john carter
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Posts posted by john carter
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... it is not impossible to find 1,000+ people for a major recital. I've only ever seen that once in the UK, at Exeter Cathedral many moons ago.
Then you weren't at the recitals at the RFH just before it was ripped apart. Excellent evenings with the likes of Marie-Claire Alain, Thomas Trotter, Olivier Latry, David Sanger. All were well attended, but it's interesting to note that it was a predominantly male audience. In a good venue, with excellent artistes there is no need of razzmatazz, people will and do come.
JC
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... a month ago after an excellent performance a super organist with only a small audience, bowed embarrassedly with little panache doing little to engage with the appreciation of his audience.
I'm sorry, you've hit my grumpy piston again! Who cares whether he bowed embarrassedly with little panache? Not everyone can be as "in your face" as you seem to want them to be; not everyone can be like you. If it was great music, then the performer will have given something special to that small audience and for me that is quite good enough. As good as going to a tiny restaurant and enjoying wonderful food, personally cooked with a quality that would be lost if it was served to a hundred. Sometimes, small is beautiful and sometimes it is quiet people who achieve the most.
JC
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I'm mighty relieved that no-one has asked how to promote the Bassoon. The organ is a somewhat lesser challenge I suspect.
From what I remember of my encounter with Archie Camden in the early 1950s, it is perfectly possible to enthuse young people about the Bassoon, when you get a charismatic player to promote it in schools. That experience should show us that it is the personality of the person who promotes the organ, and their understanding of children, that is the key to success.
JC
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The 'Porsche' console looks beautiful, ergonomically pleasing and very comfortable. I look forward to watching Jeremy Clarkson test-drive it on the new season's Top Gear.
Perhaps with Barbara Dennerlein as the "star in the reasonably priced car"?
JC
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http://orgue.free.fr/a6o2.html appears to have a récit similar to the early Ste Clotilde. So if Olivier Glandaz is correct in saying that it is totally original ACC voicing, perhaps it is a good source of reference for the sound of Franck's organ.
JC
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How aboutthen.
AJJ
It looks like a great deal of effort to achieve something much better done by an orchestra. I'm sorry, Not my cup of tea.
JC
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I don't know what I would describe as art; I'm not clever enough.
MM
I disagree. You have described and linked to performances from Haarlem in the past that show quite stunning artistry. Alain at St. Bavo comes to mind. I don't dislike Barbara Dennerlein, in fact I think she's great, but not in the class of some of those performers you have introduced us to in the past.
JC
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Unkind though it may be to contradict you, John, or spoil Pierre's vicarious enjoyment, I feel obliged to report that a few years ago in a spruce-up operation carried out by Ellis Scothon, the Great at St.George's Cathedral Southwark became formally unenclosed. It all sounds very good indeed now. There are still unusually few ranks for a cathedral organ, but this Compton is great fun for all that!
Thanks Paul, I hadn't realised that Ellis Scothon's work had included such a major change. It would be interesting to know how much it was necessary to change the voicing in consequence.
JC
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Nice one, Vox. An organ with a Dulciana chorus and Tubas - it must be Pierre's birthday! It's also interesting in having an enclosed GO, like the organ I grew up with. A very flexible arrangement.
JC
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I don't want to harp on about Barbara Dennerlein, but at least she is unique, extremely able and rather rivetting entertainment. Like it or loathe it, her art (which is what it is), has much to teach us.
I don't want to drone on either. I agree Barbara Dennerlein is entertaining and attractive, but hardly unique. I admire her skill, but I think to describe it as art is going a step too far.
JC
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A good belgian Duvel for the one who gives us
a definition of "insipid"...
http://www.duvel.be/pages/Main.aspx?cultur...vel/introductie
Pierre
You might describe a Duvel beer as "Sapid", that is having a strong, pleasant taste. "Insipid" is the opposite. In my view, the Dulciana has a gentle, pleasant taste. My own Dulciana Celeste is so gentle it can almost disappear when the swell box is closed at moments such as the end of Le Banquet Celeste, which I played after the inspiration of heva's Messiaen link yesterday.
JC
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Very sorry. No offence intended and I'll curl up and go away.
Dear David,
I'm sure we don't want you to go away, just draw the Bourdon Doux rather than the Ophicleide occasionally. We have received and understood your message.
Returning to the topic, you seem to overlook the fact that there are some very fine, young, home-grown performers who contribute to this board. To suggest that Arts Council funding should be used to finance entertainers from overseas does offend me, particularly with the current pressure on arts budgets.
JC
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I should add for the sake of those who are offended by the sidetracking of forum threads that it can be highly amusing when organist, congregation, clergy and choir all have divergent views on end of line pauses in hymns.
And, rather inappropriately amusing, last Good Friday when it transpired during the first hymn that one of the visiting choirs was singing from a different hymn book, containing an additional verse. Both choirmasters blamed the clergyman, who then went totally to pieces and muddled up the order of service. With a major failure of the pedal division half an hour before the start, it was what you might call "one of those days". Nevertheless, the combined will of everyone concerned made sure the service was a memorable occasion for all the right reasons.
JC
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Anyway, I hope that this thread might continue not on the intricacies of Hammonds - which could be covered on the toaster or the house organ threads but on the possibilities of discussing getting Barbara Dennerlein over for a concert tour. Spottedmetal
I'm afraid the way in which threads develop in this forum is down to the contributors, not your personal preference. It is part of the charm of the site. I get the impression with your many zealous postings that you wish to dominate this forum with your ideas. I know that I and some other regular contributors are beginning to find it a bit tiresome.
John Carter (one of the stuffy generation)
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You are welcome to Barbara Dennerlein; to me this demonstrates what the organ is really about. I could listen to it all night. Thank you Hennie!
John C
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If this is a suitable place to do so, I would like to express my thanks to Mr. Mander and his colleagues for their continued support of this excellent board.
Hear, hear! A very smooth transition to the new server as well. Many thanks.
JC
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What appeals is that the Organ is the only instrument to have the frequencies to shake the floor, which is just what the young generation are looking for!
In the words of a well known tennis professional, "You can't be serious, man!"
JC
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However, that's not the point - in order to save the organ we really do have to go out of our way to provide FUN on a scale to compete with the competition that the young generation expect.
Because of distractions, I have taken some time to write this reply, so my apologies if I am repeating comments already made by others...
Reading your posts, I wonder if you are embarking on an event that is YOUR idea of fun rather than theirs. I required no persuasion or attractive events to stimulate my life long interest in the organ, I found it for myself and through performers I considered "cool". Young people similarly will find their own musical interests, we can't do it for them.
I wish I could be more positive, but the organ is seen in the same light as the brass band and the tea dance and I don't think there is anything we can do about it, even with pyrotechnic support. Unless the Kaiser Chiefs or the Arctic Monkeys raise a storm on the RAH organ, I'm afraid it will remain an instrument that belongs to an earlier generation.
What we must do, however, is to give every encouragement to those kids who do take an interest and accept the risk that they might do things with the instrument that we don't like, while they are on the road to enlightenment.
JC
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Not everything the BBC does on radio is poor. Totally by chance I happened upon a half hour programme yesterday lunchtime on Radio 4 dedicated to Tallis's 4-part Motet 'Spem in alium'. It was superb.
Only four parts eh! Perhaps a special BBC cheap version?
I agree, an excellent programme that I also caught by chance rather than intention.
JC
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Has anyone heard works by Thierry Escaich? I've only heard a couple, on a disc from S. Etienne-du-Mont in Paris played by Vincent Warnier, but they are superb - modern, unapologetic, but very focussed and hugely satisfying. (They are 'Eaux natales' and 'Vers l'espérance' from 'Poèmes', for those taking notes.) I've sought more on disc, but without success thus far. I wonder about the technical standard needed to carry them off, but I'd love to play the two movements mentioned as voluntaries, and I wonder about the reaction.
Wow! You must have a very sophisticated congregation if you believe they would appreciate those pieces as voluntaries. I agree they are superb but, without having seen the score, I suspect they are quite difficult. Of all the performances on this disc though, the Alain 2ème Fantaisie is the one that moves me most. Absolutely heart-rending.
JC
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Well, quite. In any case, I have no idea why I bother, since I can iron about as well as I can hang wallpaper; so the shirt will almost certainly still look as though I had slept in it.
Watch out! Mr. Balls might read this and add ironing as well as cooking to the National Curriculum. I wonder which subjects will lose out as a result of this latest initiative?
JC
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Best of luck with this. It's a tremendous piece - arguably even better than the Trois danses. It's also not at all easy; it's one of those pieces I took a look at and immediately filed back on the shelf in the "when I want a challenge" section! Of course I shall never get around to it.
I would also recommend listening to a recording, specifically Marie-Claire Alain's version from Saint-Christoph, Belfort, in the complete works on the Erato label. Wonderfully scintillating playing in the scherzo which really captures its fierce energy and drive - not everyone manages this.
Although I favour the Belfort recordings in many ways, I think Madame Alain's later recording of the Suite at Saint-Ferjeux, Besançon reveals the structure of the work more clearly. I wouldn't agree that Suite is better than the Trois danses, which never fail to send shivers down my spine.
JC
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I've still got my copy from my school days (sorry WGS - London N12) - I still use it quite a lot too.
AJJ
I eventually returned mine to its home (NW4) but often wish I still had it my possession.
JC
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Does anyone have the previous specification, please? The NPOR jumps a few rebuilds, so it does not list the former incarnation.
There is information that fills some of the gaps on the Derby and District Organists'Association website: http://www.derbyorganists.co.uk/month.html
JC
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I suspect that there are others who understand it better than me, but from what I can tell it depends on whether your IP address has changed between visits. Since I changed to a router that is "always on", I don't have to log in each time.
JC