gazman
-
Posts
1,045 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by gazman
-
-
Hmmm.... *Strokes chin thoughtfully*.
I shall remember this when next you visit the Minster....
.... do let me know.
Sounds like chamades at dawn!
-
......though unfortunately fairly recently taken suddenly dead.
What a wonderful turn of phrase!
Of course a lot of composers who aren't organists tend to display an ignorance about the instrument only matched by that in regard to the harp and the guitar , but nearly all instrumentalists complain at times about the unidiomatic writing for their instruments by composers of newer music. As Beethoven said to the violinist who complained that the "Große Fuge" was unplayable, "What do I care about your stupid fiddle?" Mostly, they just go on and play it anyway..B
I remember as an undergraduate being asked by a composition student if I would give the first performance of an organ piece which he was considering writing. I agreed, and two weeks later received the most impossible score which was black as one's hat, and which would have required something like twenty-seven fingers and five feet to perform! It would even have defeated Kevin Bowyer (not that he has twenty-seven fingers and five feet; well, he didn't the last time I met him!) And he wasn't willing to change ANYTHING! Of course, it didn't get performed, but I wonder what it might have sounded like as he seemed to have some good ideas...
Incidentally, in my ignorance, can anyone tell me how you get the double ss symbol in the middle of the term "Grosse Fuge"? And umlauts too? Thanks!
-
....the tab for all of which was picked up by the Churchwardens.
Was this a stop-tab?
-
Ah, yes. GTB's 113 Variations on Hymn Tunes for Organ, published by Novello, with a picture of the good Doctor on the cover. I've not played any of these for a number of years, and will take another look.
I wonder what Dykes would have made of Dominus regit me though!
-
Oh great! That makes three insults in one post.
(1: Anything by Mathias - BLEAH!!!)
(2: You mentiones the T-word)
(3: Another derogatory comment about my wonderful chamades.)
I am , of course, keeping a careful note of all comments....
I simply couldn't resist it!
-
PS And I even admit to playing the Mathias Processional!
Gosh, that's a blast from the past! Must dig it out again....
But would you confess to playing the recapitulation upon a Tuba stop or, heaven forfend, PCND's chamade?
-
"Awful" instruments? Is that not also discourteous? It is a long, long time since I heard Brompton Oratory, but it never struck me as awful. Actually my memory is of some rather fine sounds. Gloucester may be awful for accompanying Anglican choral music, but that does not make it an awful instrument per se, which it patently is not. The second largest organ south-west of Bristol is also a Downes instrument. There are things wrong with it, to be sure, not least the (apparent lack of) great reeds, but it retains a high reputation amongst the organs in the county - and its wealth of soft colour is the envy of all Anglican Romantics without exception.
I guess you're referring to Buckfast Abbey. But how much of that is due to that place's glorious acoustic? A tin whistle would sound wonderful in there! I understand that a lot of the pipework is very run-of-the-mill second-hand stuff, which should never sound as good as it does, and wouldn't in a less reverbrant building.
-
Once something is really learned, your subconcious will often get you through if left to itself. The moment you try concentrating, particularly when you slow it down, it no longer comes as automatically. Some of this fluency is down to a 'muscular memory'. Scales are an example of where a student will often do better fast than they will slowly - playing fast there is no time to think and no time to get muddled.
Good point!
-
I played through a fugue from the "48" this morning with the metronome at quite a fast speed. I forced myself to keep going and it wasn't half as bad as I expected. I think we are possibly more capable than we normally allow ourselves to be; all that unused grey matter etc.
Yeh, but it's often much harder to play something more slowly than racing through it, for some strange reason!
-
Exeter is hopeless for Baroque music. Howells sounds wonderful though!
I wouldn't go as far as to say hopeless, Vox, but would agree that it's not totally ideal especially in its lack of a sufficiently robust secondary chorus and the lack of wide-scale mutations, despite the appearance of the specification on paper. It just depends on how far you want to take the idea of "authenticity" and what concessions you're willing to make. And, of course, some Baroque music would come off better on it than other Baroque music.
Totally agree about Howells, though!
-
Indeed, M'sieur. I've never accompanied a service in either place, but I imagine I would find neither instrument ideal for accompanying a choir - for very different reasons. They would both be harder work than Exeter, that's for sure. As for playing music, I agree entirely that it depends what you are playing. I am quite sure I would not enjoy playing Baroque music at Truro any more than I would playing Howells at Gloucester.
But how much would you enjoy playing Baroque AND Howells at Exeter?
I think the motivation behind the original builder's idea at Truro was to make the most beautiful organ possible. I'm not entirely sure about the motivation behind the Downes remodelling of Gloucester; I don't think beauty was necessarily at the leading edge of the motivation behind that instrument's restyling.
-
Personally, I would want to be paid double that (in cash) to have to play this instrument for half of that time.
Now tell us what you REALLY think of the instrument!
-
This is exactly what Ralph Downes was saying.
In addition, as I mentioned in a post a few days ago, there are a number of valid musical things which the Truro organ (for example) cannot do, but which Gloucester can. Remember that accompanying the choral music of Stanford and Wood is not the only thing which either instrument has to do.
I think I can guess which of the two instruments most of us prefer though!
-
Are you making insinuations about my namesake???
Contrabombarde
Who, me?
-
It's not bad though, we got 31 posts into this thread before anybody aluded to what everybody was thinking
Well, it eluded me entirely!
-
-
PS That wasn't the Philip Dore related to the ex Direcotr of Music at Ampleforth, Dore, and his son who is currently on the staff there, William?
I guess it was the Philip Dore. An old LP (1971) of mine states that he was organ scholar of Queen's College, Cambridge, city organist at Portsmouth, organist of Mullingar Cathedral, Lecturer in Music at University College, Dublin. He was also on the music staff at Christ's Hospital, Horsham, and Brighton College, and later at Ampleforth College. He looks a bit ancient on the photo of him on the LP sleeve, and his playing seems to be rather influenced by advancing years.
-
Have you played Salisbury? Compared to this instrument, Winchester is virtually devoid of any real colour - even if the mixtures are more generally useful than those on the Salisbury Willis. The other advantage of the Salisbury organ is that it is possible to use the 32p reed for extended periods, without acquiring a headache.
Would you really want to use a 32' reed for extended periods though?
-
Needlessly interrupted voluntaries:
How about choir members who start talking during the voluntary?
Or clergy who suddenly realise they have forgotten an "important" announcement and shout "stop for just a minute Peter!" over the PA system while they remind people that Thursday's bingo has been cancelled?
Ot future brides and brides mothers who gawp and then try to talk to you during a quiet passage?
Or, once, a nun who tried to start a conversation....
Yes, it's all happened to me!
Peter
When I took on my present appointment some ten years ago, there had been a "tradition" of getting out the vacuum cleaner immediately at the end of the Sunday morning service, and using it to clean the chancel carpet which lies right behind the organ console. Of course, as far as they were concerned, the service had finished as soon as the final hymn was over i.e. the cleaning took place during the organ voluntary. Now what comment this made on my predecessor's choice of music (nor, indeed, his performance of the same!) I don't know, but it was a tradition I ended rather rapidly with a few choice words!
-
Excuse me for butting in......... Are you aware also of the Werner Icking Archive? http://icking-music-archive.org/ByComposer/J.S.Bach.php
About two thirds down the page on this link is the full set of Orgelbuchlein, free to print-off, comes as .PDF
If you haven't been here before, it is a massive archive. Once you start poking around in it, you'll be there for ever!
Thanks for pointing out this potentially useful site.
-
Gordon Reynolds lives on....!
-
10-57 - pedal trombone cypher during the Agnus Dei
-
I have the same edition as Barry, and to be honest, no.
Right-ho! Thanks.
-
The four Preludes are, as far as I am aware, only available in Diletto Musicale (see below.)
The 1836 prelude in E flat major was published by Auer at one time. That version is probably now out of print.
The D minor Prelude and Postlude were both edited by Augsberg ( confusing!) in about 1927 or 1928.
The D minor fugue was edited by Graflinger and published in Germany just before the first World War, but there was a revision in 1927.
My playing edition is Diletto Musicale by Verlang Doblinger of Munchen Nr 364:
Vorspiel d-Moll
Nachspiel d-Moll
Vospeill und Fuge c-Moll
Fuge d-Moll
Praludium C-Dur
Praludium Es-Dur
Vier Praludium in Es-Dur
with the four very short E flat Praludiums on the final page. There are also three stop lists of relevant organs on the inside back cover.
The important article is by Rudolf Quoika: Die Orgelwelt um Anton Bruckner- Blicke in die Orgelgeschichte Alt-Ostterreichs, Ludwigsburg, 1966. There is another article by Ernst Tittel in 1969 that has much useful information. (Singende Kirche, 16.Jahreng, volumes 3 & 4.)
There is valuable information in the Bruckner biography by August Gollerich (1922) or Auer's work in 1949.
Barry Williams
Is any of it worth purchasing and learning though, please?
Organist Composers
in General discussion
Posted
Thanks PCND, my ignorance is now lessened.