pwhodges

A combination of organists seems straightforward enough for starters. A voicing of organ-builders. Paul

The Shorter Oxford gives "adviser" primacy, with "advisor" labelled "chiefly N. Amer." The Oxford Dictionary of English suggests that "adviser" is typically "less formal", whereas "advisor" "often suggests an official position". Chambers makes no distinction. Paul

A friend of mine has played it for a concert, and considered it excellent. Paul

From the facebook page of the group supporting the choir; a note which explains the transitional phase: Paul

Happy New Year to you all! Paul

Not quite a carol, but an expression of Christmas cheer none the less: Paul

Press "view new content" first; then in that list you will see blobs or stars that take you to the messages you have not read in each thread. Paul

You get to your first unread post in a thread by clicking the blob or star to the left of the thread name. Paul

I find it mildly offensive that Gender is seen as one of the few things we need to be shown about each other. If you've never filled it in, it doesn't show, but if you have you can't turn it off, only change it to displaying "Not Telling". I don't mind people being able to see my gender in my profile (it's obvious from my name anyway), but the in-your-face display seems inappropriate here. Paul

Agreed. And the banner shows that anti-aliasing and transparency do not a good mix make. Paul

I must admit that even in my youth this did make me question what the meaning of good taste was among organists. Paul

(Oops)

Well, the recording's so poor it's not really possible to judge. Paul

As someone who worked in BBC Radio in "the old days" (forty years ago!), I won't disagree; but I'm so far out of touch now that I can't comment on the attitudes of current staff - isn't it outsourced these days anyway? I've even still got my training notes with all the guidance on matching announcements and music, and suchlike. Paul

I still have the silver handle from an umbrella that my grandfather was given in thanks for playing Messiah in a Congregational church in Sheffield around 1930. Paul

3-phase electric motors are simpler, more compact, sometimes more efficient, and thus more reliable and cheaper to buy and run than single phase motors of comparable power. Paul

I have hugely enjoyed rediscovering the parts of this series I bought when they first appeared (e.g. Salisbury, St Giles's), and just as much those which I have not heard before. I am not qualified to offer detailed criticism, but would point out the distinctly old-fashioned feel to the whole thing - no surprise there, really. One of the Bach performances even reminded me in detail of similar performances by Sydney Watson at Christ Church, who certainly couldn't have been accused of being modern! I have not heard Coventry live, but this recording is startlingly inferior to the other recordings of it I have heard, and to the others in this set. I can't begin to say why, apart from presuming that Culverhouse's ability to position microphones right departed him that day. There is no need to view microphones from that time as inferior - quite simply, at the top end they were not. For instance, the AKG C12, designed in the late 50s, is very little different from its transistorised successors, which use essentially the same capsule; and the BBC 4038 ribbon - designed in the early 50s, is still considered one of the best microphones of all time, and remains in commercial production some 55 years on. Paul

That could be a function of the organ on which the player mechanism is available, I suppose. I agree it is fast beyond comfortable listening; though the way he controls his speed at the end works better than I had expected a bar earlier.

That link for the Bach-Busoni Chaconne is not the whole piece because of old YouTube limits; here's a complete one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYLOzkreY28 Curiously the previous link says it was recorded in 1925 (Busoni died in 1924); but this one says 1914. To show what a difference the player-piano itself can make, here's another - also complete, but in two parts:

£5 off, actually, making £7 - still a decent price. Paul

I can't recall ever seeing any reference to Arthur Harrison playing the organ, whereas Father Willis gave recitals (e.g. one of the first recitals at Reading Town Hall). Paul

A whole CD for a tiny amount of documentation is a bit of a waste. I'd have thought they might have included the front covers of the LPs as well as the specs from the backs, especially as some of them were missed out because there are less CDs than LPs. The essay about the series is decent enough (much less tolerant of unstylish playing of older music than this board seems to be, though), but surely it wouldn't have been that hard to prepare fuller notes. Paul

It's by Goetze & Gwynn, but doesn't yet appear on their website. Paul (Oops, snap!)

One of his favourite composers appears to be Bartók (another left-wing composer, perhaps), and in the article on him (which contains a number of errors, and displays deep ignorance of some of the works he discusses) he writes: Compare and contrast with his remarks on Britten and others... Paul

I note he has it in for Elgar, too. Paul