Philip

Fab stuff - and very well presented I thought, with thoughtful introductions placing each piece and composer into context (some of this may be familiar to some on here, but not necessarily to every listener). Nice to hear from Colin Walsh as well. Lets hope it got an audience large enough to encourage them to programme more of the same.

I think it works quite effectively to use the alternative version for lines 3 & 4 in the last verse only as a sort of reharmonisation.

Well, it is over two years since I was at Lichfield for Psalm 78 on a Tuesday evening (if I recall). Southwell was more recent - last autumn - and Simon Hogan certainly used plenty of organ for the angrier parts of it (as you can at Southwell), and I certainly recall some more exotic colours for the frogs, flies, caterpillar and grasshopper, and a 'flash' of 32' reed under the thunderbolts. He'd been in post for just a week at the time but already seemed very at home with the screen organ!

Come to the Midlands DHM! Both Lichfield and Southwell still use the BCP cycle, although at the latter they use those specified in the Lectionary on Sundays and Holy Days. I know from experience that York also use the BCP cycle. The 15th evening (Psalm 78) is a wonderful journey and I've been fortunate enough to be at both Lichfield and Southwell to hear it in recent years. I trust you'll find an organist who is suitably adept at word-painting to accompany you!

My copy of this book arrived today following publication in late March. I ordered through Amazon for £28.50, slightly below the RRP. I have glanced through the entire book but have not spent any time looking at or playing anything in detail, so what follows is based on that cursory glance. It is certainly a very interesting addition to the current market of hymn books, and for breadth of content could seriously challenge the 'Hymns Old and New' series, which presumably is its intention. It would be interesting to scan a list of what has been dropped from Common Praise, which I thought to be a comprehensive, well-edited traditional hymn book - I can't offhand think of anything obvious that hasn't made the 'jump' into the new book, although doubtless I will in time! The modern selection is quite varied - a lot of Timothy Dudley-Smith (41) and John Bell (33), a fair sprinkling of Graham Kendrick (14), Fred Pratt Green (14), Stuart Townend (12), a few from Bernadette Farrell, a significant number of chants (Taize etc), and some African-inspired items, spirituals etc. Many of the TDS texts (and other modern texts) are set to well-known traditional hymn tunes. Of the 'worship songs', some have received new arrangements, the name featuring most often here being John Barnard, but with contributions from Paul Leddington-Wright, David Iliff, Noel Treddinick etc; some offer harmony parts for the choir. Many of the worship songs haven't been rearranged, however, staying in their original, pianistic arrangements. On occasion different arrangements are provided to the same tune in different places in the book (eg Londonderry Air, Sing Hosanna), although it seems a shame that this isn't cross-referenced so one can opt for the alternative version if it is better. Balancing out the 'gumby songs' (as VH calls them) is a good chunk of high church material, including a number of Marian hymns, Sweet sacrament, Soul of my Saviour, and so on. Layout-wise, its pretty similar to CP - ordered by themes at the front with 'General Hymns' at the end. The selection for Holy Days seems to have shrunk further from that in CP. Some hymns have been moved from where they were in CP (either out of or into the GH section, sometimes a little surprisingly). One example which I noticed was 'Make way' (which wasn't in CP) which is listed under Palm Sunday - I think its theme about the coming kingdom etc makes it suitable (if not preferable!) at other times of the year as well. Like HON, the book includes a section at the very back for chants (Taize etc), although a number of these also appear throughout the book in the themed sections - I think I would rather have them all in one place as HON does. There are comprehensive indexes (thematic, lectionary, composer etc) as in CP. The paper seems to me to be adequately thick (ie better than HON!) - perhaps in a large book of some 850 items there is a concern about the book becoming too heavy. The general layout is pretty smart and uncomplicated, although the text when printed underneath the music is a little small (certainly smaller than when printed separately). It might irritate that a number of the 'songs' run across several pages (up to 6 in one or two cases). In terms of the words and music itself, there are some quite surprising anomalies. Someone needs to give the editorial team a lesson in the history of the Wesley family, as Samuel Sebastian's fine hymn tunes (Hereford, Aurelia etc) are attributed to his father Samuel! This seems a very surprising error given that they were listed correctly in CP! Setting new words to traditional tunes can make some interesting matches, and it is notable that some tunes crop up quite regularly (e.g Abbots Leigh, Lux Eoi, St Helen and Woodlands four times, Highwood and St Botolph five times - not that one should necessarily complain as they are all fine tunes!). Text wise, the editorial policy seems to follow that of CP, not politically correcting unless it is done with a degree of sympathy, although some traditional texts are in modernised or 'Jubilate Hymns' versions (eg 'Earth has many a noble city' or its variant becomes 'Bethlehem, what greater city', and 'The royal banners forward go' - here 'As royal banners are unfurled', matched only to the Plainsong and not to 'Gonfalon Royal'). Fortunately there are only a few examples of this, though. One major surprise is the inclusion of a long-lost additional verse to 'Praise my soul' ('Frail as summer's flower...'), set to the music we normally play to the third verse. Some of the chosen tunes are surprising for the words they are matched with, although invariably that which I'd prefer is found elsewhere in the book. A good number of the hymns are provided with descants, ranging from the old AMR (Alan Gray, Sydney Nicholson) to more recent efforts, again John Barnard being the most frequent contributor; many of them look very usable. There is probably more to say in time, and doubtless other contributors who have ordered the book will have their own views. This book has clearly been produced to have mass market appeal, for the church were there is a desire (whether from vicar or congregation!) to sing a mixture of hymnody, and as I said on this front it competes well with HON, which is really the only other book which offers such broad coverage. It is better laid out, mostly better edited (and certainly more sensitively so) and musically it looks to be an improvement. I would say that the modern material is somewhat more progressive than HON - whether it will last is another matter (see 100 Hymns for Today etc). Some things could certainly have been done better, as I have outlined, but I'd still pick it over HON - whether that can persuade the multitude of churches currently using HON to change is another matter. However, there is no such thing as a perfect hymn book, and we shouldn't really expect this to be, and its certainly a step in the right direction.

I think we have discussed these kind of issues previously - certainly Sunday evening crowds have fallen dramatically in most places nowadays. My parents tell of when the evening service used to be the most popular in my Parish Church in Essex - now of course the morning service is the focus. When to give up? I'd guess that depends on a number of things, really. Is the service choral? If so, how do the choir feel? Singing to a dwindling congregation every week can be disspiriting, I'm sure, but at the same time Evensong permits the singing of a whole range of repertoire which cannot (practically and liturgically) fit into a Sunday morning Eucharist (settings of the canticles, responses, more expansive anthems). For many choirs it will be their only experience of singing Anglican chant - at Beeston you can count the number of Evensongs we sing with the choir on two hands, and if it were more regular I'm sure the choir's psalm singing would be a lot better (and they would find it a lot easier, too). Recently, our DOM has had us singing a psalm at the start of choir practice when time permits and this should certainly help. In an ideal world we would sing a minimum of one a month (as I think many Parish choirs do) but instead we concentrate on particular festivals and our evening services don't have a regular pattern anyway. When we do sing Evensong some people do come specifically to support us, but the choir still generally outnumber the congregation. I'd suggest that overall numbers are less important than the feel of the service and how it is appreciated by those who attend. At St Marys, Nottingham, they sing every Wednesday evening during University terms at 6.15pm and I accompany about half of these. Sometimes, there may only be 2 or 3 people plus the choir and priest, but it has a regular following - sometimes there have been as many as 15 or 20 so that choir and congregation are equal in number. It is certainly appreciated, and John Keys has said to me before that it is his favourite service of the week. However, the choir and repertoire is not stereotypically Parish Church! In a Cathedral, the emphasis is of course on the daily rhythm of prayer and worship, and there it doesn't matter if the choir and clergy say/sing the service alone. Of course, worship doesn't need to be of Cathedral standard to be worthy, so put into a Parish Church context, does it feel like a worthwhile communal act of worship which glorifies God, or is it just a drag which is done because it always has been? Does it have a worshipful atmosphere? Hope that rambling might be of some use!

I agree that this is tasteless; unfortunately I can be a bit tasteless so do indulge occasionally. I have Stephen's 'Camberwell' (did you post it on the web group we had for reharmonisations, Stephen?) and it does work very nicely, because there is already an interlude between the verses so flows well. Another I always change on is 'There is a Redeemer', where there are some passing notes which nicely fit a modulation from D to E going into verse 3. I did once do consecutive key changes on the hymn/song (delete as appropriate) 'Such love' but it wasn't approved of (looking back, it was a bit silly!). I have also sometimes raised the last verse of a hymn at a big festal service (eg. 'Thine be the glory' on Easter Day with an improvised fanfare-type interlude) - I'm sure some fellow contributors would be appalled at the thought! When I saw the thread title I thought it was going to be about awful reharmonisations of last verses. At Beeston on a Sunday morning reharmonisations draw very little comment (positive or negative) but when I play at St Marys, Nottingham they draw a lot of comment from the choir, and mostly negative! Being the well-behaved organist that I am, I take the chorus of (good-humoured) disapproval that meets me in the pub as encouragement and indulge in them all the more!

Well, our Vigil Mass seemed to go down very well, having the readings first seemed to build a real sense of drama to the Easter Proclamation. The Vierne was possibly my best rendition yet and received several complements. Turnout was about 50, which was on a par with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday (both of which were less than in previous years) and not at all bad for a change of routine. Glasses of sparkling afterwards - initial indications are that we'll keep to Saturday night next year. Sunday still felt like a long day, but was certainly more bearable without the early start. Before the 10am I played Philip Moore's 'Variations on Noel Nouvelet' from the new OUP album which I rather like. Decent turnout if less than last year. Big lunch chez two choir members, and several glasses of wine later, we were back for Evensong; the choral stuff was OK but I'm not sure what William Harris would have made of my rather tired rendition of his piece! Then to the pub where 7 of us made our way through 8 bottles of red wine... I can talk self-deprecatingly about the hard work of this weekend, but I'm paid for it and the real stars are the choir who voluntarily turned out six times from Thursday to Sunday (we had a wedding on Holy Saturday and they wanted the choir - don't ask!). The fact that they do so year after year speaks volumes for what a good weekend it is, musically and liturgically.

I trust all correspondents have had a good Holy Week, and wish you all the best for the big day tomorrow. What are people playing for Easter voluntaries this year then? Mine: Tonight - Vigil & First Mass: Vierne - Carillon de Westminster (we normally do this at dawn on Easter Day, but a combination of declining attendances and moving clocks have inspired a change of routine - fingers crossed it works and people turn out for it!) Sunday morning: Cocker - Tuba Tune Evensong: Harris - Fantasy on 'Easter Hymn' (with Brewer in D and the Stanford Jubilate in B flat)

As Vox says, Parry is out of copyright so I presume they don't need any permission to reproduce them. I have a collection, published by Mayhew, of Preludes by Stanford (the Op. 101, 105 & 182 sets), Parry (both sets of CPs) and Brahms (all his CPs) - I guess they did the same by picking three composers who are out of copyright. Incidentally, four of those pieces are in this book as well!

I've now devoted some time to the David Bednall 'Toccata on Aberystwyth' and think its a cracking piece and certainly easier than it looks (and sounds!). I'm certainly going to give this an outing at Beeston (probably on 3rd March) and also when I'm on at St Mary's, Nottingham next Sunday evening (the Marcussen is temporarily out of action due to building work in the nave, so they currently have a digital in - 32' reed will be used at the end!).

I couldn't resist a hop down to church to play through a few of these tonight. AJJ is absolutely right about the Tambling - there is not as much SJS in it as I was expecting perhaps, but enough to amuse the folk in the pews. Go on pcnd, you know you want to! I stand by my recommendation of the Philip Moore Variations, quite a nice set with some real contrasting colours (everything from pp to fff) and a good dance-like feel in the middle. The Bednall is indeed excellent and does have a bit of a French feel to it in style, and it would be wonderful to let rip with 32' Bombardes on the reprise! I think its just at the right level for me - it will make me work but certainly isn't impossible.

Having ordered late Sunday evening (OK, more like early Monday morning!) this arrived today. I shall certainly have a crack at the Bednall - whether I have enough time to do it justice this year I'm not sure (curse the early Easter and therefore early Lent!) but the patterns seem to be repeated so hopefully it won't be too hard. Two others caught my eye - an interesting looking set of variations on 'Noel Nouvelet' by Philip Moore, and the David Briggs piece based on 'Llanfair' (when I saw his name I thought it could be fiercely difficult but it looks far from it) which puts the tune in the pedal and instructs it to be played on a Chamade! Maybe this will tempt pcnd! I shall certainly have some fun tomorrow when I go in church and all the stuff I should be looking at gets shunted aside!

I have also done so, in the hope that this will be the quickest way for it to arrive!

For information, the contents is... C. P. E. Bach: Aus der Tiefe rufe ich J. S. Bach: O Mensch, bewein' dein' Sünde gross David Bednall: Toccata: Aberystwyth Christian Geist: Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir C. S. Lang: Chorale Prelude: Abridge Kenneth Leighton: Aus der Tiefe C. Hubert H. Parry: Chorale Prelude: Martyrdom J. S. Bach: Valet will ich dir geben Alan Bullard: Prelude: Winchester New Max Reger: Valet will ich dir geben J. S. Bach: Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder Johannes Brahms: Herzliebster Jesu Peter Hurford: Chorale Prelude: Caswall Francis Jackson: Meditation: Love Unknown Felix Mendelssohn: Chorale and Variation: Herzlich tut mich verlangen C. Hubert H. Parry: Chorale Prelude: Rockingham Max Reger: Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod Leo Sowerby: Prelude: Were you there? Percy Whitlock: Song 13 (Orlando Gibbons) Alexandre Guilmant: Paraphrase on a chorus in Judas Maccabaeus (Handel) Naji Hakim: Variations: O filii et filiae G. F. Handel: I know that my Redeemer liveth, from Messiah William H. Harris: Fantasy: Easter Hymn Philip Moore: Variations: Noël nouvelet Charles Villiers Stanford: At Easter-tide Healey Willan: Chorale Prelude on a Melody by Melchior Vulpius J. S. Bach: Heut' triumphieret Gottes Sohn David Briggs: Ricercare: Llanfair David Willcocks: Fanfare: Gopsal Dietrich Buxtehude: Komm heiliger Geist, Herre Gott Richard Popplewell: Chorale Prelude: Down Ampney Malcolm Riley: Chorale Prelude: Hereford Samuel Scheidt: Veni Creator Spiritus Christopher Tambling: Fanfare: Shine, Jesus, Shine Thanks for your post, Martin, as I have been waiting for this to be published since I saw the review in OR. I pointed the Christopher Tambling piece out to one of our more excitable tenors who then became even more excited (he likes SJS)! Suffice to say, its pencilled in for Pentecost before I've even got the book! Did you order direct from OUP? Amazon is still trying to tell me its unpublished. I actually have 10 of these pieces in other volumes, but I shall still be investing in this new volume as I reckon I'll get good use out of it and these OUP volumes are invariably excellent (I have the 'Ceremonial Music' and Christmas versions, both of which are very useful). http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780193386235.do#.UQWkXmcniSo - there are some samples here from the OUP website if you are unsure, including the David Bednall piece, which looks approachable enough to me (unless it gets trickier beyond the end of the sample!).

How about: Position - 1 Layout - 3 Winding - 4 Console and Controls - 1 Casework - 4 Player Satisfaction - 2 So thats a total of 15 out of 30. Not really that bad, perhaps?

I presume you mean David Butterworth? There is a DVD of him playing the Marcussen, the Binns organ in the Albert Hall (of which he is custodian, a fine instrument indeed) and a couple of others locally, although I don't possess it. Perhaps it might shed some light on the reasons behind his choice? At the same time, a smaller instrument by the same firm was installed at St Mary's, Clifton. I can't speak for the old organ, as it disappeared long before I was even born. Again, I don't know details, but might one presume the demands for choral accompaniment weren't as great at the time when it was installed as they are now? I've played the Vierne Mass and various anthems and settings on it and it can be done, but just not that easily at times! The problem with the siting is that is in the south aisle. This means that sound is never going to travel well to the rear parts of the nave, particularly on the north side. I doubt the Walker was much better as that sat over one side of the chancel, so again probably won't have filled the nave too well. An organ on the screen between the two would probably be best, or maybe to have something in the position of the Walker pipes for choral accompaniment but with a Nave division for leading large congregations?

As pcnd said, the real questions is how you define a 'bad' organ. I think a truly bad organ would have to be something that is either entirely unmusical or where the mechanism is completely ineffective (ie it is incapable of producing the sound it should). Many organs have their shortcomings, but that is more to do with practical issues. Let me take as an example an organ with which I am familiar, the Marcussen at St Mary's, Nottingham (I think I've written about it before). See http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N08469 for reference. Looking at pcnd's criteria: 1) Position - poor. Located in a side aisle, so ineffective for filling the nave to lead hymns, but equally far from ideal for accompanying the choir in the chancel as the sound travels round a corner. 2) Layout - Swell frontwards, Great to the side. Doesn't really matter that much for me as due to point 1 the sound won't effectively cover the building. 3) Winding - I'm not an expert on such matters, but I've never had any problems. The action is mechanical but not heavy. 4) Console and controls - apart from it being an assault course to get there, far from ideal. No registration aids whatsoever. Couplers by foot levers, stop layout OK although the Pedal stops are split half and half either side which might not be considered ideal. Judging balance isn't always easy, but that's down to the positioning. 5) Casework - personally I find it aesthetically pleasing, and the visible Swell doors are an unusual and interesting touch. Not sure if the case helps propel sound though. 6) Player satisfaction - all depends what you're trying to do. For certain parts of the solo repertoire, its a good instrument (although the voicing is a little harsh in places - the mixtures were necessarily voiced to try to fill the building); for accompanying choral repertoire, pretty rubbish. Certain pieces would be near impossible without a registrant, and many are distinctly tricky. Which of these is most important - I would suggest the latter. Therefore, there are many bad things about this instrument. If you were to remove the current instrument and build a new one, it would surely not be replaced with something similar, but with something which could more effectively fill the building and accompany the choral repertoire (especially given the standing of the choir). However, would I say its a 'bad' organ? No, because it has its good points and can do some things well. In an effective position in a smaller building where less demands were placed on it (and with a little revoicing) it could happily lead a congregation in hymn singing. So I guess the lesson here is the importance of matching the right organ to the right setting, given the building and the demands that will be made of it.

My list of things to work on is Messiaen - Apparition de l'Eglise Eternelle (will be interesting to see how that will go down on a Sunday morning!) Vierne - Trois Improvisations Perhaps one of these would fulfil your desire for something 20th Century French. I couldn't be exact on gradings, but other than the Durufle Soissons Fugue and Dupre's Choral Preludes I doubt there's much thats around Grade VIII level from either of them). Both of the above should be perfectly doable providing you have an organ with decent resources. Others that I'm planning on looking at Ernest MacMillan - Cortege Academique - see - I heard this played at Southwell last term by Simon Hogan and rather liked it so have ordered the score - don't know exactly what it looks like yet - only £7 from Musicroom thoughMendelssohn 3 - just need to work through the middle bit of the first movement Might have a look at Franck's 3rd Choral as well, just for a laugh (not the music, obviously!) I'm also planning to purchase http://ukcatalogue.o...do#.UN81NHfDWSo when it is released in the New Year - I have Ceremonial Music and the Christmas Album both of which are very useful so I'm anticipating this should be as good...Christopher Tambling's 'Shine Jesus Shine' piece should be interesting!

I kicked off before the Carol Service with BWV 572, although it wasn't anywhere near full organ, just a decent 'plenum'. I can't remember now what followed it! The Andrew Gant piece at the end drew a smattering of applause and several appreciative comments. Why bother learning hard stuff when you can play something so straightforward and effective?! Please note this question is purely rhetorical! For the crib service I again started off loudly, but that one is all about crowd control anyway, with loads of children and families in. Unsurprisingly, my trip round the fairground in Paris with M. Lefebure-Wely on Christmas Morning got some appreciative comments and again some applause. I have to say I really enjoyed the Christmas Services this year, in no small part helped by excellent congregations at all of them.

I listened in patches and thought Kings sounded very good - both from a musical and sound engineering perspective. I'm afraid I enjoyed the new Rutter piece; like many of its predecessors as commissions I can't see the Carl Vine getting too many repeat performances. Philip Ledger's 'Good Christian men, rejoice' has been hiding somewhere but was really rather good and deserves a repeat performance. A less than traditional approach to BWV 729 this year though! When it started I thought it had been substituted for something else!

If you think 'Sir Christemas' is rubbish, then I'll raise you Kenneth Rothery's 'Christ Child in the Manger' which we did at our Carol Service tonight - lots of oom-pahs! Utterly tasteless, but the congregation lap it up. In similar vein we have done the 'Cowboy Carol' before as well - don't even ask! This is definite love to hate territory! In all seriousness, a good evening, a full church, nine lessons, 11 musical items (5 choir, 6 congregational) and all done and dusted in an hour. As I posted elsewhere, Andrew Gant's 'Toccata on Mendelssohn' went down a storm afterwards, with a ripple of applause. One down, three to go! Hope your carolling (assuming many correspondents like me had a service tonight) was similarly successful!

I'm with you here. For services I am completely unorthodox and wear canvas shoes which some people would describe as 'slippers'. This generally doesn't present a problem, although when pedal thirds are required (eg. Guilmant 1 Final - an ongoing project!) I just remove them and do the thirds in bare feet (with socks, of course!). Sometimes I will do my practice this way, and have found that playing without shoes is also useful when something unexpected happens and I do not have my normal shoes with me! It has never struck me as painful at all.

Thanks for the replies. I don't play either of the pieces wolsey mentions, and indeed have never tried or even thought to do so...maybe this says what it needs to say here?!! On the other hand, on several occasions I have bought a piece of music which has then been put straight in the cupboard, only to bring it out again 12-18 months later to find it much more approachable than I first thought, and what with prices rising maybe it could be argued that I should invest sooner rather than later?! It is certainly an excellent piece though, I particularly enjoy the harmonies towards the end.

I was having a listen to this last night - there's a couple of decent performances on YouTube - and wondered how approachable it might be for me to try in the New Year? It looks quite hard work, but I guess much of it is repeated patterns, so maybe not so difficult? I've checked but my local library don't appear to have it in stock, which is a shame as I don't particularly want to buy the score outright without knowing a bit more, especially when it costs £20+ for a single sheet! Any recommendations welcomed...