Ian Ball
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Posts posted by Ian Ball
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If I were playing that in public I'd certainly wear brown trousers at least.
plus bicycle clips, for sure.
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Yes, impressive, but why should someone want to play Chopin's Revolutionary Etude on the organ other than because they can? It's a perfectly good piano work after all.
Peter
I'm afraid I hate it (though not as much as his Franck Pièce Héroïque). Great facility, but I really don't see the point (and I write as someone who generally loves Mahler, Wagner et al on the organ). I'd be more impressed if he could play it beautifully on the piano. Why he feels the need to perform in his underwear is another issue...
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She is certainly remarkable. However, I am not sure that I could listen to a Hammond B3 all night.
Are there any clips of her playing classical organ music (for want of a better term) ?
Not quite, but "Watch Pedal Power" - 2nd clip here includes a brief excerpt on a pipe organ, and very tasty it is too.
I know what you mean re Hammonds, but there's enough variety (and sheer energy) in her playing and registration to sustain the interest of the dourest vegan Robertsbridge Codex fan, in my humble submission...
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I'm so glad a serious musician agrees with me.
You flatter me! (Never been called that before.) I think she's fabulous. Sad to see the occasional sanctimonious comment below some of the YouTube clips - this lady certainly has technique. -
Stunning. Simply stunning. I could watch and listen to her all night.
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Then again, I can't make anything of the Concerto for Strings either and everyone raves about that. Guess I just have a blind spot for music that sounds like a swarm of busy ants.
Go riding in the Cotswolds: all will become clear
And that slow movement ...have you no soul? -
With regard to improvisation, I would find a good Chimney Flute (with, perhaps, the addition of a Fifteenth if it is not too incisive) to be more useful - and almost certainly more musical.
Much much too quiet for what I had in mind, Sean. Even a flat-out, neo-Baroque chimney flute on the pedals would be drowned by the left hand strings (with sub and super couplers, naturally) at that low register. Remember Cochereau...
? You need that full, crescendo-ing, cantabile 'Flûtes' colour for meltingly beautiful solos And you certainly wouldn't want more than one pitch.Sadly I haven't experimented at Exeter or Crediton, and I appreciate AH Woods are laws unto themselves, hence my caveats. Perhaps unsteady wind can be an added but fixable problem? But I wouldn't discard them on any organ, merely augment with principals if necessary.
All best, Ian
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If I might put in a wee word in defence of 8 and 4 ft Open Woods: a good one makes a lovely pedal solo, in part of the range where the biggest manual flute might not have much power. I'm thinking chiefly of use in improvisations (e.g. for canons: left hand on shimmering strings; right hand on all the 8' flutes coupled together, in dialogue with the pedal 8' or 4' Wood - yummy
). A 16, 8, 4 chorus of Woods, if well voiced, are great underpinning robust hymn singing, and selected Wagner, Hollins, Lemare, Willan et al. And, of course, an 8' Wood can do a good job in French classical music, assuming, that is, that you can find anything else even vaguely resembling a Cromhorne and/or Cornet But I agree, badly voiced hooting honkers have little musical value. But we digress from Reger Fun Facts...
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Go on - be good to yourself - add a 2ft. Take that Harmonic Flute 4 up an octave. CF Waters did that on the RSCM Hunter and it's a joy. You can then couple through from the swell for the 4ft if you haven't space for a clamp-on 4ft Principal . . .
There are sound samples of that Hunter on www.jungleboffin.com/mp3/organ - it's a larger spec than you are building, slightly, but a good example you can pick from for a very satisfying house-organ.
Best wishes
David P
Ah, but then I'd have to play down two octaves for an 8' harmonic flute solo! It's bad enough one can't couple the flute at 8' pitch to the clarabella, Notre-Dame style
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This could be a new thread, which I think you should call, "As clear as mud".
However, I would just point something out about Bach's music, as if it isn't obvious enough. The smaller choirs, with boy trebles and not an over-vast acoustic, would certainly sound clear enough if they had sung right; which we know they didn't from contemporary reports.
The period string bands, quite probably played without vibrato, would be very clear.
And what pray, is the point of counterpoint if it isn't to be heard?
Of course, apart from the assumption that 'mud' is the opposite of perfect clarity. Organs by Sauer, Skinner, JW Walker and Harrison are still sometimes decried as sounding 'muddy' by a certain generation of organists. To my ears, the best of these instruments have perfect clarity, but also overwhelm and move the listener. They may sound dark, but you can still hear what's going on. However, I certainly believe that some composers deliberately use counterpoint to create layers of colour and effect. It is simply impossible to achieve perfect clarity of all the parts in a work like Spem in Alium, Hymnus Paradisi or Turangalîla-Symphonie, nor is it necessarily desirable. In the busiest baroque music, the combined effect of the counterpoint is greater than the sum of the parts - a trite, obvious point I know, but often overlooked.
Thankfully, the pendulum has swung well and truly back to a sensible middle, and we are hearing 'muddy' Bach, with melanges of middle-German 8 foot foundations; reeds in fugues (for the sake of clarity
); and Reger played on instruments with more than one 8' prinzipal supporting the chorus! -
YEEEEEESSS.
And first in Bach's music.
Pierre
Absolutely!
Was 'clarity' really uppermost in Bach's mind when he wrote the double choir/orch mvts in St Matthew Passion? Or his Fantasia "Komm, heiliger Geist"? One can play this game all night with the densest Monteverdi, Tallis, Palestrina, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Strauss, Reger, Messiaen, Vaughan Williams...and Howells!!! Sadly 'clarity' was the watchword of the teachers of many of the present generation's senior professionals...tho it seems to be more prevalent in the organ/choral world than in the orchestral. I'm not advocating fudging the dots, but precision is only the beginning... Shall we start a new thread? 'You can't see the detail in cathedral roof bosses. Does it lessen their artistic merit or affective impact?'
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"Howells - Sonata (grossly underrated thanks to the type of anally retentive, clarity-obsessed critic who called Howells "too clever"
(Quote)
:P Pierre
I take it you concur with the sentiment behind this? A bee in my bonnet I'm afraid. I have come to the conclusion that innocuous little word, 'clarity', has done more damage to our instrument and the proper interpretation of centuries of music than anything else. -
My faves include many of the above, particularly the Whitlock, Willan, Howells pieces and Jackson T, C & F (pure Shostakovich 5. Fantastic). As much as I love the Bairstow, it is 2nd division compared with the Elgar which in my view IS real organ music (see my earlier post). Some of what follows is a tad left-field, but I love them all:
Bull - Ut re mi fa so la ti doh a deer
Purcell - ye Voluntariee for Ye Duble Orgaine
Wesley - Choral Song & Fugue (such lyricism combined with that astonishingly powerful fugue)
Stanford - Fantasia & Toccata in D minor
nothing by Parry (long-winded and dull - don't try to convince me otherwise, I've tried very hard to like the Wanderer, but in vain)
Lemare - 1st Symphony
Leighton - Martyrs (a duet of incredible sustained intensity); Et resurrexit (that last page...wow!)
Howells - Sonata (grossly underrated thanks to the type of anally retentive, clarity-obsessed critic who called Howells "too clever" and can't get to grips with Missa Sabrinensis
)Pott - Introduction, Toccata & Fugue
Bednall - Adagio
Will someone please commission a major organ work from John Pickard? I see James MacMillan's written quite a few works for the instrument but alas I haven't explored them yet.
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If I may jump back to the Elgar debate, with apologies for the late entry: I have always regarded over-'orchestration' of this work on the organ as a big mistake. One of the most illuminating organ lessons I've ever had was an afternoon on the Sonata with Nicholas Kynaston (who is proud of being only 3 links away from Elgar: Edgar Cook --> Ralph Downes --> NK). He is convinced that it can be played perfectly well with the number of pistons found on the Wooster Hill, and employs some ingenious but simple registrational 'tricks' and thumbing downs (from the apostolic succession of teachers) to enable this. Thus, the momentum and tight construction of the work is maintained, without losing appropriate expression.
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I'm really proud of mine:
Great
Open Diapason 8
Stopt Clarabella (in Sw) 8
Flute (harmonic) 4
Swell
Viol da Gamba 8
Gemshorn (actually, a small Principal) 4
Hautboy 8
Pedal
Bourdon 16
Sadly, it's currently in bits in a church gallery on Gloster, but sounded lovely when it was in one piece. I certainly wouldn't miss a 2' with all this colour. All I need now is time and space...
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Naji - I just adore this brief improv on Salve Regina. It repays several visits. Quintessential recent Hakim - tuneful, jazzy, playful, even childlike at times - and a classic dominant preparation which he then overshoots à la Walton (albeit in the minor). Superb control of both instrument and that famously luminescent acoustic too.
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By two choirs, do you mean one choir plus men? We did it a few years ago at Ely at the MMA conference, but I have a feeling we all bought copies.
Yes, Messe a deux choeurs et deux orgues Op. 36 (mens' chorus being originally the 200 seminarians attached to St-Sulpice!).
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Hi. Does anyone know where I might borrow/hire copies of the Widor Mass for 2 choirs/organs? I've inherited a choral society in south west UK intent on doing it and they're having trouble sourcing vocal scores via libraries. Any leads gratefully received.
Thanks
Ian Ball
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Quite astonishing!!
Such variety of colour and dynamics. Incredible. A very moving performance too - he understands this piece better than some organists I could mention! -
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(I recall a Dutch host wandering around a church smoking a cigarette while I played the organ).
MM
Just like the tribune at Notre-Dame de Paris then... or at Saint-Denis, where Pierre Pincemaille's most impressive skill is improvising (in characteristic white hot fashion) one handed whilst, with the other, retrieving a cigarette from the open packet under the stop jamb and lighting it from the dying remnants of the almost spent cigarette in his mouth. Seamless, and totally authentic! -
Do you think they should be stopped (or perhaps covered) instead?!As long as they're never louder than lieblich, to paraphrase the great Dennis Townhill.
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However, at least the Beeb promoted the organ with a programme which would have informed and pleased Joe Public (I hope!).
Rather Wooden Thoughts, don't you think, Herr Gedeckt?
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I was simply very proud. I know Snogs of Praise is a big turn off for most families (at least in my day you could guarantee music from one's own tradition at least 80% of the time), but in these days when our instrument gets minimal media exposure, I was proud to see it take centre stage. It was also good to hear some of the UK's finest and most infectious communicators reach a slightly wider audience. Having hero-worshipped Gordon Stewart and Malcolm Archer as a youngster (and later taught by/worked with both) it was great to sit and watch them (in the inspiring company of Wood, Parsons and Marsden Thomas) with my own keenly musical children.
I agree about the toasters, however - what WAS that noise at the end of Jerusalem?? - and also hate that metallic digital echo the ill-disciplined youth of today's BBC insists on adding to perfectly nice acoustics, but in the words of Victoria Wood, Joe Public won't notice...
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I was simply very proud. I know Snogs of Praise is a big turn off for most families (at least in my day you could guarantee music from one's own tradition at least 80% of the time), but in these days when our instrument gets minimal media exposure, I was proud to see it take centre stage. It was also good to hear some of the UK's finest and most infectious communicators reach a slightly wider audience. Having hero-worshipped Gordon Stewart and Malcolm Archer as a youngster (and later taught by/worked with both) it was great to sit and watch them (in the inspiring company of Wood, Parsons and Marsden Thomas) with my own keenly musical children.
I agree about the toasters, however - what WAS that noise at the end of Jerusalem?? - and also hate that metallic digital echo the ill-disciplined youth of today's BBC insists on adding to perfectly nice acoustics, but in the words of Victoria Wood, Joe Public won't notice...
You flatter me! (Never been called that before.) I think she's fabulous. Sad to see the occasional sanctimonious comment below some of the YouTube clips - this lady certainly has technique.
Stunning. Simply stunning. I could watch and listen to her all night.
And that slow movement 
:P 
Just like the tribune at Notre-Dame de Paris then... or at Saint-Denis, where Pierre Pincemaille's 
Do you think they should be stopped (or perhaps covered) instead?!
Barbara Dennerlein Wants To Perform Pipe-organ
in General discussion
Posted
Further to all the above, click HERE - scroll down til you see the CD 'Spiritual Movement No 1' and listen to the freebies. The Pipedreams programme cited above is well worth a listen too. BD is on around the 54 minute mark. It's incredible how a Goll Pedal 'cello/principal sounds like the Hammond pedal stops she uses for the string bass parts! You can see it's been a productive afternoon at work...