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Arp Schnitger

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Everything posted by Arp Schnitger

  1. 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!
  2. 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.
  3. No discussion of Lewis would be complete without a mention of this fine, largely untouched specimen, which under a JL Pearson stone vault sounds magnificent: http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=D00013 The 1987 H&H restoration was the blueprint for that at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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/ ?
  7. On this Easter Eve, Doctor Who didn't have to play it to save the world- maybe it wasn't ready just then, but the rest of the Close got plenty of exposure...
  8. BBC Wales news feature on the new organ. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8600201.stm Good to see that the editor managed to get pictures and music in sync by the end!
  9. Christmas improvisation at SJD, NYC Very much an improvisation in the 'SJD style'... and the State Trumpet- glorious or vulgar..?
  10. 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!
  11. 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...
  12. 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.
  13. http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/loca...year_old_organ/ Looks like 'Our friends in the North' will be doing the work: http://www.riponcathedral.org.uk/organ01.php A pipe sponsorship scheme puts a value on each and every pipe- don't all rush for bottom C of the 32' reed- there are other bargains! http://www.riponcathedral.org.uk/dox/Organ...20low%20res.pdf
  14. This popped up in an RSS feed - undoubtedly of interest to board members: Organ Appeal at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral The downside of having 10K+ pipes is that restoration doesn't exactly come cheap!
  15. 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.
  16. From the Hauptwerk discussion forum comes this documentary (in 5 parts, in French) about Notre Dame de Paris and the post-Cochereau restoration: Full list of the links in the original thread.
  17. 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.
  18. 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' . 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.
  19. You beat me to it- sorry for the duplication- I only spotted this after checking and posting my message!
  20. 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.
  21. If we are listing Pearson churches with significant organs, then we can't forget Cullercoats and its T.C.Lewis- though the best stop is often said to be Pearson's acoustics... http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=D00013 http://www.music-room.freewebspace.com/organ.html http://flickr.com/photos/howick/3068571368/in/photostream/
  22. 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!
  23. St John the Divine NYC is back... http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JUxBzAfmLiM http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RGALaiX3uto I pass no comment on the singing or the 'interesting' characters in the recession, but the state trumpet certainly raises the hairs on the back of my neck!
  24. 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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