sjf1967

well spotted...

Glad you all like it - some revisions are on the way imminently and I note the desire for more photos. One of the photos is indeed from St Paul's - London premiere of the Symphony DB wrote for me in 2004.And yes thanks, I did get the help I needed on Saturday - many thanks to Robert Bowles of this site who did a super job. The St John's organ is really worth going to hear. By the way - there's no way I could have cut the scores out and pasted them on cardboard....

http://www.chosenvalemusic.org/location.html - scroll down a bit for photo and spec. This is a really beautiful organ in a tiny chapel in the middle of rural New Hampshire - I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was very versatile for 26 stops.... especially lovely 8' flues

I'm in need of a page turner - tomorrow night, St John's Duncan Terrace, 7.30pm. Can anyone help? Replies off board gratefully received. Thanks in advance S

You're right, parsfan. It's incredibly hard to get children of chorister age now to read and even vaguely understand the English of the BCP psalter - most adults in 2006 would find it a challenge too, I'd wager...I think it's pragmatism rather than anything more sinister that lies behind this change of procedure for most places. It's a completely alien language to modern kids, and just getting 30+ verses learnt in textual terms can take more time than most of us have at our disposal....never mind trying to craft the singing in musical terms. I'd have to put Geoff Morgan at the top of my own list of psalm players....those who heard his plainsong 15th evening were never the same again!

No problem Vox - we are always very happy to help in this way when we can. I hope he gets something sorted, and best of luck to him! Best S

Vox - depends where he wants to go. As you would imagine, John's King's Christ Church etc demand lots of previous; but I too come from a Free Church background and had barely learned how to read pointing when I went up to Clare, although I had done a fair bit of playing in a church with an SATB choir that sang anthems and settings to a high standard. Not having much experience with psalmody made life difficult, I have to say, but I survivied. The overall state of play regarding able applicants for Oxbridge sholarships is that there aren't enough, certainly in the smaller colleges. He should go for it, and do as much as possible to fill in the gaps in the meantime. Lots of applicants fall into the trap if thinking that being able to play Transports de Joie will put them at an advantage, but actually a sound grasp of the more mundane musical skills will be much more useful. Lots of cathedral organists I know will be willing to offer practical encouragement - a chance to sit in the loft etc - to someone in this position; i certainly am, so if he's not too far away put him in touch. Best S

But that seems to me to be precisely the point, Pierre - the whole project is based on the notion that this is NOT just another a synthesis organ, or a vaguely English 'inspired' one, but one that reproduces the stylistic and tonal ideals of Harrison/Willis 1880-1920, whatever that means. It looks to me something like a standard issue 3 manual Willis (Gt Hohlflute and Sw 4' flute look a bit odd though, and the Gt 4' flute should be Harmonic, surely?), with an Arthur Harrison mixture grafted on, and a Solo which mops up whatever is left - a bit like King's Cambridge, but stranger. The Pedal organ is also a bit unexpected. It's hard to see why they would have enlisted two English cathedral organists as patrons if this was just another stab at an all purpose eclectic Euro-organ. I'm sure it will sound very beautiful, and three cheers for Leiden for doing it at all, but it is not at all what it pretends to want to be, and as it reads looks like a missed opportunity. If you want an English 'cathedral' organ, why not replicate Truro, or the Willis Chancel Organ at St Pauls?

Pierre - I have to ask - why build an English 'cathedral' instrument when it is not going to be used for its fundamental purpose - accompaniment? The need for accompanimental colour (psalms!) is the driving force behind many of the sonorities on these organs. That Solo organ is like no traditional cathedral solo I've ever seen in the UK - what is its function?

Good Lord. Did Mr Bournias advise? I rather like the way that the English mutations peter out at the 29th - we're clearly no match for the French in that department. The idea of a 16' Soprano Vox and a 2' Baritone seems a bit oxymoronic.

Well, this is what Schumann thought about some of these questions - http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1368793

Thanks for that MM. I should be practising the Alain Trois Danses actually, but for what it's worth and while I finish my coffee - 1. I think the concert/cathedral organist distinction is a totally meaningless one - there are good players and less good players. Concert players haven't always given the finest concerts in London in recent years; some have been pretty lacklustre. I am not going to name names. I'd say the honours were pretty equally divided. (I only use London as an example because that's where I've heard most of them). 2. Reciprocal bookings - yes, it does work like that here to some extent, but it's pretty challenging to get onto fine instruments abroad, because exactly the same thing happens there - look through the lists of recitalists at well known Dutch venues; a is clearly inviting b, who will return the favour or is a former pupil. Not many foreign names to be seen. I know of many fine players in the UK whose attempts to get a foot hold overseas are either ignored or rebuffed with something approaching brusqueness - if anything I would say that it's easier for mainland Europeans to get in to play in the UK than vice versa. A little while back I was approached by a reasonably well known overseas player, asking for a concert. Keen to open things up a bit, we agreed a huge fee by our standards - remember that the home team in many places has to play without a fee to keep their series afloat at all, so we were subsidising his visit - and I also assisted in providing contacts for a a very nice UK tour. Promises of similar assistance, strangely, have failed to materialise, and communications from me are now going unanswered. S/he's done pretty well out of us I think, but we're not likely to repeat the experience in a hurry. We have also, incidentally, had a big name soloist here, who played very fast and very loud with lots of wrong notes. 3. Cathedral organists in general understand that fees in the UK are going to be minimal, know the problems and can live with it; players from abroad who approach us start from a position of wanting 3 nights in a hotel and a £600 minimum fee. Dream on - we simply can't afford it. I have more than once agreed to take a lower fee than originally negotiated because the budget in June wouldn't stretch to the sum agreed in December. Rant over.

Well, up to a point - but maybe there wasn't time. Cathedrals are pretty busy places, and if there was that much wrong with it there's nothing much a quick check through will achieve. And if you start tuning one organ, however prestigious, for nothing....

Money, in a word.

Nice idea, Graham - both tests are essential. On the more serious point, I'm with innate and Alsa on this one, as I can honestly say I have used every one of the tests on a regular basis in professional life, even the score reading in C clefs (not only at Christ Church, by the way) - knowing the soprano clef fluently makes score reading Clarinets in A a lot easier too.

UMP I guess, but it's all gone quiet - I was hoping they might be out last year.

There is an arrangement of Faure's Prelude to Pelleas to be published imminently - Frederic Blanc has played it a few times. And I think there's also an unpublished (very early) organ fugue.

now this is an unflattering acoustic- http://home.comcast.net/~pqboom/tour/pipeorgn.html

Paul - coudn't agree more about AB syllabus. BWV 593 is currently down for Grade 8 - as it is for FRCO. One of the harder Schublers appears at Grade 7. Not that long ago Weinen Klagen was down for Grade 8....crazy.

It really isn't me, nor am I Denise's agent....

Barry - They can mean shoddy concerts - it all depends on the ability of the player in question to transcend the difficulties, I think. Best S

Alas, no, Lee - I'm who everyone thinks I am , even on my day off

Do be sure to click on the ''all'' button to the right of the screen, if you're at all interested in fashion design.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=52...6435400&q=organ Since it's my day off I don't feel so bad about having found this. Enjoy.

St John Southend Pond - know it well! I think it's a Hunter rebuilt with extras by Martin Cross (1981 or 1982 maybe?) - the case is in what would be the transept I suppose, with a detached console a long way away on the floor opposite. Haven't been there for years - but I do remember the vicar being a bit of a .....card.