john carter

I agree, this is difficult, but my choices today are the recordings that first got me hooked: (In random order) Widor Symphonie Gothique, Marcel Dupré, St Sulpice Vierne Symphonies, Pierre Cochereau, ND Paris Franck Chorals, Fernando Germani, Selby Abbey Complete Bach, original Archiv recordings, Helmut Walcha and just to throw in something less predictable: Alain, Duruflé etc, St Etienne du Mont, Vincent Warnier To my ears, a young genius at work. JC

May I add my thanks to those posted so far. I have missed the wit and wisdom of my fellow contributors! JC

Everything is possible and there is no reason why you couldn't get excellent results, but I have a few concerns. If it does go wrong, and you are away on holiday, who is going to support it? With proprietary instruments there is generally backup available. Second, I suggest you look at the licence conditions on the OrganART Media website. It may be that others are less restrictive, but it is not clear what the cost might be if you are to be permitted freedom for public performance or publishing recordings. Finally, it is worth adding up the overall cost of very high specification computer/s, software and interface development as well as the cost of installation, amplification, loudspeakers and console adaptation. It may not prove to be a significantly cheaper option. JC

Indeed! I wish a certain participant to this forum would realise that we are aware of his or her presence and don't need to be reminded in large blue text.

You are quite right David. I remember the bassoon player Archie Camden inspiring me when I was at Junior school. He showed that it could be fun being an instrumental player. Today I would perhaps look to somebody like Howard Goodall. JC

Well, if you are of bus-pass age like me, then the first of your examples is certainly relevant. At the age of twenty, I listened to the recordings of Albert Schweitzer and frankly couldn't understand what merit anybody saw in his performances, but as I grew up I began to appreciate the human being behind the music. I suppose just in the same way I can appreciate a fine wine or the scent of a beautiful rose more now than when I was young. I'm not so sure about the GTB D minor fugue. It doesn't reach the parts that Fr. van Tricht did. In fact it reminds me of somebody frantically trying to fit their performance into one side of a 78 rpm disc. Authenticity has its place, but so does the art of making music to reach the soul. JC

The problem could be like the one at the Church I attend - a lack of organ! On the basis that "You can't get stand-in organists", we have to manage with a piano. There is also a ghastly hymn machine that makes noises appropriate for Halloween, but I have used my light sabre to deal with that and it now skulks unloved and unwanted behind a curtain. Life is full of compromises and a digital organ, while less desirable than a pipe organ, is not necessarily unmusical. Supreme Chancellor

While we would all like to support UK organ builders in projects such as this, in these days of free trade it is normal for tenders to be invited by advertisement in the Journal of the European Union. Then it comes down to who can meet the specified requirements for the lowest tender. In my professional career, I sometimes had to go with suppliers I would not have chosen, but who could demonstrate they were competent enough and offered good value for public money. Sadly it is not always the purchaser or consultant's choice that wins. JC

One of my earliest DIY jobs was to install a pilot light where you could see it from the exit door. It saved the climb back into the loft a number of times. JC

If a member of your string trio is sick or get's stuck in traffic, you just have to use your initiative and work your way round it. Working with registrants is a team effort in just the same way. However I was once asked, by an organist I was assisting, not to sigh so deeply every time he played a bum note! I hadn't realised I was doing so. JC

Well, who would have thought it. Alain at Alkmaar. Brought tears to my eyes. Blimey! JC

I don’t know what it is but, apart from those passages in Franck where it is specified, I never think of using a Tremulant. It always seems to evoke the sweet scent of peppermint rock and candyfloss, perhaps brought on by too much time at Blackpool Tower in my youth. Yet at a recent recital, the organist used the device with such good judgment and taste I began to think I was missing something. In what circumstances do others choose to use or steer clear of the Tremulant? Is there a cure for Tremolophobia? JC

I think that is they key phrase in these notes. Too fast and the whole thing becomes a fog rather than a tornado. JC

Indeed, Erato Ultima 3984-26996-2. In some ways, I prefer it to her later recordings. JC

One aspect that was touched on in an earlier post but is often neglected is for the performer to talk to the audience about the music that he or she is playing. For so many recitals, even the programme is not published in advance. You turn up, find the duplicated list of items, sit and listen, applaud and go home, sometimes none the wiser about the music or its creator. If organists wish to introduce unfamiliar and more "challenging" pieces, they should at least give the audience some background as to why they thought it was worthy of inclusion in the programme. It also gives the audience the chance to see the performer's face rather than the back of his head and perhaps learn more about that person than is often the case. JC

That has just brightened up my morning... and the sun has just come out as well! JC

Perhaps stop keys and the horseshoe layout have some advantages over drawstops when it comes to hand registration. You need to be fairly careful with second touch cancelling though - add the Fifteenth a bit clumsily and whoops that's all you've got... JC

A very fine French wine, I hope! Anyway, I'm glad you started on the subject, it's most interesting. JC

An excellent choice heva! I could certainly live happily with that one.

On the subject of the Reubke sonata, I'd appreciate recommendations for CDs of this work that are currently available. I think I must have thrown out my old LP version and not replaced it. JC

I admit I have only heard recordings produced using Hauptwerk and some, not all of them, are very good. However I am always wary of a sales pitch that claims this is the next best thing to a pipe organ - it isn't. Nor am I sure that I want all the blower noise, action noise and wind fluctuation just to make it sound more "authentic". The technology is in danger of becoming more important than the music. JC

Yes DHM, I listened to the demo and it is excellent - CD quality. I think that says it all. If I have a string quartet playing in my living room and they stop and put on a CD instead, I can hear the difference from anywhere in the house. I'm not questioning the quality of Hauptwerk or the fine engineering and artistry behind the demo, but I suspect that the total cost of Brett Milan's demo system is not far short of a top of the range purpose built electronic organ and that both are capable of making fine music. However, both remain electronic organs. JC

I'm sorry, Hauptwerk is an electronic organ like any other digitally sampled organ that combines the sounds and amplifies them to a loudspeaker system. That is where the shortcomings appear, not in the recorded samples, some of which are very attractive and authentic. Now if every sample had its own amplifier and loudspeaker, then we might be talking about another ball game, but it is exaggeration to claim that Hauptwerk is capable of reproducing organ sounds significantly better than other professional electronic instruments. As I have written before, let's not forget that it is the music that matters most. JC

Very good pcnd, I enjoyed listening to these extracts. I think it's courageous of you to make these recordings available knowing how hyper-critical some of the contributors can be! The acoustic might not be very helpful in some ways, but it does bring clarity to the Mendelssohn which, in my experience, can easily become too thick. With such an unforgiving acoustic you certainly have to be accurate and this is a first class performance. Personally, I find the chamade a bit strong, especially in the second ff section, but it's impossible to judge on one mp3 extract. I'm not familiar with Widor's second, but this movement sounds quite delightful. JC