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Arp Schnitger

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Posts posted by Arp Schnitger

    Pipework needing collection/loving new home

    in Nuts and bolts

    Posted

    The church had a vote and no way do they want anything digital. But after £2 million on the building they really only have insurance for the organ plus some more if needed. So nothing new - but a good (and in keeping) 2nd hand is going to be the ticket. The lighting and the restoration is excellent and we shall do our best to install something apposite DV.

    I heard of your comments. Good guy!

    Hope you thrive amid your stereophonic wonder!

    Nigel

     

    Thanks- much in keeping with what I learned last month, though we had an interesting discussion about ideal location for organ!

     

    When I turned up to check out Church for rededication, decided no way was I going to play the 70s home entertainment organ, so spent 3 hours rigging up HW instead- worked v well indeed for that big service, but hopefully it didn't restoke the embers of the pipe v digital debate (sorry, unfortunate choice of phrase!) We're singing a wedding there in April when I will have to brave the stubby short pedalboard and offset manuals!

    Pipework needing collection/loving new home

    in Nuts and bolts

    Posted

    Have LH come to a decision yet? I was there a month ago with my choir- played Hauptwerk for the rededication service- and had some very nice and constructive conversations with Vicar & Churchwardens about their possible plans. They asked my opinion and it seemed to tie in pretty closely to yours!

     

    PM me if you prefer.

    Spotify

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Over the holidays for various reasons I decided to try out a subscription (£10 per month) to Spotify, on the basis that if I didn't use it I could easily cancel. I'd had a free version for a year or two, and it was useful to dip into, so why the subscription?- Well the improved 320k audio stream rather than the lower quality in the free version, and also particularly the ability to use it on mobile devices, including offline downloads. It has been useful to hear and access those tracks for which I wouldn't have bought the whole CD.

     

    It's true to say I have a fair few CDs and LPs gathered over the years, but I have been quite amazed at the range of music now on Spotify of all genres, but particularly surprised at the good range of Organ and Choral titles. Browsing through, most of the Priory, Lammas, and Signum label catalogue is present, though Gimell and Hyperion are two notable exceptions, and there are some rumours floating around that Naxos are considering pulling out. Clearly there is a risk that labels can pull out if they consider Spotify royalties to be less than the possible drop in CD sales.

     

    Are there any other Spotify users out there on this list?

     

    However at the moment there is plenty in the organ music catalogue to explore and I echo the comments elsewhere about having a thread to share interesting titles similar to the YouTube thread. There is at the moment no option in Spotify to alert you to similar tracks and albums, but I'm sure it will come.

     

    I've been exploring some of the titles available from the USA maybe not so readily available here.

     

    To start the ball rolling, try this:

    http://open.spotify.com/album/0LIiEsLha7U5ahBytdHS7z

     

    or this:

    http://open.spotify.com/album/6XLKjBcRiT0KgmbkgfLcDV

     

    Both are from Pro Organo- some but not all of their Catalogue seems to be available-, one from each side of the Atlantic.

    Pentecost

    in The Organ

    Posted

    I'm a bit late to this but a couple of favourites of a previous choir also included 'If ye love me' by Philip Wilby (Banks ECS) for SSATB, and 'Draw us in the Spirit's Tether' by Harold Friedell (H.W.Gray, I think)- both straight-forward but reasonably interesting to sing.

     

    I've used the Christopher Walker 'Veni Sancte Spiritus' as well- the verses need a little more rehearsal but refrain is straightforward and gains in strength by repetition.

    Cavaille-Coll Aix-en-Provence

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I would like to know the composition of the Plein Jeu IV rgs on the Positif of the Saint Saveur Organ as built by Cavaille-Coll (and a host of others both before and after).

     

     

    This instrument was sampled by Helmut Maier for Hauptwerk- http://www.organartmedia.com/Aix-Intro.html - you could try contacting him- http://www.organartmedia.com/Contact.html

     

    Presumably you've followed the leads on http://www.orgueplus.net/ ?

    More new music for you - Paul Halley

    in The Organ

    Posted

    I've been a fan of Paul Halley's music for some years now, and have performed a number of his compositions/arrangements at church. It's lovely stuff and worth investigating. His Triptych CD blew my wife and I away when we first heard it.

     

    Fully agreed- Triptych is multi-tracked Piano, Organ and Harpsichord. Nightwatch was the first CD of organ improvisations from SJD that I came across, remastered from an old LP, but well worth a listen.

    I had the chance to go to one of the Winter Solstice concerts in December 2004 and it was quite an event, with 'world music artists' joining the Paul Winter Consort- even though this was during the silence of the SJD organ post-fire, it was still a tremendous musical occasion and visual spectacle- saxophone and organ certainly work well together, and though Halley was not performing by this stage, many of his compositions and arrangements for the consort were still being used.

     

    I think Paul Halley is now based in Halifax Nova Scotia, and his website is Pelagos Music. Some of the compositions and arrangements are recorded on CD and also available through iTunes music store. They get regular playtime on my iPod, and indeed I was using 'Angel on a Stone Wall' as 'quiet working music' for my class this afternoon- worked very well to calm down 16 excitable 8-9 year olds on a Friday afternoon and they got lots done!

    Tewkesbury Abbey

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Visiting the board for the first time in a while, I've come across this topic, and might be able to add a comment or two on the Grove from experience, albeit at a distance of some 15 years; during the mid-90s I sang in the Abbey (Parish) choir for a while, including the time when the Milton was being rebuilt, and can say that the Grove proved to be a most effective accompanimental instrument, sharp or not! It also was used effectively to accompany the Abbey School choir in weekday evensongs, and thanks to CCTV, could see the choir with ease- and, I gather, hear it as well. I played for a couple of Merbecke 11am Sung Eucharists during August (1996?) without choir, which was great fun, and though the Grove had its idiosyncracies, was fantastic to play. However the camera was not adjustable, so the improvisation at the end of the offertory hymn to cover the thurible action had to be done blind, with the help of a verger giving progress updates ('you've got 30 seconds left'!)

    Daytime practice on the Grove was not possible (being right next to the Abbey Shop), but in the summer evenings when the Abbey was locked, one could have free rein- though on my first time in the empty abbey, I looked at one point to my right from the Grove console and was momentarily spooked by a memento mori tablet with a particularly chilling stare!

    Immediately prior to the Milton being dismantled, service accompaniments were played on the Milton but commonly the Grove was used for Sunday voluntaries post- 11am and 6pm services.

     

    Hope this sheds some light on one or two queries...

    God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen

    in General discussion

    Posted

    The carol I think is the most unfortunate verbally is "This is the truth".

    Because several verses are normally omitted, verse 2 ends "Woman was made with man to dwell." And verse 3 begins: "Thus we were heirs to endless woes,"

    Nobody ever seems to see anything wrong with it!

     

    The full text (or at least a fuller text) can be seen at http://www.ancientgroove.co.uk/essays/truth.html where the omitted verses are restored.

    Ives - Missa Brevis

    in General discussion

    Posted

    So which Ives was it who wrote a setting of Missa Brevis? The Cathedral's service sheet only said "Ives".

     

    Grayston Ives for both pieces. I don't know of any liturgical music by Charles Ives but someone out there may know more than I. Grayston Ives' 'Listen sweet dove' was once announced here as being by Charles Ives - I was sorely tempted to play the left hand a semitone higher but resisted!

     

    Paul

     

     

    Technically correct. Bill Ives led a RSCM Choir training course I attended some years ago, over several weeks, which was excellent. He explained that though he is known as Bill, that is a nickname that stuck from his childhood. His 'official' Christian name, he said, is in fact Charles, but when he started publishing music, Bill Ives was felt by the publishers to be too much like Burl Ives, Charles Ives would be obviously confusing, so he settled for Grayston Ives, which was something like (I can't remember exactly) his mother's maiden name.

    Songs Of Praise Today

    in General discussion

    Posted

    It was almost certainly mimed to a pre-recording - that's the usual practice, and has been for quite a while.

     

    About 10 years ago, our school choir was enlisted to do the 'choir' slot in a Songs of Praise broadcast. Their singing was recorded in a gruelling 2+ hour session at school, with very gentle keyboard accompaniment and Paul Leddington Wright in attendance. Two weeks later we went off on location for filming, by which time the soundtrack had been edited and had an orchestration added, by Robert Prizeman in fact, who was the musical adviser on that episode. The children were however asked not to mime, but to sing along; the producer explained that miming looks like miming, and singing when being filmed makes the body do all the 'right things'. Another two hours later, with filming from all sorts of angles done, we were finished- the end product was overlaid with all sorts of soft filters and cutaways to rural summer scenes (we had been asked to do Rutter's 'All things B&B', rather unoriginal but it made sense in the context of the programme) and actually looked and sounded pretty good.

    Worcester Cathedral

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Well I set out, but somewhere on the M42 a rather troublesome tyre pressure warning light came on (a long story, but 4 new tyres in 8,000 miles mean I'll be jumping up and down getting my dealer to replace the whole wheel under warranty) and I had to limp through Bromsgrove, Droitwich and Worcester in search of repair :( I found a Kwikfit near RGS Worcester and had a healthy brisk walk to the cathedral arriving mid-demo at 11.30am (somewhere about the mutations, I think.) and sitting up on the chairs east of the stalls.

    I had planned to make my apologies and join the group after Adrian's excellent talk and demonstration- I missed the start so wasn't sure who was playing the illustrations but they were all most carefully chosen- but then had to take a call from Kwikfit and in fact walk all the way back up to 'inspect the damage' :P . By the time I had sorted out the tyre issue, it was nearly 2.30pm and as I wasn't planning to play and unable to stay for evensong in any case, decided to cut my losses and the day short. (Just as well as the warning light came on again on the M42 and I had a detour via Kwikfit Solihull!)

     

    My apologies for not being able to join the group properly but thanks to Adrian for organising the day and inviting/hosting everyone; the little I heard was most enjoyable.

    Divisional Crescendo Assign

    in Nuts and bolts

    Posted

    Thanks, that is quite an enlightment! Maybe it is the key to the whole issue....

     

    And checking the Hauptwerk website, there I find the confirmation. Could have checked it earlier! :blink:

    Martin Dyde lists the feature among the "Couplers". Well, a nice idea, though...

     

    You beat me to it- sorry for the duplication- I only spotted this after checking and posting my message!

    Divisional Crescendo Assign

    in Nuts and bolts

    Posted

    But back to Karl's question - Are the divisional crescendos a Hauptwerk feature? Are they actually there on the instrument at St Anne's?

    NPOR (N00645) doesn't mention a crescendo pedal at all.

    Merry Christmas

    Ian CK

     

    It's all virtual. In the sample set information for Moseley within the Hauptwerk application (Organ>Show Organ Information), the relevant page states that the accessories, real and virtual, are as follows:

     

    (REAL) ACCESSORIES:

    5 Thumb pistons to Swell, adjustable.

    5 Thumb pistons to Great, adjustable.

    Reversible Swell to Great.

    Reversible Great to Pedal.

    5 Toe pedals to Swell, adjustable.

    Reversible Toe pedal Great to Pedal.

    Balanced Swell pedal.

     

    The following have been added for the Hauptwerk virtual model of the instrument:

     

    ACCESSORIES:

    40-stage Crescendo, adjustable.

    General Cancel.

    Setter piston.

    FF piston, adjustable.

    PP piston, adjustable.

     

    COUPLERS:

    Swell to Great Melody.

    Pedal to Great Bass.

    Crescendo on Swell.

    Crescendo on Great.

    Crescendo on Pedal.

    Where Are They Now

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I was just thinking last night of when the sub organist at Durham Cathedral, a Ian Shaw, came to dinner at my fathers house back in the late 80's, before he played a wonderful recital on a 1st gen Copeman Heart toaster (analoge). Whatever happened to him, does anyone know.

     

    That's spooky. At the time you were posting this, I was trying to find out the answer to the same question. Perhaps I was prompted by the inclusion of an Ian Shaw in the list of FRCO conductors in the Richard Hickox tribute thread which I was reading.

     

    From what my googling revealed, he is a repetiteur for Scottish Opera, though he did appear as organist in the recently released Priory CD by the Bede Singers of the best of Richard Lloyd's music which confirms this. On the sleeve notes it is said the Dean of Durham once described his work as 'sometimes amusing'! I'd agree about your comments about "The Shakespeare" as well!

    Ian Shaw was Sub-Organist at Durham throughout my time at the University and I turned pages for him on a number of occasions; he certainly was an interesting character and a fine organist and improviser- indeed singing hymns was a pleasure at the time at Durham, as if it wasn't Shaw, it was Richard Lloyd, and he was an even finer hymn player and improviser; I shall well remember the year the choir and Organists gave up English Cadences for Lent and then proceeded to include them at every possible opportunity (and a few impossible ones) on Easter Day, normally highlighted on Tubas!

    Sverre EftestØl

    in The Organ

    Posted

    I have seen this name crop up on a few occasions recently (Christopher Herrick plays his music on a number of CDs) but have never heard any of his music. All I know about him is that he is contemporary Norwegian. What is it like - style etc.?

    AJJ

     

    I've got the CD which has his 'Dance to your Daddy' on it- an original and quirky take on that folk song- remember 'When the Boat comes in'? From memory, fluty descending arpeggios and the melody treated with rhythmic elasticity. An attractive and entertaining miniature, slightly reminiscent of the Derek Bourgeois 'Serenade'.

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