John Sayer

About 15 years ago I saw a review of an arrangement of Johann Strauss's Blue Danube Waltz for organ duet - pedals only - that is for 4 feet! The publisher may have been Bärenreiter, though I could be mistaken. I remember being intrigued at the time but never got round to following it up. It must be great fun to play. Has anyone come across it? Perhaps other members might like to tell of other off-beat examples of the genre. JS

Many thanks. The link you refer to seems to be a search engine for vinyl records and CDs. It lists Heiller's Reger recordings as vinyl discs issued in 1972. Erato itself was taken over by Warner Brothers in 1992. I'm not sure where one goes from here. JS

Could someone track down which label & record number the Heiller/Linz performance was issued on? It might be worth lobbying the record company, assuming, of course, it's still in business. JS

It happened to me in 1984, at a recital given by Matthias Eisenberg on the big new IVP Scuke at the Gewandhaus, Leipzig. "Können Sie registrieren?" he asked, to which I foolishly replied, "Ja, gerne". The piece was the Bach Passacaglia and the music was spattered with numbers referring to the 100-odd illuminated stop lozenges arranged like lift buttons on the LH jamb. I managed to keep up with all the kaleidoscopic stop changes - he was showing off the new instrument, after all - until the big Neapolitan sixth half-close near the end of the Fugue where he wanted about a dozen more stops added, including the battery of chamades 16-8-5 1/3-4. With fingers poised spider-fashion over the wretched plastic tablets, I leaned forward a microsecond too soon and clipped the end of the chord before he lifted his hands from the keys. He was quite sweet about it and went to to give a 15-minute pyrotechnic improvisation on God save the Queen, as I stood by watching, fascinated by the fact that he played throughout in ballet shoes. JS

As one who does a lot of German wordprocessing, I've now more or less memorised the ATL+ formulae, which seem to me quicker than the insert symbol method. There are only 3 or 4 you need frequently: ä is +132 ö is + 148 ü is + 129 and ß (for things like 8 Fuß), is +225 Capitals don't crop up all that often: Ä is +142 Ö is +153 Ü is +154 French, however, is a different matter .... JS

Quite right. There is recorded evidence of "Registranten" in 17th Germany and the tradition still continues, often in families, and is even used in improvised pieces. I recall a Dutch organist playing an extended improvisation with the assistance of his two sons. I'm not quite sure how they managed it - maybe it was a combination of preparation, familiarity, telepathy, nods, winks - but very effective it was too. People have commented before about Anton Heiller's incomparably magnificent, barn-storming recording of the Reger Wachet auf! on the Marcussen Ruedigerorgel in the Neuer Dom in Linz - all done with a lot of sweat and the help of two very busy stop-pullers. A propos the Passacaglia - another argument against the once fashionable practice of playing the whole thing in organo pleno throughout is surely the fact that the poor old bellows-treader(s) could never have kept going for the 15-16 minutes the piece take to play. But then there are those who say it's a harpsichord piece..... JS

What is the English Cathedral "style"? Perhaps what you mean is the English Cathedral repertory - in which case Byrd, Weelkes, Gibbons, Morley, Tomkins, Blow, Purcell, Handel, Boyce, Battishill and Samuel Wesley etc are every bit as representative of the genre as Ouseley, Stainer, Wood, Parry, Stanford, Howells, Bairstow, Finzi etc. The trouble is that the words English cathedral style are too often only taken to refer only to the latter - that is to works requiring the sort of romantic, highly coloured, quasi-orchestral type of accompaniment and vast dynamic range associated with the 20c cathedral instrument. Unfortunately, the musical merit of some of these works, like the instruments themselves, is often debatable to say the least. Lord, spare me from yet another Dyson in D! JS

Yes, it was a nostalgic broadcast, with memories of undergrad days in the late Sixties, bringing back voices long since gone - did clergymen really speak like that 30 years ago? And where did the acoustic come from? The building always struck me as pretty well dead. The old organ was as undistinguished tonally as it was visually. Gilbert Scott's choir case was not only too deep but far too tall for the main case. It's a pity this wasn't corrected in 1979. If it had been reduced, say to a 6ft front, there might have been less temptation to lift the main case so high up, though this was probably necessary to accommodate the Swell in Brustwerk position. And the case pipes should surely have been gilded in accordance with 18c English practice. Today the whole visual ensemble is somehow less than satisfying. In those days, the choir sang at the 11.00 Eucharist in the choir stallls at the east end, with Sydney, often resplendent in D Mus robes, conducting Palestrina, Lassus and Jakob Handl with minimalist movements of the right index finger. At the communion hymn he would disappear into the side chapel to accompany on the little Crotch organ, with the main organ contributing just the final hymn and voluntary. Dean Cuthbert Simpson would bid worshippers a stone-faced farewell at the west end, his cassock disturbed by the occasional draught from the 32 Violone stacked up against the wall around the door. JS

Excellent news. What price a knighthood for Bill Drake? JS

Congratulations to Nigel on his painstaking polychromaticism! What is the right temperament for a seemingly 'multi-cultural' organ like Marlborough? If it is not to be equally-tempered, what would be appropriate for an instrument whose declared purpose is allow performance of organ music from a variety of periods and nationalities? A mildly unequal one like Valotti perhaps, as at Magdalen, Oxford? Neither fish nor fowl, some might say. It adds an mild dab of mustard to the 17-18c palate, but makes Vierne ever so slightly sour. Maybe the Marlburians can stomach that sort of thing, but I imagine they would feel decidedly queasy at the Berceuse in Werkmeister III! One thing seems pretty certain - there will be fair helpings of Vierne (and Franck, and Reger, and Howells and Elgar etc - you name it) served up in the college chapel. If I may suggest a personal preference, it would be for Neidhardt I, for general sweetness and palatability, (with the possibly exception of E major). It seems to have had JSB's endorsement and is closely related to Bradley Lehman's newly postulated 'Bach temperament'. I accept, of course, that it has many of the limitations already mentioned. It's the perennial question, I suppose, of what sort of compromise you are prepared to make between colour/vitality/interest/authenticity on the one hand and versatility/eclecticism on the other. JS

Klais, of course, are rebuilding the much-mutiliated N&B in Auckland Town Hall, NZ, with Ian Bell as consultant. I've no idea how much, if anything, of the old instrument - for example the splendid Edwardian case of 1911 - is being retained. Auckland Town Hall

Chacun a son goût - or chacun a son égoût, (each to his own sewer), if you prefer. What's right depends obviously on the context, however you car to define that - time, place, setting, season, audience, instrument etc etc. In this country there seems little scope for the 'liturgically or scripturally informed' recital, that is where the pieces are chosen to reflect a particular devotional theme. One distinguished exception is the recital series at the Brompton Oratory, where players are expected to select pieces of appropriate religious character and overtly secular works are discouraged. This might seem unduly restrictive, but, in practice, it can often be a revelation to hear, say, selected plainsong themes or chorale melodies treated in different ways by different composers, or, at the other end of the scale, a Tournemire mass setting in its entirety. The point is that the recital acquires a context and a framework which gives added understanding to its component pieces. A good example of this is the Orgelvesper, a form of late-Sunday afternoon organ recital-cum-devotional address to be heard in many German churches, both Protestant and Catholic. It usually lasts about 40-45 minutes, with organ music on either side of a 10-minute devotional address from the priest or pastor, with both parts sharing a similar theme or mood. I recall such Orgelvesper at such wonderful places as St Jakobi, Lübeck, St Marien, Berlin and the Freiberger Dom, all of which were very satisfying musical (and spiritual) experiences - and almost always well-attended, to boot. Sensitively and intelligently done, it can be a welcome change from the usual recital fare - at its worst an unrelated and inconsequential ragbag of superficially ear-tickling and showy pieces designed to please the punters, perhaps with the odd bit of JSB thrown in for respectability. I'm not decrying populist recital programmes - Lefébure-Wély and all - or the entirely laudable wish of organists to reach a wider audience. The alternative I've described may not work over here - it certainly requires more work to prepare, not to mention the active support and cooperation from the clerical wing. I just wonder if anyone would be brave enough to give it a try sometime. (or may even have done so). JS

Sorry, but I must correct the unintended slander on the name of Ian Ramsay, a saintly and tireless Bishop of Durham, whose early death was almost certainly the result of overwork. The problematic prelate in question was his successor, Dr David Jenkins, formerly Professor of Theology at Leeds, whose radical views on various doctrinal issues, such as the Virgin Birth, were the cause of much controversy at the time of his appointment. JS

Yes, the ornamentation does make you sit up and listen at times, especially as some of it seems to break all the accepted barock rules, such as mordents starting on the wrong note. One should congratulate JSW not only on his playing but also on his miming, since that is how whole sections of certain works were recorded, e.g. the shots from behind the music desk. Whatever one thinks of Mr Hirst's swarming friends (bees, sorry - I'm not well up in apiarist matters!) and ultra-gimmicky camera-work, it does seem a pity that so many opportunities were missed; for example the chance to show more of the unique ambience of the chosen locations. Why so few shots of the interior and exterior of marvellous churches like St Wenzel, Naumburg and Freiberg Dom, and also of the towns themselves? Much has changed over the centuries, of course, but it is still possible in these places to get some idea of the surroundings in which JSB lived and worked, in a way which adds a new dimension to the music itself. JS

My apologies - defeated by the technology! Try 21st-century Bach (correction) and search under "Bach" Failing that try via www.bensonsworld.co.uk JS

If you watched John Scott Whitely's Bach programmes on TV (the ones with the wasps crawling over the master's bust), you, like me, may have been put off by the gimmicky camera work and sometimes quirky playing. The DVD version has rather more to offer, however. Apart from a wondrous assortment of organs - Hamburg (Jakobi & Neuenfelde), Arnstadt, Freiberg, Naumburg, Haarlem, Lüneburg and Bath Abbey (for BWBV 565), there are decent programme notes by Stephen Pettitt plus various DVD extras like German/English chorale text subtitles, audio commentary on the pieces, interview with Christoph Wolf (author of the best book on JSB in my opinion), biography of JSB, the inevitable 'making of...' appendix and even more whizzy 'red-button' technical stuff if you want it. Like or not - I think it's worth a further look, especially as the 2-CD set (148 mins playing time) costs just £9.99 incl. P&P from Bensonworld 21st-century Bach Worth another hearing, I reckon. JS

It would certainly have been easier and a darn sight cheaper in the long run. It is said to be costing some £30k a year alone just to store the dismantled instrument. The SBC management is rumoured to be unsympathetic, to say the least, to the organ and would gladly be rid of the whole thing. This would account for the grudingly short-sighted and penny-pinching way they have gone about the restoration of this historic instrument, which is part and parcel of of this listed building as well as a landmark in English organ-building (whether or not we happen to like the sound it makes). With the philistine accountants in charge, one has to be fairly sanguine about the chances of the instrument ever being fully reinstated. JS

The Walcker organ at Felixkirk (in the Hambleton Hills nr Ampleforth) was originally blown by a water engine, now restored and displayed in a glass case near the console. JS

A lovely piece, both moving and original. It should be heard more often over here. JS

Thanks - one possible alternative might be to seat some of the audience on the west side of the crossing, i.e. at the junction with the nave, just behind the nave altar. This arrangement seems to work well enough here in Ripon - admittedly a much smaller space - with recitalists treating the Choir division as an echo organ. The ideal solution at York, of course, would be to reinstate the 3m Hill (?) instrument that stood in the nave in the 19th century and maybe make it playable from the main console. JS

The best example of a GGG Pedal compass is the 1829 Bishop organ at St James, Bermondsey, magnificently restored by Goetze & Gwynn a few years ago. (This is the organ with the little one-and-a-half octave keyboard with its own music desk on the LH side so that an assistant can play the pedal part). Sitting on the organ bench feels most odd at first; the temptation is to shift about 4 inches to the right. The trouble is that, after struggling to get your brain, hands and feet oriented, you go back to your own church next Sunday and find yourself playing hymns with the pedal line a fourth out! JS

Read Mod Langs at St Edmund Hall, Oxford; lifelong interest in German & French lang & lit, although 30+ years business career in finance. Now retired to North Yorks (Ripon) with small Peter Collins house organ. Amateur (very) organist - what the Germans call "Autodidakt" - occasional deputising, funerals etc. Member of BIOS, OHTA, GdO, Oxford & District OA and Organ Club (President 1992-5). Occasional translation/reviews/articles for various periodicals. Interested also in orchestral & chamber music, opera, Lieder - Prommer for 20 years. Travelled fairly extensively in Europe, including former East Germany from 1976 onwards and have been undeservedly fortunate to have heard and played a large proportion of the famous organs on the Continent and in Australia.

I wonder if anyone else was among the audience filling the choir of York Minster for Francis Jackson's quite remarkable recital yesterday evening? His 80 minute programme comprised Bach P&F in E flat, Peeters - Variations on an Original Theme and his own Symphony Op 21, a wonderfully convincing piece of advocacy for his own music and all from one shortly to celebrate his 89th birthday and who has been associated with this great building for no less than 77 years. The standing ovation at the end was really quite touching. My only slight criticism - and nothing to do with Dr Jackson I hasten to add - is why the audience is obliged to sit in the choir when so much of the organ is nave-oriented since Geoffrey Coffin's rebuilding. To my ears at least, the Great chorus, for example, sounded somewhat remote and the Mirabilis firing off westwards down the nave a strange aural experience. JS

If you can also manage to enlist a violinist, there's the Suite Op 149 for organ, violin and cello by Rheinberger. Another suggestion might be the Fantasia a gusto italiano by J L Krebs, a gorgeous piece quite unlike anything else he wrote. The solo line in the LH is just like a viola da gamba solo with gentle quaver accompaniment for RH and pedal. It could well be a transcription of something else and I'm sure it would work perfectly for organ and cello. It's in Vol 2 of the Breitkopf edition. JS

This may sound like heresy, but I actually walked out of a recital at SGH last year, unable to stand any more of the deluge of decibels from the distinguished recitalist. To my taste, at least, it is all too big and too loud. I do not know whether anyone has drawn up a considered strategy for the restoration of this historic instrument - I doubt it somehow. Surely the money spent a few years ago on new drawstops and fancy capture systems would have been better spent on more urgent and essential repairs. The present instrument is a far cry from that presided over by Best and Pearce, and I, for one, would like to see this unique Victorian survival returned to an earlier incarnation, certainly pre-1930, perhaps to a state either of these gentlemen would recognise and one more in keeping with the ethos of the beautifully restored Hall itself. Should we be seeking to preserve an overblown monster in a city which already has one, albeit superlative, very grand organ. How far back should one go? How 'historically informed' should any restoration be? These are the sort of conservationist questions we should be asking. Maybe BIOS should take a lead with a Conference or Symposium on the subject. All this may be purely hypothetical but maybe it's time we had some original thinking. JS