Nick Bennett
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Posts posted by Nick Bennett
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Unfortunately not. I hope it was extraordinary in the positive sense, and not, for example, because age has finally caught up with FJ !
BAC
Elements of both!!
When I got there, the queue for tickets stretched right across the south transept to the doors.
His pedalling in BWV 540 was a bit ropy - to the extent that, in the second pedal solo, he went completely astray, stopped, shouted "Sorry" and carried on.
There was another little incident in the Bairstow sonata, when the swell reeds suddenly came on in a quiet passage and he stopped to sort it out. Did I hear him say "blast"? I think so. In spite of that little difficulty, it was a sublime performance. At the end there was a profound silence: everyone was aware of the significance of the moment.
He ended with a magnificent performance of Guilmant's first sonata, and got an instant standing ovation that went on and on.
It's a recital I will never forget.
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Was anyone else present at this utterly extraordinary recital last night?
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Could anyone inform me where I can obtain a copy of Andriessen's Toccata, please?
I have tried a Google search, sheetmusicplus.com/and several other sites - all to no avail.
Any help would be gratefully appreciated.
Thank you!
You could try Allegro (www.allegro.co.uk or sales@allegro.co.uk). It's not in their catalogue, but they will get it for you if it's still in print. I've always found them to be very reliable.
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Hmm - I think that I would ask myself a few questions, first:
1) Does the replacement mixture blend satisfactorily?
2) Was it installed and voiced by H&H?
3) How musical and useful would a new 17, 19, flat21, 22 mixture be? (Have you heard the surviving stop at Crediton, Devon?) It is original, but it is also anti-social. It is no use for Bach or other Baroque composers and whilst it is brilliant (it does not break back until well up the compass) it is strident and very reedy.
I am all for authenticity - but never at the expense of musicality and general usefulness. However, it is, of course, your decision.
The rest of the organ sounds superb, though!
Best wishes
It blends pretty well, and I like it, but then I have never been a great fan of tierce mixtures. Some people consider it rather harsh - principally, I think, members of the choir, who hear it from the chancel, where it does sound rather strident. Down the nave it is much more mellow.
Walker's installed it during the 1970's renovation. It was originally two ranks but was later made into three.
Yes, I have heard a recital at Crediton. The Harmonics is indeed very reedy. I thought it suited the style of the instrument very well, but as you say, it is not suitable for Bach.
The Halifax PC H&H is indeed a fine instrument, and you can hear a recital on it every Saturday from Easter to October.
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The choral is also good, and worth taking the time over.
Which one did you have in mind? The back cover of the Thema met Variaties lists Premiere, Duexieme and Quatrieme chorals!
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I wish it were that good! Unfortunately, all too many recitals are stuffed with transcriptions of second or third rate orchestral works. They may do a lot for the organ (though not in my opinion) but they do nothing for the organ repertoire.
There have been some wonderful eastern European organ works broadcast on BBC Radio 3 - in the middle of the night, of course! It would be good to hear some of this repertoire live, but can it be made to work on a bottom-heavy romantic english organ?
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The great and choir organs are in the case on the screen. The solo is in the south choir aisle immediately behind the small case to the south of the main case. The swell and most of the pedal organ are in the south choir aisle to the east of the solo box.
In fact, the south choir aisle is entirely occupied by the organ, and there is no public access to it. It looks a bit of a mess from the console, but it can't be seen from the floor of the church.
Ian Hare's recital was excellent, and included the Bach Passacaglia and a lovely little suite by Ian himeslf.
I notice that the next recital, by James Vivian of the Temple Church, London, will also include the Howells Rhapsody no. 3!
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There are lots organ works by Andriessen in the catalogues, but only the Thema met Variaties ever seems to get played.
What else is worth playing - and not too hard?
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I thought the MacMillan Bestiary was a superb piece.
I was surprised how punchy the organ sounded. The reeds sounded quite splashy. Was this an artifact of microphone placement, or does it really sound like that in the hall?
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Aha?
A genuine Arthur Harrison's?
With Trombas and Harmonics?
Best wishes,
Pierre Lauwers
Alas, the Harmonics is the one item that has been changed. It has been replaced by a quint mixture. Harrison's are trying to persuade us to put it back as Arthur Harrison left it.
But the trombas are there (separate ranks at 16', 8' and 4') and there's an enormous tuba on the solo. There's also a lovely 16' Dulciana on the choir/pedal - so much metal for so little sound! And a gorgeous clarinet on the Solo.
There is a small amount of Snetzler pipework remaining from the organ of 1766.
No mutations, of course, except for the Octave Quint (2 2/3') in the Great diapason chorus. But the swell flutes have strong 12th and sound quite nazard-like.
Sir Edward Bairstow was the consultant. There's a photograph of him with Arthur Harrison and the vicar outside the west door circa 1929, possibly the occasion of Bairstow giving the opening recital.
Full specification and further information is available from the Halifax Parish Church Web Site
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Isn't it the case that, if one wanted to use funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore a pneumatic action instrument, they would prefer to fund restoration of the existing action rather than the installation of a new action?
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Yes, organrecitals.com is an excellent source of information about recitals - far better in many cases than the venues' own websites!
You will even find details of recitals at my own church, Halifax Parish Church, which has a splendid 52 stop H&H (1929 and little altered since).
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There's a splendid opportunity to hear the instrument this coming Saturday at 6pm when Ian Hare will be giving a recital. Could be followed by a pint or two in Nellie's, the gas-lit pub.
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It's interesting that Richard says the balance is better in the nave than at the console.
I've been to many a recital there, and have played the instrument once. I find that the acoustic in the nave jumbles the sound dreadfully - far worse than, say, King's. So I always sit at the very front for recitals. I am told some people prefer the sound in the north transept.
When I played the instrument I thought the sound at the console was much better - certainly clearer - than down the nave.
This is certainly an instrument - and a building - I have a huge amount of respect for. It still seems to me to have a very strong Snetzler voice on the Great and Choir. And Beverley is a lovely town too.
PS
I loved the Howells.
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Of course, no played is actually obliged to use the new electronic stops.
As for the tone becoming thicker, the addition of a fifteenth as an alternative to the 2' doublette has made the great diapason chorus very much clearer.
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Blackburn as built was quite frenchified, and what was done to it in the recent Briggs rebuild hasn't spoiled its character, but developed it along the same lines. That said, I do think it is too loud for the building and could do with some really soft sounds.
I have to say I much prefer Ely in its present incarnation as opposed to the Wills rebuild, which was one organ grafted on to another.
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The digital stops at Blackburn Cathedral work very well (just 32' and 16') but of course they benefit from a very generous acoustic.
If you want to hear a mixed pipe/digital organ that is less than entirely satisfactory, try St Peter's, Addingham (near Ilkley). It is a small carpeted building and has the driest acoustic I have ever come across in a church. The organ is about 50% digital. The individual digital stops are (largely) very nice played singly, and it can be difficult to tell which stops are digital and which pipes. But when put together, they fails to blend into a convincing whole.
It is my belief that one can get away with digital stops provided:
- There aren't too many
- They are at the bass end only
- The acoustics are good
- You are lucky
- There aren't too many
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Surely an organ loft needn't be too tidy? Part of the pleasure of being in a cathedral or college chapel organ loft is examining what's up there!
Especially interesting are scores marked up by the (perhaps very eminent) organist. Does he just circle troublesome notes, or is he more inventive? Little drawings of a pair of spectacles perhaps? Or warnings such as "Watch it!", "Trouble looming!", "Count!!!" or "Careful!"?
There is great comfort to us mere mortals in knowing that a very well-known organist has had to practice his fingers to the bone over the same passages that we struggle with.
Westminster Abbey Organ
in General discussion
Posted
It would probably be an organist who came with the visiting choir, and who had virtually no time to get used to the instrument.