Mark Taylor

A bit of a find in HMV - François-Henri Houbart playing extracts from Clavier-Übung, Book III on the Aubertin organ of Saint-Marceau d'Orléans for £5!

Very short notice I know, but I thought you would be interested to note that Stephen Farr is presenting an item on Radio 3’s CD Review this morning at 10:30am, assessing recent recordings of historic European organs.

My copy has the same problem at 17.22 into the disk. I should say it is a general fault. Though I tend to agree that it is not worth returning it.

In John Elwood’s “What Would You Play On This Organ” thread, VH cited a link to the Sibley Music Library. If you do the search Vox suggested, one of the items near the top of the list is a book from 1881 by CA Edwards titled “Organs and Organ Building”. It’s quite fascinating. Here are some extracts from the chapter on “The Combination of Stops”. “The organ, more than any other instrument, has an individuality … not altogether depending upon the stops it contains, but more nearly relying upon their combining capacity…. For instance, we have known a first-rate three-manual organ where the combination, Gamba, and Hohl-flute was almost always used in preference to the usual Open and Stopped Diapasons… The complete organ tone should be distinct, full, and bright, and the Foundation tones give the first, the Mutation the second, and the Compound the third of these qualifications… The Open Diapason is perhaps the bread and cheese of the organ. It is full, grand, solemn, and sonorous, admirably suitable for sustained harmony and slow movement. By adding the Stopped Diapason a certain amount of body is imparted to the tone, without altering the character in any marked degree. The Dulciana also gives a filling effect, if added, but it is never advisable to add a flue stop of reedy character, such, for instance, as the Keraulophon, as the quality of the stops has a tendency to clash rather than combine. The Stopped Diapason is very generally looked upon as merely a filler in for other work, and is used only in conjunction with the Open Diapason to give body, or with some other stop to impart character. It is, nevertheless, a great mistake to imagine that the Stopped Diapason should be only so used. In four-part harmony it is very beautiful for short soft passages, and serves as a contrast to a reedy stop that may have been used before. … The Dulciana is, perhaps, one of the most useful of soft stops has a curious half plaintive singing tone, and in soft harmony, or even occasionally in solo, is of great use to the organist. The Gamba is a stop with a stringy tone, and is very useful for taking harmonies that are suitable for string work. It blends well with the Hohl-flute or Stopped Diapason… A word must be said with regard to the addition of 16ft flue stops to the manuals. These are now becoming general in modern organs. For many years they have been in use in Germany. The reason that the organs of Smith, Harris, &c appear (according to the specifications) so noisy and so over-weighted with Mutation and Mixture, is simply because these builders were reckoning on the introduction of doubles that were excluded either on account of funds, prejudice, or room. The Germans owe their style of music to the presence of these weight solemn stops, and there appears every reason to believe that Bach always drew the doubles when he executed his fugues. There is now no manner of doubt that every organ should have doubles on the manuals…” The frontispiece to Mr Edward’s book shows “Mr Holmes great organ, London”, this is also referred to as the Regent’s Park Organ. Can anyone shed any light on which organ this was?

I thought people might be interested to know that Willem Tanke has just released a DVD of Messiaen’s Livre d'orgue on Brilliant Classics BRL9022 (Marcussen Organ of the Saint Laurens Church, Rotterdam).

I recently found a number of essays by Alfred Brendel downloadable from here. Okay, these essays are not about organs, but I thought this was such an interesting link that it was worth sharing here. Moreover, Brendel does touch on issues which will have a resonance with organists: Adjusting to different instruments. Usefulness of knowing what goes on “under the bonnet” (he supports the idea an examination in organ building for organ students). The extent to which an historically “authentic” sound is possible or desirable. The relative merits of the piano verson and the organ version of Liszt’s “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen”.

Thank you both for your advice, it’s much appreciated.

Please bear with me… this is probably a pretty basic question for most of the people here, but I would be grateful for some advice. I’ve been looking at “La Nativite” by Langlais and (following advice from earlier postings) I started working on it from the end – and I have immediately got stuck! I have started at the section “La Sainte Famille”. The third bar of this section starts with a chord of low D flat, A flat, F, B flat and F. As notated, the bottom two notes are played with the left hand and the top three with the right hand. This is fine, but by the end of the bar we have low D flat, A flat, F, C, and A flat. So, to hold that tied F in the middle there is a stretch of a tenth - whichever way you do it, either in the left hand or the right hand (and it’s a stretch too far for me). It seems to me that options are: i) not to play the F in the middle of this chord at all; ii) to release the F, either on the third beat or the fourth beat of the bar; or iii) to play the F an octave lower, in the left hand. My first question is - what to do in this specific example? Secondly, what general principles should be applied in this sort of situation? As a rider, presumably Langlais had large hands?

I’m somewhat embarrassed that my first ever posting was all about electronic organs! I had no idea, that anything to do with electronic organs does not have a place on this board. Maybe a statement to this effect should be included in the guidelines for participants (I mean this as a constructive suggestion).

The headteachers’ conference scene was filmed at King Edward’s School, Edgbaston. Other school scenes were filmed at the University of Birmingham and Menzies High School, West Bromwich.

The September issue of Diapason highly recommends Samuel Kummer’s new recording of Vierne’s third and fifth symphonies on this organ. The gist of the review is: 1) that Kummer is a remarkable interpreter of Vierne, and 2) that the Kern organ is surprisingly good in this repertoire. I have not yet heard the CD.

I think what I would draw from this is the importance of never, ever, throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Each generation of musicians may (should) think it is doing something better than its predecessors. On the other hand, I believe it is important to know how things were done in the past, and to remember that performers in the past could set out a rationale for the way they did things, just as modern performers can.

Did any one else hear a short programme on Radio 3 last night - a talk given by Vaughan-Williams in July 1950 titled “the Great Bourgeois” in which he spoke about performance practice in Bach’s music? Here is a snippet: “We have no longer, thank heaven, the baroque style of organ, which we are told, with very insufficient evidence, was the kind of instrument Bach played upon. By the way, I see there is a movement a-foot to substitute this bubble and squeak type of instrument for the noble diapason and soft mixtures of our cathedral organs …” The whole thing can be hear on BBC iPlayer – its fascinating stuff. Here is the link Last night’s programme was the first of a series, in tonight’s programme Vaughan-Williams talks about his friendship with Holst.

I know that Francis Jackson’s recording of Cocker’s Tuba Tune resurfaced on CD from Amphion. However, I’ve recently noticed that it is also available on a Chandos budget CD called “Pipes of splendour”. Does anyone know if this is the original EMI recording re-licensed to Chandos, or if it is a different, newer, recording?

I hadn't realised how slow it was, but presumably the acoustic in Westminster Catherdral is a factor. Out of interest Ive looked at the timings of some other recordings. Soloist ---------- Number -------------------- Timing Ropek ------------ Supraphon 50621 F ----------- 6.01 Durufle ---------- Erato 2564 60593-2 ---------- 6.16 Herrick ---------- Hyperion CDA 67612 ---------- 6.28 S Preston -------- DG 413 438-2 ---------------- 6.43 Butt ------------- Delphian DCD 34032 ---------- 6.46 Morelle ---------- Quantum dQM 7004 ------------ 6.46 Hakim ------------ EMI 5 72272 2 --------------- 6.58 Kynaston --------- HMV SEOM 4 ------------------ 7.15

My first organ LP was King of Instruments – EMI must have sold quite a few of those! My teacher at the time (1971) had a music room that contained two grand pianos, a three manual organ and a huge (as I remember it) stereo system. I was very impressed when he put the King of Instruments LP on the stereo and then sat down at the organ and played along with Nicolas Kynaston’s recording of Carillon de Westminster.

I have just submitted a photo’ of St. Ethelreda's church, West Quantoxhead, Somerset to NPOR. It’s an attractive looking organ with highly decorated pipes. Here are two pictures in large format. I wonder whether some areas of the country are more likely to have this type of decoration? On the other hand, maybe it is not a regional thing; more likely, I suppose, to be related to date and builder(?). What other examples are there of this sort of decoration in parish churches?

Another example can be found at Leeds Parish Church The extended Dulciana chorus on the Chioir was not there at the time of the 1948 NPOR survey but it is in place by the time of the 1999 survey. I assume that it dates from Harrison's work completed in 1949 (?). If you enter the search term “Leeds Parish Church” dulciana in Google and then look at the second result you will find some interesting references to the echo dulciana and echo dulciana cornet in Organa Britannica: Organs in Great Britain 1660-1860.

St Mary Redcliffe has a Contra Dulciana 16, Dulciana 8, and Salicet 4 on the Choir with a Dulciana Mixture at 15, 19 and 22 on the Echo. Does this make it a contender?

This programme is going to be repeated on Saturday, 2 February at 3:30pm.

Thank you everyone.

Can someone please tell me what the French word “etoffe” means when talking about organ pipes? I know what “bois” means and (I think) I know what “etain“ means (tin alloy?); but what does “etoffe” mean?

Is it, nowadays, totally beyond the pale to use 16ft tone in the pedals, as in the suggested registration in Novello 19? L/H Choir 8ft R/H Great 8ft Ped. mp 16+8+ swell reed From memory, I believe Marie-Claire Alain uses Pedals at 8ft and 4ft, balanced with quite a bright manual registration. I can look up the details if anyone would like to know more.

I bought mine over the counter in HMV, London, Bond Street branch.