Florian

What's about Eric Fenby's organ transcription of Delius's On hearing the first cuckoo in spring?

should read: I still don't like the Schoenberg, but who does?

That's what happened once at a Three Choirs Festival prior to a performance of Louis Spohr's Last Judgement. A lady was asked to move to another seat and replied: "This is my seat. I was sitting here for the Creation and I intend to remain in this seat for the Last Judgement."

He himself called his translation 'iuxta Hebraeos' (from the Hebrew). According to many historians his prime source was in fact a Hebrew edition in Greek letters (a so called 'hexaplaric Septuaginta').

Be careful: there are different Vulgatas. The one quotet above is the Nova Vulgata, a critical edition made in 1979. The current English edition of the Vulgata dates from 1889. 'Petra' is to be found in mediaeval editions of the Vulgata (8th and 9th Century). As with many details of the old Vulgata (Hieronymus knew only a little bit Hebrew) 'Petra' could probably be an error.

Yes, absolutely. The Vetus Latina reads Petrus, the Vulgata Petra.

'Petra' is simply the version of the Vulgate. But what is even more interesting is the fact that Mulet omitts a part of the original text: Tu es Petrus et super hanc Petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus eam.

HTIOI = Hope this is of interest

My (German) source points out that the only specification we have of this instrument dates from 1739 (which means years after Bach left Weimar!). Some further corrections (in bold type):

There is an 'Urtext' edition of the 8 Sonatas and some smaller pieces, published at Baerenreiter, which can be recommended. Unfortunately, the beautiful Leupold edition of the complete organ works seems to be out of print.

For the same reason I play once a year a recording of Britten's 'Prelude and Fugue on a theme of Vittoria'...

HOWELLS ?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tournemire-Organ-S...8027&sr=8-3

This marvellous recording is still available. Have a look here... Tournemire Symphonies

Piet Kee wrote a very comprehensive article about numerical symbolism and the lunar phases in the d minor Passacaglia in 1984.

There is no need for a written source: just compare the original recording of Tournemire's improvisation (EMI) with the printed text of the Duruflé-transcription.

After discussing Elgar's Imperial March I would like to point out an alternative reading in the same composer's Chanson de Matin. On the last page of the Brewer arrangement, 8th bar (one bar before the fermata on the high E): - Elgar's orchestral version and Brewer's organ transcription have a quaver G followed by 6 semiquavers B C# E F# G B - Elgar's version for violin and piano and Thomson's piano solo arrangement have 8 semiquavers G B C# E G H C# E and the high E an octave higher. This lovely version could easily be produced on the organ with a 4ft flute instead of Brewer's 'Choir soft 8ft' and playing an octave lower.

I think you're right: it should be bottom C instead of E flat. I own two different orchestral recordings (one rather dull by Groves, and the highly inspired Boult recording), and in both cases it is not easy to distinguish whether they play C or E flat, because the bass drum covers most of the lower notes. For absolute security you have to refer to a full score. In my opinion there seems to be another misprint: the left hand rhythm in the trio section (E flat major, poco meno mosso), in the orchestral version played by the bassoons, appears in the wrong order: right at the beginning of the Trio comes the the rhythm which Martin gives on page 4 (last bar of 3rd system), and vice versa.

I play it as written by Fletcher: Swell reeds for the first and Tuba for the second fanfare. As I play this piece usually on German organs I often have to make use of Fletcher's alternative registration for the second fanfare (Great reeds), which works well either. By the way: as many modern Choir manuals sound too neobaroque to my ears I play the places in question in the middle section on the Swell (8, 4, 2), alternating with the Great.

Yesterday I played an instrument which has a stop called Silentium 1' in the pedal. It is the first drawknob, clearly marked as #1, and if you pull this stop, there sounds nothing.

As far as I am informed a Pedal to Great coupler exists in Notre-Dame de Paris as well.

The OHS still offers it: http://ohscatalog.stores.yahoo.net/franmaragdei.html

7 Pieces in E flat No 4: in the antepenultimate bar the left hand reads C Bb G. This can't be right, but should it be C Ab F or C Bb Ab? > Kalmus has C Bb Ab. 7 Pieces in E No 5: The left-hand registration begins with stop #1 (Cor anglais). At bar 36 there is an instruction to subtract sto #$ (Basson 8'), but where do you add it? > Kalmus has the sign to add stop #4 in bar 21. 7 Pieces in F Sortie: On the first beat of the left hand in bar 70 should there be a quaver C above the A (as in bar 21)? > Kalmus has no C. In my opinion this is an error in the first edition and I play bar 70 like bar 21. 7 Pieces in F# No 5: The first left-hand note of bar 17 is B. Surely this should be an A? > Kalmus has A. 7 Pieces in G No 2: At bar 16 there is an instruction in the left hand to add stop #4. This is repeated at bar 26. Presumably the latter should be slashed? > This error occurs also in the Kalmus edition. I agree with you that it should be slashed. Be aware of the Kaunzinger edition of the Franck organ works. There are numerous editorial decisions which have nothing to do with an Urtext edition. The most reliable editions are the reprints of the original French editions and I clearly prefer the Dover edition (which could easily be corrected with Rollin Smith books at your hand) to the Kaunzinger edition, which has also the disadvantage that you have to turn pages every second bar ;-)

It shold be mentioned that both Daniel Roth and Louis Robilliard filled up their excellent complete recordings with excerpts from "L'Organiste".

The Kalmus edition is an exact reprint of the original Enoch edition from 1892 which is based on the second of the two authograph scores and which is without any major errors. With the Kaunzinger edition at your hand you can correct some minor errors (missing or doubtful ties), but I have to admit that I clearly prefer the print layout of the Kalmus edition. In the excellent preface of the Kalmus edition the different harmonium registrations are discussed so that it's easy to write the actual pitch over the original harmonium registrations. In my opinion Franck's use of 4' stops for the bass an 16' stops for the treble is unique in literature for organ AND harmonium. Other pieces from this genre are either conceived in a more "universal" manner with the possibility of a performance on the organ in mind (e.g. Boellmanns "Heures mystiques") or they are composed rather for the organ than for the harmonium but with the possibility to play it without pedals (Viernes "Pièces en style libre" and his two "Messes basses"). Franck however writes in his "L'Organiste", which contains some of his most beautiful music, more for the harmonium than for the organ and in my opinion a performance on the organ should reflect both the original harmonium registrations and the typical colours of the Franck organ. I give you here my registrations in french terms for the awesome "Offertoire funèbre" in f# minor: prepare: Récit: Fonds 8' (Flute, Gambe, Bourdon) Positif: Fonds doux 8' Grand-Orgue: Fonds doux 8' Pédale: 16'+8' GO and P coupled, box closed bar 1: right hand R ne octave lower, left hand GP one octave higher bar 5: both hands on R, right hand "loco", left hand one octave higher bar 11: as bar 1, box half opened bar 15: as bar 5 bar 21: both hand on GP bar 25: + Swell (GPR) bar 29: both hands on R (loco) bar 34: close the box, on the last c# minus Flute bar 35: plus Voix céleste the entire section from 35 to 62 is played on R, 35-46 and 55-62 with pedal bar 62: minus Voix céleste, plus Flute bar 63: both hands on GPR (loco) bar 67: both hands on R (loco) bar 72: pedal bar 73: R minus Flute, plus Voix céleste; right hand on R one octave lower, left hand on PR loco; last chord with pedal It's up to you to decide whether this arrangement goes to far or is just in the limits of a "normal" Franck organ work.