emsgdh

Oh Vox Humana, thou art wise - It's a mentality that we're dealing with today. The common denominator amongst my students is that they know EVERYTHING, and that there is NOTHING that I know that could possibly be of any value to them, except, of course, when they've got their knickers in a twist over a technical matter, whether it be manual fingering, tricky registrational bits (Roger-Ducasse), pedaling, choir/clergy issues and the like. They are desperate for immediate First-Aid and demand it but shrink from any idea of a larger schooling and approach. Don't even mention hard work at the piano. Horrors ! So much of our work involves experience and learning from it, taste or the lack of it, and genuine care for the final result and its impact on the "man in the pew." Hope this doesn't sound like a bitter old man. So much of it is just common sense. emsgdh

Friends: Sorry to appear dim, daft or both. but where and how does one watch/hear the service we're discussing ? KMW

Dear MM: Just the opposite really. The space is the PERFECT vehicle for the Novus Ordo. Can't imagine anything finer. Just set up an ironing board and go to town. The organ swells and all sing "Here I am, Lord." Video monitors keep all together.

I'm sorry to act or to appear dim on this subject. What is wrong at Belfast ? What has happened ? In the states, we're often the last to learn of particular problems or challenges. Please inform.

So let it be written ! So let it be done ! Assuming that the techs actually DO care, based on the very inconsistent result, one can only conclude that either incompetence or the boogey man is to blame.

As far as accepting is concerned, I accept that Dr. Wyld was spot on in his comments. I object to the insincere scrable to find a cloak to drape oneself in "Divine Worship." Oh, please.

I have listened with care and special interest to the broadcast. I think that sound of the choir is captured nicely. The Vierne was surely recorded with the same mic set-up. The constant fiddling with the knobs by the engineers is a bit sick making. Let's make it clear what's at work here: one of our greatest cathedral organs, one of our finest artist/organists playing music that he understands intimately, laid waste by recording techs that could care less. The comments made by others here re: muddiness and lack of clarity, display a complete lack of understanding of the French organ tradition. Within limits (and there are ALWAYS exceptions) the registration "is what it is." It is an orchestration and one simply doesn’t make free with the composer's indications. Colin Walsh's playing is a model of clarity and of thrilling, romantic expression. IT IS THE RECORDING that mars the performance.

The expression "pretty good" is not to be used with a prince such as Colin Walsh.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear ! What a stupid blunder on my part. I was NOT referring to Carlo. Although we are not exactly friends, we know and respect each other. Carlo is not exactly an organist after my heart, although we would probably agree about many more things than we would disagree about. Whatever reservations I've had about Carlo were put to rest forever on the day that I, quite but accident, found a you tube of him playing the Dupre g minor P&F at Chester. Simply marvelous, brilliant even. Hard to imagine it better. I know I can't play it that well ! No, the person to whom I referred is the much younger and slimmer CC. Carlo is a tower of mental health, a virtual Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm compared to the other one.

Confess I had to hear this to believe it. But, sure as shootin' - the psalm and Stanford in C, excellent, the organ skillfully handled and effective. I'm shocked. Foundations modest, but lovely, with a nice cantabile quality, just adequate for the chapel. Of course, it's clear as a BELL.

Of course, nothing real here, just a posed snap pretending to convey serious artistic intentions. A title of "Fantasia" would be fitting.

I'm not surprised that YOU like this. He plays nicely, eh ?

Clever tricks do not a musician make. Techniques like Francis Jackson and Melville Cook, which are very nearly transcendental (Germani), or in our own time, David Briggs, have produced great, great music. CC enjoys a reputation on this side of the pond that has almost nothing to do with art and the pursuit of the beautiful and expressive. One flees before his very destructive madness. MM, trust me, it's a scary thing. Dr. Freud's couch would catch fire by just being in the near vicinity. The public will pay money to witness the unspeakable. But if they only knew !

It's very impressive that you've learned and performed this very difficult work. Your observations gain enormous weight thereby. Your view, from the inside out, makes perfect sense. I love your description of the fugue subject coming out dancing - absolutely, absolutely - and that Germani keeps it so with every entry. Clever of you to pick out the thumbing down, a technique that is fortunately coming back into use. Over here, Farnam and his pupils used it extensively in the period 1920-50. Of course, any mention of it during the 60s and 70s was verboten. Thomas Murray is now perhaps its most eloquent exponent.

Dear MM - As usual, what you have written is so very, very perceptive. Your contributions keep us all coming back for second and third helpings. I believe that Kynaston received this ability from Germani. Didn't know that Melville Cook played Reger but it would be easy for his particular combination of musicianship and technique. As for Preston, again I agree. His Reger is EXCELLENT but in ways that I'm not clever or perceptive enough to describe. It IS different from Germani. Lastly, when we listen to Heinz Wunderlich, it's apparent that we're very close to the horse's mouth. His Reger has a unique combination of ease, naturalness and exaltation that I assume was his legacy from Straube. It has AUTHORITY. But, there remains something elusive about Germani and Reger. How can anything is this world be so close to perfect ? It's really so good, so totally right at all times. I think the secret is his huge technique, always relaxed. Of course, he sorts out the musical difficulties and makes them less daunting and oppressive. Aside from the visceral thrill of all that big, very English organ sound, at the end of the day it's always the astounding clarity that leaves me breathless.

OK - KNOW I understand you. Everything is illuminated. It's a life long habit.

Oh well, if you haven't got the pedal technique to play descants with your feet.................. MM I prefer the Solo Tuba to Pedal for such occasions.

I'd say your PhD is coming along VERY nicely. I find your writing on this topic some of your very best, your thoughts fresh and beautifully organised. You are less compelling when defending Pedal Organ Mixtures 8rks (19.22.26.29.33.36.40.43).

"Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread." I know VERY little about the Holtkamp outfit and less about Compton, but there is a Compton polyphone in the Holtkamp organ at the Episcopal Cathedral, Cincinnati, Ohio. Walter Holtkamp, Sr. was fond of big pedal cornets of the 32' harmonic series. If any mixtures were sent over to Holtkamp I would wager that it was a pedal 32' harmonics thing. In the late 30s, G Donald Harrison installed a polyphone at the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia AND a four rank cornet of the 32' series. I believe that the polyphone came from Compton. I'm not sure if the pedal cornet was made in South Boston, but I believe it was. The same stop is in the Mormon Tabernacle organ. He always gave Compton the credit for the IDEA. I remember seeing THREE polyphones in a Presbyterian church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I believe that they each were supposed to play four notes. They were not effective, at least in 1971. The single one in Curtis Hall had at least four good notes - G#, A, A# & B - and, on rainy days, the low G. The problem for me was the noise of the valve mechanism. It was obtrusive during soft passages. Finally, there was at least one Compton polyphone in the Aeolian-Skinner rebuild of the old Roosevelt Chicago Auditorium organ that went to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. W. H. Barnes who gave the organ to the University, had the old job removed from the Auditorium/Hotel and it was stored in Evanston, Illinois during WWII (cellar of 1st Baptist Church). During the very difficult removal, low F# of the 32' Open Wood was dropped and broken. It and the six larger pipes were sold to a lumber coy. (unblemished timber). When the organ was installed in Bloomington it was with a polyphone (Compton) to play the now missing notes. Tradition holds that after Marcel Dupré played the Liszt "Ad nos" at the dedication, the Pedal trill toward the end of the Fugue so rattled the mechanism that it never sounded it notes properly again. Casavant had their own system for obtaining more than one note from large-scale pedal open woods. I am personally familiar with two organs in Toronto where the 32' flue works superbly AND quietly.

I'm glad of this last and others who have spoken in praise of the Coventry instrument. I think that I mentioned that several players that I know and respect have great admiration and affection for this organ. So beware the Coventry number in the GCO series. Mics have a way of hearing what THEY want to hear. In the case of the voice, it can be even more perverse. Kathleen Ferrier said that the only one of her records that sounded anything like her voice was the Alto Rhapsody. The late John Steane remarked that the microphone "heard" things that his ears did NOT.

15) Westminster Cathedral: It’s hard to pick a winner out of so many remarkable numbers (Salisbury, Hereford, et al) but this one has always enjoyed a unique distinction. The playing is so wonderful, every moment, every phrase, that one gropes for superlatives. Suffice it to say that even where the registration has been varied from the composer’s indications, this recording would be valuable as a lesson in itself, quite beyond the pleasure it gives the listener. The naturalness and expressivity in the Franck are special. At all times one senses the full range of emotions that the composer suggests. There is rapt stillness and there is heady thrill; in short, the gamut. And then there is the organ. Have you ever imagined a crescendo from fff to ffff ? This organ can do it. Listen to the end of the Franck a minor. It is staggering power, but with a difference. It is not at all like the Durham full organ. There is considerable clang-tone from these reeds, not to mention incredibly even voicing. NK gives us some exotic moments that are a tad off the beaten path: shimmering strings, rich clarinet, enchanting mutations and fine French Horn. These are “moments” only as before very long we are back to the composer’s indications. This recording is pure music making. We were not so fussy in those days about the Sw/Ped during the dash to the end of the Franck Chorale. 16) Canterbury: These are, in my opinion, performances more to be admired than to be enjoyed, per se. Everything is intense, every moment. The First Mendelssohn Sonata is clear and driven very hard. The second movement is charming. Overall, the interpretations represent very personal views. They are convincing in their way. There is no lack of prep here. He knows where he is going and who is going with him. The organ sounds good. 17) St. Paul’s: The producer informs us in the notes that Dr. D-B had declined earlier on and so this number is also played by Christopher Dearnley. I call him the golden player. There is a burnished shine to all his playing. We are given an unforgettable tour of the reeds. Like Exeter, Worcester, Canterbury, Lincoln & Chester, there is a complete Mendelssohn Sonata. And a thing of beauty it is: playing, registration, the lot. One commentator heartily dislikes these old-fashioned, cathedral treatments. I have a hard time imagining them otherwise, although the critic is surely right. There are opportunities to hear some of the now discarded bits: the Dome Tubas, the Lewis Diapason Chorus and not least, HWIII’s chirpy little Choir Koppelflöte. The performance of the Howell’s Ps. Prelude is memorable; the build up is epic here. The old job, not long away from its major rebuild, pants now and again. 18) Lincoln: A beautiful organ, beautifully played. Everything is “central” here. The organ that seemed old-hat to the progressives of the fin de siècle is so very right to these ears. There are no exaggerated sonorities or effects. Philip Marshall seems incapable of a mis-step, of committing an unmusical act. His legato is out of the ordinary in its totally vocal quality. The Brahms chorales are superb: beautiful singing lines everywhere. The music, the organ and the player seem to inspire each other in turn. “O Welt” receives a definitive interpretation. Aside from a rather pedestrian Mendelssohn Sonata (No.5) everything here is desert island material. This last of FHW’s cathedral organs is smooth and refined but still capable of providing fireworks. 19) Chester: Both organ and organist have long been admired, one might almost say loved by those who appreciate cathedral music and fine playing. The Allegretto movement of the Mendelssohn No.4 is lovely. The final movement played at just the right tempo, everything sounding splendid and glorious, long to reign over us. The organ is fresh from the hands of R&D, and until the sharp mixtures intrude, all seems to come off decently and in order. Whatever one’s prejudices, there is something so very English about these Hill reeds. I enjoy Roger Fisher’s Stanley Voluntary very much. He must have been keen to show off his newly-acquired mutations; beautiful touch and articulation here. One of my favourite Bach P & Fs - the seldom heard g minor 535 - with spectacularly naughty manual changes in the Prelude. The programme ends with the Reubke 94th Psalm. Bonus: Selby Abbey/Fernando Germani - This is one of those recordings that have to be heard to be believed. Few discs of the period were more popular and/or admired. We have waited too long for this reissue ! My first organ teacher had a hard policy about Reger. He felt that the Germans should show their high regard for his works by not allowing them to be played outside the Fatherland. Clearly, he had never listened to this amazing performance on a superb late Hill. It is like the stars came together and music, performer and instrument produced a miracle. When you hear this, you will realise that I am not exaggerating. Bonus: Norwich/Brian Runnett - Personally, I prefer old-time, Novello edition treatments of Bach (my first teacher called it “cathedral” Bach) to most attempts to play Franck on the typical English cathedral organ. Oddly, there have been more successes in the above series than the expected failures ! Most have been more or less transcribed in terms of the registration. Like everything Brian Runnett touched this is nothing less than excellent. That I don’t particularly care for it is immaterial. It is immaculate playing, very carefully planned and laid out. The very tricky Brahms Fugue is, in my opinion, much better, and a better match to his sensibilities. The Reger is better yet and the organ sounds best here. I rather regard this instrument as a cut below some of the others in the series, although clearly streets ahead of one or two of them.

Actually, the Franck Chorales are NOT amongst the bonus offerings. It's only (!) the big Reger from another LP.

I can't remember the last time that MM contributed a piece without worth or humour or both. The above is a testament to same. He is correct, as always. BUT - I'm sure MM would admit that Thuringian Pedal Organs as well as those of the great C-C (St. Sulpice !) are, at best, skeletal. They are superior to ours in their balance and clarity. The Dutch and North-German school give us well-developed Pedal Organs that can, for many of us, be a pleasant experience. The automatic manual / pedal balance is perhaps the greatest dividend that this pays. But however admirable these well-developed choruses appear on paper, they remain, for me, the last thing on my list of desirables.

Couldn't agree with you more. At last someone has said it ! One is NOT suggesting ignorance. Musicianship and common sense, the search for the beautiful and the expressive are of soooooooo much more value.

It occurs to me that I've said nothing about the recorded sound. This set was literally crying out for digital remastering and transfer. The LP really couldn't contain the info the mikes picked up. Again, some numbers were better than others. Durham must have been a bit of a trial for the engineers. Things are pushed to their limits at Salisbury as well and at various moments in almost all the numbers. But, by and large, listening to these familiar performances through the good offices of digital sound is a revelation. You will be astounded at the amount of detail captured, esp. if you listen through a high-quality set of head phones. Magnificent instruments played gloriously.