Philip

As the organist at Beeston I feel compelled to write here. I cannot comment on the 1983 decision to replace the previous pipe organ, as I was not alive at the time! Arriving in the area in 2006, it was abundantly clear that the Makin organ was not good - it was perfectly reliable but the sound quality was very poor (it was a large 3-manual instrument), perhaps reflective of its age. Individual stops sounded passable but when you built stops together in a chorus musicality disappeared. While there would have been a good case for replacing the Makin anyway, the fact that it happened when it did was led by the fact that the interior of the church was completely re-ordered in 2007-8. The space in the old organ chamber (where a pipe facade had been retained and the speakers were inside) has now been used for other purposes. The project came at exactly the right time for the organ! Looking at the church now, with the organ chamber a memory, it is hard to think where we would put pipes without going to the expense of building a west end gallery. The other aspect to consider is that the work was part of an £800,000 project, so whether funding could have been found for a new pipe organ is doubtful. The alternative would have been installing a second-hand pipe organ, I suppose. The present organ is an excellent instrument of its type with a wide and varied tonal palette (39 stops over II+P) and none of the faults of the Makin that I mention above. The speakers on the west wall project very well into the body of the church (maybe too well!) and it can comfortably lead a congregation of 400+ as it is called to do on occasion. I don't know if I will be there in 2033, so can't comment on the last point! I confess that in my years in Nottingham I have yet to set foot in Christ Church. Maybe things have changed in the last 30 years, but in churchmanship this is a far more evangelical church compared with the moderate Anglo-Catholicism at Beeston, although I believe it does have an early service led by a small choir and perhaps the organ. I don't know what the state of the organ in Christ Church is, but I'd certainly not want so small an instrument in our church, given the choice. If anyone wants to visit and try the organ at Beeston I will be very happy to meet you, if you can find your way through the (thankfully now finishing) tram works. Incidentally, mention of Marcussen (clearly a reference to the instrument in St Mary's, Nottingham, amongst others) leads me to mention that in the last 12 months this church has also installed a 3-manual digital organ in the chancel for choir accompaniment; indeed, I was playing Blair in B minor and Blessed city on it on Sunday evening! For all its qualities, the Marcussen is an impractical and inappropriate instrument both for a building that size and for accompanying the repertoire sung by the excellent choir; Blessed city, for example, could not be rendered on it without a second person to register it.

Well, it went down really well, his nibs said it was one of the best Holy Week things he'd been to in a long while! We just had simple opening and closing prayers, and then five readings and the five pieces with pauses for silence inbetween. Overall it lasted just under an hour, which seems about right. I was careful not to use the Passion Gospel as its heard (in two different versions) elsewhere in Holy Week so we had two biblical readings and three non-biblical. The Dupre provoked some comment as you'd expect, but nothing particularly adverse given the context. I'll have to think about something similar next year I suppose, so some more of the ideas above may well come into use. Does anyone have any experience of Alan Ridout's 'Seven Last Words' or 'Stations of the Cross'? One of these might be suitable. I think Tournemire's 'Sept Paroles' would be a bit too long for the context and for me to learn! Incidentally, listening to the YouTube link above I'm struck by the variety of speeds people take Crucifixion at. I have John Scott's fabulous double CD from St Paul's (he couples the Trompette Militaire for the big chords) where the performance weighs in at under 7.5 minutes. Plugging it into Spotify I get (amongst others) Phillippe Lefebvre who takes 10:49 and David Briggs at almost exactly 10 minutes! How many pieces can have such a different in playing time? For the record my interpretation is much nearer John Scott's.

I was thinking in practical terms. We don't have an Evensong or similar where I could use this during Passiontide, and after a Sunday morning service the impact would be completely lost (the Stabat Mater at the end would be inaudible if registered as suggested! Which tonight it will be, of course). I wasn't ruling it out on grounds of style or content particularly, although after tonight his nibs may take a different view! I have accompanied all the pieces with a brief explanatory note to put them in context, which I feel with the Dupre in particular is important.

Resurrecting this (wrong word for Palm Sunday!), I'm doing this tomorrow night. Organ music will be Buxtehude - Ach Herr mich armen Sünder Howells - Psalm Prelude Set 1 No 1 JS Bach - O Mensch bewein Dupre - Crucifixion Craig Phillips - Reflection on 'Were you there?' (from the OUP Hymn Settings Lent & Passiontide book) With five readings on the theme 'The Suffering Servant'.

Philip Stopford's 'For the beauty of the earth' is lovely as well. Not sure what resources you have, this goes into seven parts at the end (SAATTBB).

There is an 8' Euphonium on the Pedal division of the Binns Organ in the Albert Hall, Nottingham.

Anything is forgiveable with Hereford in there! Guiting Power is good as well - if there's no anthem you can go descant crazy with the choir and John Barnard's isn't straightforward but well worth the effort. The Townend is passable enough, has a refrain with a dead easy descant over the top. I think there's a Malcolm Archer arrangement of Sea and Sky, not sure if its available. My colleague has written a descant which is quite effective with some phrases over the inter-verse bits which are too much for my taste - I could ask if she's happy for a copy to go your way. Let us build a house isn't too bad as they go, it benefits from a bit of reharmonisation in places. Its in Hymns Old & New (at least the version we have) and in the new A&M.

What an open question! If you've got the resources, push the boat out with something like Parry's 'I was glad', which seems eminently suitable. A good chance to show an incoming priest what a choir can do. In terms of organ music, I'd always plump for loud and French, but that's just my taste! I recall a discussion on here some time ago offered two slightly mischievous options of the 'War March of the Priests' and Widor's 'Marche Pontificale'.

I believe the arrangement was originally for two players at the piano and presume Peter Stevens has reduced it to be playable (by Kings organ scholars, at any rate!) by one player for organ. I have a recording of Christmas music from their neighbours at St Johns and this credits a second organist, implying that the 'tune' is not in the pedals but played on the solo manual by a second player. Said recording also uses the Zimbelstern at the end!

I only became aware today that Regent Records have entered the DVD market with Thomas Trotter playing the organ of the Parish Church in Ludlow. See http://www.regent-records.co.uk/product_details_284.htm Worth buying for the Elgar alone? Similar to Priory's series, it offers bonus features including an organ tour. Competitively priced as well.

Hope your respective services went well. At ours, a healthy turnout (about 80) with both familiar and unfamiliar faces - a huge encouragement to me that people still feel able turn to the church on occasions such as this. Not a civic dignitary in sight. The church had been most tastefully decorated with displays of poppies at the font, the nave altar and high altar. At the end of the service, not one person moved from their seat until the end of the final chord of 'Nimrod', which was a pleasing and somewhat unusual occurence. The whole occasion was most dignified and a fitting commemoration. Now settled down to watch events from the Abbey.

I may already have told you this in the other place you asked, if I'm thinking right, but still...! We are having an 'informal' service of readings and music tomorrow night at 8pm (with a muffled quarter peal preceding it) - our vicar wanted to keep it low key and not have any of the pomp or processions of dignitaries. There are three hymns and two choir 'items' - one of which is a Soprano singing Faure's 'Pie Jesu' and by virtue of lack of parts (it being August) the other will be White's 'Prayer of St Richard of Chichester'. I'll be playing Nimrod at the end because it's always well received and very apt for the occasion. No idea what the turnout will be - I think it will be pretty decent. The big services with Processions and Dignitaries I'd imagine will be largely the domain of Cathedrals and larger Parish Churches who can still manage the resources for these services in August!

Indeed, I find the whole section in six sharps to be quite awkward, littered with accidentals and 'fistfuls of notes' (as per Simon Johnson) as well as manual jumps for the hands. The outer sections of the piece are relatively straightforward as they go, although as SJ says it probably helps to have the Tuba on an adjacent manual. I think this is the best 'Tuba Tune' around. I've recently bought the Porter-Brown which probably sits somewhere inbetween the Cocker and CS Lang, which is a piece I play once a year in the Summer months when I'm feeling lazy and know numbers will be down in the pews! I've a great affection for Whitlock as well, and do enjoy the 'Paean' and should probably have a look at the 'Fanfare' as well. Percy did like his Tubas, of course, and you can find them in most of his loud pieces (including both outer movements of the 'Plymouth Suite').

Indeed - but somewhat beyond the scope of my improvisation skills, unfortunately! I can cope with a 45 second fanfare, and can indulge in some 'Cathedral waffle' to cover gaps in the liturgy, but I'm afraid proper musical commentaries on biblical passages are out of my league!

Vox - many thanks for the suggestions. I shall examine them in more detail over the next couple of days. Tony - thanks also - PM sent. SL - I admire the sentiment, but I don't think this would work in practical terms at our place, given the amount and type of music in the Maundy Thursday/Good Friday services (you can't sing a congregational mass without accompaniment, and the vicar certainly wouldn't approve of unaccompanied hymns). I do tone it down somewhat (eg this year - no solo reed in Lent apart from Weddings and Stainer's Crucifixion where marked in the score) and there is always suitable improvisation before the Gloria at the Vigil Mass. I'm loathed to ask our volunteer choir to work any harder than they do already, what with five services in four days from Thursday to Sunday! Helpful notes for the congregation - absolutely. It would be a careful boundary between making it seem like notes for a concert, but I think it would most certainly be necessary to include, for example, the texts on which Chorale Preludes are based, or some exposition behind the structure of the Dupre or Messiaen.

So this will seem very out of season, but I'm planning ahead! On the evenings towards the start of Holy Week (before the Triduum) we always have some kind of activity in church in the evening to help mark the week. Last year this included Stations of the Cross, although on one evening it was just the Church being open for an hour of prayer (which I read as his nibs not having anything else planned!). I was considering offering to do some organ meditations which could be interspersed with readings for next year. I haven't yet approached his nibs to see if he is in favour of the idea (I think he'd run with it) but I first want to think about the music I would play, and whether I'd have enough suitable material. Ideas that I've come up with so far (which are completely random)... JSB - O Mensch Bewein, and possibly the CP on O Sacred Head One of the Brahms Chorale Preludes? Howells - one of the Psalm Preludes, perhaps Set 1 No. 1 Dupre - Crucifixion (this would need some learning, hence why I'm starting early!) - but I couldn't use it in a normal service Messiaen - Jesus accepte la Souffrance (so its from 'La Nativite' - the suite is about Christmas but this has Passiontide connections, and is easier than the Dupre) I'm sure there's other suitable music out there that would fit in which I'm not aware of, or even that I know but hadn't thought of, so I'd welcome any suggestions. I imagine I'd want no more than 6 pieces in total, with a contrast of volume, style and a range of themes. I find its always worth consulting the knowledgable folk on here when this kind of query arises, so I'm hoping you'll be able to help again! Thanks in advance.

Yep, I think we've probably covered this before somewhere on here, but I think its a very effective setting and I've yet to come across a better one (all things considered) for the complete modern translation. It sounds considerably less interesting without the choir descants, but thats probably because I knew it with them first! The 'Agnus Dei' is the most fun to play - I use three different solo colours for each 'echo' line in the organ part depending on what takes my fancy (usually the Clarinet last time, often a Cornet or Cromorne in there somewhere), and on the third run when the choir sing the descant (most effective) I use a mini full swell with 32' underneath. We do it for Festivals and the seasons that follow, and sing the three bits you had this morning along with the 'Christ has died' acclamation and usually the Great Amen (occasionally 'Blessing and honour', but the former is a better setting and our vicar seems to prefer Prayer B which ends with the Amen).

I think Martin must be our OUP publicist!! I decided to plump for these and ordered on Sunday evening (going for both meant a spend of over £20 which qualified for free delivery from the OUP website). They arrived at my work today in a box the size of a shoe box and stuffed with protective paper (for two volumes containing a combined total of less than 200 pages)! I've had a flick through and am certain there will be items in here of use and value to me. As one would expect, the books are well-presented and the print crystal clear. The pieces are very much miniatures (none more than 6 pages that I can recall, many only 2) and there is a pleasing variety of styles and moods. I applaud the inclusion of suggested registrations - they can be easily adapted to suit resources but give a flavour of what the composer is trying to achieve. There is definitely a nod towards our American cousins with some of the tunes chosen, but that is perhaps no bad thing. While some obviously fit with seasons, others are less clear-cut, hence as Martin says much of the contents of the Epiphany volume could be used elsewhere in the year, although I struggle to see the relevance of 'Salzburg' to Epiphany - I don't know of it paired with anything other than 'At the Lamb's high feast we sing'. I've not yet had a chance to get down to church and try these and a full appraisal will take some time because every piece is new. The good thing is that these volumes are out in plenty of time for the seasons they represent, giving ample time for study, and I trust others will follow to complete the series. One thing though - and don't tell pcnd - there's another piece based on his favourite Kendrick ditty!

A very Happy Easter to everyone on the message board, and I trust your celebration of the resurrection has been suitably joyful and your Easter services have gone well (if indeed you have any!). I have once again thoroughly enjoyed the journey through Holy Week culminating in a wonderfully festive Eucharist this morning with a full church. The Solo Trumpet and Zimbelstern saw plenty of use! I finished with the Lanquetuit Toccata, my first go at it; I actually found it slightly easier than I expected to learn (although quite physically tiring after the fourth play through in a row!), mostly because of the repeating patterns - a great piece, at any rate. Just Evensong to go now...

Well, the performance was last night, and everyone was very complimentary about the organ playing, which was nice, including comments on the variety of colours used (as said above, a well-stocked organ and plentiful registration aids helps). I hope Stainer would have approved! One thing that struck me was how much people appreciated it. The singing wasn't perfect by any means, although we were blessed with good soloists, and the choir certainly got into the spirit of the piece, but many people commented on how moving they found it and what a wonderful performance it was. Many unkind things have been written about The Crucifixion, but it certainly has an appeal to the people in the pews (or chairs, in our case!).

Interesting question... My 2-manual digital has a 'floating' solo reed, so I almost always use this on the Swell with the Unison Off coupler on and Swell coupled to Great, so it sees quite a lot of use. However, this is unlikely to feature on a pipe organ. You never know when it might be useful though...I have a piece by Denis Bedard which asks for 8' 4' 1 1/3' at one point (I can't currently recall which one). My organ doesn't have a 1 1/3 Larigot, so my solution was to use 16' 8' 2 2/3' on the Swell with the Octave and Unison Off Coupler - an unexpected use but a neat solution! I would guess this stop's usefulness depends on how well-stocked your respective divisions are, and what possibilities exist for using stops at the octave/sub-octave (I really ought to use the Contra Fagotto combination suggested). Of course, where pipes are concerned, there is also the problem that you may run out of pipes at the extremes of the keyboard...

Its a funny old thing on Dubois vs Vierne - I've always avoided playing the former in public, because as much as most of it is approachable, I find that the tiniest slip throws everything out completely, whereas with the Vierne I find it easier to 'battle on' if something goes wrong! Perhaps I should try the Dubois again, as the passage of time often makes these things easier. Two years ago, I used six of the Eight Short P&Fs for my Lenten voluntaries, which worked quite well. These are all approachable pieces - maybe do the Prelude before and the Fugue after? I'm hoping to do six bits of 'proper' Bach after the services this year, but that depends on practice time!

Well, that's a wide open question! Your situation is in some ways like my own - I likewise haven't done any organ grades and learn pieces mostly to play as voluntaries (some for my own personal pleasure, though!). There's no exact science to grades I guess, and my service playing is definitely better than my playing of repertoire. I keep a spreadsheet of organ voluntaries so that I can record what I play and when - some pieces are seasonal, while others can be played more generally - it helps to ensure you don't repeat things too often, and that pieces don't get forgotten. You don't tell us what kind of instrument you have at your disposal - I have an instrument that is pretty well stocked so some of what I list may not be practical on your instrument. Nonetheless, here is a list of pieces I have used over time which may suit your requirements... Andriessen - Theme and Variations (loud and impressive, but out of print - I found it in the City centre library!) BWV 568 (Prelude in G) - if you have Novello its in the same book as BWV 549 German - Festive Trumpet Tune (needs a solo reed and modulates into six sharps - I found this slightly tricky at first but OK after a little practice) Ireland - Alla Marcia (march-like, available in a Novello publication which contains Ireland's complete organ works for a reasonable price) Jacob - Festal Flourish (could use a solo reed, but could also do without one) Lang - Tuba Tune (clue in the name, its a bit trite, but worth an outing once a year, usually in August when most people are on holiday!) Leighton - Fanfare (as easy as Leighton gets) Mathias - Fanfare, Postlude and Processional (the first in OUP Ceremonial Music album, the others in the Mathias organ album published by OUP - the Processional is probably the best of the three) Mendelssohn - Sonata movements - notably the Fugue from No. 6 which is easy and quite impressive Purcell - Rondeau - in OUP Ceremonial Music again Rutter - Toccata in Seven - in OUP 'Second Easy Album for Organ' Whitlock - Paean (if you've a tuba!) - the Whitlock 'Shorter Organ Music' is pricey but worth having if you like his stuff, which I do The Mushel Toccata isn't too tricky as they go, and usually goes down well. I also throw in transcriptions every now and then, such as the Dambusters' March (from a piano score), Verdi 'Grand March' (I use Rawsthorne), Charpentier, Jeremiah Clarke etc. Of course, you might play most of these already...I'd be interested to see what other contributors suggest.

I'd say the Vierne is absolutely worth it, but if you want something more concise then the Widor is also excellent (the Sanctus and Benedictus are perhaps a little too concise! But the Kyrie and Gloria are wonderful). The only disadvantage is you need a separate chorus of baritones on top of your SATB, so I don't know how that fits with your resources. I don't know the organ parts but I gather they translate fairly easily onto a single instrument. Totally off topic, but why lose a chance to plug a superb recording of both - see http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vierne-Widor-Dupr%C3%A9-Westminster-Cathedral/dp/B000002ZYG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390947107&sr=8-1&keywords=vierne+widor+dupre. Fantastic singing and organ noises throughout!

I'm assuming when you say motet you mean something unaccompanied, in which case there's not an abundance for Easter. The only two that spring to mind... Willan - Rise up, my love Byrd - Haec dies Doubtless 'This joyful Eastertide' is already in your rep! For Whitsun... Tallis - O Lord, give thy Holy Spirit & If ye love me Tye - O Holy Spirit, Lord of grace (very short and not very interesting IMO!) Sterndale Bennett - God is a Spirit (a bit too Victorian for me - and that's saying something!) If you can stretch to accompanied, these are all SATB and approachable Ives - Listen, sweet dove Harris - Come down, O love divine Attwood - Come, Holy Ghost Elgar - The Spirit of the Lord I know you didn't mention Trinity, but I will, as I dug out Tallis - With all our hearts (Salvator Mundi with alternative words) last year, which you can do SAATB or SATTB.