Ian Ball
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Posts posted by Ian Ball
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Fair dos. I thought it had only been done over in about 1994 but perhaps that was only a superficial job.
Well I was there in 1994 and don't recall any rebuild... however, at some point (NPOR says 1984), Tony Cawston did do some work on the Pedal reed and perhaps some light dusting. I love the organ very much, but playing a full choral Mass is a nightmare with no playing aids whatsoever. I did get quotes for adding pistons (either replacing the stop action with electric or adding solenoids to the mechanical stop action) but it all proved too expensive for the Cathedral's meagre resources. The organ was seldom in tune in the winter months either, due to the 'fast start' facility on the hot air heating system, which caused stratification and condensation.
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From the 'before' pictures it looks like it has another 30 years in it yet!
Respectfully, it most certainly did not. The pipes were filthy and the keyboards completely worn out. The latter have been replaced.
Best wishes
Ian
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Friday 1 July 2011, 1.10 - 1.50 pm
TRURO CATHEDRAL
Organ Recital by IAN BALL (Worcester)
J.S. Bach - Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 532
César Franck - Prière, Op. 20
David Briggs - 4 preludes from Le Tombeau de Duruflé
Naji Hakim - Aalaiki'ssalaam (Variations on a Lebanese Theme)
Admission free; retiring collection
Series programme (NB page 2 - very cool!)
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They're Austrian, not German, surely?
I don't know Clifton; is the building as unpromising as Christ Church?
Paul
Well it doesn't have stunning Burne-Jones/Morris windows, but it does have a generous acoustic and a very fine Rieger organ
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Saturday 25 June at 7.30 pm
St Michael's, Tenbury Wells, WR15 8PH
IAN BALL (Worcester)
featuring the wonderful 4-manual 'Father' Willis organ
J.S. Bach: Prelude and ‘St Anne’ Fugue in E flat, BWV 552
Matthew Camidge: Air and Gavotta (from Concerto No 2 in G minor)
Elgar: Sonata in G, Op.28
INTERVAL
Franck: Prière, Op.20
Vierne: Symphony No 3 in F# minor, Op. 28
Admission £6
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My son was two years old when Nicholsons rebuilt the Gloucester Cathedral organ in 1999/2000. I was keen to show him the 32' Bombarde being installed and voiced. "Daddy! Haeicopter!!!" he said, with a nervous grin.
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Not quite.
Ralph Downes gives some fairly good clues as to his opinion of it in his book Baroque Tricks - Adventures with the Organ Builders..
Indeed Sean, you've made my point for me! We know exactly how and why, just as we do about Elgar performance practice.
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HEREFORD CATHEDRAL, Tuesday 7 June 2011, 1.15 pm
Organ recital by Ian Ball (Worcester)
Admission free. Console view via projector screen. Retiring collection.
Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) - Allegro maestoso (from Sonata in G)
Ian Venables (b. 1955) - Rhapsody (in memoriam Herbert Howells), opus 25
David Briggs (b. 1962) - from Le Tombeau de Duruflé: Veni Creator, Rorate Caeli, Ave Maria and Pange lingua
Naji Hakim (b. 1955) - Aalaiki'ssalaam (Peace Be with You) Variations on a Lebanese theme.
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What a shame, approaching Walton and Elgar's music with preconceptions of war and empire. Poor chaps. The world would be dull if all tastes were the same, but I stand by my long-held opinion about the Sumsion recording: a curate's egg. As for those learning Elgar these days, I would encourage them to listen to Elgar conducting Elgar and learn from it (whilst not slavishly copying it). A revelation. As for implying that Tod Handley's band (or Messrs Scott, Trotter, Kynaston and all others who care to notice the composer's tempo indications & time signatures and know his wider oeuvre) don't play lyrically, expressively or savour their surroundings... I must be using different ears. Perhaps I should stop listening to non-organ music and just focus inwards.
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In mitigation, I have to concede that I do like Brahms. I also have, like him, a soft spot for Clara Schumann.
Talking of Brahms, can anyone recommend a definitive performance of the chorale preludes? I have a CD of Nicholas Danby on the Anneesens at Farm Street, but, although both the playing and the organ are superb, the two do not seem to me to be very happily matched - the organ (or maybe just Danby's registration) seems a bit "hard" for this music. I find these pieces very elusive interpretation-wise and so, it would seem, do most other performers; very few ever seem to project the depth of feeling that one can sense is there. I'm still searching for an interpretation that really "clicks".
Try Jacques van Oortmerssen here & elsewhere. I've tried many but keep returning to this now-classic recording.
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Do I sniff a murky world of agents, sub-contractors, business partners or associates?
Murky? Normal business practice, whether you make widgets or power stations.
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An idea of price can perhaps be gained here. Would be interested to know how much mark-up the EMS have put on these, if any.
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Too much time in the vegetable patch?!...
You've forgotten about Skrabl. Skrable has been mentioned previously on the Message Board.
Installations are, for example, in Lyme Regis alsohere. I don't remember if any Message Boarders have reported on any recitals on Skrable organs.
Škrabl is the firm obliquely referred to at the top of this thread. From the looks of their recently revamped main website, it appears that they are also stealing a march on Laukhuff and other suppliers (here). Price was the deciding factor in their recent Bristol job, I understand.
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This sounds definitive enough to me, and whilst it's only organ related, it should please Tony no end.
Talk about nifty fingers!
MM
Fine indeed. But this is more expressive and rhythmic:
And I couldn't resist adding this link:
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As I say, MM, no doubt Sumsion had his reasons. Action/acoustic/mic placement/roast beef supper could all have played their part...
I include myself in the long list of admirers of HWS, by the way, particularly of his lovely choral music. I'm also grateful for his tireless championing of his close friend, Herbert Howells. Without Sumsion's persistence, Hymnus Paradisi might still be locked away in a bottom drawer.
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It is an amazing recording! Its a pity its recorded a bit close IMO. Much better than anything I have heard since although I need to catch up on the recordings mentioned above. I referenced this recording when learning the Sonata - I'm still learning it! It should be remembered that people who lived in the era and knew the composer are likely to interpret the music as it should be rather than someone who was born much later and has no direct link. I imagine the best person to interpret the music of Bairstow is FJ for example.
Its amazing that this organ was dumped in favour of its successor and at least it wouldn't happen now - I hope!
Perhaps I am missing something but what exactly was wrong with the Harrison?? I'm not surprised Sumsion never set foot in the place again after they put in the squeak box!
Well, if your first proposition held true, music would die after a couple of generations. What does "as it should be" mean anyway? A composer loses most of his rights once the notes are committed to paper. There are many organists who stake their claim to "correct" interpretations as a result of a line of pupil/teachers. In the case of the Elgar, there are several such links still alive, teaching today's generation. But there weren't many in the chain from Kittel to Vierne, whose generation claimed to play Bach "as it should be", so that argument can be equally spurious.
I am sure Sumsion had his reasons for recording the second and fourth movements at sight-reading speed, but Allegretto (meaning "moderately quickly, fairly lively") and Presto (comodo) (meaning "quickly, in haste, immediately, suddenly (but comfortably)") they are not. Almost as important as the Italian indications are the time signatures: 4/8 for the former, 2/4 for the latter. Again, to my ears, Sumsion's recording misses by a mile.
I believe it is a gross error to sanctify and venerate one particular performance because one 'great man' happened to know the other 'great man' who created the work of art in the first place.
I'm not saying that what follows is any more "as it should be" (for one thing, what's "in haste but comfortable" for an orchestra is bound to be different for ten fingers and two feet) but for me this not only hits the spot, it sits comfortably within a range of interpretations we have from Elgar's own recordings of his compositions, as well as by conductors who knew him and claimed to know his intention:
(RLPO, Vernon Handley)
John Scott brings this approach vividly to life and with great clarity in his St Paul's recording, as do Trotter and others. The Elgar only set light to my imagination after hearing Jacob's orchestration and then John's recording.
As for the reasons why the Willis/Harrison was "dumped"...well now we will never know. Ralph Downes and John Sanders are sadly no longer around to explain.
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Sebastian Küchler-Blessing's Lizst (on YouTube). Outstanding and persuasive.
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Parry's excellent symphonies are being played each day at 10.30 on r3 this week. Caught "The Cambridge" on my car wireless this morning. Great stuff. No more "second-rate" than the CPE Bach Magnificat on at lunchtime... Incidentally, David Briggs has recently released the Parry F&F in G on the 1962 Klais at Himmerod. Yes. I know. It really shouldn't work but by golly it's good!
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This is an interesting and challenging reply, but although I don't agree with it, I have to pin my colours to the mast by saying that I don't have the music and I don't play the Sonata. However, I think I know why Herbert Sumsion's recording does it for me, and I’ll try to explain as best I can.
I'll get the first bit out of the way, because apart from a slight irregularity in the LH of the Allegretto, I didn’t particularly notice anything terribly out of place or unmusical. Did he make mistakes or something? I have no way of checking.
However, the amusing comment about“"Presto commodo" got me thinking, because my instinct is at odds with it.
I have a bit of a personal "golden-rule" when I approach a new piece of music, which is to completely ignore the tempo markings until I've had a look at what the notes suggest musically. (If only people would do the same with Reger!)
I may be a fool, but I always think of Elgar as a brass band man who eventually saw the light; probably never much of an organist. More importantly, the age in which he lived was essentially a military one....imperial expansion and might, wars, conscription, military service....that sort of thing.
I recall my grandfather, who at the age of 80+, could march in perfect step at remembrance bashes; as could all those with whom he marched to the local cenotaph. It was in his blood, as it was in the blood of those with whom he marched.
If you listen to British music of Elgar's era, (especially), it tended to be written and performed in very strict rhythm, with a certain military precision.......think Sidney Torch, Eric Coates, Billy Thorburn, Billy Meyerl etc. It’s really one of the very big differences between Bitish music and music from elsewhere.
Musical expression therefore tends to be dynamic on the one hand, and lyrical on the other.....Elgar was a great melody writer, but more importantly, those melodies would often crop up in the inner parts as repeated motifs. So in effect, lyricism is what absolutely dictates everything, and if it is lost in a welter of accompanimentally inappropriate stumblings, or becomes hidden beneath too loud an accompaniment, everything instantly dies a musical death.
I just wionder if "Presto"” wasn't understood as a "Quick March"” rather than a mad gallop to the finishing-line at Newmarket or a stampede to the January Sales?
I personally find Herbert Sumsion's "Presto commodo" just about right; especially since it allows the lyricism time to breath, and this is probably why I like it. ( I once more mention the word "Tenuto" expression).
Strangely enough, the same quality is found in light music of the Elgar era, (which included the early "Swingtime" generation as well as the "Roaring twenties"). In the following, the lyricism is totally dominant throughout, but there’s a lot going on behind the tune:-
I'll put my neck on the block, in suggesting that anyone who wants to know how to play an organ lyrically, should first try it on a theatre-organ, and not on an instrument inspired by the classical ideals of balanced choruses.
Sumsion, I think, did the lyrical thing rather well, and I can well imagine Thomas Murray doing the same thing, considering the Skinner organ at his disposal at Yale University.
It's a bit of a lost art these days......
MM
I take your points, MM, and agree with the importance of lyricism and expression. There's much to admire in Sumsion's recording (for example, I love his rolling of chords and delaying of the melody note). However, I would use the bristling, brisk yet lyrical vigour of Torch, Coates et al to argue against Sumsion's approach in the 'intermezzo' and presto, which just isn't idiomatic to my ears. When you listen to recordings of Elgar conducting music in the same style and with similar tempo markings, Sumsion's approach simply fails, IMHO.
As to your remarks about lyricism and classical choruses... you're a brave man! I think our friends and colleagues fortunate enough to have studied with top teachers on the finest mechanical actioned instruments (whatever the repertoire) might take issue with you, not to mention those who have maintained a decent piano technique!
No-one's mentioned Thomas Trotter's new recording of the Elgar from Salisbury. Haven't heard it yet but am told it's superb.
Incidentally, the lovely Thorburn recording is about the right tempo for Elgar's Allegretto!
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Indeed - Sumsion's performance is surely the most idiomatic, naturally musical one could wish for -
Well, apart from the Allegretto, which is surely far too slow and challenges even his legendary pianistic technique at the LH 'bassoon' solo. And indeed the last movement - Presto comodo?? The 1st and 3rd movements are splendid though, I agree, as is the glimpse of that lovely old instrument.
IFB
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I'm sorry to have to say this, but I thought the accretions to Jerusalem were unbearably cheesy, particularly the violin figurations towards the start of the second verse. Shame we didn't hear more of the organ too. I'm glad that plenty of Parry got an outing though!
A much under-rated composer IMHO.WHAT? This was Elgar's orchestration and is always used at the Proms. Perhaps you have a strange perception of cheese... I love the way Elgar reflects the words so colourfully and artistically in his thrilling orchestration. I got plenty of organ through my amplifier - party horns, 32' reed (on 'Glad' - marvellous!) and all, and of course it led the other hymns on its own.
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I believe in possibility f): someone stuffed three data DVDs into the cut-up. They contain the full adminitrative files of the British Film Council so that, when all this -- what was it? Bovine excrement? -- will be over, they can readily start afresh where they were finished off. The digitalized movies the council had been funding were stuck into Bourdon E-flats of churches that were once used as shooting locations all over the country, of course. So no one there will be able to play St Anne until everything was put back in order.
And they will have to find those files in your Bourdon first to verify all the hiding places!
Best,
Friedrich
~likes~
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I am having to endure an almost silent bottom Eb on the (sole) pedal Bourdon.....can't play the St.Anne.
Now I keep scribbling in the tuning-book, "Bottom Eb Bourdon" and nothing has materialised sonically from the tuning visits over a period of about 18 months.
Last time, I wrote "The Eb is STILL almost silent....should we order a newer one if the old one is worn out?"
The reply came back....."I can't get anymore out of it without increasing the cut-up."
"Bovine excrament"" I thought; or words to that effect......it used to work and now it doesn't.
Tonight, I shall get out the ladders, clamber up the back of the case, open the beast and climb in to investigate.
Would anyone like to vote on the likely scenario?
Is it:-
a) A dead mouse blocking the foot
Insufficient cut-up (We'll leave the sly smile in place)c) Inadequate wind
d) A split in the pipe
e) An ill-sealed stopper
Unless I fall to my death, I shall report back, but on the assumption that I will live, what do our organ-building experts think?
MM
Simples: you wrote "Eb" in the tuner's book. This will have left the tuner baffled and confused, scratching his head and asking his keyholder what on earth it could possibly mean. After spending 2 hours repairing a broken tracker and tuning half the reeds (ignoring the other half plus your requests to 'touch up' the upperwork, and laughing at your request to regulate the Celeste) he will have concluded that no such note exists and gone to the pub.
Write "D sharp" and see if it gets you anywhere.
big wink, especially to all his conscientious and proactive organ tuner friends, of which there are many.
A much under-rated composer IMHO.
big wink, especially to all his conscientious and proactive organ tuner friends, of which there are many.
Disposing of organs on e-bay
in Nuts and bolts
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No. It's a fraction of the size and, sadly, the 3rd manual (Solo) is 'prepared for' only.