sjf1967

Meant to say - we don't know it was Bach's title - no autograph, but a pretty reliable Walther copy (P801). Seems to have circulated in two versions.

In an ideal world, small plenum (sometimes a grand jeu-ish sort of sound if there's a good one available), bigger plenum (16'maybe) for 5 part, smaller plenum for the last section until the last line when the larger plenum returns. I have no evidence that I'm right - just seems to work - but of course it depends on the plena. Switching to flutes seems to undo all the harmonic tension generated by the final bars of the 5pt section, to my ears at least. I can imagine a few 18th instruments having a winding problem with rapid passage work over repeated low pedal notes on a fuller registration in the final section, so I suppose you just have to decide whether or not to take note of those implications on a modern instrument.

Hope I'm not contravening any message board rules here. I have a complete Breitkopf JSB organ works for sale - brand new, perfect condition and still boxed, a thoughtful but unfortunately duplicated gift. Anyone interested? It's only going to sit on my bookshelves otherwise, which seems a waste. We can haggle off board! SF

A long tenure doesn't necessarily mean that people don't apply for other jobs...

Well Vox, I'd say it's all a lot more fluid than it was. In no way do I mean to imply that this is necessarily a bad thing, because recent appointments have all been excellent ones; but the 'established' route of Assistantship at ****ester, 10 years as no 1 at *******ton and then finishing up with appointment at the age of 50 or so to the no 1 post at *******ford is less certain than it was.

Jeremy - I was going to keep well away from this one...but while it's true that a spell away from cathedral music might be an option for some, DH (for whom I have the utmost admiration and respect, having been his assistant - he's a thoroughly nice, modest bloke and is a joy to work for in every way) is hardly your average cathedral organist; not many have his range of freelance options to pursue, and his diary was already packed with outside conducting engagements when he left Winchester - it is still is, and rightly so. The other aspect of all this is that people can only move to new pastures when they become available; in recent years the progression through the profession has become a much less predictable thing than it ever used to be. So 'keeping it fresh' is not quite the straightforward situation some might imagine it to be, and while taking a break from it seems the obvious solution, even cathedral organists have to eat...

Bach knew many instruments with 2' pedal stops, Pierre...Arnstadt Neue Kirche and Thomaskirche Lepizig among them. Who knows what he did with said 2' stops, but they're on the stoplist.

Vox - it is a great piece, yes. Actually two bassoons and piano! I think Alain's father's house organ was the instrument in question; the Pedal 16p was on permanently in the lower octave, and the drawstop for this only functioned for notes above the divide point. The rest of the registers worked normally I think - so you could draw 4p Flute and play a melody on it in the upper octave of the pedals while the lowest octave of the pedal sounded at 16p pitch. I can't find the spec anywhere, but I'm reasonably sure about this. Not an electrical device. The Variations on Lucis Creator use the possibility too I think. S

Yes, that's right. Afraid I can't claim credit for the physiology class comment, but I'm glad it brightened your day - thank Blackadder.

Hi pncd - I'll do my best to remember! It was one of my first concerts outside the UK and all a bit scary - lurking somewhere in the attic is a cassette of it, but I haven't been able to face digging it out - the playing is probably terrible. In order of asking! - I think we did the whole conversation in French - I was at that time reasonably fluent in a sexy chit chat with girls sort of way, but couldn't have taken a physiology class or directed a light opera . There was a Gauloise perched on PP's lower lip during his visit to the loft, yes - some of the ash went on and in my suit. Very hard to find your way around - nothing labelled, ventils heavy, stop draw length massive and not entirely perpendicular to the jambs for the most part, bench cripplingly positioned and immovable. Action HEAVY. Afraid I can't remember a thing about the temperament - it was so out of tune anyway it made no difference! I'll see if I can find that cassette... I think there's some footage of PP improvising at SD on that Solstice Cochereau DVD. S

The st Denis CC is very special. I played a lunchtime concert there ages back and M Pincemaille turned up in the loft halfway through the first piece to say hello. After a mid Dupre conversation he then spent the rest of the programme squinting at my registrations, muttering 'merde' and changing stops on a bar by bar basis till it sounded right..and the stereotype about chain smoking Gauloises was on this occasion borne out by reality. He was quite right about all the registrations, of course, and was altogether a pretty cool sort of bloke.

googling for pncd's phrase (I have no Cyrillic, alas) brings up a rather charming picture of a kitten. bless.

headcase - it's Michael Powell 'A Canterbury Tale' - a really wonderful film and a very moving experience. Powell is a genius. Available on DVD - I've just been watching it! - and it crops up on TV from time to time. You should have no trouble tracking it down. S

It will be David Goode's 5th consecutive Prom season I think.

Not at all Jeremy - I hope you enjoy it and will be interested to hear your thoughts on the Bolcom if you get around to posting them here. I'm a big fan but I know it's not everyone's bottle of Budweiser...on the more general point, I wonder how easy it really is to programme for the RAH - quite a lot of repertoire won't quite work there I think, despite the size of the instument.

Hi pncd - the Bolcom is fantastic - it starts as a bona fide avant garde piece with little hints of melody poking through the texture, and gradually metamorphoses to a blues/swing/rock setting of the second tune, starting quietly and growing to a conclusion on full organ. Great fun - and incredibly difficult. Well worth going to hear the concert for that piece alone I'd say....

Yes he did, Jeremy - but I don't entirely understand why you are so turned off by the prospect of hearing the Schumann Fugues again - one of the few 19th century organ works to come from the pen of a real composer, one that musicians other than organists take seriously. As for the repeating programme issue - look at Carlos Kleiber. In the last twenty years of his career he only a had repertoire of about 10 symphonies, a handful of overtures and maybe six operas , but people still flocked to hear him conduct them every time - no one said 'Blimey, Beethoven 5 and 7 AGAIN - didn't he conduct those last year at the Musikverein?' Why was that? I heard the Schumann last year and don't imagine they will be played the same way in the RAH - that alone will make the comparison interesting. What do you think SP should have played?

Do you really think the old Sheldonian organ was respectable, Paul? On the occasions I had to perform on it, it was close to being one of the worst organs I've played - I think your choice of adjective is pretty generous! Saying that is not the same thing as liking the idea of an electronic - I think the use of the old casework to conceal the speakers of the replacement is at best disingenous - but it was a poor organ.

Sounds like a transposer switch going off to me - he's playing in Dd while they sing in D.

Richard - I have quite a few, including a splendid Hallelujah Chorus, but can't post the url links here. I'm happy to forward them to you if you contact me off the board.

MM - we can agree on two things at least - the Willan 's overrated, and there's not very much really good English repertoire. But after that I think we'll have to agree to disagree, I hope amicably...I learnt quite a few of the bigger Reger pieces (I had to play the Second Sonata for a competition), and have never returned to them - I hated every minute! It's nothing to do with how hard his pieces are, or lack of time to work on them. The problem for me is the effort/reward ratio, I think, but I know that's not the same for others - I just happen to find other kinds of chtechnical challenge more rewarding. The concept of Reger adding a superfluous part to the unimprovable work of a far greater composer is for me emblematic of why I can't 'do ' Reger. How hard the result might be to play doesn't make it any more worthwhile...

Bad form to reply to your own of course but I just remembered that great phrase of Felix Aprahamian's - 'Reger's gifts often ran riot in immense exaggerations'.

wellll..apart from David Goode, is it really the case that Preston, Heiller, et al were/are great champions of Reger in general? - they have confined their selection to a few of his more impressive things. I have only ever heard SP play the usual bits of Op 59 and Straf mich nicht. Brian Runnett didn't play that much either - of course what he did pay was very fine indeed. . Once you're past the 'greatest hits', some of which are certainly very fine - I am extremely partial to Hallelujah Gott zu loben - what are we really left with? Erste Sonate or Zweite Suite, anyone? A great deal of R's output is pretty thin, I'm sorry to say. If only his textures were more so... I read somewhere in a sleeve note recently the assertion that all Reger's chords 'had' to have at least 12 notes in them because the thoughts they expressed were so profound. Surely not? Is profundity of thought really a function of density of texture? But, MM, I do agree with you on Guilmant and (mostly) Vierne, so I hope you'll forgive me!

Vox- did you hear any of the R3 Bach Christmas? They played some of the old Helmut Walcha recordings of JSB - exquisite.