pwhodges

Well, it's not refurbishment, but this report suggests they still know they've got it... Paul

On the message you want to link to, click the message number (top right) and save the link displayed (e.g. Ctrl-C to copy it to the clipboard). Then when composing a messge, click the button labelled "http://" and paste the saved URL into the box that opens (e.g. Ctrl-V), and in the next box put the text you want to appear for the link (e.g. "this message"). Paul

Or in some circumstances, what are the merits of relatives? Paul

When I was a student, and Paul Morgan was organ scholar at Christ Church Oxford, some friends and I recorded Paul playing accompaniments for a couple of dozen hymns. The tapes were sent to Africa or South America (I forget which) for a missionary who had an impressive Hi-Fi system in his church/tent (and presumably a generator outside). I wonder what the natives made of them... Paul

Try here. Of course, they may not be able to get either, after all - you can't tell till you order. Paul

The posts in the forum are stored in a database (called MySQL in this case). What you see is the SQL database queries generated as the result of your last few button clicks. I don't know why they are exposed publicly in that way, but it's a useful debugging aid for developers. SQL (Structured Query Language) is a somewhat standardised language for querying databases. The SELECT command followed by a list of fields tells to database to select some of its contents, FROM tells it which part of the database (which "table"s) to look in, and WHERE followed by various parameters tells it how to filter the data down to just that required. Paul

I agree the old one was excellent for the liturgy, and I really liked the (enclosed) tuba - which the end of Walton's The Twelve was written for. I'm not at all sure it deserved to be thrown out; but I do prefer the present one as a musical instrument. Paul

What an odd suggestion. Paul

When I played it in the 1960s, Southwark Cathedral had the choir (HWIII, I think) next to the console on the opposite side of the crossing from the main Lewis organ. But it's been rebuilt since then and I don't know if it's been retained. Paul

One thing that helps is that Hauptwerk is designed to be able to drive many output channels (even via multiple computers) to keep divisions or smaller groups apart, which is known to improve fidelity in complex textures. It also models the effects of playing one rank on the wind of another, not just the unsteadiness of a single rank. Of course it's not perfect, but I believe it does contain some real advances in the designed of sampled organs. Paul

You miss the point, which is that if it is played manualiter, then the harpsichord provides the B anyway. It occurs to me that the highly decorated variant (given in NBA) might be more idiomatic on a harpsichord than an organ. Paul

Getting back to the Piece d'Orgue, I have recently seen it suggested that the explanation of the bottom B is that the whole thing was intended for a pedal harpsichord with the central section being for manuals only; I understand there is an edition of it (Walther) available in this layout. What does anyone here think of this idea? Paul

Here are Ebenezer Prout's well-known ditties for the WTC. And, of course, there is the reply from a student, which I can't find a reference for, but remember as: 'O Ebenezer Prout, you are a silly man, you just play Bach fugues as quickly as you can'. (I've found a reference that offers 'Oh Ebenezer Prout, what was it all about?...' which clearly goes to the same g minor fugue.) Paul

The forum software appears to be capable of handling time correctly (you can select your timezone, and whether summer time is in effect, and these make the expected changes). However, it would also appear that the server's time is an hour out... No you don't. Just click "View New Posts" and you get the threads that have changed since your last visit. Then click the little red box in front of the thread title and it takes you to the first unread post in the thread. It's a little odd that it gives you a few extra threads whose latest message is a little earlier, but these have no red box to click, so there's no confusion. Finally, if there are no new messages it slightly alarmingly gives an error message instead of just saying so. Paul

His "s-s-s-strawberries and cream" he called that outfit. I sang under him as a boy (at Ch Ch - we started there in the same term), and the idea that we needed a conductor to follow was simply not there - we sang together, and an odd finger-wave from the bass on each side was enough to ensure unanimity at tricky moments. Paul

Only if you take the Guinea pigs off first Paul

The recording of this from the 2004 Proms has the best climax at the fifth door of any recording (at least, out of the twelve I have), largely because of the power added by the RAH organ. Paul

Another use for an old console (at least the stop-jambs) can be found here. Paul

"Organoedia ad missam lectam" aka "Csendes mise orgonára" = "Low mass for organ", Magyar Kórus 1942. The version with words was produced in 1944. Paul

The whole Missa Brevis was first published as a work for organ solo, to get around religious restrictions during the war. It's hard to come by in that form, but I have a Hungarian recording of it. Paul

Yummy! Paul

I took the "PC" comment to refer to the unthinking application of rules, not the thoughtful consideration that you correctly support. Paul

I really don't like the last section being done slowly on tinkly flutes, even if the last line piles it on again. I feel that the cadence at the end of the middle section demands a continuation in the same vein - same pulse (crochet = minim) and same registration. Paul

Of course - unless we find a text explanation by Bach, any theory is in some way an assumption. But the fact that 5ths tempered by 1/12 and 1/6 comma were common currency in tuning at that time (by virtue of the way of tempering thirds) is supportive, as is the fact that Lehman's temperament is very similar to Sorge's (as discussed in his articles). I just find all the alternatives seem more contrived or arbitrary, and - crucially - just don't work as well. Paul

The first of these (by Bradley Lehman) is utterly convincing, and I, for my part, believe it to be right (and have that temperament available in my copy of Hauptwerk and in my electronic keyboard). As well as the author's recordings, there are already some other recordings using this tuning, such as Richard Egarr's new Goldberg Variations. By comparison the second site (by Charles Francis) is a travesty. The author's suggested interpretations of the same graphic bear no relationship to any known practical method of tuning, and he has produced a considerable number of interpretations, all equally arbitrary, over a couple of years (Bradley Lehman includes them in his survey - just search for "Francis" on this page). Determined searching will also turn up ad hominem attacks by Charles Francis on Bradley Lehman, including a review debunking his suggestion before it had actually been published! In this page Bradley Lehman answers all Charles Francis's attacks (and also remarks that he appears to be an electrical engineer rather than a musician - now where did we come across something like that before? ) Paul