innate

The publishers of Stravinsky's Rite have been assiduous in discovering planned performances of unauthorised arrangements and sending clear messages that their rights and those of the Stravinsky Estate will be asserted and maintained by the force of law. So I wouldn't be surprised if that was the reason. However firstrees seems to be implying something stranger.

Let's call it sophomoric high spirits. But it was definitely Guildford in the summer of 1979 and the preacher thought it was the last trump. If it actually happened.

I think that if you already have sub- and super- octave couplers the provision of a Unison Off is relatively trivial and in my opinion affords more possibilities than have been outlined above. For example there is neither a 16' flue nor a 2' flute on the Swell where I play regularly and an interesting combination can be made of 8' and 4' flutes with sub- super- *and* unison off giving 16' + 4' from the 8' and 8' and 2' from the 4' so 16', 8', 4', 2' with little chance of note-stealing and an effect that can't be produced simply by a different playing position. I would vote *against* the situation described by PCND above where the Unison Off coupler only engages when the sub- or super- couplers are drawn. Not only does it preclude its use as a ventil but also causes acute embarrassment when the Solo Tuba and Unison Off are drawn and a note is played during the sermon at Sunday Evensong which *might* have happened in my presence at Guildford Cathedral some 35 years ago.

Correction: the recital series is the first Friday of the month I want to compliment the organ-builders on the very quiet dual-action stop action; mechanical and electrical.

I went to this recital today: St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park (St Martin 2013 25/IIIP). The first of our monthly recitals (first Friday of every month at 12.30) will be given this Friday, 7th March, by Nick Wearne organist of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Bach, Mendelssohn, Jeffcoat, Durufle P&F/Alain. Free admission. First impressions: the organ case looks both sumptuous and completely in agreement with the colours and feel of this Arts and Crafts church. I particularly admired the way the red and gold was shared between the organ and the walls of the sanctuary. I was surprised by the clear view of the pedal pipes through the arch at the east end of the North Aisle; I quickly came to appreciate the contrast between the highly decorated front of the organ case which contains only the pipes of the Grande Orgue and the other divisions of the organ which are undecorated and functional. Nick Wearne played a short programme with panache, accuracy and musicality. An early JS Bach Prelude & Fugue in C showed off the fine plenum and some quieter combinations which sounded very well in the body of the nave. The next piece, with a complicated history involving a Polish folk-tune, an accordion and Rupert Jeffcoat, was a set of variations which presented many varied registrations including, I think, the Hautbois and Nasard which to my ears synthesised a very effective clarinet. The Duruflé Prelude et Fugue sur le Nom d’Alain started at a fierce pace which Mr Wearne kept up throughout the prelude. The Bourdon of the Grande Orgue seemed to lack definition at this speed; it was a pleasing sound but there was a lot of "chiff" and not much "note". The Cornet of the Résonance sounded marvellous as did the strings of the Récit. I wasn't sure whether we were given the true "full organ" at any point. If we were then I would say the 16' reed on the Résonance is rather refined. Many thanks to Jon Dods for organising this, the first in a series of recitals taking place on the 2nd Friday of every month. One non-musical thing that amused me: when I sat down someone in the pew behind asked me to remove my "hi-viz" jacket as it was too bright for her and "inappropriate". I would like to congratulate Jon, the organ consultant John Rowntree, the vicar, the PCC and the congregation on their tremendous new instrument.

According to the well-known music blogger Norman Lebrecht at Slipped Disc Robert Quinney is to succeed Edward Higginbottom at New College, Oxford. Congratulations are due. I wonder what plans, if any, Quinney has for the GDB organ at New College.

Agreed, Sotto! If a digital instrument is going to sound good anywhere it will be in a great acoustic such as Peterborough. And it's not as though there are going to be that many orchestral concerts with organ; probably three a year, maximum.

I was thinking the same, stewartt. Wasn't the organ of Reading Town Hall recently restored back to its original pitch as the experts had decided the tone had suffered in changing it to A440? Robert Quinney's second point in the interview linked above makes good sense; in the only building in Peterborough suitable for big orchestral concerts it's a shame that they can never use this marvellous organ with an orchestra. But his first point, that his choir members are "used" to hearing, singing and playing music in their daily lives outside the cathedral at A440 and so their brain/larynx is confused when singing at a slightly different pitch, seems specious to me. Most performances of music from the Classical period on "period" instruments are at A430 these days and that often includes operas and other vocal music. There is a campaign (slightly eccentric) to change standard pitch to A432 as that is somehow more natural* and, as the pitch that Verdi knew, is best for operatic tessituras. The demonstration of using the Peterborough organs together was very effective but that just means you shouldn't use them together; they are historically incompatible instruments in any case. I remember singing Evensongs in Peterborough 2 or 3 times in the early 1970s with the RSCM Midland Cathedral Singers; I have no recollection of being disorientated by the pitch. *No, it’s not.

I think Colin was referring to the field of classical music. The only electric power needed for most classical concerts is for the lights. Occasionally there might be a Vibraphone that needs plugging in, or a freak bass guitar (Tippett).

As a life-long member of a trade union I would support the right of all to benefit from such membership and I would imagine that organ blowers must have suffered from heartless managements no less than other manual labourers. Has there been any research into organ-blowing as an occupation? And the effect of organ blowers' working practices on the life and work of organists and organ-builders? I've just thought how much blowing would be required during the voicing and tuning of a large instrument in the old days.

There's normally a very clear warning that copyright laws differ in different jurisdictions. Annoying, sometimes, but true. Anything published before 1923 in the USA is now public domain in the USA. I don't know if the rules in Canada are the same as those for the USA. The rules in most EU countries are that nothing becomes public domain until 1st of Jan after 70 years after the creator's death (or the death of the last creator to die in the case of collaborations eg opera, songs). But there are traps. French law has an extension to the 70 years for French creators who served in the French forces during times of war amounting to the length of such service. IMSLP generally contains scores that are Public Domain in at least one jurisdiction. You must check what the rules are before downloading anything that might still be protected by copyright law in your jurisdiction.

You could write: (Rank "A") (Rank "B") to avoid triggering the emoticons. Slightly annoying "feature".

Where there is already a Gt & Ped Combs Coupled drawstop I would imagine that it is trivial to replace with two couplers: Pedal Combinations on Great Pistons and Great Combinations on Pedal Pistons. It makes things much more flexible—for service playing the first is more useful, for solo repertoire the second is better; and for fans of the older coupler: just pull both out. My vote is for everything in the division to be settable on the divisionals including tremulants and octave couplers acting on that division. Any couplers between divisions including octave couplers should only be settable on Generals. And the Gt&Ped Combs coupler(s) may be settable on Generals but shouldn't be affected by the General Cancel.

Could not plainsong form the back-bone of a trebles-only divine office?

Can't wait for Tesco to move into pipe organ part manufacture and distribution. "Good pipes at reasonable prices". Special Xmas Offer: buy two slider chests, get one free!

Merit is possibly not sufficiently nuanced a term. It would be appropriate to appoint someone who, as a choir director, is in sympathy with the style of the previous two holders of the post and, as an organist, is in sympathy with the GDB. To appoint someone who wishes to replace the instrument according to current thinking would be a mistake, whatever their strengths as a musician and academic.

Slightly sore point, AJJ. The recording was made for personal use so I was surprised to see it on a CD available for sale. The promoters had tried to contact me, unsuccessfully, but released it anyway! As they had only pressed a relatively small number and any proceeds were for the Lincoln choir or some other equally laudable charity I settled for a very small fee and a few CDs. You can hear the clock chime 9pm during the slow movement, if I recall correctly.

I gave the first performance of Dr Marshall's concerto for Piano and Strings in the mid 1980s with the ILEA String Orchestra conducted by Frederick Applewhite (whose son was a chorister at Lincoln under Dr Marshall) in the Minster. I think I still have my copy of the solo piano part somewhere but not the score or orchestral parts. Feel free to message me. M

I think there can be no doubt as to the man's musicianship. He worked with the best musicians at the highest level and commanded huge respect from them eg the members of the English Chamber Orchestra. His pianism was of the highest calibre. I don't always agree with his interpretations eg his recordings of the Schubert Arpeggione Sonata and Debussy's Cello Sonata with Rostropovich I find extremely mannered and annoying. But his organ writing has always worried me (we have, indeed, been here before on this board).

If only I knew, pcnd! I was merrily typing and the 1 / 3 (without spaces) suddenly flipped to the ⅓ you see. It's never happened before. I would never even think of trying to achieve that on an online forum, although when working in other situations I will futz around trying to use the correct unicode fraction and font. I'll see which other fractions work here: ⅔ ¼ ½ ¾ 1/5 3/5 4/5 1/6 ... Ah, so a nice feature, but limited. 127/128? Does that feature in the new Notre Dame spec?

I seem to recall that the lowest few notes of the Montre 16' on the Rieger at Christ Church, Oxford are as Tony describes; 16' stopped + 8' open "helper". And the same technique is used, an octave higher, for the lowest notes of the 8' Diapason on small-ish church instruments. I too don't understand the 16' stopped + 5 ⅓' as described by Nigel. There would be a noticeable missing 8' partial.

I caught the second half of the BBCR3 Choral Evensong from Merton yesterday. This probably isn't the appropriate place to discuss the choir. The organ in the hymn and Britten voluntary sounded full and rich. Anyone else hear it?

Or the Magi arrived 2 years after Christ was born. It's a long way from the East!

There is an update, following, I imagine, sustained and determined lobbying by the Musicians’ Union. Whether this changes the situation for regular church organists would be beyond my pay grade, as they say. http://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/news/2013/10/23/good-news-on-national-insurance-and-thank-you/

Suddenly I'm wondering if German organists were members of a guild, as I'm led to believe trumpeters of the period were.