Paul Morley
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Posts posted by Paul Morley
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The sequence was actually shot at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire. But is this instrument really present, or is its case a victim of excessive computer graphics?
Looks to me like a digitally enhanced pic. of Birmingham TH.
How appropriate that servants of the Dark Lord should have an organ in their dining room
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There are some wonderful typos in the reviews, presumably as a result of OCR. Thanks for the link.
M
http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/April...+Gluttons+house.
Cecil who?
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... why is it that harmoniums and American organs are not regarded as the automatic second choice, being (as they indisputably are) at least the equal of the electronic in terms of maintenance, cheapness, compactness and longevity?
Because they don't provide organ enthusiasts (as opposed to organ playing musicians) with lots of sound effects and flashing lights?
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It's easy to mock, but this is right up there with the finest of the First world war poets, namely Pte. Baldrick. Indeed, this hymn could even BE from his oeuvre. Whilst it breaks new ground in terms of metre, in other respects the stark, minimalist hallmarks are there: consider the classic "Wartime guns":
Boom, boom, boom, boom,
Boom, boom, boom!
Boom, boom, boom, boom...
...how his superior, Capt. Blackadder, was able to predict how the second stanza concluded is anybody's guess.
When considering the attempts of some clergy and musicians to reach out to disaffected teenagers by bombarding them with 70s folk music pastiche, the good captain may well have observed,
'But the plan had one flaw....'
I'm sure that you can fill in the rest.
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Please tell me you are joking....
I know that beauty is in the ear ( in this case) of the beholder, but Birmingham and Derby.... ?
Will explain in due course....poorly small children occupying me at the moment.
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How about:
Best - St Chad's RC, Birmingham
Second best - York
Third best - Derby (west end)
?
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...would have to play the mush inferior electronic style instruments
presumably, MM this was not a typo
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I thought that Huw Edwards was very unobtrusive during the ceremony - as one would have hoped that a musician would have been.
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I think that we should be careful using the longevity argument when discussing pipe v digital. As I type, I am listening to Bruckner IV recorded on a twenty year old CD, through an amplifier and speakers which date from 1984 (21st birthday present from my parents). The sound is PDG. Yesterday, I played for a funeral on an Allen dating from 1992. It sounds (at least to my ears) nether better nor worse than it did 19 years ago, and has had only two components replaced over this period.
There are compelling musical (and in many cases, sound economic) arguments for establishments which require an organ having a real one rather than a substitute. I tend to think, however, that there is a risk of undermining these arguments by making criticisms of pipeless instruments that might be considered a bit dubious.
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It should be remembered that the incumbent of this parish (an occasional contributor to this board) is a Music graduate and an accomplished organist. If this instrument is to replaced, then it is safe to assume that there are musical as well as economic reasons for doing so.
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Now, Alan Parsons Project, anyone?
P
Definitely...though it's arguable his production of 'Dark side of the Moon' remains his finest hour.
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If you can turn your Choir into a proper, unenclosed Positive then that would be a different matter!
In most cases, what you are actually left with is a sort of Brustwerk - although generally (owing to most positivisers insistence on removing swell boxes/shutters) without any means of adjusting the volume of mf/f registrations to balance singers/other instruments.
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I've used Rutter edition on the last three occasions that I've accompanied the Faure (my copy is now liberally annotated with references to page numbers and rehearsal figures from the Novello edition). I have always engaged the services of a page turner with sufficient keyboard skills to add some of the music on the additional staves. Some may see this as cheating, but I would ague that it's a perfectly legitimate way of realising an orchestral reduction.
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Rock-steady wind to some ears (including mine) is just that bit unnatural...I am not advocating 'unsteady wind'..merely wind that has a natural give-and-take to it.
I'm sure that capable and knowledgeable organ builders and players are familiar with Stravinsky's description of the organ as 'the monster that never breathes'.
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Bass Quint - the villain in "The Turn of the Screw".
Howlflute - the villain in "The Turn of the Screw" as sung by the person for whom the role was created.
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Deleted.
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Do any of our German friends feel like raising some money to have this organ bought and returned to Germany. I think its present 'custodians' might just go for that!!
I would certainly never bet the farm on the custodians of an unwanted organ being willing to let it go to a good home. I can think of an occasion (though I’d better not name names), where a very reasonable offer by a serious bidder for a first rate (HOC Grade 1) but derelict (though restorable) instrument was refused by the church authorities on the grounds that they wished to sell it ‘as new’ in order to finance the re-ordering programme that its removal would make possible. I'm sure other board members will have had similar experiences.
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I was told only yesterday of an instance of a call-out for a fault: "The (mechanical) swell box isn't working!". An electrician had run a cable right across the swell front, cable-clipping it to each shutter in turn. SOLID!
DW
What's the betting that when the organist explained this situation to the church authorities, (s)he received a response something along the lines of,
''But we can't afford to have the electricians back. Do you really need to use the swell pedal?"
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Exactly what sort of an organ-building firm considers lead (or, probably more exactly in this case, pipe metal) to be hazardous waste?
I wonder how long it will be before we see serviceable pipe organs being scrapped on spurious health & safety grounds?
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It is a matter of personal regret to me that I never heard, let alone played, the Collins Brasenose organ. If I'd had access to the regal, I would have been tempted to play really early stuff on it, eg that Estampie in the Oxford Medieval Collection from the Rebertsbridge MS. Is the consensus that it was bad even for a regal?
It was bad even for the music of Peter Maxwell Davies
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QUOTE (Heckelphone @ Oct 30 2010, 09:59 PM)
The [brasenose] organ was basically not working in the late 80s when I first knew it and by the mid 90s was an absolute liability...with that dreadful farting duck perma-Regal manual speaking unbidden whenever you put a hymn book on the music desk or sat on the bench.
This, OTOH, is perfectly fair comment. I don't believe I ever heard anybody use it either in a service or a recital.
I HAVE!! I gave a recital at BNC 1985 ish and used the Regalmanuel in the Maxwell Davies '3 Organ Voluntaries'. I've played neither this organ nor these pieces since, and have not missed either.
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How about a statement of faith, such as JSB 'Wir glauben' - assuming that your new priest is reasonably theologically orthodox and does believe in God...
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It IS dedicated to Walford Davies!
The fact that HWD was the dedicatee is not necessarily inconsistent with the Elegy being a parody of Solemn Melody. According to Jonathan Rennert's biography of GTB, and other sources, working relationship between the two was far from easy.
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Isn't the whole thing on train tracks?
Oh, I do hope that it is...a synthesis of railway locomotive and pipe organ
Desert Island Discs
in General discussion
Posted
Britten - War Requiem
JSB - Mass in B minor
Vaughan Williams - Symphony V (or possibly VI)
Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring
Messiaen - L'ascension
Brahms - Piano Concerto no. 1
Beatles - Greatest Hits
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue