jonadkins

Few posts have made me laugh as much as this one! I have one of those metronomes as well. The John Scott Aides-memoire are also wonderful, but I'm sorry that I was never in St Paul's cathedral when he played Happy Birthday or Col. Bogey. Now I'll never get the chance... My teacher once said that there are two types of metronome markings: Too fast, and Too slow.

They seem to have had a good crop of assistants at Gloucester in recent years, besides Robert. I've always been impressed whenever I've heard David Bednall, and Ian Ball before him managed to emerge from Briggs' shadow.

I find that the Piece d'Orgue has been well received whenever I've played it (and I mean that as a testament to the music, rather than my playing thereof!) It helps, I think, that there is a contrast of textures between the inner and outer sections. Also, "the" Widor has been requested twice now at funeral/memorial services.

No, don't apologise MM. I forget whether it was Flanders or Swann who said "chacun a son gout" You're right about the Stylus Phantasticus thing though. I remember being stunned by the Bruhns e minor Prelude (the longer one) the first time I heard it. Is the recording you mention at Groningen still available? ps Not sure about the British organists/party animals comment: Many is the time I've thought "To hell with it" and had a SECOND cup of Earl Grey tea...

Just to say how much I enjoyed John Scott's Buxtehude at the proms on Monday, both in terms of interpretation and regisration. For me, Buxtehude is not the first composer's name that springs to mind when the RAH organ is mentioned, but Scott carried it off marvellously, managing to get a surprising transparency from the instrument, something which I thought would be difficult. Did anyone else hear it?

Exactly. What is the Grand-Orgue at St Sulpice besides a triumphant marriage of the work of Cavaille-Coll with that of Cliquot before him?

Small - Hexham Abbey (Phelps) Medium - Is St Chad's Birmingham too big? My mind's going blank here: It's very good, but there must be others I've overlooked - perhaps Greyfriar's Kirk? Large AND Cathedral - Westminster Cathedral Very Large - St George's Hall, Liverpool Town Hall or similar - Reading Town Hall Overall - Too difficult, but if one HAD to choose, then Westminster Cathedral.

Any chance of some names, Pierre?

Yes, perhaps the whole lot at a recital is a bit much, but I must confess to quite liking the Andantino...

Try Kevin Mayhew publishing...

Sounds as if you could do with reading double bass player Pete McCarthy's bio notes as they appeared at the Tetbury Music Festival programme a couple of years ago: "Peter started to study the double bass after having failed on every other instrument" How about that for some refreshing candour! Pete, I might add, is a very fine bass player and the Tetbury music festival has featured artists of the calibre of Isserlis, Mark Padmore and Emma Kirkby, just to put it in context!

A very sound position to take. Had I been a competitor (with pigs listening to my efforts from overhead) I certainly wouldn't have wanted to win under false pretences, with folk saying "yes, but it was a thin year that year, wasn't it?"

I have recently bought a recording of Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet playing extracts from L'Orgue Mystique (Mostly Chorales Alleluiatiques) with high expectations, having greatly enjoyed the Cinq Improvisations, but must confess to finding my recent purchase a little hard going to listen to. Maybe its just me, but this music doesn't seem to have the freshness, the vitality of "Victimae Paschali" for example. Nothing against the player: Mrs. Hakim is more than equal to the task, and certainly nothing against the organs: La Trinite for most of it, and even Sacre-Coeur for two of the pieces. It's just the music, which is almost turgid in places, despite sounding technically demanding.

Apologies if you've already said and I've missed it, but which currently functioning firm would you want to build this marvellous theoretical beast?

Again, many thanks to all who have posted, some very helpful advice has been given. It would seem that simplicity and discipline are the order of the day, ie make sure the notes you play are there for a reason, and not just as a result of "doodling". It also helps not to beat yourself up if your first efforts don't sound like Briggs or Tournemire.

In principle, I think it wrong to charge, because the people other than the main organists using the instrument will be students who should be encouraged. Other people, who just want to use the organ as a "leisure facility", not making any liturgical contribution, leaving swell boxes closed, changing settings, moving music etc. should not be allowed access at all.

And at christmas you can say it's variations on "While Shepherds watched" of course! ... Most illuminating replies, thanks everyone. I guess there are no "short cuts"!

Yes, I like this work too. It has shades of Glass/Reich of course, but with more charm. I've got the Symphony hall recording, but as with all that he plays, Thomas Trotter makes it sound so easy.

On a good day I would describe myself as a passable organist, but I am not good at improvising, which is a shame as it is necessary at our services. I did once have the privilege of attending a Briggs "workshop" at Gloucester Cathedral, at which he did his best to try and explain what he learned from Langlais, but he did rather leave our heads spinning with his technique when he, as he put it "knocked a couple of themes about" at the end. As another attender memorably put it: "Well, I was confused at the start, now I'm confused at a much more exalted level!" Now, I fully realise the difficulty of trying to encapsulate in a post what would take years of training in France, but can I appeal to the breadth of experience and knowledge on this board and ask "What would be your one, overriding piece of advice about trying to improve improvisation?" Thanks in anticipation, jonadkins

Apologies for my ignorance - I have not visited the Abbey, and am only aware of the organs through Ton Koopman's (IMO excellent) Bach recordings. In addition, perhaps now is not the time to admit that when I first glanced at the word "Dreifaltigkeit" in relation to the organ there, I thought, did'nt I, that it meant that it had three manuals! Anyway, those glass cases sound intriguing...

You can play whatever you like, although some JSB works seem to demand the fugue, for example the Fantasia (of BWV 537) which ends on the dominant.

I find it fascinating that Ottobeuren Abbey has not been mentioned (both instruments divine, but would plump for the Dreifaltigkeitsorgel) Ingolstadt Munster St. Ouen, Rouen (For a UK instrument I would probably pick Coventry Cathedral)

How fortunate for you that he responded with such restraint and humility!

I realise that in my last post I must have sounded like one of those "I don't know much about art but I know what I like" people. Of course I love a more "serious" recital: what could be better than Daniel Roth playing Franck or Widor, or Gillian Weir doing all of the Livre du Saint-Sacrement? (OK, some of you might have suggestions!) I suppose it's just that Trotter plays those transcriptions so well, and as musically as he would play any Vierne or Alain. At first I didn't think that I liked them, and would groan inwardly when I saw one on a programme. But, wouldn't you know it, Trotter began to work his evil magic (a bit of stunning technique here, some judicious registration there, some genuinely good bursts of music) that my soul was eventually sold lock, stock and bon gout to the devil! Still can't stand that bloody Bell Rondo, though.

My mother taught me never to trust a man with a moustache like that... I agree with people about Rheinberger 8, but to my mind the finest passacaglia since Bach's is Frank Martin's.