Nick Bennett

I have had access to a copy of this Vierne recording for some time. I find it very difficult to listen to, particularly in view of the tempo. But he certainly hasn't missed out on the gravitas! But how interesting this is. Here we have Vierne playing Bach unbelievably slowly, whilst on another thread we were discussing Bairstow playing the b minor BWV 544 at a breakneck speed - both recorded in the 1920's. I wonder if these performances represent their respective national schools of Bach playing of the period. Or was one of them out on a limb? We've also been discussing GTB taking BWV 540 at a hell of a lick. And I seem to remember having heard Schweitzer playing Bach at a very ponderous tempo - so maybe British organists did tend to play JSB rather faster than the French. Any thoughts?

Hmmm .. no takers! Well my calculations show the following: True septieme - exactly 7 times the fundamental frequency "unison" rank up a minor seventh and enough octaves - 7.1272 times fundamental Quint up a minor third and an octave - 7.1352 times fundamental Tierce up an augmented fourth - 7.0711 times fundamental So they are all sharp of the true septieme, but the closest is a tierce transposed up by an augmented fourth. Bit of a surprise, that.

If the organ already has a tierce and a nazard/twelfth, one would be able to produce approximate septièmes at three different pitches, viz (if I have got my head round this correctly!) a 2' stop playing up a diminished seventh (or a 4' stop playing up an octave plus a diminished seventh, etc) a twelfth/nazard playing up a minor tenth a tierce playing up a tritone(!) Anyone care to hazard a guess as to which is closest to the true septième? I think I know which it is, but I'm not sure I trust calculations carried out at this time of night!

I thought it was BWV 546 in C minor that was know as "The Cathedral". Sounds more appropriate.

Krikey!!! I don't normally approve of speeds like that because it tends to destroy the articulation. But in this case - Wow! Unbelievable drive - really brings out the dance in the piece. I guess there would be little acoustic whether it was in Maida Vale Studios or the BBC Theatre, so what we are hearing is probably quite close to how it sounded in the building. In which case, the tempo would be fine, and possibly the only way to bring the piece to life in a dead acoustic. Not sure I'd want to hear it played at that speed at King's, for example.

As a complete contrast, I have just been listening to a recording of Bairstow playing this piece on the Minster organ in 1927. He is even faster than Koopman, especially in the fugue, which he takes at a hell of a lick! I had never thought of anyone from that period being a speed merchant. And, of course, there are constant changes of registration. He starts the prelude on the flutes, uses the reeds a lot (box closed, of course, until the end) and there doesn't seem to be much above 4ft: I believe I have heard FJ say that Bairstow disapproved of anyone using the mixtures.

Oh yes - and played a little Bach on it, too. Wonderful instrument. I can't comprehend how anybody could describe it as making a "dreadful screeching sound" but chaque un à son goût. Not the most wonderful recording, though. Far too close, as is often the case. Makes it sound like it is in a small, carpeted chapel, whereas the Grote Kerk is a fair size and quite resonant. As to the interpretation - not my favourite, but I could live with it quite happily. I tend to agree with Pierre that it was perhaps too detached - but might that be the consequence of recording too close to the instrument?

I seem to remember that in Norway not only are the organs owned and maintained by the state, but the organists are employed by the state, too. Which means they are not answerable to the minister.

There appear to be 1324 members. The numbers are, presumably, nominal rather than cardinal - like a bank account number. There is no particular need for them to be consecutive.

OK, I've only given it ten minutes, but the stuff that Douglas links to looks absolutely nothing like the document on the Klavarskribo site that purports to explain how the notation works! For a start, one is notated with lots of vertical lines and some recognisable notes with dots and stems, whilst the the other has just two horizontal lines and loads of squiggles. I could make neither head nor tail of the explanation. It might have helped had they either used a less obscure piece as the example, or printed it in normal staff notation alongside. By contrast, North German Organ Tablature is a doddle! Thanks for the warning, Douglas.

I see you can play it for 30 minutes for a mere £500! http://www.liverpoolcathedral.org.uk/conte...s/TheOrgan.aspx

Just to be clear, this is a list of those entrants who have passed the elimination rounds and thus go forward to the quarter-finals, which take place at the Festival in July. There may well have been entrants from the UK. Whilst it is disappointing that there are to be no UK competitors at the festival, I think it tells us that the St Albans competition is still highly regarded around the world. Indeed, it may be that its profile is higher outside the UK than within.

Perhaps we should think of the voluntary as analogous to the flowers, and interrupting it to make an announcement as analogous to replacing them with a printed notice. Try it: nobody will complain. :

The extra note that most congregations insert before the last note of the third line of Adeste Fideles also seems to be impossible to eradicate.

Whether the voluntary is part of the service is an issue that often crops up when the subject of applauding is discussed. Those who think applause inappropriate (like myself) often argue that the voluntary is part of the service and, just as you wouldn't dream of applauding the priest for the way he delivered the collect or the epiclesis, neither should you applaud the organist's delivery of the voluntary. Most organists I know do indeed listen to the entire voluntary in silence when attending a service at which they are not playing. At York Minster, the voluntary may be a very substantial piece indeed (the Reubke for instance) and plenty of people sit in silence to appreciate it: unfortunately they tend to applaud at the end (grrrrrrrrrrrrr!). I seem to remember there are notices on the stalls asking the congo to leave in silence if they are not staying to listen to the voluntary!

I presume you think the same about a preacher who cleverly works a joke into his sermon.

I'm unclear about this. Will it become legal to photocopy the published editions or to publish them on the web?

Would I be correct in thinking his music will be out of copyright next year, given that he died in 1939? Do we think there's any chance of the scores becoming any cheaper? Unfortunately, there's no chance of them getting any easier to play!

Well the BBC website did have a page to launch the 2009 Proms, but with a link to the 2008 programmes! Can't say there's much to tempt me into the 400 mile round trip, and 03:30 arrival home afterwards. Shostakovich 8 might.

I agree with Paul that £3/hour is good value for a 52-stop, four manual Harrison in a heated church. As it happens, most of the people who avail themselves of the facility join the Friends of Music and get a 50% discount. There is an even lower rate for those who, in addition, regularly attend services. I have never seen any of the youngsters' names in the Practice Book, so I believe they get free use of the instrument. Unless you are prepared to practice in the dark, and see your way in and out by means of a torch, you do have to turn on about 3kW of unbelievably ghastly lighting (think street lamps). Bear in mind this is a church that at one time had a seating capacity of 2,200 - it isn't small. Unfortunately, Arthur Harrison's original specification (which I have in front of me) doesn't mention the blower. I seem to remember from other correspondence that it was something like 10A or 15A at 470V DC*. So the electricity consumption won't be trivial, though I doubt it would be more than £1/hour, including the lighting. The Halifax PC rate compares well with the £5/hour I was quoted some years ago for practice on a two-manual instrument of around twenty mediocre stops (but only enough wind for about ten) cobbled together from a variety of other instruments and located in an unheated building. Scarcely any of the pedal was working, and I found over 70 faults on the manuals. Nick * This motor never got installed. When Harrisons' men had been in Halifax for about a month, they discovered that the town was in the throes of being converted to alternating current. This was rather a problem, because the church wasn't scheduled to be switched over for some months. Bishop Frodsham, the vicar, had a temporary three-phase supply installed purely for the organ blower. Evidently, it ran some distance along the pavements before crossing the churchyard. Bishop Frodsham was a man used to getting what he wanted.

St Albans?

The case only goes to prove that architects should never be let loose on organ cases!

Indeed - this is one reason why I suggested on another thread that British organ builders may not be too badly hit by the recession. The combination of a taste for our style of instrument in the euro zone plus an advantageous exchange rate should be very helpful.

Gosh, that's just ... horrible. IMO

Perhaps Hope-Jones couldn't actually hear the top!