Richard McVeigh
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Posts posted by Richard McVeigh
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Of course Dr Jackson should be knighted. I can only assume that the oversight is due to some philistine honours committee in Whitehall either not having the foggiest idea what an organ is, or labouring under the impression that the only piece organists ever play is the Wedding March. After all, they're perfectly happy to nominate their own for being incalculably less use to society.
Queen Victoria seemed to like knighting organists:
George Elvey (1871)
Robert Stewart (1872)
John Goss (1872)
John Stainer (1888)
Joseph Barnby (1892)
Walter Parratt (1892)
George C Martin (1897)
Frederick Bridge (1897)
Hubert Parry (1898) - though he wasn't really knighted for being an organist, any more than Elgar was
[Frederick Ouseley inherited his knighthood.]
That 36-year cluster, dating from the time the church was held in some repute, compares rather well with the record in the 110 years since Victoria's death:
Ivor Atkins (1921)
Walford Davies (1922)
Richard Terry (1922)
Herbert Brewer (1926)
Edward Bairstow (1932)
Walter Alcock (1933)
Sydney Nicholson (1938)
Stanley Marchant (1943)
Ernest Bullock (1951)
William McKie (1953)
William Harris (1954)
David Willcocks (1977)
George Thalben-Ball (1982)
Who have I missed?
Sir David Lumsden (1985)
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For me, the one disappointment was the opening piece; the Allegro from the 6th Symphony of Widor. My disappointment had nothing to do with the excellent performance, but more to do with the acoustic and the fact that I last heard this at the Bavokerk, Haarlem, where I was particularly struck by the excellence of the counterpoint: something I'd never really noticed previously. All that just vanished in a cloud of sound at York, which is a pity, because this is possibly the best bit of organ-music Widor ever wrote.
I'm surprised you say this, as by the sounds of it you were sat in the quire and I've always found the organ very clear when sitting east of it as it speaks so well into the quire. The clarity is lost once you get into the nave...?
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Amongst the organists of his generation, Bairstow must surely have taken some beating!
Just look at how hard his Sonata is
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I can't believe that this list was edited. How utterly RIDICULOUS - I mean, why?? Can anyone tell me why on earth some people think that only the notable people should stay on the list? The whole list is a fascinating guide as to who was where, no matter how notable they may be. I'm sorry, that made me really cross as there is absolutely no reason what so ever for editing it. Surely the amount of contributions from various people just goes to show how non-pointless it is.
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Not too sure about Assistant Organists, but how about these:
List of organ scholars at British cathedrals and parish churches
List of organ scholars at British universities and colleges
Also, some cathedral articles on Wikipedia have lists of their organists, eg:
infact, most of them seem to...
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The accompanist was John Scott who, using the same chant, later totally butchered the Psalm with his awful pointing in the new St Paul's book.
Malcolm
I'm sorry to quote you on this, but in my opinion I think that you are wrong in saying that about the St Paul's Psalter. I do rather enjoy psalms and, depending on what mood I'm in, sometimes think the psalm(s) are the best part of the liturgy. I'm almost (but not quite) embarrassed to say that I have the complete Priory, complete Hyperion (St Paul's), King's Cambridge, Westminster Abbey and John's Cambridge recordings of the psalms - particularly to hear different interpretations of such familiar texts.
I hope you don't mind me doing so, but I pick you up on your point for two reasons:
- Wouldn't it be awfully boring if every choir did the same pointing;
- Quick moving harmony doesn't work in an acoustic like St Paul's.
If you look closely at the St Paul's Psalter (or listen to the recordings if you don't have the Psalter to hand) you'll notice that John Scott stretches out the bars of the chant within the line of the text so that the same chord is held for longer, for example:
11. Tush say they * | how should · God per- | ceive it :
whereas somewhere like Winchester Cathedral sing
11. Tush say they * how should | God per- | ceive it :
As I'm sure you're aware, the strong syllable of the word needs to come at the beginning of the bar, and therefore John needed to find the next best word to change on earlier in the line, if you see what I mean.
Also, the tempi at which the St Paul's Psalter was recorded makes the pointing work, whereas if a choir sang the same pointing at speech rhythm the pointing wouldn't make any sense.
Lets not forget that the St Paul's Psalter was written for use in the liturgy in the Cathedral, and not specifically for the Hyperion recordings where the microphones are only a few feet away from the choir. People attending a service in St Paul's are often at a long distance from the choir and therefore if the conductor isn't careful with his choice of tempi the words can easily get lost in the acoustic. The words are meant to be heard by all, not just by those who got there early enough to be sitting near the choir stalls.
The sheer amount of word painting from the organ, the famous St Paul's acoustics, the clarity of the words, the beautiful choice of chants, the vast amount of drama gained from the huge amount of dynamics and different speeds dependent on the mood of a particular psalm, and the fantastic ensemble makes this complete recording of the psalms by John Scott one of the best on the market in my opinion, and the 12 discs take a proud place on my iPod.
Love it or hate it, I think these recordings deserve to be heard by all.
- Wouldn't it be awfully boring if every choir did the same pointing;
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The recording engineers hung the microphones from the central tower, therefore getting a rather unbalanced sound of the organ. Buy the new DVD that JSW recently did as the organ sounds fantastic on it.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5Z8goeFzzQ...feature=related
...of James Lancelot at St. Sulpice (with Daniel Roth assisting and advising - look out at 5.18!), is great!
P
Fantasic! All from memory aswell!
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Incidentally, in the programme notes it mentions that the new Cymbelstern (featured in the Mushel) is electronic! Does that mean that York Minster is now a hybrid instrument?!
Depends on what it means by 'electric', its certianly not a speaker if thats what you mean? I took some pictures of it before I became a southerner...
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Thank you very much! It was acutally my new boss who pointed me in the direction of this thread. I find score reading the most essential skill to have when working with a choir. I remember at York being asked/told to accompany Lassus' Missa Bell' Amfitrit' altera 5 minutes before the Eucharist, and thinking that I was glad that I could actually do that sort of stuff. Not overly sure how important it is to be able to sight read difficult chromatic organ pieces though!
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Ah, here it is!
I've had the chance this evening to watch parts of it, and I think it is well worth buying. The playing was admirable and Richard McVeigh's page-turning excellent!
Now can we have the one from King's, please. (This guy's never satisfied!)
How much of me can you see?? I haven't seen this yet...! As for the Regent recording, I actually play a few notes in the Dupre, I wonder if you can tell which ones. I also haven't heard this recording yet, but its a good programme of some unknown stuff, and the Cochereau Symphonie which John transcribed is definatlely worth hearing.
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Gosh, that was fast...
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This year there are two sets of Recitals, one to include the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen, and the others are normal Saturday evening recitals. Details are below:
Hope to see you there!
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And so the organ emerges from the scaffolding at last. Check out these latest pictures of the new organ....
A
Looks brilliant! Hoping to make it for Thomas Trotter's recital. Is it in full working order now?
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Per the on-line Winchester Cathedral newsletter for July, many congratulations to Richard McVeigh on his appointment as Assistant Organist, starting in September. Surely there can be few cathedrals that provide such a wonderful repertoire and standard of music in such a beautiful setting both inside and outside the cathedral? At least two very good pubs very near the Cathedral.
There (I don't mean in the pubs!!) he will encounter my own singing teacher, Hilary Llysten Jones, who is a wonderful mentor and inspiration to choirmasters on the subject of vocal techqnique for both adults and children. In two years of private lessons with her I have learned an incredible amount and she has made several visits to Brighton to work with my own choir.
Malcolm Kemp
Ohhh, thank you! Only just seen this post. Very excited about the move. Will miss York though...
Surely one of the pubs you mention is the Wykeham Arms? Already been there, and tasted some very tasty Cottage Pie! Apprently they sell sausages...?
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Symphonie en Improvisation (1963) transcribed by John Scott Whiteley
- published by Chantraine
Sortie sur Hæc Dies (1975) transcribed by François Lombard
- published by Chantraine
...there are quite a few transcriptions.
edit - just found this link http://www.ohscatalog.org/cochereau.html
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Thank you, have just set my DVD recorder to record it from freeview onto its hard drive.
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News is what we need! At any rate this should soon be forthcoming from the following places: Truro, St. Albans, Southwell, Carlisle, All Saint's Margaret Street, etc, etc
Southwell, Carlisle, Truro and St. Alban's have all appointed now, official announcements should follow soon.
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I played this before evensong on Saturday, its lovely.
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The Dean of York announced this Sunday that from September 2008, Robert Sharpe from Truro Cathedral will become the next Director of Music at York Minster. Many congratulations to him and his family.
Philip Moore - Sonata for Organ
in The Organ
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Ring Banks Music in York, they always used to have a copy. It's published by Banks Music aswell, if I remember correctly.