DHM

I regret to have to report that Dr Robert Ashfield passed away at 1:40pm today at the age of 95. Robert (“Bobby” or “Doc”) Ashfield (as he is affectionately known in Rochester), was the first Cathedral Organist under whom I sang as a very new Supernumerary Lay Clerk in the autumn of 1970, learning the job by singing alongside one of the six regular men. He was born in Surrey in July 1911, but his family moved to the village of Eynsford in Kent in 1912. His first practical musical experience was blowing the organ in the village church while his mother played - and sometimes they reversed the roles. As a young teenager he attended Tonbridge School, where he excelled both at the organ and on the sports field. In 1928 he entered the Royal College of Music in London to study with Ernest Bullock (then Organist of Westminster Abbey). Having gained his ARCO diploma in 1931 and FRCO the following year, Bullock invited Robert to be his Organ Scholar at the Abbey. In 1934 he was appointed Organist of St John's, Smith Square in London (now a concert hall) and in 1936 he became Music Master at Westminster Abbey Choir School, gaining his BMus from London University the same year. In 1940 he returned to Tonbridge School as Assistant Music Master, and obtained his DMus the following year, before being called up for war service. After the war, in 1946, he went to Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire as Organist & Rector Chori. He moved to Rochester Cathedral as Organist in 1956 and the following year was also appointed a Professor for Theory and Composition at the Royal College of Music. Robert retired in 1977 but remained active until recently as a composer and concert promoter, and was a regular attender at the Cathedral Eucharist on Sunday mornings. We last saw him in church on Christmas morning. The Cathedral Special Choir had already scheduled some of Robert’s music for this weekend (as we often do): as the Introit at Evensong today we sang his processional setting of “Of the Father’s love begotten”, and this is repeated at tomorrow afternoon’s New Year Carol Service; at Mattins tomorrow we sing “Fairest of morning lights” (17th century text by Thomas Pestel); and as an extra valedictory item at the end of tomorrow’s Eucharist we will sing his best-known anthem, written for a Diocesan Choirs’ Festival at Southwell in 1949 to a text by Lionel Johnson, based on Revelation 17: “Ah, see the fair chivalry come, the companions of Christ! White horsemen, who ride on white horses, the Knights of God! They, for their Lord and their Lover, who sacrificed all Save the sweetness of treading where He first trod! These, thro' the darkness of death, the dominions of night, Swept, and they woke in white places at morning tide: They saw with their eyes and sang for joy at the sight, They saw with their eyes the Eyes of the Crucified. Now, whithersoever He goeth, with Him they go: White horsemen, who ride on white horses, Oh, fair to see! They ride where the rivers of paradise flash and flow, White horsemen, with Christ their Captain, for ever He!” May he rest in peace and rise in glory. Douglas Henn-Macrae Senior Lay Clerk, Rochester Cathedral Director of the Cathedral Special Choir

It gets slightly more interesting when you have to sing every verse twice - alternately in English and Arabic -as my choir had to recently for a wedding where the bridegroom was an Egyptian Christian. We had expert tuition from the (Chechen-born, Jordanian-educated) fiance of a choir member, who taught us the finer points of the Cairo dialect as opposed to classical Arabic. The Egyptian half of the congregation sang lustily in the Arabic verses, but were gobsmacked when we joined in.

My apologies - I read a "St" where there wasn't one originally. That'll teach me to read more carefully and not to send hasty posts after driving to Glasgow and back in the space of 23 hours! Here's another interesting redundant organ: http://www.kentpres.org/ParkStOrgan/

You could, of course, sing it to “Gute Bäume bringen” (NEH 65) rather than “St Andrew of Crete” (AMNS 55).

Thanks, VH - of course I should have mentioned that one. So far as I know it is still there and still for sale. When I was in Aachen last week they simply told me about the church closing - no mention of the organ already having been dismantled. Do want to extract the spec from your tour report and post it here? Incidentally, to which St Paul's are you referring? Did I miss something?

There was at least one on eBay (UK site) last night, from a chapel which is closing - opening bid £500.00.

What about Howells (Psalm Preludes, Rhapsodies), Stanford, Whitlock...?? Are they all "not that good"?

Sounds like some of the big Skinners we both know...

I once had the dubious pleasure of page-turning for GTB at a recital in the Colston Hall in Bristol in the late 1960s. Whenever he came to Bristol, he stayed in the house where I had a bed-sit, as his then wife had lodged in the same house when she was a music student at the University a few years previously. (The landlady, incidentally, was the widow of a Cardiff music lecturer and had in her lounge a full-size Steinway which had reputedly once belonged to Rachmaninov!) The last piece in the first half of GTB's programme was a big Reger fantasy (don't remember which - I was very young at the time). Towards the bottom of the first page, tenor G# on the Great stuck - with full organ drawn. Never have I seen fingers move so fast for pistons, but to no avail - he had to stop. My memory of the rest of the evening is a little hazy after nearly 40 years, but I know we took the interval early and he successfully played that piece again after it, without a hitch. Rumour had it that Harrison's man spent the 2nd half sitting in the swell box with his finger over something or other. Don't know how true that was. Quite an evening.

Thanks to Roffensis for his enthusiasm and kind remarks. I'm not sure I would describe Rochester as a backwater, though lots of people certainly travel past or though it en route to another little church 30 miles down the road. Note to "parsfan": try the Lay Clerks' favourite watering-hole - The Cooper's Arms in St Margaret's Street (just up the road from the Cathedral). I am glad to report that the rest of last week's events were as excellent as the first one. Pity the attendances were so small - the performances deserved better. To hear Duruflé's complete organ and choral works in a day was an unforgettable experience; I take my hat off to Edmund for the former, and to Roger, the Festival Choir, and Charlie the organ scholar for the latter. (Still only 16, he gave a virtually faultless performance of the organ part of the Requiem - a first for him - having also played the Langlais Messe Solennelle for the first time the previous Sunday). Watch out for future performances of Roger & Charlie's duo act "The Midas Touch" - a thrilling pairing of master & pupil, including K608 and several specially commissioned arrangements by Robert Ramskill of James Bond themes. I have to confess to having passed on "The Organist Entertains" (there are only so many things you can do in the course of a weekend which also includes directing four services!), but the late evening liturgical performance of Dupré's Vespers (commissioned by an Englishman, according to Edmund's programme note) was a beautifully restful end to the day - so nice to sit back and be ministered unto, rather than always having to minister. The Jazz Duo from St Thomas', Leipzig, are indeed a virtuoso pair. We heard three major organ works of JSB (played straight) and several organ + sax improvisations (nothing like Jan Gabarek and the Hilliards, though) based on those organ works and on P+Fs from the "48". You have to admire the artistry, but they wouldn't be in my Desert Island selection.

Might have been me - I sang there for a couple of years at the end of the 1960s. The story was that he had indeed been OS of King's, but had left without taking a degree. (I also remember that during the winter at Redcliffe he played in overcoat and mittens!) It was said that GB wasn't particularly interested in choir training - to the extent that shortly I arrived there had been a Lay Clerks' revolt and a demand that a Choirmaster be appointed. Bryan Anderson arrived shortly thereafter. [Anyone with a better memory or more inside info, please feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken!]

I don't know how widely it has been publicised (my guess is not very), but I hope I may be allowed a plug for Roger Sayer's Summer Festival (featuring our Mander organ) which started tonight with a stunning performance by Wayne Marshall (an old college friend of Roger's). He gave us, in the 1st half, Dupré's Allegro Deciso, Liszt's Ad Nos, and a couple of his own compositions. The 2nd half was Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, with Wayne on piano and Roger providing the orchestral parts on the Mander. Wayne finished the evening with an improvisation on "Colonel Bogey", and a big screen ensured that all could see the fancy finger- and foot-work going on in the loft. Further treats in store for those within travelling distance of Rochester: Tomorrow (Thursday) is Duruflé Day, starting at 1200 with the 4 Motets, Notre Père and the Missa Cum Jubilo. At 1800 our (soon-to-be-ex-) Assistant Organist, Edmund Aldhouse, will play Duruflé's complete organ works before leaving us for further studies in Paris. And at 2030 Roger conducts the Requiem with our 16-year-old Organ Scholar, Charlie Andrews, at the organ. On Friday at 1930 Roger & Charlie play a duet programme, including some specially transcribed James Bond themes. Saturday at 1300 there is a concert by the choir of St Philip's Cathedral in Charleston, North Carolina. Evensong at 1515 includes Stanford in G and Wood's Glorious and powerful God. At 1900 The Organist (Radio 2's Nigel Ogden) Entertains. And at 2130 we have Dupré's Vespers, sung liturgically. On Sunday the Cathedral Special Choir marks Dr Robert Ashfield's 95th birthday and celebrates Rochester's home-grown composers at all the choral services (0945, 1030 and 1515). The final concert at 1930 on Sunday is by a Jazz Duo from Bach's own church of St Thomas, Leipzig. Regards to all, Douglas.

At least one of our former Assistant Organists used to do some deliberate "word-painting" in that verse. Another hilarious incident was in Exeter Cathedral recently with a visiting choir from Rochester. The Dean of E (formerly Acting Dean of R), surrounded by a sea of old familiar faces, greeted the congregation "Welcome to Evensong in Rochester Cathedral...", and wondered why everyone started falling about. His 2i/c had been waiting 11 months for him to do that.

Another hilarious incident comes to mind: Some years ago, the local branch of LEPRA (The Leprosy Association) attended Evensong at Rochester. It was the 14th Evening. Psalm 73, Vs 2(a)...

It was Saturday 3 January 1981, and I'm fairly sure it was a case of page-turner's stomach pushing stops in. Whether the music fell off as well, I can't say (since I wasn't in the loft). But I do remember very clearly the couple of unscripted bars, brilliantly excuted in the style of HH, just before "as it was..." In fact I still have it on tape, and listen to it from time to time!

I can only speak for the 20 or so years before that, and to the best of my recollection there weren't any - except that when Paul Hale was in charge for a term in the late 1980s, a pupil of his (6th-former at Tonbridge School) assisted on one or two days a week. When I started here in the days of Bobby Ashfield (95 next week and still a regular at the Sunday Eucharist!) the Cathedral Organist played the organ. (And while we're talking of Organ Scholars, let's not forget that Bobby was OS of the Abbey before going to be organist at St John's, Smith Square.) There was no conductor (other than a down-beat or a cut-off from the Head Boy). The Assistant Organist only turned up to play if the boss was away. And there were no pre-service rehearsals for the men, except once a week! (But then the same team of 6 men had sung together, unchanged, for 11 years - and one side for 13.) Have things changed for the better, or worse, since those times? Discuss.

Talking of Danse Macabre, this turned up on another list earlier today...

VH is correct in saying that Rochester's current organ scholar is a pupil at the King's School. He has actually been organ scholar since "retiring" as a boy chorister four years ago, and has at least one more year with us. He is already playing the Dupré P&Fs, Duruflé Toccata, Arthur Wills' arrangement of Holst's "Jupiter"... etc (as well as all the standard repertory of service accompaniments at the drop of a hat). For his first "major" recital at the cathedral nearly 2 years ago, he played 5 of his 6 pieces from memory (including Parry's "Wanderer" F&F, Peter Eben's Moto Perpetuo, Reger...). He is, however, the exception to the rule. All our previous organ scholars have been either gap-year students or post-grads since the Michael James Organ Scholarship was established in 1989. [Michael James was appointed Assistant Organist in 1981, but died before taking up the position. His parents established the Michael James Trust, which funds several positions in other places.]

Try this... http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=N01502

I'm always very impressed by Vox Humana's version, too - having heard it on many fine organs in Germany and the States. D.

Sorry, Vox Humana, you're getting a little confused with Oberwerk and Altenburg. Oberwerk is another programme which works alongside HW and allows you to make up your own organ(s) from the library of 155 stops that comes with it (simply drag 'n' drop stops into whichever manual (or pedal) department you want). The Trost organ at Altenburg Castle is one of the organs that Manfred Hoffrichter has sampled for his new "Markus-Series" organs, using his own system which is similar to HW but not identical (MH would swear it was better!). Hope this helps.

Hallo, John, If you were listening to a CD recording of an organ, you wouldn't expect every pipe to have its own amplifier and speaker. HW simply reproduces a CD-quality recording of every pipe (with the acoustic of the building). The acid test would be to compare recordings of the actual organs with recordings of their HW samples (same player, same piece, same registration). In theory there should be no audible difference. Have you seen/heard the demo clip refered to in yesterday's post?

Good morning. Colin has a fair point and I stand corrected. What I meant to imply was that this is not what we would normally call an "electronic organ". Hauptwerk is (as they say in Texas) "a whole 'nuther ball game".

Firstly, thanks to Vox Humana for his thorough and virtually accurate description of Hauptwerk. My only quibble would be his describing it as "an electronic organ, but with a difference": it isn't - you are playing (albeit via a computer and MIDI keyboard) a pipe organ. 1. For the Hauptwerk software: £295 for the "full" version and £125 for the "lite" version with fewer bells and whistles. See the "Shop" page of the Crumhorn Labs website: http://www.crumhorn-labs.com/cgi-bin/shop/ccp51/cp-app.cgi 2. For the sample sets: depends how many and which organs you want to play. You get a 1907 IIP 30-stop Brindley & Foster free with Hauptwerk (very realistic console graphics and sounds: you hear the blower motor start up when you load the organ, and hear the thud of the stopknobs when pistons are pressed). Other than that, there are a couple of free sets for download, but the best will cost you: e.g. €695 for the Aix Cathedral Ducroquet-Cavaille-Coll; US$469 for the Chicago EM Skinner (new version release imminent); $210 for the Virginia Theatre Wurlitzer; a choice of Silbermanns from $220/€395; etc, etc. 3. For a suitable computer: how long is a piece of string? Are you content to play only small organs, or do you want the biggest and best? Look at the pages "Computer Specs" and "Prerequisites". HW is optimised for dual-core (preferably AMD) processors and is very RAM-hungry. One of the UK's best and most experienced digital organ builders is offering to supply computers to Hauptwerk's recommended specifications. Contact Hugh Banton: hb@soundproof.co.uk. 4. Internet connection not essential, though support on the Hauptwerk Forum by its inventor, Martin Dyde, is second to none (response time usually measured in minutes!). 5. For the "kit": you can either: a. As Vox Humana suggested, use any MIDI-compatible organ console; at the very least, the manual & pedal keyboards will work. Depending on age of console and type of MIDI messages sent, the stops, pistons and swell pedals may or may not work. (If they ARE compatible, HW is designed to drive them, and vice versa.) b. Buy a specially-designed console or "Hauptwerk-Block". Prices vary enormously. Those of Helmut Maier start from about €40,000, but are custom-built by a pipe-organ builder to client's specification. http://www.thevirtualpipeorgan.com/ Classic Organ Works in Ontario, Canada, are considerably cheaper, but shipping costs and import duties may be a problem. http://www.organworks.com/Web/home/index.asp Hoffrichter in Germany is working on a range of new products (mobile as well as static solutions - put a cathedral organ in the boot of your car!) specially designed for use with Hauptwerk at very reasonable prices (starting around £4,000), though there has been concern about delivery times. I must declare an interest here. http://www.hoffrichter-organs.co.uk/ 6. Amplifier + speakers: as much as you want to spend. Good quality studio-monitor headphones are also recommended as an alternative. 7. If you're playing dry (as opposed to "wet") samples, you'll also need some sort of reverb unit. Hope this helps. Regards, Douglas.

Check out this latest Hauptwerk demo, just posted by Brett Milan. The organ is the 1928 EM Skinner in Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Chicago. http://milanaudio.com/HW2/widor-romane-mvt...eencapture.html [if that link doesn't work, try this one http://www.crumhorn-labs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1080 and go to the post at 0537 on 5 July.] Brett says: "This is not the typical MP3 demo, rather a complete demo of the Skinner console in action playing the Widor Symphonie Romane 1st movement. A video screen capture was taken during playback so you may see how the console looks in motion. In order to keep the high video resolution and high bit rate MP3, the file is rather large at 34 MB, so I would recommend only those with a fast internet connection attempt to download the file. You will need Flash Player installed as well as Active X controls to view the demo. You may need to let it run into the buffer for a little while before starting playback. You may also need to click the Pause button then click Play to get the audio to play properly. Also for best results you can use Full Screen mode in your browser to view the entire console at once. Optimum screen resolution for this video is 1024x768. Please enjoy watching the virtual console in action!" I look forward to your reactions! Best wishes, Douglas.