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andyorgan

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Posts posted by andyorgan

  1. I'm not sure where I stand on historicity at all costs. I think that, this week, it's something like this - how dare any one of us attempt to modify, add to or discard anything to, of or from an existing organ without having taken every possible care to understand, restore and respect the original aspects of the work first, however flawed first opinion might suggest it is.

     

    I was going to join in this discussion yesterday, about regardless of how helpful, constructive and well thought through the advice of the local organ adviser is (of which we had two when there was a change of personnel) and how much the church/organist and congregation agree with the said advice, when you are ready tomove forward, you come across a really unmovable organisation with little regard for the needs of the parish concerned, I am not going to mention them by name. However, Heckelphone has done the job for me and his quote above is, I believe, the motto for the said organisation. I would go further and say that there is scant regard for how flawed the original design for an organ may have been.

  2. I don't want to burst anyone's bubble here, especially as I am a big Sibelius fan, but it's not regarded as the 'best' nonation programme by many in the industry. That honour falls to Score. It held domination for a long time, especially as it was a DOS programme (remember, pre-Windows?). However, its prblem now is that it still only runs in DOS, though it doesn't need a particularly powerful computer to run it.

     

    However, I would agree that Sibelius is at the moment the most user friendly, and as one previous contributor commented, most of the smaller publishing houses (and a couple of the biggies who out source some of the engraving) use Sibelius. Its also had some ringing endorsements from John Rutter and some big players in the film industry.

  3. I use the German PriMus: simple to use, flexible and reasonably priced. Customer support is quite amazing: in most cases I become an answer within 30 minutes. The program is available in English. There is also a built-in scanning and recognizing feature.

     

    http://www.columbussoft.de/?lang=en

     

    THanks for this, it lookds quite good, particularly the 'lead sheet/worksheet' options. These are a little fiddly in Sibelius and involve much trial and error! However, not all the web pages are in English, and it doesn't work on a Mac; here endeth my interest in it!

  4. Yes, forgot to mention that Sibelius does save to pdf, and I have emailed pdfs to people, which worked well (no reason why it shouldn't!).

     

    I have also cut and pasted parts of Sib scores into Word documents to use as work sheets and exam questions at school; a handy tool. I suspect Finale does the same. I used Finale for a while before Sibelius was out for PC and Mac (I spoke to so many people at Sib c1996/97 who swore it would never, I repeat never come out on those platforms, 'the programming was too complicated', and I persuaded my then school to purchase an Acorn Risc computer!)

     

    Does anyone have any experience of it working with Linux?

  5. Title says it all, am going through a list of likely titles that fit in with themes for recitals, and wondered if anyone played, or had recordings of the following:

     

    -Anton Heiller (Tanz Toccata)

    -Ernst Leitner (Totentanz Chaconne uber 'Der grimmig Tod')

    -Josef Doppelbauer (Fantasia Hommage a Buxtehude OR Toccata und Fuge 'In memoriam Ravel)

     

    Grateful thanks!

  6. Sibelius is really very good, and I use it all the time; compositions, arrangements and worksheets for use in lessons, very user friendly.

     

    However, I don't 'like' my students to use, because they come to rely on it as a compositional tool, and it isn't that. I view it (and strongly encourage them to) as a word prcessor for music. It doesn't help with the composing, but it jolly well makes it look good when you've finished it, and it has a large amount of flexibility built in.

  7. Peter Williams certainly has doubts about the attribution:

    "While part-writing, sequences and pedal points could suggest an early work of Bach, the absence of thematic interest does not"

     

    Nope, its too good and too short for Krebs. I play a fair bit of Krebs, and 568 has the brevity and concentration of development that much Krebs doesn't have. The C major is the one I play the most, and he just about gets away with it, but the C minor, D major and the E major, just have too much endless spinning of subjects and motifs. I really enjoy 568, I'll be gutted if it turns out to be by someone else! I agree that its hard to find a stylistic equivalent in JSB, but hey, surely he might have had a different waft of inspiration that day?

  8. I haven't seen the organ exam syllabus but my youngest (8 years) chorister has just taken her grade 3 piano in which one of the set pieces was the theme tune to the TV cartoon series Top Cat!

     

     

    Peter

     

    Yes, but not many of them manage to get the bit right in the middle with the syncopated octaves (on the 3rd line?) It wasn't that much fun when I did Grade 3!

  9. The only time I've ever been close enough to see this practice, was Gillian Weir at Symphony Hall. For her, I would guess that she probably knows the music from memory, and that the card is simply an aide-memoire. With the slightly reidiculous detached console they have in the middle of the floor, I suppose it does mean there are no page turner/stop puller 'will she/he won't she/he/ moments and discussion about how well/badly dressed they are compared to the player. In other words, no distractions!

  10. Absolutely, Richard. Copyright considerations aside, to have all the music you ever wanted in one easily portable device. A friend thinks one iPad might be too small for reading music, and that two side-by-side might be the answer. Call me a geek, and I think this ties in with something Nigel mentioned recently, I actually enjoy entering music into Sibelius whether rearranging or simply to improve legibility or page turns. Can't be long before Sibelius produces an iApp.

     

    Yes, nice to hear some fellow Mac fans appear! However, there is already a device for this (or there was). In my D of M role at school, I can remember being bombarded with material about an 'electronic' music stand device, that meant no paper. I haven't bought one, but the marketing has gone very quiet. Does anyone know if its still going?

     

    I also use Sib for the occasional rewrite/arrangement/diff page turn (v proud of my Vierne 5 slow mov't recopy without all the double sharps/flats!!), and an app might be useful for the iPhone/iPad. However, the biggest challenge will surely be the refelctive qualities of the screen and the dubious lighting we often find ourselves having to us in the organ loft. I know the e-readers get round this with a slightly opaque surface, but you can altern those all the time as you are holding them. Does anyone have any experience of an e-reader?

  11. Indeed, it was Peter King who I first heard play this as we were waiting as a visiting choir for the next service to start. Empowered by this bit of musical jollity, one of our chief fundraisers for the refurbed organ suggested that Thomas Trotter might like to play it at the opening recital, which he did. I think this coincided with his cd from Symphony Hall which contained the same suite.

     

    I've played no.s 3, 4 and 5. Four is jolly useful communion music, you're right that 3 is more tricky when the left hand has the tune, and five is a good crash. I wrote an article on American music sometime ago and was sent absolutely piles of Locklair to play through, so I feel I might have been through a lot of it. There is a very useful suite of pieces for manuals only which would suit a smaller instrument. I'm currently debating whether 'Dance the Joy' from the new UMP book ed.Titterington is worth the learn. Its very much in the Rubrics mode with constantly changing rhythms/metres etc. The bits that always stub me are the pedal glissandi, anyone any practical suggestions with those.

  12. Guilmant gets a considerable look in, with five entries.

     

    Organ Symphony No.2 in A major Opus 91

    March upon Handel's 'Lift up your heads' Opus 15

    Organ Sonata No.1, Opus No.42

    Grand chorus in G minor, Opus No.84

    Morceau Symphonique

     

    You can also vote for the Bach Passacaglia twice!

     

    Hang on, who is putting this list together? Symphony No.2? Grand choeur in G minor? They're not even particularly good pieces of Guilmant. If they needed so much of him (and let's face it, he's not the first name that springs to mind for memorable organ music, and this from a bit of a fan), what about the Grand choeur in D, or Symphony Nos 5 or 8?

  13. I also commend the music of Fedrick Sixten as discussed on another thread. I've just got his Tango and Toccata Festival.

     

    As already mentioned, I've also just taken possession of the Tango. However, can anyone explain the reference to Psalm 303 (yes, 303) in the title, or am I missing something blindingly obvious?

  14. Prompted by a frequent contributor to this forum I recently downloaded the CD of this suite (the composer calls it a "Ballet for Organ") from Amazon and now I have ordered the score - which ain't cheap folks! - and wonder if any others play it? It seems a strange yet wholly succesful mixture of jazz, ragtime, "churchy" music, theatrical burlesque and modern American - hints of Copeland it at least one movement.

     

    I also commend the music of Fedrick Sixten as discussed on another thread. I've just got his Tango and Toccata Festival.

     

    Incidentally I can't be the only one whose expenditure on music has increased considerably since joing this forum!

     

    A well timed posting as my postman delivered this morning, the Tango and Sonata from the very same place. Is someone on commission here...........

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