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DHM

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Posts posted by DHM

    Appointments 2

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Church musicians (at least on this side of the Pond) are rarely well-paid.

    My first appointment, as "Pupil Assistant Organist" as a teenager in 1963, paid the princely sum of £15.0.0 per annum - less the cost of organ lessons!

    Tertius Noble

    in Organ Music

    Posted

    “Ora labora” is awesome. With the text of “Come, labour on” it’s a real tear-jerker - in the very best sense of the word.

    Its in New English Praise (as is “Corvedale”), and has a fine descant added by Simon Lindley.

    For the last few years this has been a firm fixture for our final Evensong of the choir year.

    (“Servant[s], well done!”) 

    New College Oxford - An intriguing mixture

    in The Organ

    Posted

    9 hours ago, Vox Humana said:

    I remember a None on Peter Collins's organ at Shellingford, Oxon, way back c.1968-9, but I can't remember any more about it other than that I wasn't entirely convinced.  NPOR tells me that it was subsequently replaced by (turned into?) a 1' Sifflöte.

    Were you on that trip too??
    I certainly remember being there and hearing (all about) the organ - e.g. how the Lord of the Manor's son had allegedly donated it during his final year at Oxford.

    Alternative forum

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Apologies if I misunderstood something.
    I'm definitely in favour of moving to a *free* forum hoster if someone is willing to administer and moderate it.

    My question about contributing to costs applied only to the costs of migration with transfer of current content - not contributing to a paid-for forum.

    Alternative forum

    in General discussion

    Posted

    8 minutes ago, Web Master said:

     

    No - but suggest £300 - £400 would be a realistic approximate figure.

    Thanks, Stephen.
    I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping that (a) this much-valued Forum might be able to continue, albeit probably under another name, and (b) that all the current content could somehow be migrated. There is so much useful knowledge and interesting comment accumulated over so many years, and it would be a real shame to see all that irretrievably lost.
    How many members do we have, and how many of us would be willing to contribute a share of the kind of costs that Stephen has suggested?

    Sheffield Cathedral

    in General discussion

    Posted

    There are threads on this topic on various social media group pages.

    Some see it as a necessary and positive step.

    However another group post includes the text of a letter from a long-standing chorister parent to the Editor of the Church Times, which puts a rather different complexion on it, quoting lamentable mismanagement and appalling failure of  communication.

    [For the record, I have no first-hand knowledge of the situation. I’m merely quoting what I have seen.]

    Vierne's 1st symphony:final

    in Organ Music

    Posted

    As "Churchill" (the insurance dog) would say: OOHHH, YASSSS!! The Chorzempa version was awesome.
    A shame that neither YouTube page named the organ used, though I'm guessing that Chorzempa must have been playing a C-C. It just sounded right.

    [As a slightly off-topic aside, I was interested to see that two of the technicians named on Hurford's recording - both acknowledged experts in their field - are customers of mine.
    It was a very humbling experience a couple of years ago when they asked me for advice about audio gear for their home organs.]

    What future for the English organ?

    in General discussion

    Posted

    A very interesting and stimulating discussion so far, covering a wide range of opinions on several (more or less) related topics.
    So, if I might be permitted to digress a little further.....

    Choral Evensong is alive and well in Mainland Europe - particularly in Germany and Holland.
    Many board members will probably already be aware of the increasing interest in, and enthusiasm for, English choral music over there.
    This led to an unusual invitation last year: I was asked to lead an "Evensong Project Week" in a large Cistercian Abbey church in Germany where the monastic community had recently been dissolved. The Titular Organist of the Abbey (an ardent Anglophile) had been taught by his predecessor - an Anglican priest who had once been Assistant Organist at Exeter. What they wanted - and what an ad hoc bunch of experienced English cathedral musicians gave them - was a whole week of unadulterated Anglican Choral Evensong; except for the readings and intercessions every thing was auf Englisch. They loved it, and want it repeated this summer. They were incredibly hospitable - not least at Sunday Mass on our last day, when the Guestmaster (the one remaining monk, now 86)  offered us Communion in both kinds. We felt very privileged to be allowed to, as it were, deputise for the now-absent community of monks at their daily Offices (though thankful that it wasn't every 3 hours through the night). An added bonus (which made life so much easier) was that the organ isn't half a mile away on the west end gallery, but in the chancel, behind the south quire stalls. https://klais.de/m.php?sid=94

    Mendelssohn's 3rd Sonata

    in Organ Music

    Posted

    Having just downloaded and played through this Prelude, I'm left with the feeling that it must surely be a juvenile work, as well as being quite "un-organistic" in places.
    I can't believe this is a mature work of a serious composer.

    Expreriences in the North Netherlands

    in The Organ

    Posted

    On 30/05/2019 at 17:51, Paul Isom said:

    Stanford in G ended up in Ab as the pitch was a semitone sharp, much to our soloist's delight. 

    Then your task was much easier than that of a former Oxbridge organ scholar.
    The story may be apocryphal, but is alleged to be true. I have heard names and locations quoted. 
    DoM to Organ Scholar at pre-Evensong rehearsal: "We'll do Stanford in G in A flat today, please, Mr X." 🤣

    Birthday Honours

    in General discussion

    Posted

    8 hours ago, DaveHarries said:

    It could be that he [FJ] has been offered something in the past and turned it down.

    Dave

    That may well be the case.
    But if it were, one might have expected something to be said quietly on his behalf, so that the rest of us don't make the same  complaint every year.

    Ronald Woan R.I.P.

    in General discussion

    Posted

    On 29/04/2019 at 07:26, Adnosad said:

    Have to say that I am still rather puzzled as to why a boy, who went on later in life to become very successful in the musical world as a singer/performer failed his audition to be admitted to the choir ?

    Is this a reference to the composer of the Liverpool Oratorio?

    BBC studios and the organ

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I know we're not supposed to mention such things here, but since the subject has already been raised above (by VH and RW), it should be noted that the BBC already have a HW instrument at Media City, Salford, for use (inter alia) for the Daily Service, since they stopped using a nearby church for that. And it's movable between studios.

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