jonadkins

Archive of Recorded Organ Music Plenty of treasures to be found here. Have just been enjoying Nicholas Danby from Lubeck/Eton and Nicolas Kynaston's peerless Dupre Deuxieme Symphonie from Westminster Cathedral. 611 subscribers

Our Austin Allegro, of course, became an Austin Adagio, then an Austin Lunga Pausa.

I guess it's down to personal experimentation, but I've always found that playing in socks means I'm more likely to make mistakes, as when playing a "white" note, the ball of the foot is more likely to catch the recessed section of the neighbouring "black" note. I also miss the depth of a shoe's heel for heel playing. I take your point about certain organists whose pedal technique renders the matter of footwear academic. I'm fully convinced that Thomas Trotter could probably play the pedals better in wellington boots than I could in organmasters. Much more pressing than any of the above, though, is the fact that playing without shoes, in an unheated church on a winter's day is b****y chilly!

I couldn't be there, but I was delighted that she played the Frank Martin Passacaille. I know this meant that there were two works of this genre, but it was her party!

Movement : Meditation from 1st Symphony Cohesive whole: Gothique or Romane.

"Evensong" - Easthope Martin!

Thomas Trotter is giving a recital devoted to JA on 31 October this year at Symphony Hall, Birmingham at 1pm: Deux Fantaisies Fantasmagorie Prelude pour l'office de Complies Suite Jannequin variations Deux danses a Agni Yavishta Litanies

Oh I see: this thread on "Congregational reactions" is "What have they been?" rather than "Have you had any?"

What I'm sensing is that it is not so much the music which gets to us so much as the attitude of the people involved. This is certainly true for me. Few of us, I think, expect weddings to be musically groundbreaking, but provided things are gone about in the right way, most of us can put up with the more pedestrian/daft choices on the understanding that it's "their day". I've found that where I play, weddings tend to fall into two categories: i) The couple is pleasant and appreciative , (in most cases local, but not always) they've been to church, so you know who they are, they communicate with you, EVEN if it's to tell you they want "Here comes" (Wagner), "There goes" (Mendelssohn) Jesu Joy, Lord of Dance (after having pointed out the sky turning black on the Friday) and Jerusalem ii) County do's, pushy parents of the couple whom you have never before seen, pushy women (sorry, it is usually women) doing the flowers, more often than not hideously over-the-top lily arrangments on mock stone plinths, braying yahs "Giles, you old b*****d, I haven't seen you since Gstaad" but for all that not a penny in the collection plate... Granted, the music for a"ii" wedding might be marginally more interesting, but overall give me "i", any day of the week.

The closest I've come to seeing anything like this was Gillian Weir, when she was the subject of a South Bank Show, where there was some brief footage of her giving a masterclass in the US. As I recall, she was trying to give a bit more character to the student's opening of BWV 564. Sorry I can't be of any more help, but I think the very best masterclasses are inspiring to all musicians, whatever the instrument. I've recently been enjoying Daniel Barenboim's Beethoven Sonata masterclasses, to the likes of Jonathan Biss and Lang Lang. One of the points he makes is that it is important for pianists to know more than just piano works, conductors to know more than just orchestral repertoire, and so on. I'm sure it's the same for organists!

I, too, miss his contributions. I hope he comes back.

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.

How about a thread for those buildings which are not cathedrals but Abbeys, Priories and Minsters, as well as major parish churches? My votes would go to: Bridlington Priory Hexham & Bath Abbeys

Overall, I think York is a bit of a mish-mash, albeit a very high quality mish-mash. Nevertheless, on the DVD from there, JSW demonstrates the organ, going through all the stages of its evolution, and the Hill pipework is absolutely glorious.