MAB
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Posts posted by MAB
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Just in case anyone is the slightest bit interested, I see that I posted on 7th September saying that I was inspired to have a real crack at Ad Nos this year.
This thread really encouraged me to get the bit between my teeth, and today I played the piece through for the first time in a (roughly) finished state, so that is about 8 weeks later, spending about 3 hours a week on the piece. It is one of those pieces that becomes an obsession. I feel a sense of dread as I approach the church to practice it, but once you start playing it, you can't get it out of your head.
I suspect all this shows it that I am a slow learner, but I can report that a lot of it is not that difficult, although there are a couple of corners where very careful fingering is needed, with a lot of slow, detailed practice needed to get the notes really clean.
The hard bits are as hard as anything in the Reubke, but the rest is slightly less concentrated.
The first section (which I still think is the best) is relatively straightforward, although you need a very big stretch at some points.
The fugue is the hardest part. The opening pages of manual only writing need careful sorting out, likewise bars 651 to 673. I adopt some rather unorthodox / pianistic fingering to get round some of the passages at speed.
Now comes the hard part - getting it really polished to performance level, and relating the various pulses / tempi. I am convinced that this is one of those pieces that is thrown away too many times by a flashy performance at too fast a speed when it has so much atmosphere to deliver at a broader pace - think Claudio Arrau rather than, say, Lang Lang.
Peter - if you are still interested in learning the piece, let me know and I woudl be delighted to compare notes.
Just to show I have put my money where my mouth is, I have programmed the piece at recitals next year including Westminster Cathedral on 15th June. All supporters welcome !
Mark B
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OK, now I am really going to blow all of my serious music credentials.
A few years ago, friends of mine got married and asked me to play. They are both discerning musicians - one of them is a noted organ builder, now working freelance - but also they were both passionate fans of Star Wars.
After some discussions, it was agreed that they would walk out to the Finale of Vierne I, but the bride would walk in to the Throne Room March from Star Wars.
My 6 year old has just discovered Star Wars, with the result that I have watched the film about 37 times this month (and am bound to say that it just gets better each time). However, for those of you with not such a detailed recall, this is the big march from the penultimate scene when our heroes walk the entire distance of the throne room to receive their medals from the alliance leader, having destroyed the Dark Star and (temporarily) wiped out the threat of the Empire. I digress.
I got hold of the piano score and made a transcription, and although it was a swine to play, it worked very effectively. Most people did not recognise the piece and just commented on what a splendid march it was ; a few others got the joke, which only added to their pleasure.
Anyway, back to the film. The score is fantastic and there are a number of scenes I would like to transcribe ; the opening fanfare and credits sequence would work well, as too would the cantina band music.
I know there is an American CD of an organist playing a Star Wars Suite, and when I think no - one is looking I have even had a furtive look on the internet to see if I could find a score.
Does anyone else share this guilty secret ?
M
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I would definitely ask Kevin Bowyer.
I recently needed to find an organist who could learn 60 minutes of Peter Maxwell Davies in 28 days.
I e - mailed Kevin on his website and received a most helpful response that was the soul of charm. He was really excited by the idea and entirely willing to drop everything and give it a shot.
Eventually we did not go with him, simply because the concert proved too complicated, logistically, to pull off (my amateur choir could not find the right church on the right day for the right fee) but I always remember his unassuming enthusiasm.
These people may play like gods, but they are ordinary people like you and me and very happy to try and arrange something. Granted, there will be a professional fee to pay, but you suggest that that may not be problem.
Best regards,
M
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Yes, it's a cracker and always gets a good audience response. I played it a lot when I was younger but haven't looked at it for quite a few years now. This has inspired me to play it again before too long.
It is not actually that difficult once you have got the hang of the manual sequences. I learned the notes in a morning (and I am a very slow learner), although it took a few hours more to get it really neat and to programme the drama.
I found the hardest thing was getting the right relation between the semiquaver arpeggios followed by the fifths in sextuplets (if I have remembered this right). Careful attention with a metronome sorted this out.
On the last page, I interpret the black blocks as black note clusters played with the side of the left hand, the right hand playing actual white notes, the left hand playing a cluster of black notes in the same position on the keyboard so they follow one another up the scale.
I have been known to make the last left hand cluster more of a forearm smash on the keyboard, trying to cover as many black notes as possible ; an idea I got from watching Joanna Macgregor play as many notes as she could with her elbows in some avant garde piece.
If I may, I slightly disagree that this piece gets better the faster it goes ; for me, the excitement is in the contrasting pulse of the rhythmic cells, the harmonic movement, and the dramatic last page. I like to play the cluster runs like a steam engine gradually picking up speed out of the station. A headlong dash through the notes can just throw this all away.
Have fun !
M
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Just to develop something that has come out of this thread, I entirely agree that the hard work needed to keep in top performing condition as a musician is directly comparable to the hard work needed to keep at the top level as a sportsman. This is an analogy I often use when trying to explain to non - musicians what it means to be a performer.
Whether music is a profession or as a hobby (as in my case) keeping to a high level demands a great deal of time, constantly put in, sometimes when one might rather be doing something else.
I also get rather annoyed with well - meaning onlookers who say how 'lucky' I must be to have the joy and gift of music as a hobby. I am tempted to reply that whilst there is a degree of luck or genetics to begin with, there is a great deal of effort to keep it up to a good standard. My brother probably has the innate ability to be a good musician. He just could not be bothered to put in the hours.
The one thing I would say, though, is that as I enter my mid - forties, I am so grateful that my musical ability only increases with maturity, and becomes a richer and deeper part of my life. The brain may not be quite so quick to pick up new notes, but the heart and soul certainly reach deeper in to the music behind.
I have so many friends for whom sport was the centre of their life in their twenties, who now find that it is simply drifting away from them through the passing of the years leaving nothing in its place.
I can't do the accent, but in a masterclass, Paul Tortelier said much the same thing ;
'Appy ze artist who lives long ...
Because 'e is wise ... and 'e is young'
You get the idea.
M
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I think this is not unusual.
In fairness, people who do not play a musical instrument do not appreciate the hours of work needed to get to a decent standard, and to stay there, and I suppose there is no reason they should.
I was told that Alfred Brendel would practice for around 8 hours a day.
I also liked the saying attributed to Rubinstein that if he did not practice one day, he noticed. If he did not practice two days, his wife noticed. If he did not practice for 3 days, then his audience noticed.
The perspective of an instrumentalist is mysterious to that of an onlooker. If I am playing a lunchtime concert in a cathedral, I will probably get 2, or if I am lucky, 3 hours rehearsal the night before. I take the view that I will practice every second available to me. I will make sure that I arrive and am ready to go at the first minute, and will try to squeeze an extra 10 minutes at the end if the verger is friendly.
I remember driving to Coventry on this basis with my then girlfriend, who took the view that if the cathedral was available to me between 6.00 and 9.00pm, this meant just that ; it was available during those times. If I actually started practicing at 7.00, that was fine, and surely a quick run through for an hour was all that was needed.
You may not be surprised, therefore, to learn that she did not stay the course. My wife, naturally, is much more understanding, but even she complains that if my choir has an evening concert, we seem to find it necessary to have a rehearsal in the afternoon, which so interrupts a good afternoon's shopping / day in in London / whatever.
M
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I seem to remember a thread like this not so long ago, but I am always happy to air my views - all of them, I am sure you will agree, moderate, mature and thoughtfully argued.
Brahms Requiem ; sets my teeth on edge.
Verdi ; utterly, utterly pointless. Nothing but oom - pah - pah music. Who told this man he could compose ?
Beethoven Symphonies. Wouldn't cross the road to hear. Can you imagine getting stuck in a corner at a party being harangued by this man ? Egotistical windbag.
And in the field of organ music ;
Kenneth Leighton's organ music. All the same but miserable.
Most of Widor (with a few movements honourably excepted). Why bother learning this stuff ?
Dupre's Symphonie Passion. Just don't get me started.
M
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Aha ! I told you I was naive in these things.
Many thanks, Richard, for helping me sort this out.
M
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I appreciate that I am very naive as to how these things work, but is there any reason please, Moderator, why the board now has to be laid out so that you cannot scroll through successive posts, but have to click each one open ?
Part of the pleasure of this board was to follow an argument or discussion through the flow of its various exchanges.
It is very tedious now to have to click each response open in turn.
Even worse, when having reached the end of a thread you want to change to a new one, you have to click laboriously back through each page before you can go on to a new thread.
I know that I am rapidly turning into a grumpy old man, but this is a real nuisance. More to the point, it stops me wanting to browse through the boards, and as a result, wanting to add my own contribution.
Surely, that is what it is all about, and should not the board be set out in such a way as to promote this ?
Mark B
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This is an interesting topic.
I have heard recitals by the biggest names in the business that were pretty shoddy - or at least, shoddy in parts.
One recital contained a Bach Prelude and Fugue that just fell to bits.
Another by one of this country's best known names included a Passacaglia that was very scrappy. What is interesting is that the same performer has committed a performance to record on a website which includes a patently wrong final chord.
Another by a matching virtuoso included a four bar sequence completely missed out, probably in panic after a wrong piston was pushed.
However, what all three performances had in common was that once the performer settled, the recital contained moments of such unbelievable virtuosity that one willingly 'paid the price' of the poor performances to begin with.
I suspect that it is partly a question of itinerant performers becoming tired and having not enough practice time on the day, so too many things are 'taken as read', which becomes all too apparent in the performance itself.
It may also be boredom on their part, or the feeling that that particular night was not important in the scheme of things - there was a more important concert the next week to which they had devoted more of their energies.
Having said that, I am not sure this is entirely acceptable ; if I pay good money to hear a concert performer play, I expect a basic standard of competence across the board - that is what I expect of myself both in my professional life as a lawyer, and in my other life as a performing musician. We all know some concert organists for whom you know that every note will be right as a given. Why should that not be the case with all of them ?
As for audiences, I think there is a great deal of 'Emperor's new clothes' ; the star - struck feel they do not have authority to question what they have heard, or lack basic confidence in just trusting what their ears tell them. I told the story of the missing four bar sequence to a friend who simply replied 'that is impossible ... [name withheld] is incapable of playing wrong notes'.
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I think a lot depends on whether you are a beggar, or whether you can afford to be a chooser in terms of the resources open to you.
At my old church, I eventually agreed that we had the choir that performed week by week, and there were a few extras who were welcomed as 'friends' to add a bit of help for big services at Christmas and Easter.
Mind you, that was because there were a couple of people in the congregation who were very good singers, but who, for good and understandable reasons, did not want or could not make the regular weekly committment.
I was happy to have them on their own terms for the big occasion, but careful handling was necessary to make sure that the regulars did not feel put out.
I did not handle this well at first and some resentment was justifiably expressed by the regulars, but, as I say, with thought and diplomacy on my part, I made it work after the first year.
As an example of the sort of thing, even if the extra was a superb soloist (and one was), I would not give them the big solos ; I would allocate solos to the regulars, or to a semi - chorus of regulars if they needed the moral support of one another. I made sure that the extras were seated discreetly at the side and at the back so that the regulars were in the limelight.
I also made sure that the extra who was so invited was the sort of person who would be sensitive to how their involvement would be handled, and would fit in with scheme of things.
[slightly off topic - I had one regular singer who was, frankly, dreadful. However, I included her in the choir as part of my pastoral mission. She came to all the rehearsals for the carol service, only to tell me on the day that she could not do the service itself. I went ballistic.
The next year, she kept reassuring me from July onwards that she would be at the service. She repeated this message every Sunday. She did not, though, come to any of the rehearsals. I did not have the heart to turn her away when she turned up, beaming with enthusiasm, at the carol service itself, even though she proceeded to foghorn her way through every piece of music getting it all spectacularly, and very obviously, wrong. That was beyond even my powers of charm].
Hope that helps !
Mark.
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I am going to tread carefully here because I realise that this subject raises considerable sensitivities. I also appreciate that the two sides of this argument are finely balanced with very good points on both sides.
I hope, however, some of my personal experience may be relevant.
I have been involved in C of E worship at Parish Church level since I was 6 - that is nigh on 40 years.
7 years ago I married a Catholic, and our little boy is baptised Catholic and attends a Catholic school.
For that reason, it suits our family to spend more time at the local Catholic church than at the Church of England parish church.
The Catholic church has modern liturgy with a guitar group.
The music in the hymnbook is uninspiring and inept. The way it is performed is embarrassing - embarrassing because of how badly it is performed (the bass player, for example, plays a line that bears no harmonic relation whatsoever to the rest of what is going on ; not only that, he seems to have no idea that this is what is happening) and embarrassing because, candidly, the nice people who do it have nothing like the pizzazz that is needed to pull off this sort of stuff well.
I am not being precious here, but this sort of thing is a real obstacle in my spiritual life. I sit at church and cringe, rather than being lifted closer to God.
I have no problem with the commercial thrill of popular music - to be honest, I probably listen to pop music much more than I listen to classical music on a day to day basis. I love it, it can move me, it can reach my spirit, I can draw closer to God through it ; the stuff peddled at church does none of those things.
The music provided for the liturgy in the hymnbook has no depth or lasting power to touch you deeply, either in music or in word.
For these reasons, I have not been to a really good Anglican service with what a friend of mine would call 'good Christian hymns' for quite a few years. A few weeks ago I found a recording of hymns from King's Cambridge and put it on. I literally had to blink back the tears as I realised how deeply this music moved me - and how we are in danger of losing it.
For some years, as a result of my family circumstances, I thought quite seriously about being received into the Catholic church. One evening, whilst singing evensong at Winchester Cathedral, I suddenly realised that the one thing I could not leave behind was the heritage of liturgy and music I had grown up with. In making that decision, I am sure I was not idolising music and putting it before God ; I was being spoken to by God through the music.
I just cannot see that the great majority of liturgical music dished up at my Catholic church has any possible chance of touching people's spirits in the way that the great heritage of hymnody can, and we lose that at our peril.
One other thought.
When I was the organist at my old (C of E) church, the new vicar who had mildly trendy leanings, hit upon the idea of a 'people's choir'. I was happy to go along with the idea, although it meant that a high standard of music making became watered down. As I say, I had no particular problem with it because I recognised that it was appropriate for the resources of the church at that time, and because it did not take over the entire show.
However, when I mentioned this to a friend of mine who is a well known Cathedral organist, he made a very pertinent comment ; who are these people who, apparently, do not feel able or happy to join the 'proper' choir, but feel that they are qualified to sing to us with their natural ( = lack of) talent in a 'people's choir'.
I am not sure that I agree with his comment, or, at any rate, it may be appropriate for a cathedral in the way that it is not appropriate for a parish church with limited resources, but it is a question I have thought about many times since.
M
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I am almost tempted to repeat, verbatim, my remarks under the pedalling thread ! For the time being, though, my one golden rule bears repeating (in fact, it is Roger Fisher's golden rule) ; if it is secure and gives musical results, then it is good fingering.
I am lucky in that I naturally have a broad stretch, and I accept this is an advantage.
I recently attended, and played in, an excellent masterclass by Jos van der Kooy in which he talked, amongst other things, about stretches in Franck.
He took the view that, often in music, composers wrote octaves or big stretches simply so that the voice-leading on paper was technically correct. This did not necessarily mean that you had to play every note in performance.
I have sometimes found lateral solutions to fingering problems.
In Franck, particularly, I have sometimes found it helpful to play a note on a higher or lower manual by thumbing down, or playing up with a free index finger. At the moment I am playing the Pastorale which has some difficult left hand work with big stretches on the last two pages. This can be achieved by playing the right hand tune on the lower manual, and picking up the odd note on the higher manual with a free right hand finger. (I also use this technique to cover awkward moments in the first three pages of the Piece Heroique).
When I looked at the texture more closely, though, I realised that the two manuals (Positif and Recit) are actually coupled at that point, so that high note in the left hand is already being sounded by the right hand on the Positif. Is it really necessary, then, to duplicate it with your left hand ?
Jos van der Kooy also reminded us that Franck was more than happy to re - write difficult passages for his students with small hands, so I do not think we need to be too precious about the sanctity of the composer's score.
I understand how early music fingering works, but I am bound to say that it is lost on me in practice. I blithely use the Czerny method with the thumb going under in Bach and earlier music, which for me is the easiest way to make it work as music.
Having said that, I increasingly use finger crossing to give myself an 'extra finger' for example, crossing 4 over 5 or 3 over 2 in order to keep a run going.
In the same way, you can give yourself an 'extra finger' by playing a note with the base of your thumb, and then levering your thumb up to play the next note (particularly if it is a black note). I remember seeing some exercises on just this technique in David Sanger's tutor.
Sometimes, you also need to think whether it is better to shift hand position and start again, rather than try to keep a legato line by putting the thumb under. Particularly in fast music, no - one notices the fractional break in the line and, in fact, the greater drive and security is what the listener hears instead.
I find fingering an increasingly fascinating subject as I develop as a musician (sad, I know), and I hope these thoughts may be helpful. I am waiting for the postman to deliver Roger Fisher's 'Masterclass'. I imagine it will be full of excellent advice on fingering as I have been strongly influenced by Roger's thoughts on this subject. Having met Roger on many occasions, I know that he also has quite small hands, so I am sure that his advice will be the result of real experience.
M
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There is a lot to discuss here, and I do not have much time at the moment. If I get more time, I may develop a more extended response, but for the time being, I hope the following thoughts may be of interest. I do not think there is any place for 'rules' in this sort of thing, but I adopt the following as good guidelines.
1 As with fingering, if your pedalling is secure and gives musical results, then it is 'good' pedalling.
2 In fast scale passages, I find it helps hugely to keep knees and ankles together ; imagine you are a penguin or doing a Charlie Chaplin impression. (Also in fast passages it helps to keep your soles close to the pedal board and glide around as much as you can). This is not because it is what the books say, it is because it works.
3 With experience, I find myself revising my pedalling to use toes as much as possible. It gives a cleaner and more controlled result, both in Bach and with Romantic music. A few years ago I got the Bach D Major as accurate as possible for a diploma. After trying many possibilities, the only way to get the opening scale really clean at speed was to play it all toes.
4 I will happily use heels - even in Bach - if it gives that secure and musical result. I am bound to say that I have never heard of the RCO marking a candidate down for pedalling with heels in Bach. I used heels at ARCO and FRCO and no mention was made. I remember a remark attributed to Gillian Weir on listening to a (bad) performance with authentic fingering ; 'I don't care whether he plays it with his elbows, so long as it gives a musical result'.
5 I find that, using the toes more, I also cross my legs more. How else do you play the fugue subject of the Dupre B major ? Again, if it is secure and is musical, it is OK. I am learning Ad Nos at the moment, and find myself doing almost all the pedalling with toes, involving quite a lot of crossing.
6 Last week I went to a superb recital by Jane Watts. She regularly crossed legs, and even attacked notes with the heel if that gave a more decisive attack at that point in the pedalling.
Happy pedalling !
M
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I have heard this piece using his scheme played at Notre-Dame de Paris (where the acoustic alone precludes a complex 'orchestration') and the cumulative effect is utterly shattering
Can I assume this was as performed by David Briggs ? I remember reading somewhere (on his website ?) about performing the Ricercare at Notre Dame ; if I remember rightly, the point of the story was that the organ's computer system failed at precisely the same point in each performance.
M
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Many thanks, Ian, for such a helpful and comprehensive reply.
I am not sure, though, reading your post, if I feel more inspired or more terrified !
Kind regards,
Mark
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I have always wanted to play this piece in an effective organ version, and have recently been looking around to see what is out there.
I have found two versions so far, both rather old editions published by Peeters, one edited by Walcha and one by Keller.
Both of them rely, sooner or later, on bringing in voices in the pedal at 4 foot pitch, largely in the central section.
It may be that this is unavoidable in order to preserve the correct voice leading, but from looking at the music, it seems to me that this might compromise the stature of the performance, namely, if the piece starts off on more or less plenum, then suddenly drops to a very light sonority, purely to acccomodate the pedals at 4 foot pitch.
Does anyone on the board play this piece, and if so, what edition do they play from. If the sudden change of texture is unavoidable, does this actually pose a problem in performance, or can it be solved musically ?
I would be very interested to learn if anyone can help.
M
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As also did the Grant Degens and Bradbeer organ of St Mary's Woodford - one of my desert island instruments.
The old church was (partially) destroyed by fire in 1967. The new church was re - modelled within what remained of the walls.
Happily, the then vicar was very musical and committed to a first rate new organ. His organist was a fine musician and a pupil of Flor Peeters. GDB had recently completed New College, Oxford. A happy combination of circumstances arising out of the terrible fire (which was also arson). Let us hope for similar things in Birmingham.
M
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Continuing this subject of 'forgotten gems', on Saturday I went to a recital at my local parish church in Dorking by Jane Watts, of which more in a moment,
It was a most attractive programme, and she played the Arietta in A by William Lloyd Webber - a delightful piece of pastiche Mozart, but so elegantly crafted and attractive that I will be trying to find a copy later today. Highly recommended.
Now, that recital.
The first thing to mention was that the church was full - a testament, I expect, to having a first class player, and staff at the church who pushed the concert very hard. It was for an excellent cause, namely, to raise money to endow an organ and / or choral scholarship at the church for talented teenagers to prepare them for a university scholarship.
It was free admission with donations invited at the end.
Her playing was exemplary throughout - a model of unassuming, controlled musicality, such that you only ever heard the music. Everything sounded so right, so natural, and just so musical. Much of this was down to unrushed tempi. I know the organ well and, frankly, it is rather a dull instrument. However, instead of just hearing the organ and lamenting its shortcomings (as I usually do) I found that I was no longer aware of what it sounded like, I was just so riveted by the playing.
Plenty of attractive music in the programme, finishing with the Allegro, Adagio and Toccata from Widor 5. These were played so well that even a hardened old cynic like me enjoyed every last note. You could tell from the silence that the audience was gripped.
In these days when we hear so much about the death of the organ recital, it was a breath of fresh air. Due to family committments, I rarely get to live recitals nowadays, so to hear playing this good was an inspiration. It made me think 'I wish I could play the organ' all over again, and reminded me what a huge privilege it is to play this instrument.
M
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I would just like to second everything in Colin Harvey's post, which is excellent advice throughout.
I would certainly attend the RCO study day, which stood me in very good stead. If I remember it rightly, Stephen Farr is taking this one at Dulwich, and will demonstrate what the organ can do.
The Dulwich organ is very musical and enjoyable to play. Most things can be fitted onto it comfortably.
I agree that I would not get too hung up on the exact registrations, unless it is a particular combination that is called for, as in the French Baroque school.
I have the Peter Williams book on The Organ on my shelf, and that has a very good summary of the main registrations used for the main schools, which is probably all you need.
I prepared for ARCO and FRCO by having lessons with RCO examiners, and their 'inside view' was invaluable.
Above all, though, be musical in everything you do. The people who do well are the ones who, as Colin has said, have prepared the tests thoroughly. There is just no substitute for putting in the hours on them - and it will take hours ... and hours. The people who do really well are those who do not just get the tests right, but can play them like real music, which is the ideal to aim for.
Ann Bond's book on preparing for ARCO is very good, and the notes on the pieces now produced by the St Giles school are excellent ; I imagine they would have excellent guidance on registration.
Drawing together these two points on practical registration and being musical, one of the criticisms made of my playing in FRCO was that I drew the mixture (Room 90 of the RCM) in the Franck Piece Heroique when it just sounded wrong. A very good point ; it may be technically correct, but the key point the examiners are looking for is whether you can give a musical performance. If you can do that, then everything else is secondary.
Good luck ; these are tough exams requiring a lot of work, but it gave me enormous satisfaction to get through them.
M
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I'd just like to put in a word for the B flat Elegy which I think is a wonderful piece. It is so tuneful and easy to listen to that is all too easy to dismiss it as Classic F M music, but if it is played musically without hamming it up, it has real soul and dignity. I have included it in programmes where the rest of the music has been pretty uncompromising, and it has held its place with pride.
A real jewel, IMHO.
M
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Again, many thanks.
M
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Just a note to thank Graham for the google link ; I will certainly try and take this further.
I have been amused by some of the pieces thrown up by this thread.
Every year or so I have a good look through my library and weed out those pieces which - being honest - I am never going to play again.
On that basis, I am afraid the Mathias Processional went to the great second-hand shop in the sky a few years ago. Alleluyas survived by the skin of its teeth.
M
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It's funny how small pieces of music lodge in your mind. Often they are not particularly good pieces, but something about them touches something inside you, and they never let you go. If you come across them years later, it can be like meeting an old friend, and you can literally feel the years roll away.
I have had this Proustian experience many times, although quite often it was a piece of music I heard as a young student when first learning the organ.
I remember being captivated by a particular Dandrieu Noel (recorded by Alan Spedding at Beverley Minster), and remember my equal delight at finding a dusty copy in the back of Westminster Library years later.
I also remember an old vicar of mine literally running down the aisle when he heard me play the Bridge Adagio in E ; he had heard it once years before and had fallen in love with it on the spot, without ever knowing what it was, and being unable to find out.
The immediate point of this thread is to ask if anyone could direct me to a copy of Christopher Dearnley's Dominus regit me ; I remember hearing it recorded at St Paul's after the Mander rebuild, and a reference to it at lunchtime today stirred those memories in the back of my mind. I recall it as being rather a shapely little piece, and believe it was published in the Cramer Cathedral Organist collection, although my searches of the usual sources have drawn a blank.
I would be grateful if anyone has any leads and, at the same time, would love to hear what other pieces have captivated members of the board in this way over the years.
Best regards,
M
Organists: Second-class Citizens?
in General discussion
Posted
Sadly, this came as no surprise to me whatsoever. I expect we have all been there.
So often it is assumed that -
1 The organist is some sort of machine capable of producing the most complicated music, perfectly, at sight, in a new key, without any preparation or consideration from anyone else.
2 Despite this unbelievable skill, it is inappropriate to show any gratitude or thoughtfulness for his being there or producing said music.
3 Payment - forget it. Isn't it obvious that the organist does it 'for the love' ? (This reminds me of the client who came to see me with my solicitor's hat on. When I explained how my fee structure worked, she was aghast. 'But you are a solicitor' she said, 'you are meant to help people').
4 What the organist might want is either irrelevant, or nothing more than a selfish, nerdy indulgence.
5 It is quite inconceivable to consider that this unbelievable skill may have required years of dedication to achieve, and a great deal of time and money to perfect, and that during this pilgrimage, the organist might have picked up some ideas on music that could be of advantage to anyone else.
I am really sorry to say this, but reading this story just reminds me of the many reasons why I had no regrets at giving up my position as a church organist after 20 years to 'spend more time with my family', and devote myself to concert playing. This is something, regrettably, I feel especially at Christmas with the endless demands made on church musicians at this time.
A very sorry story indeed.
M