MusingMuso

============================= Pointing towards something isn't necessarily making a medical judgement, but in many ways, your own words point equally convincingly. "Darkness" on the one hand, and absolute "Joy" on the other, and all this when he was sober. I coudn't agree more about "Hallelujah" Gott zu Loben," and the proof was in the learning thereof, because I don't like practising at all. The real exception was learning this magnificent work, which I enjoyed from beginning to end.....very strange, for me. I don't like Liszt's organ works very much, whereas I would cross continents to hear a good Reubke. As for his "Christus," I think it is a scandal that he wasted so much paper. Still, each to their own, so to speak. I have to say, that possibly the worst Reger ever heard is that played by a certain American virtuoso of to-day, who follows the metronome markings of the massive B-A-C-H work to the letter, resulting in the most absurdly unmusical performance. MM

======================== Knowing what many musicians are like, I don't think that this would come as a shock as much as a surprise. Far more shocking perhaps, was Reger's industry, combined with what seems to have been a self-destructive personality. I don't like labels, but everything points towards the manic-depressive state, which we now call "bi-polar." That oscillation between fantastic energy and bouts of self-destructive despair has made many "great" movers, shakers and creative originals in this world, but having worked with someone like this, it was not without its problems. As any psychiatrists would testify, the links to drugs, drink and even suicide are often seen in those with substantial mental-health problems. It's all there in the music, in the case of Reger. I suspect that Reger was never a very happy man, yet someone like Stephen Fry, who is quite open about his bi-polar condition, always says that he wouldn't want to be any other way. MM

=============================== I knew Friedrich would respond to this! It must be ten years since he, a number of American organists and myself, (among others), discussed Reger and Karl Straube on piporg-l. I've just gone back to some of the comments, and a few interesting details emerge. The first is that Hindemith despised Straube's lack of rhythmic sense; though in fairness, that was a German romantic quality, which was often applied to the music of Bach. Straube played Reger's music slowly and majestically, so sight-reading was possibly less remarkable than we imagine it to be. Straube also took liberties with the score, and his own editions of Reger's works demonstrate considerable differences; perhaps more in the manner of both transcription and performing edition. As Friedrich reminds us, Reger's organ-music was written while he was sober, and it was only after this that things went severely down-hill, and because the two were separated by a considerable distance, Reger would not have been able to "run around the corner" to Straube, and get him to play his latest organ creation. When he did live "around the corner, from Karl Straube" he (Reger), had more or less stopped writing organ-music. So the truth or otherwise of the popular anecdote is severely open to question. That stated, Straube was known as "the maker of organists," and he clearly knew a thing or two about technique etc. Of course, looking back at what I've written, one must always be aware that Reger's metronome markings are far too fast, and the general concensus seems to be, that the music should be played at about 2/3 the indicated speed. MM

Gustav Leonhardt was really one of the great, towering intellectuals of the Netherlands early-music movement, which rapidly gained a world-wide reputation for the excellence of the musicology and the fine attention to detail in performance practice. The late Stephen Bicknell once described Netherlands organists as "impossibly intellectual," and in a way he was right, for nothing was left to chance and no stone was left unturned in the pursuit of that which was both convincing and authentic. Leonhardt was not without his critics, for he was often regarded as too cool and intellectual in his approach: something which he himself acknowledged in due course, but musical spontaneity would never be his principal attribute. Nevertheless, in his thorough research and unending quest for the authentic voice of early music, he would inspire many to follow that same path and become well equipped to follow their own musical instincts. It is not suprrisng that Gustav Leonhardt was important to the famous early-music scene in Boston and Harvard in the USA; one of the great world centres of early-music interpretation and scholarship. His legacy, I feel sure, will live on for a very long time, if only because so much of what he achieved was beyond reproach intellectually. Only a handful of such scholars ever exist in the world at any one time, and his passing is indeed a substantial loss both to world music and the Netherlands. MM

Musically, they do things differently in Bardowik, it would seem:- It seems that the bi-cycle-riding, klompen wearing musicians, are from the Netherlands! We might have known But at least they have an interesting organ:- MM

============================== A man after my own heart! When it comes to practice, I soon become bored and I'm easily diverted. I then get even more bored with the diversions, and decide that that which is least boring is more acceptable to me than that which is most boring. So with an almost manic intensity, I periodically "go bananas" and with fiendish intensity and energy, learn or re-learn something really difficult. I'd be no good in an orchestra, would i? It reminds me of the later Robert Andrews, when I commented about a forthcoming recital he had lined up. I said, "I didn't know that you played the Jongen." He replied, "Well I don't.....yet. If I don't put these things in the programme, I'll never get around to learning them." MM

========================================= Well I'll metion it, because when I learned this work, this was one small section which caused a few headaches, I can tell you. In the end, I just threw accepted technique to the wind and re-invented it. In the process, I think I discovered how Germani got that ultra-smooth sweep from the bottom of the pedal-board almost to the top. I can't really describe it, but it involves keeping the right foot pointing to the right, and using the heel where one would normally use the toe. The secret, I found, was that angling of the right foot, which then lands on exactly the right notes very comfortably, and makes for an ultra-smooth, accelerating flourish. It's one of those rare moments where you do something unique....perhaps bespoke.....which just happens to work better than accepted convention. Another work like this, is the "Lebhaft" Fugue in BACH by Schumann, which also caused me a few headaches, because in spite of the speed, there has to be enormous elasticity in the timing to bring out the passion of this extraordinary piece. I suffered learning these two bits of repertoire, I can tell you. MM

======================== Yes, but there are FIFTY ranks of pipes to choose from at Southampton! Unfortunately, I've never heard or played it, but I do know the organ at Hull City Hall rather well. MM

========================= I wasn't being hyper-critical, and I'm sure, (having read the reply), that there are perfectly sensible reasons for the update of the electro-mechanical relays and other components. I suppose, in an ideal world with unlimited budgets, exact copies or total re-engineering/re-winding of components would be possible and even desirable. This is why the amateur clubs and societies have such an advantage, because extra time doesn't mean money lost, and there are people who will painstakingly restore things just for the fun and challenge of it all. That is simply not possible at a commercial and professional level. Fortunately, there are quite a number of extant, working examples of Compton's electrical genius to satisfy the curiosity of future generations, but it's a pity that things have to change when there is no viable means of restoration. I'm sure that JohnR will appreciate that the art of John Comtpon was as much about electrical-engineering as it was about pipes and wind. At the very least, the Maida Vale Compton survives and will sound good for the forseeable future, which is the most important thing. It IS amazing to think that 11 ranks of pipes can be made to do so much, so well. That was the other side of the company's extraordinary genius. MM

============================ That should keep it jogging along for the next 25 years I expect! The original stuff is still functioning at Southampton, while in Bournemouth, it's still working after 80 years. MM

Just for the sake of accuracy, I stated that the lost Schulze organ was that of St Mark's, Doncaster, when in point of fact, it was Christ Church, Doncaster. The NPOR site gives further details. Apparently, it was the collapse of Binns, Fitton & Haley which was responsible, as I suspected. MM

I've known the organ I play in excess of 30 years, and NEVER have I known it to go out of tune as it has this winter. It was tuned last when the church was heated, and since then, the temperatures have been very mild for the most part, with the occasional dip of the thermometer. However, the entire tuning-slides seem to have taken a steady march south, and everything but everything is way out of tune; yet it is not a winding problem or anything. In desparation, I took my computer to church, hooked up my radio headphones and used a tuning programme (free), which I got over the internet. Now it isn't the easiest thing in the world to adjust the pitching to the cone-tuned pitch pipe, but in the event, it all worked out at A-440. Working alone, I layed the bearings, which isn;'t the easiest thing when all you have is a pair of ladders and a pencil to hold down the notes, but apart from the Mixture (4 rks) and the Sesquialtera (2 rks), it is now in good tune and my feet and legs are aching. Tomorrow the Mixture, which at the moment sounds about as attractive as a French organ uncared for since the 18th century. All this is the stuff of anecdote, but WHY has the organ gone so out of tune, in view of the mild winter? Does anyone have any idea? MM

========================= David Wood followed in the footsteps of his father Philip, and I don't recall what the actual connection was, but they were/are related to the people who owned the shop. What a story that tells! A once fine, but quite small music-shop in the city centre, where I bought a lot of my standard repertoire stuff, a very good organ collection in the record department, where I obtained some now very rare vinyl recordings and all sorts of useful things for the musician. The shop expanded into new premises, and in time, not only did they have the Ahlborn and Bradford Computing organ franschise, they also had REAL positive organs built, presumably, by the family firm. Not only that, they also developed the Early Music Shop, which occupied the floor above the main shop selling pianos and electronic organs, as well as brass and woodwind instruments etc. So it was quite a large concern, with many connections and a loyal client base. It says something about the decline of Bradford and the sort of professional musicians it once attracted, that a shop of this magnitude could first flourish, and then close down. In many ways, it was a similar sort of quality shop such as the old Rushworth & Dreaper business in Liverpool, or Banks of York. Wood, Wordsworth of Leeds, were quite separate and not at all related, so far as I know. The previous owner was Peter Wood, and the company is now based in Harrogate, trading in the style of Peter Wood & Sons, (Organ builders by appointment). I wasn't aware that there was more than one Anneseens, and I not that one of the builders of one of the Bradford instruments had a double barrelled name; perhaps suggesting another company from the Charles Annessens I had assumed it was. (More sleuthing necessary, methinks). I am aghast at the idea of administrators/insolvency practitioners locking the premises of an organ-builder, and claiming someone else's property as a part of the business. The Schulze organ which disappeared, didn't totally vanish. The organist of the church hot-footed it to Leeds and rescued at least one Diapason, which I believe went into whatever replacement organ they found. However, the rest of it seems to have vanished without trace. Thank you for reminding me about the Italian church at Clerkenwell. I was aware of it, but had forgotten the details. MM

====================== I'd buy Polish Tubas.....they seem to like them over there, and they sound good. MM

====================== I think the only Marshall Sykes re-build of their I ever played, was that of the old Hill organ at Eastbrook Hall, Bradford. The console was very Binns, Fitton & Haley in style, with lots of mahogony veneer and plastic. I don't know anything much about them beyond that. I just wonder if the collapse of Binns, Fitton & Haley was the one which caused the loss of an important Schulze instrument, which was being re-built at the time. (St Mark's, Doncaster). Just why the church couldn't get the organ back I have no idea, but what a tragic loss that was. MM

===================== Lest we see poor John Mander issued with civil-action, perhaps we might clarify the fact that David Wood, (of Huddersfield), was never involved with the scrapping of the Anneseens at Bradford. In fact, the company involved in the installation of the new (second-hand) Booth instrument, was the now defunct company of Wood, Wordsworth & Co., of Leeds, who of course did major re-builds at Leeds Town Hall, Leeds Parish Church and elsewhere prior to their demise. (This is how the 32ft Anneseens reed from St Mary's, Bradford, ended up at Leeds Town Hall; replacing the Gray & Davison 32ft free-reed). That put right, the Anneseens in Braford was one of two such instruments in the city; the other being in St.Joseph's Church, Bradford; an equally massive pile of stone, timber and slate with an equally huge acoustic. I don't know all the details or even recall the old organ at St Mary's, but I gather that it was some sort of exhibition organ, which an enthusiastic parish priest , possibly with Belgian connections, had installed at St Mary's. The 5th manual of this rather large instrument, was nothing more than a coupler manual, but the fact that it had a fifth manual made it fairly unique I suppose. Right from the start, the organ gave problems, possibly due to the early type of electro-pneumatic action utilised, which was covered by the Moel & Schmoll patent (Sp?). Moel, (for short), were an American/Belgian electrical company, and as an interesting aside, I stumbled across a cry for help from an American descendant of the Moel family, and he was overjoyed when I proved the Belgian connection, which is what he had been trying to find. Whatever the details, the organ fell into a parlous state quite quickly, and "old faithful," J J Binns, converted the organ to his patent pneumatic action, which I think entailed moving the console from one side of the chancel to the other. (I don't have the details to hand, but I seem to recall that there are details in NPOR). However, I don't think the build quality of the Anneseens was terribly good, and if it followed the example of other Anneseens organs, it probably used various "borrowings" from one department to another, but I have no proof of that. (This was the reason why certain Annessens organs used a common Choir/Great soundboard, as at Bridlington Priory. (Then the longest single windchest in Europe). St Joseph's was no better, but at least I do remember this organ. When it played, it sounded good, and the free-reed Clarinet was one of the most beautiful ranks I've ever heard. It's whereabouts are now unknown, since the organ was replaced by, (surprise, surprise), a re-built Binns organ. I can well understand the despair which many organ-builders must have felt, because tonally these two organs were very good, but structurally, they were a nightmare. Now didn't the Italian Church at Clerkenwood, London, have an Annessens instrument, and doesn't much of that instrument form part of the present instrument? I shall have to check this out, because it is probably ten or more years since I discussed Anneseens previously, but somewhere, there is something of interest. One thing I do know, is that quite a lot of the Annessens pipework at St Joseph's RC Bradford, was leaning at crazy angles, and the Tubas basses, (Tubasson) were folding in on themselves at the mitres. Some of the large flues were also collapsing at the feet. Apparently, Anneseens failed to use antimony in the pipe-metal, resulting in structural weakness, and if St Mary's was in a similar state to St Joseph's, I can entirely sympathise with what Wood, Wordsworth had to say about the instrument. With pots of money, it may have been possible to restore and repair these two instruments, but the cost would have been enormous, and in a city where a majority of Christian churches and chapels have closed or been converted to other use/religions, I suspect that there was neither the means nor the will. Indeed, the organ-history of Bradford is a very sad one, for all the major instruments other than the cathedral have been lost. In addition to the two big Anneseens instruments, there was a magnificent, (I am told) four-manual Abbott organ at St Mark's, the old mid-19th century William Hill at Eastbrook Chapel, (now in the Methodist Church, Cambridge), another 4-manual Hill somewhere, (I think in a Methodist Chapel), and numerous other instruments large and small, as well as a long-silent instrument at St George's Hall. Now, if they'd all been tracker-action.............. (the Abbott organ probably was). MM

I don't know of anyone listened to "The organist entertained" this week (Tuesday), but what a marvellous treat to hear Richard Hills put the restored organ of the Guildhall, Southampton through its paces; all taken from the new CD of that instrument. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wr9w If ever a performer "came of age" with a recording, Richard Hills has reached new heights of artistry with this release; all of which comes from the pens of British composers. The music in the programme ranges from Herbert Brewer's excellent and very tricky "Marche Heroique" and Edward Curzon's suite "Malaga," to music by Reginald Porter-Brown, (known as the organist with three hands), entitled "Cheeky Chappy." There is also a tribute to George Thalben-Ball in the form of his "Elegy", who was one of the organists who opened the big Compton organ at Southampton. However, never one to believe that the electrostatic Melotone ever made the slightest contribution to art, how marvellous to be proved completely wrong! In a delightful piece entitled "Girl from Corsica" by Trevor Duncan, the Melotone makes the most extraordinary, ethereal sound over and above the normal pipe sounds That Richard Hills can swap from classical organ-music to light-music with impunity, demonstrates a remarkable talent, and for me at least, this is a must buy recording; especially since this organ is one of the finest examples of John Compton's organ-building craft. MM

========================== Even I don't know what an English concert-organ is supposed to sound like. Willis? Norman & Beard? Harrison? Lewis? Taylor? Walker? Compton? They're all such different beasts. MM

====================== Well, judging by what they have done at Leeds RC Cathedral, I would suggest that they could make it VERY English in character. The Klais voicer spoke to me for some time, and he expressed his delight at having worked with English voicing/scaling for the first time, and he also suggested that he had learned a great deal in the process. I am impressed at the way Klais have managed to blend old and new at Leeds, where there is not the slightest mis-match. MM

Sorry Friderich! We enjoy our little jokes, which haven't quite got to the level of the BBC programme "Top Gear" filmed at the Nurburgring, or that wonderful comedy " 'allo 'allo." Actually, what would or could we play without German and French music? We would be reduced to the Elgar Sonata and the Willan "Introduction & Passacaglia," when we're not too busy playing jolly Tuba Tunes or Cornet Voluntaries. Reger may have had the manners of a pig, he may have been arrogant, a nationalist warmonger and a drunk, but then, so was my uncle. More Reger I say! That will sort out the best from the rest. MM

========================= That's Reger off the music-list then! MM

============================== I don't think Spitfires played much of a part over Berlin, any more than Meschershmitts did over Coventry. What a terrible mess the whole things was. I had to smile when they unveiled the new statue of "Bomber" Harris outside St Clement-Danes church, (the RAF church). One of the daily's had a delightful cartoon, which showed the ceremony taking place, everyone saluting, and a flock of pigeons dropping "bombs" on the statue! Having checked, I think my own suggestion about Reger was the result of previous mis-information, because again, his variations on "God save the King" substantially pre-dates any outbreak of hostilities. So it's OK, we can play Karg-Elert and Reger again! MM

====================== Something lurks in the back of my mind! Could it have been Reger who did something like this? Never mind, it wouldn't have been half as exciting as Walton's "Spitfire Prelude & Fugue," which is one of the few really great pieces of British music. MM

========================= Ah,right! I didn't fair too badly from memory. I knew that there were several Booth emporiums, including one which had nothing to do with the others. That must have been Booth of Leeds; not to be confused with the pipemakers of the same name. I played the Bingley organ by Booth & Schulze, and although it wasn't your typical Schulze, it had a good, solid Great chorus and some exquisite flutes and strings. The Bradford organ, at St Mary's, is possibly the last remaining example which has more than a passing resemblance to Schulze at close quarters. I say this, because the church (now sadly closed), is immense, and once housed the 5-manual Annessens instrument, (opened by Jaques Lemmens), which proved to be very troublesome. This was the instrument with the unique "Ocarina" stop. The replacement Booth organ from Cleckheaton was only ever voiced for a large, but not immense building; possibly half the capacity of St Mary's RC church. Get someone to play and then listen in the chancel, (the console is in the huge nave), and it is a magnificent sound, with some very bold chorus-work indeed. I last played it for a funeral about ten years ago. Unfortunately, it was only in the very final years of the church that everything worked as it should, and it must have been a great source of sadness to the late Mr Hanson, (the last organist of the church when it closed), who had poured a large amount of his own money into mending the instrument. If ever an instrument deserves to be rescued, this is one that certainly does, but as it stands, it would require something bigger than a garden-shed; the instrument filling a 32ft high space, and so far as I know. built vertically with the Tuba on top of the Swell Box right at the top of the organ. The casework, (very 19th century Belgian in design), is a glorious affair, with a full 16ft Double Open contained within it. I've never heard of the Marshall Brothers, unless this is the same company which became Marshall & Sykes of Leeds. MM

======================== Excellent! I think my friend Khanahia must have sent them. How on earth you found this photo I cannot imagine. MM