Philip

Having listened to it, I also requested it, and giwro has duly sent it to me. Send him a PM and he'll sort it out for you.

Thanks Cynic, thats very helpful. I'll try to track them both down, having now found the mp3 giwro posted of the Rudolph prelude, and found the Sleigh Ride on youtube. Any other suggestions welcomed...

Something slightly comical was what I had in mind if I could find it. Evidently I don't have a lot of time so big scale stuff like the Mulet or Widor would be out (and probably beyond my abilities anyway). The piece on Rudolph sounds interesting, perhaps I should send Giwro a PM. Likewise the Sleigh Ride. Are either of these difficult? I wasn't intending to touch Messiaen!

I'm looking for a relatively straightforward but good fun postlude I can use after the Christmas carol service. I think I'll do BWV729 and then something else, so does anyone have any suggestions for something slightly 'off the wall'?

Don't know if anyone is familiar with this one but we did "Had we but hearkened to thy word", with words set to Walford Davies' Solemn Melody for our Civic Service this morning. A simple, effective and very appropriate one for the occasion. I wasn't previously familiar with it. As for organ music, I preluded the standard stuff I use for Remembrance (Thalben-Ball Elegy, Rawsthorne Londonderry Air Prelude and Nimrod) followed by an improvisation on I vow to thee my country. The end voluntary was William Walton's Introduction and March from Battle of Britain (as in Ceremonial Music).

As always, many thanks for the responses which I am noting with interest. Do keep them coming if you have something to add. I will certainly try to track down a few of those mentioned, probably starting with the Ives Salisbury Service as that seems to have a couple of recommendations. The meeting we were going to have about it has been put back a little so I have a bit of time to do some searching and possibly ordering. I am aware that this does, of course, have very little to do with pipe organs, although it has something to do with organists! I have seen on here in the past threads about hymns, anthems, settings and the like, and so assumed that it was an acceptable topic on which to post. If Mr Mander disagrees with this, then I am quite happy for him to take the necessary action, although I do feel that talking about topics such as these on here can be useful, and this forum is once again proving helpful in this respect!

I agree on both counts really. Gregory Murray is easily singable and uncomplicated, and a congregation who find it too difficult might as well not bother singing the mass at all! We started it at Trinity, and were using it week after week (bar the odd festivals when we used St Thomas) until just a couple of weeks ago. I was away for two months in the summer as I was back at home, but even I was fed up with it. It is just so boring and uninspiring to keep doing it week after week. Unfortunately, we use Celebration Hymnal, although I can't say have or even would look at the settings at the back. I have looked at the Rawsthorne, but it would take some learning and I'm not sure its what we're looking for. The only choir/congregation item I think would be do-able is the Gloria from Martin How's Parish Communion, because it is such a simple response for the congregation to do and, providing they are given the correct sequence, they can follow it easily. The rest of the Parish Communion I found overly complicated when I had a look at it. The Vicar likes this Gloria too and its a definite possibility, but obviously needs to be put with the rest of the mass. The others which I quite like include the Mathias Series 3 setting, which my home church (as opposed to my church here at University) do week on week, and have done for many years. This is a great setting, and definitely not one the organist gets bored of! But it'd be quite a daunting task teaching it to the congregation, as like any Mathias it is full of accidentals! Peter Nardone (Chelmsford DOM) has also written quite a nice one (his Mass of St Cedd). I like it, but it has sequences of running notes which again a congregation would struggle with. Then you have simpler things, like Addington (which the vicar does like but the DOM has dubbed the 'Paddington service' - say no more!). We also looked at one by Appleford and Rizza's Mass of the Bread of Life, but none appealed to us from a musical point of view. They might be simpler, but they are probably even less interesting than Gregory Murray. As Holz said, herein lies the challenge! To find a really good setting, which has a simple line for the congregation to sing, some way in which the choir can add to this through harmony, descants etc and something to keep the organist happy. The St Thomas fulfils all these for me, but there must be some others out there too! (Incidentally, I'm in touch with Nigel Allcoat and am aware of the setting he has written, which I look forward to having a look at.)

Probably a subject that has been raised before, but we're looking to introduce one or two new mass settings into our repertoire. They would have to be congregational (as good as choral settings may be). We currently do Mass of St Thomas (everyone's favourite, mostly in festival seasons), Gregory Murray (boring but the vicar likes it because its very "singable") and the DOM's own setting. Has anyone any other recommendations? The vicar wants something that the congregation can pick up fairly easily, but the choir want something thats reasonably interesting. We're already looking at a few settings but I wondered if anyone has any suggestions.

Do visit Chappell's, its where I go regularly if I'm on the hunt for something. Its now on Wardour Street, off Oxford Street between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road, and within 5 minutes walk of Foyles too, so its quite easy to visit both. The extensive sheet music collection is downstairs.

Two completely unoriginal suggestions - Rutter's Toccata in Seven and Lang's Tuba Tune. Maybe not the finest music technically but very listenable to. Of the voluntaries I have played since Easter, I got most comments of approval about Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary, which was slightly unexpected, so I'll schedule it in again sometime before the end of the year.

I don't contribute very often to these forums and can't confess to have read all 13 pages of this thread! But I felt I wanted to add some comments, being as the church I play at while at University have just invested in a new Rodgers. Our previous electric was a three-manual Makin and didn't make music, it made noise. Once you pulled out a decent chorus it did anyway. The church was closed in September for a period of internal re-ordering, re-opening in April with the new organ installed. Its a two manual Rodgers (a T838 I think, although with a custom spec). The spec was chosen and make recommended by Paul Hale, our dioceasan organ adviser. The specification is comprehensive, with sufficient stops on the Great meaning that you could play it like a Choir (with flutes) rather than as a typical sounding Great (with Diapasons). There are around 35 stops overall, right down to a 32' Contra Bourdon on the pedal, and with 16' stops on both manuals. It also has a 'floating' solo trumpet, which is clearly audible above a Great + Swell chorus, and therefore effective for such things as the Lang Tuba Tune. Rodgers do several things very well. Firstly, they try to make it sounds like a pipe organ by randomising the sound produced by each stop - a nice touch, which makes it slightly more authentic. They also have a special 'Voice Pallette' system, which means that an alternative voice can be chosen for a number of the stops, bringing the total amount of voices up to around 55. Therefore, for instance, instead of the 8' Cromorne on the Great, you can choose an 8' Clarinet, nice for soloing. There are several different ranks of mixture available, and Diapasons can be replaced with Prinicpals, and so on. Another useful feature (to us at least) is the 'bass' button which enables you to play it like a piano but still replicating the proper pedal sounds on the bass - useful to us as when I'm on holiday from University, the DOM (who is a pianist not an organist) can play it and it will still sound good! It comes with a full set of pistons, 5 to each manual and the pedal, 10 generals, and 100 memory levels for these. The sound quality I think is good. It has something like a dozen massive speakers positioned on the West wall of the church (projecting sound right down through the nave and into the chancel), including separate speakers for the solo trumpet. The only problem is that the console is located at one side of the church, hence the sound does not project well to the console itself. But the console can always be moved... The comments from the congregation have been universally positive. I operate with the master volume set at -10, and it does the job very nicely in a small to moderately sized building. The volume can be reduced further, and goes up to about +5, I have tried it and in this particular building it is deafening! The full organ sound (at the level I set it at) does not drown out the congregation at that level, and doesn't sound to me like a mush. The voicing is not yet finished, so it is still not the finished article yet. The cost? With speakers and everything else, just over £30,000. It must be remembered that this was part of an overall reordering project costing some £800,000. To buy a new pipe organ would be prohibitively expensive on top of that, and we don't really have space anyway. What we have now have is a good instrument which does everything that it needs to, and sounds good! It seems that a good choice was made.

New music only, but I find Chappell's to have a very good selection. Located on Wardour Street (off Oxford Street between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road). Foyles is nearby too so its quite easy to take in them both.

Just watched it online, my thoughts... I always predicted that after the programme there would be some things which everybody would see which weren't quite right, as have been highlighted. But it doesn't matter that everything wasn't technically correct, the average viewer will hopefully have got the message. Main negative point - the old guy really started off a debate which didn't need starting - modern worship songs vs traditional hymns. It just wasn't the place for that kind of debate, and sets organists aside as people who can't and won't modernise. Archer's bit - was cheesy I guess but I didn't mind it that much. Good to see young organists featured, showing that the skill is being passed on. Rant time now - that Coe Fen descant (by Jonathan Bielby) was just horrible. A wonderful hymn with fantastic harmony was totally ruined and what should be a great climax was nullified altogether. The re-harmonisation simply turned Naylor's great accompaniment into a mess and all the beauty was lost, and the descant itself added absolutely nothing, it didn't lift the hymn at all. I have heard decent descants to Coe Fen, but they work best with Naylor's harmonisation. A great hymn to choose, but that descant! And I don't get Engelberg as a tune, don't know what it is, just doesn't sound quite right to me. Overall, good even to see the programme being made, and I think it was decent enough.

The programme can also be watched online for the seven days following broadcast, go to www.bbc.co.uk/songsofpraise and follow the link.

My comment seems to have sparked off quite a debate! East Acklam is a nice tune, I do like the build up through the 5th, 6th and 7th lines but I feel its climax is ruined by a rather nondescript ending. Coe Fen on the other hand reaches its climax at the end, particularly when singing the last verse "Thy time is now and evermore...", a wonderful way to finish a hymn. I'm a big fan of Guiting Power too, its similar to Coe Fen in many respects and is a truly uplifting tune, which really enables you to sing the words with meaning IMO. Michael is fantastic too, and Love Unknown is also a good mention, and both fit very well with the feel of the words. I'm not familiar with San Rocco though. With all these arguments, its great to remember that, even now in the days of more modern worship songs being prevalent, people are still writing (and theres still a place for) fantastic new hymn tunes!

I think its a fantastic modern tune, possibly the greatest of the 20th century. It probably does take a little more getting used to than some others, but thats because of the ways its written, its different and thats what makes it good.

Many thanks, I'll try Music Sales or, failing that, might try and pick up a copy of the Festal Voluntaries compilation.

I just wondered if anyone had done any new (or previously unrecognised) items at Carol services this year which merited a mention. I'll put forward two - Simon Preston's arrangement of 'I saw three ships' is definitely worth a look but is very tricky. Soprano and tenor solos during it. If pulled off well, sounds fantastic, he does some very unusual things with what is quite a simple melody. Does have a very tricky organ part though, with a very fast last verse. The other is a setting of 'There is no rose' by Howard Helvey, who is an American. This is unaccompanied, but very beautiful IMO, which some lovely harmonies. If you want to listen to it then its on Alfred Publishing's website at http://www.alfred.com/alfredweb/front/Prod...52&pubnum=0.

For me, Willcocks takes some beating, and Christmas wouldn't be the same without the glorious soaring "Glory to God" on O come all ye faithful. The Lo he comes last verse is also very fine, although needs a good choir to pull it off well I'd say.

I made enquiries about this in Chappell's only on Friday, to find that its now out of print. Any ideas on where I might be able to get a copy from?