Jim Treloar

Interesting that this topic crosses with another further down the list - Thomas Trotter's Ludlow DVD on which the Elgar is played. Watching and listening to him should convert those who have their doubts about it I would think. As stated on that topic, a superb DVD well worth getting, whether you like the Elgar or not.

Like many here I have given up on Radio 3, totally lost its way. It seems that Classic FM also comes in for some stick, maybe justified but I like to listen to the radio when I go to bed at about 11 to 12 - have you heard the appalling noises on Radio 3 at that time? Not to mention the rubbish on Radio 4. However I find that Classic FM at that time is ideal, nothing too heavy and not just the "popular" classics; I've heard some unfamiliar music at that time. Recommended.

Ratzeburg - I recall many years ago actually being offered a drink from the Rauschwerk drawer, it was well stocked if memory serves correctly. The organist was also a member of the local fire brigade and there was an emergency light to call him if required. Priest and congregation were left high and dry if it was activated during a service.

I second the fact that he was a superb improviser. I happened to be at St Sulpice just two weeks before he died and had been invited upstairs to the console. Although he appeared sick (I hadn't realised how sick), his improvisations in the mass were superb. There happened to be an American downstairs who was recording his playing that day, with permission, and he eventually sent me a copy of the recording. I speculate that this might be his final improvisation on record, but still quite amazing.

Thank you Douglas for your contribution. Being just a lover of organ and choral music rather than an organist I kept asking myself "is it me?". I've heard the Gigout played with brass before but why in this concert? I've also heard a transcription of the Liszt before, but with respect to J.P-S. who one can't deny is brilliant, better than that. Also I think someone else could do the Dupre better. And as for the choral pieces, I think best forgotten. I'm sure that both T.T. and Maestro Latry's contributions will be far better and worth listening to.

Whereas I sympathise with the comment expressed by Colin above, if taken to its logical conclustion, you could echo a comment often given to me by my wife, that since Catholicism is popular in so many poor countries why does not the church, particularly the Vatican, sell off many of its treasures to support the poor in those countries. I'm afraid I have no answer.

I wonder if any other member of this group has heard of a very worrying development at Zwolle, reported at an Organ Club meeting today. Apparently the church has gone happy-clappy, the organist has resigned and the traditional congregation have decamped to another building. It is intended that the church be used for exhibitions and pop concerts (!) and there is no use for the organ. Both church and organ are of course priceless and one wonders, if true, how this has been allowed to happen.

MM - you mentioned the Great St George Street Congregational Hill. Some years ago now someone asked me what happened to it, I had no idea. Do you or anyone else know the answer please?

Coincidentally a work by him was included in the Westminster Abbey TV programme this week.

I've recently received the CD of this, on the Hortus label. Also includes Poulenc's Litanies a la Vierge Noire and a Salve Regina by O.Latry "pour orgue et voix". Excellent recording; look it up on Amazon, although it's cheaper on one of their "other sellers" for some reason.

Peter Litman is a very fine organist. I hadn't come across him before he came to Ruthin, a good choice of IoM. How strange David Drinkell should mention his visit to the IoM from Belfast, I was there at the same time visiting the railways (as you do) and came across them all at, I think, Douglas. I mentioned to DD what I was doing there and he admitted that was why he really came there.

Returning to Selby Abbey, Roger Fisher commented to me last week that he's honoured to be sharing a CD with Germani!

Laurence Lyndon Jones, currently organ scholar at Chester is appointed assistant D of M at Coventry in the new year. An excellent organist and choir man, well deserved. Puts Chester in a spot though as they were working on the assumption he was here till next summer.

I should have added what may be obvious - enter Motette in the search box.

Crotchet also sell them (crotchet.co.uk)

musingmuso - Demessieux playing Liverpool Met is available on CD, Festivo FECD141, also includes her playing at St Bavo, Haarlem, Oude Kerk, Amsterdam and Victoria Hall Geneva. I'm not sure whether the other Liverpool Met performances are on CD, I haven't checked.

My set has just arrived, haven't had time to play any of it yet, but my first reaction is that at the price charged I can put up with any shortcomings which have been mentioned - surely this is the bargain of the year, worth every penny and more. Reading the various comments above one or two other things crossed my mind, mainly about the lack of appreciation of organ music generally in this country in recent years. I put the blame squarely on Radio 3 - I've more or less given up listening to it, it's becoming a shadow of Classic FM in my view. Organ music - forget it, unless you wish to celebrate Wayne Marshall's 50th, nice enough man I'm sure, but what of the great Doctor (who should be Sir), Thomas Trotter and many of the other talented musicians who grace our cathedral and church lofts. My big grouse is piano music, sorry if I offend anyone but the amount of piano on Radio 3 drives me to distraction, endless Chopin, Beethoven etc., one morning they played the same piece twice within an hour. I used to enjoy listening to a piano but not anymore, I'm afraid. The second point is that I'm not so sure that organ music has declined to such an extent (ignoring the dreadful BBC), after all EMI are not in it for charity, they obviously determined that it was worth their while bringing this set out. There are excellent CDs issued almost monthly by various record labels, both here and in France and Germany, I sometimes have difficulty keeping up with them even when trying to be selective, they must sell. Off topic, but if I can put in a plug for a new CD from Chester, Priory have just brought one out on which Philip Rushforth plays the Whitlock Sonata, I'm not an expert but I don't think I've ever heard it performed better.

Oops, sorry. that takes you to the family history site. It's www.finchams.org/organhistory.html

Fincham indeed was and is a big name in Australia. Details on www.finchams.org

Eaton Hall, Chester, home of the Duke of Westminster, has a 3-man Whiteley in an excellent acoustic. receently restored by Nicholson. Often played on the garden Open Days when the chapel is open, the Hall is their residence and is closely guarded but the gardens are well worth a visit - even a narrow gauge railway, a replica of an earlier system serving the hall. Chester Cathedral choir usually have a concert there once a year to raise funds for tours etc..

I paid a visit to Castle Howard yesterday in that wonderful part of Yorkshire, lovely chapel containing what the guide book says is an H and H of 1875.

Someone else may confirm it, but I recall once being told that Bairstow used to smoke at the Minster and often clouds of smoke could be seen emerging from the loft.

Visiting Marienkirche, Lubeck many years ago (I didn't go up) I understood one almost had to have mountain climbing gear. Has anyone here had experience of it?

Ah, yes, Miss Chrobokova, she has made an appearance on this board once before. Apparently she has been to the UK - did any members of this board see her? I say "see" purposely as I don't suppose they'll remember what she played.

Having heard a piece by Judith Weir this afternoon (what was all that about??) and the start of Brian's big noise this evening, I couldn't take any more and one wonders why they can't do something like this at the Proms, wonderful stuff.