sjf1967

If you want to hear the RAH organ accompanying (crowd control, really) about 5000 people and a chorus of 400 in the Hallelujah Chorus, have a listen to the evening Prom from Sept 7th - Mozart version of Messiah, directed by John Butt with ASMF.

Would anyone happen to be free in Selby, 18-20 November from 4pm each day? I'm recording a disc of contemporary trumpet and organ repertoire in the Abbey, and a page turner would be very handy.... Please PM me if free! No fee alas, but could probably cover reasonable expenses, and of course as many pints in the George Inn as you can handle. Thanks! SF

Also an Ave Maris Stella in the Tombeaue de Titelouze.

If you stretch a theological point somewhat some of these might be useful - https://ks15.imslp.org/files/imglnks/usimg/3/36/IMSLP04777-ChaussonOp31Vepres.pdf There's a very lovely Paraphrase on Salve Regina in the Langlais 24 pieces. The Grand Jeu from de Grigny Ave Maris could be worth a look? Probably some Titelouze too.

The headline is a very typical SD one. Read on and you'll see that in the light of the cathedral's latest statement, NL has rowed back from the major implication of his original headline (which remains unaltered, although some important aspects of the story have changed). The site offers a lot of entertaining material, but sometimes it needs taking with a pinch of salt....

I knew I'd seen something relevant, and found it in a review I wrote for Choir and Organ a couple of years back. Music by Jewish composers, arranged for viola or cello and organ. I don't have the copy anymore, alas. B Kalinowska and S Kalinowsky (eds.) From Jewish Life (Bärenreiter BA11252, £22.50 )

Not sure there has been any advance on this from Peter Williams - whose answer is that there is no clear answer. He suggests an 'ideal' note, or a French allusion to ravalement pedalboards, or that it was written for harpsichord with the lowest C# tuned down a tone (pedals are not necessary for the central section, which can be managed completely manualiter). And it's not unique - the note appears in copies of BWV 564 and 566. And ultimately in the absence of an autograph, who knows whether Bach wrote it? One copyist puts it up an octave.

This might be worth a look? https://www.laflutedepan.com/partition/2087036/jehan-alain-l-annee-liturgique-israelite-partition-orgue.html Transcribed from this recording

ah, sorry, yes! 729. 608 is a tricky number for sure.

The whole question of what the pedal should play is very much open to individual interpretation - there's no autograph and the only two copies (Preller and Kittel, both quite a bit later than the date of composition suggested by the idiom of the piece) make no stipulation about what they play (although they are needed unless some chords are respaced in places). The earlier, shorter 729a is similarly unspecific (here the chorale is figured, not written out). The NBA has no pedal indication at all, the BG just (con Ped.), on who knows what authority. New Breitkopf suggests pedal for the first two chorale phrases, and then not until b39 to end. The 3-stave notation we're now familiar with is I suspect very much a development of the Novello editions. So a range of solutions is certainly acceptable. One possible system is just to use the pedal where you really need to, where the tune appears in fuller harmonised textures. Registration - possibly plenum, or a smaller chorus, but I've heard it done very beautifully on a single 8 principal.

No, I'm not joking in any shape or form, it's the real scheme - the firm is hardly likely to publish a comedy version on its own website. I'm going to wait until I've heard/played it before deciding what I think. Only 3 years to wait, it'll fly past.

No, it's the real specification. Why wouldn't it be? Have you read the detailed rationale for the design?

crikey, had no idea! I picked mine up second hand for about a fiver...

which reminds me - anything useful in the Helmut Walcha chorale preludes?

Does the cathedral have an endowment separate from the college? I can't see how this is going to work financially, but I'm sure they already thought of that.