Peter Allison
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Posts posted by Peter Allison
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6 hours ago, David Drinkell said:
Peter, I think you were absolutely right (and inspired) in your choice of music.
I tend to go for things like the St. Anne or the Passacaglia of Bach, sometimes Karg-Elert's "Nun danket" - in other words, something with a degree of dignity but triumphant rather than mournful.
David, you are absolutely right in mentioning "triumphant rather than mournful", I think a funeral, whatever the music, is a great and final opportunity for many, to connect with what the deceased loved in life, plus nearly everyone who will be attending knew him as an organist and lover of organ music (apart from some), and will smile with appreciation,, whist they remember
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I know a lot of people say the Widor is passe, it might be, but my dad was unable to ever play it, so every time I was with him, and it was played, he always said "thats what I want" etc, this is why it HAD to have it played, and on a nice organ to boot. When I first mentioned it to my sister, her reply was "whatever"
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2 hours ago, Damian Beasley-Suffolk said:
My wife's aunt died recently, and the church funeral was followed by a short service at, as it happens, Durham Crematorium which, as an aside, has a striking and to my taste very attractive chapel. She went out to Sinatra, "New York, New York". As my thoughtful wife said, "Well, she wants to wake up in a city that doesn't sleep." Amen to that.
You mention, Durham Crem, my dad was on the rota of organists there, and was there, all told for over 26 years, until last year
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I just wanted some thoughts on this please
. My father passed away the other day, up in Durham City. He was a simple village organist ( A psalms and hymn man, he called himself) for many years, since the early 50's. I got the order of service from my sister the other day, and always knew, as he had said more or less every time he heard it," I want THAT piece when they carry me out of church." Imagine my dismay, when I read the music chosen was Bach, Jesu Joy of Mans Desiring, a great standard for such occasions, BUT he is having his "Requiem Mass" in the lovely setting of Durham Cathedral. So, with blessings from my sister, I have changed it to Widors Toccata from Symphony 5, as I believed that having a mighty instrument there, and wanted to send him out triumphantly was a greater thing, than a solemn slow quiet walk out.
I was just wanting to know if I had done the right thing. The service is being played my a very good organist friend, of many years and he has played at the cathedral many times.
Music for the Funeral of Derrick Allison
Durham Cathedral
Thursday December 20th 10.am
Music before;
Sonata No.2 op.65 Mendelssohn Bartholdy 1809-47
1.Grave, Adagio
2 Allegro Maestoso
3 Allegro Moderato
Adagio from Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Bwv 564 J. S. Bach 1685-1750
Musc after;
Toccata from 5th Symphony No. 5 op.42/1 Charles M
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I have a few of them, and was really pleased to see the one featuring the city of my birth, Durham Cathedral, and a close personal friend of the family, James Lancelot 😉
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I raised this very question a while ago..."is anyone here?". I have made a few contributions over the years, but alas I am a "non playing enthusiast", and as such, can only really give so much. I look at this forum, every day, as I am now retired due to health issues, and do not get out much, so I use the PC, as a means of communicating with the outside world, so to speak. And have made a few friends with people, both here, and a certain "social media" website called Face Book
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The "proposed" spec looks very good, and will push the organ into "super stardom" in the North West/UK organ scene ?
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....and also in the North East, Newcastle City Hall, which is an H & H
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As from the "proper" side of the Pennines? I can only go on the good fortunes of HCH, Leeds and Huddersfield, in that the calibre of recitalists is high, and that their organs are well looked after, and the music programmess are well put together. On "other side of the hills, the likes of Manchester, has 2 newish organs, the Cathedral and the Bridgewater hall. In what is relatively smaller city, is there room for a 3rd large instrument, albeit an organ by the esteemed C-C?, given what is regarded as a cash poor council, (as all councils are)
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3 hours ago, Contrabombarde said:
The reality is that local councils have a number of statutory legal duties such as providing care to elderly people and vulnerable children. Central government funding to local authorities has been reduced so much in recent years that some are at the point where even if they spent their entire budget on the things they have a legal obligation to provide for they would no longer be able to afford to meet all their obligations. Consequently the non-statutory functions like litter collections in parks, weekly dustbin rounds, keeping libraries open and tuning the organ in the town hall are not so much low priority as no priority since they will point out, "if we spend money on organ repairs and an old person comes to harm because we haveen't spent enough on elderly care we could be taken to court". Some more fortunate councils have access to income streams, historic reserve savings and sources of funding not available to other areas, hence the extent to which non-statutory services are deprioritised varies. Perhaps Leeds with its reputation and piano competition and sponsorship deals etc can generate a big enough income to keep the hall's organ in concert-worthy condition, but there are only so many such venues in the country that can do so.
Those of us who are organ lovers need to recognise that in the present climate, if we want organs to be preserved, then increasingly it's our pockets or our fundraising skills that need to contribute to tuning, maintenance, repairs and rebuilds as noone else is going to pay. Unless we pay directly ourselves or manage to raise funds through channels such as the Lottery fund, we cannot expect every church and other building with a historic organ in need of restoration to somehow find the money themselves. The only other option to keep organs going is for organbuilders to radically reduce the costs of maintaining and restoring organs without compromising their quality or playability, though that debate is perhaps important enough to be continued through on the organ building part of this forum. After all, if the Manchester Town Hall organ could be reinstated and fully restored for say £10,000 then even a cash strapped council might just about manage that. At £1 million plus, it's almost a guarenteed non-starter with council funds.
well put, and its so true
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it is the largest 3 manual, unless Simon Lindley was wrong, ha ha ha.
My father organised a couple of recitals there, years ago, and I recorded them, and a few more since (all with permission) its a superb instrument
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Thank goodness for Leeds Council, but they have a tradition there of music making and a city organist still, am sure that would have made some difference. But I read a while back that just down the road, Kirklees or Calderdale council, who run the weekly recitals at Huddersfield, where Gordon Stewart is organist.... very nearly came to finishing the concerts at the town hall, so leaving the Willis organ hardly used, which it has kind of backed down from now, it seems. Which is good news, as Leeds is my "go to venue" up here , as they have an amazing concert programme of classical music
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A few years ago, I just wrote an e-mail to them, ( St, Sulpice) and received a standard one back, saying to wait at the door/stairs, and someone would take us up. This was in about 2001, not sure what its like now, after all the terrorism there has been in Paris
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its a sad fact of life, or so it seems, that most council (Lab/Con/Lib) run places, have no need for any organ, and the money needed to return it to a good condition, is deemed a "waste". Just look at a few miles down the road, in Warrington. It has, what is acknowledged by many, as the "best example", of a C-C, in the UK, And apart from a few very good people, protesting some thing needs doing,,,, its just not going to happen. Ultimately, ANY council in the UK with something that is going to cost a lot, and not give a short term return, is just a waste. Obviously, just my own opinion
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I wonder what has given them what seems like a change of mind? New direction, staff changes. I used to go quite often, when I lived in Hull, a few years back, and was always amazed at how such a "historically" regarded instrument, was just kind of left in the state it was in. A couple of members here, held it in very high regard, and one chap was always saying it needed doing, wonder if he had any influence?
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other supermarket branded wines are also available ?
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James DID move down to Tewkesbury, and its my own personal opinion, that he is one of the top organist/ choir trainers in the UK. Am a tad biased, as have known him and his wife, Sylvia for many years, since he first came to Durham :-)
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sorry I forgot, its the Peter Collins (1988) instrument at St. Oswalds church in Durham city, cannot find the NPOR link
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David, you made mention of modern organs, this one is in the English tradition and I believe it was tuned in the Valotti Temperament?, was built in the church after a fire in 1988, which destroyed the previous 3 man H & H. I helped the Peter Collins lads carry it into the church at the time, and after it was settled in, my dad had lessons there, with a good friend, who was DOM, a Mr, David Higgins (who sadly passed a few years ago). I remember an American couple looking and taking pictures , saying its nice to see such an old organ..... it was only a year old at the time, ha ha ha
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On 24/08/2018 at 13:39, OrganistOnTheHill said:
There is the Copland Fanfare for the Common Man, which has been made playable on the organ. There is a fantastic performance of it at St John the Divine in NY using their State Trumpets on the 'west end'. (I cannot recall if it was east or west end).
this one ?
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I used to go to all the Bank holiday recitals at Newcastle (Timothy Hone was DOM then) and recorded one of them, thats now lost sadly
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23 hours ago, Zimbelstern said:
For such an important instrument, £3 million for purchase, renovation and relocation seems reasonable.
I agree 100% with you, and on that note, why did Sheffield Cathedral, not peruse it, asking for help from various sponsors, Freemasons, lottery... maybe they did. It seems that via the Facebook web page, that Warrington Council just seem to think "its in the way". Enough abought the CC at Warrington, as its been talked at length, on this forum and others, suffice to say, its an ongoing problem
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13 hours ago, Zimbelstern said:
Last week, during an organ academy in Paris, I had a brief conversation with Kurt Lueders, Vice-President of the Cavaillé-Coll Association regarding this instrument, which was awarded a Grade 1 Certificate by the British Institute of Organ Studies in 2015. The Association (www.cavaille-coll.fr) devoted its journal “La Flúte Harmonique” No. 99, 2017 (€15) in its entirety to a monograph by Gerald Sumner on the subject of the Parr Hall instrument, whose importance cannot be overestimated. £1 million for a Cavaillé organ described as “of truly international importance” and “one of the very rare French Romantic organs preserved from such modifications as would be in the main irreversible” seems cheap at the price.
this is good news indeed as its "the" C C in the uk, I think, , but for a church or cathedral wanting to provide a historically important organ, the costs of buying/ removing /renovating and installing said organ, was just a tad too much (imho) I did hear a figure of £3 million plus been bandied around
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On 03/04/2018 at 15:35, Choir Man said:
On a side note, I was born and brought up in Sheffield and remember the old Mander organ with its red-painted box of pipes and hoizontal trumpets on top. It's a pity that it wasn't deemed fit for restoration but it was in a horrible location and the quest to get a proper replacement has been going on too long. Is the Parr Hall project officially dead? I haven't heard any news in a long time.
I heard via a C C group on facebook, that the Warrington council were wanting too much for their organ (over a million £), so its a no go,
"THE" Toccata
in General discussion
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he had his requiem mass at Durham cathedral, this morning. and it was played quite well, A video of it is on my Face book page some where. As to how long it was, am not sure, as was walking behind the coffin at the time, but stayed near the crossing just to hear the full resources of the H & H :-)