcriptions and arrangements - I have no problem with either - both terms seem to be interchanged rather loosely.
People spend thousands on reproduction gear (Hi Fi) and the organ is one of those things that just cannot, cross over well.
There has been one exception tho ( a very personal one) I went to hear an American organist at St Pauls, a few weeks ago, and yes, its a magnificent organ, BUT I preferred the recorded sounds of the late John Scott (and others) when playing on Full Organ, as the "live" sound was just a mush, it may have something to do with the seating, that was under the dome
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it will be on "catch up" or another such BBC thing, so can record it at anytime I would have thought
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was Thalben Ball a great improviser? According to his book he was
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On 11/07/2019 at 18:23, Rowland Wateridge said:
Well, of course, blind organists play from memory, and I count it one of the great privileges of my life to have heard Helmut Walcha play (twice) at the RFH. Of living performers I have heard, there are David Liddle, also blind, and three Americans: Daniel Hathaway, Paul Jacobs and Nathan Laube who all played from memory. Of British performers, most recently, and several times, Darius Battiwalla. I’m sure there are others. Carlo Curley played extensively from memory, but I’m not sure whether he might have used a score sometimes.
I believe that playing from memory is more common, even more usual, in the US.
In a completely different league, of course, didn’t Marcel Dupré play the complete works of Bach from memory?
Ken Cowan also performs from memory, just like his recital at St Pauls Cathedral, last thursday
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On 29/06/2019 at 08:17, Rowland Wateridge said:
" he received a standing ovation! I can’t recall that happening before at an organ recital. "
James Lancelot received one at York Minster, a couple of years ago
On 29/06/2019 at 08:17, Rowland Wateridge said: -
3 hours ago, Ian van Deurne said:
Yes, it has been (sort of) preserved. Well, more or less just dumped there, probably because so many of the most famous French organists (not just Vierne) have played it. However, I too have always thought that the modern console was totally out-of-keeping with the style of the Cavaillé-Coll case. In fact it might now be found more financially and aesthetically more astute to take the Vierne console out of its shadowy resting place and restore it to its full original glory. If this was to happen then I know a great many organists who would welcome this more than just enthusiastically, especially some of the younger generation of serious players who would just love to place their hands on the same keys as used by many of the great French masters. I experienced that kind of joy when still a music student when I was able to play some pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach on some organs still in original condition that he is known to have played, and for some reason it gave me much more incentive to want to perform on any organ even better.
So hear's hoping with fingers crossed!
Its all well and good to employ modern technical devices, but a lot of the younger organist have come to expect a more modern consoles. I met a very young organist who would not play for a well funded recital, because the organ had no aids at all, bar a couple of combination pedals, and no pistons.... his loss prob. And the Polish organ friend who came over, and played a few recitals, and needed a registrant/page turner, apart from the 2 Leeds Town Hall gigs
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But as some people have said.... If it was aimed JUST at organists, they would have trouble filling the building, so aiming it at the general public. Like wise, other forms of ensembles are not catered for, and have as big a following, if not more,,,,, brass bands, or so I am told
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This looks super cool, what say you??
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On 19/03/2019 at 10:48, John Robinson said:
You should have seen Keith Emerson performing: one man surrounded by several separate keyboards! He also played a church (or rather concert hall) organ for some performances and was a very competent musician regardless of his style of music (which I, incidentally, enjoyed).
Rick Wakeman who was in the same era as Keith, made a CD of his own works, played at Lincoln Cathedral
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On 13/03/2019 at 13:21, AJJ said:
As an aside on the subject of ‘secular’ tracker organs does anyone know if this instrument is used much these days?
http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=A00527
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My late father organised a recital there for a foreign organist friend, I recorded it. Was a nice sounding organ, to my ears, but the acoustics, YUK, And it just lost all the piston settings, I had to put them all back from a bit of note paper , for The Suite Gothique ( for a non organist it was nerve wracking)
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welcome to this forum. Its not as active now, as it once was, but I guess that is life
regards
Peter
32ft flues
in Nuts and bolts
Posted
found this, it was set up a few weeks ago, and his U Tube channel has been going for a year or so https://pipesandposts.com/