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kropf

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Everything posted by kropf

  1. Wondering what this place/this church does look like, and to increase my knowledge about fine churches in Englang, I visited Trinity's website. Even the organ can be heard there, and the tuba is still fine, played perhaps not with the first choice of music. Impressive, though. Is it possible to say that it is somewhat similar to the organ of Derby cathedral? This one I know from live-listening and even some playing years ago...
  2. Yes, that is what it looks like. Philipp Klais seems to know much about the organ, but I do not know any sources for the specification, too. This seems to be the latest news, from 2008, though.... A video can be found via the following link (could not get it pasted in here...?). But it is in German, and the building site does not show to much. PhKlais talks about the named possibiliy of seeing the instrument from behind by walking through te galleries. He talks about the "rough" side of pipe metal to be used for the facade (o correspond better with the hall design), and shows a piece of tracker, as the organ shall be a tracker one. (Except the aethereal division, which will be built into the reflector sail, hanging from the ceiling!). As a talented businessman, he praises the aims of the building (well, for that reason those videos are beeing made for). He wishes that during guided tours through the building, a student ("oragn scholar") should let the organ sound for some minutes, as an appetizer for a visiting a regular concert. Nice idea - it just needs completion of the whole thing. Its opening is already delayed for years (form 2010 to 2017) , the costs have multiplied form 114.000.000 to 575.000.000 EUR. Edit - I found a subtitled version of the video!
  3. Thanks! That was what I was thinking of. Proper sealing might be an issue. I was just thinking of removing really small particles, where the holding wedge does need not be removed. Of course, any revoicing work would need the removal of the whole block. Framed glass? Having a window to watch large reeds vibrating surely is big fun... Would be a good idea for the coming organ of Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall (if it ever will be finished, costs are exploded up to 600 %), which shall be built by Klais and shall provide the possibility of walking through or at least pass behind the instrument and to have views through windows...(If it is intended to use these walks during concerts, I do not know...)
  4. Hello! Since I took over the organ here in 2007, there are still some pipes I've never heard properly or at all yet. Some 32' flues are deformed because of weight and bad mounting, and regarding the Posaune 32', some reeds are out of voicing, and bottom C is completely mute. The latter might suffer from some dirt, others would need re-curving. But to work on them, the resonators (wooden full length) have to be removed, as usual. In this case, this would need at least three men working under somewhat complicated and risky circumstances. As the need for removing dust, insects etc. might not be so seldom elsewhere, too, I was wondering, if my desire of having having little doors in the boots to access the shallot without lifting the resonator has been realized anywhere. I'm sure the UK has the highest ratio of 32'-reeds per square mile or inhabitants, so this forum should be the right place to ask! (or at least to share the burden of maintaining such pipes...) Karl-Bernhardin Kropf
  5. Manfred Perger seems to be Austrian and born in 1957. A newspaper ad for a concert tells that he has the title "Professor" and is/was a teacher for Improvisation at the Music University of Vienna and organist of churches in Wiener Neustadt, some miles south of Vienna. As always in Austria, titles and degrees are important. So I could not find any record of him neither at the University's nor Vienna Conservatory's Website. "Professor" is a title awarded quite automatically to any high school teacher. When it says he is organist titulaire of St. George's Cathedral of Wiener Neustadt, this refers to the chapel of Wiener Neustadt Castle, which is used as the Austrian Military Academy since 1751, and since 1987 the Chapel serves as a Cathedral to the Military Diocese of Austria. (Don't know about U.K., but catholic and lutheran ministry for armed forces has its own structures both in Germany and Austria). This cathedral organ has 23 stops.... So I would sum up the biography to someone who teaches at an Austrian "Gymnasium" (High School), has studied Church music and maybe substituted some time as a part time teacher at the Music University.... since he is approximately my age and I have never heard of him during my times there... So, all in all, it is the usual Austrian self-overestimation (as native Austrian I have authority to say so... ), so I hope at least the music is nice!
  6. AFAIK, Planyavsky did record all the works, but just few volumes have really been released. He was trying to get hand on the master tapes, but did not succeed. I own Nr. 3 and 5 of the series, but Victimae is not on them. The label was "musica viva".
  7. Of course we will! You'll never guess - I even once played the organ of St. Peter Mancroft! Not the present one, its predecessor. My Austrian high school was (is?) twinned with Hewett School of Norwich, and during a visit our choir sang something there, and I accompanied. At that time (age 17 or less) I had no idea what all those O.D. stops should mean...
  8. Hello! We are going to depart for our second trip, now without children. Arriving on Monday on East Midlands Airport, we are going to Leicester for Evensong (as the choir of Lincoln has a time off), continuing then to Lincoln (as the music list came not too early, we already booked the overnight stay there - but visiting this church is a mus for us) and Peterborough (Evensong on Tuesday, and so missing the BBC transmission there on Wed), travelling on to Norwich with Evensong on Wednesday, continuing to Cambridge (Evensong in King's on Thursday). Going to or from Norwich we will pass Ely, but without attending a service. On Friday we will travel back to the Airport via somewhere for departure in the evening. It is a very tight schedule, but maybe somebody would like to give us some advice, what not to miss or what to pay certain attention to (including traffic or parking issues! And even historic railway sights...). We are eagerly awaiting to get in touch once again with these uncomparable impressions of landscape, architecture, music and spirituality. Greetings, KBK
  9. I am thinking of ordering a small continuo instrument for our church. I could imagine to leave the traditional box design for two reasons: First to get a better blower/reservoir situation (a 2nd box maybe to sit on), and to make the thing higher than usual, so that one could stand while playing it. One could then stand beside the double bass/violone, or one could stand and play while conducting a small group (of course possible from sitting, too) or even join a vocal ensemble (needs standing). My favourite practice stops I have encountered so far are the Viola 8' by Mathis of Klagenfurt Cathedral Organ in Austria - a superfast but also light and clear voice - and the Gemshorn 8' of my current Sauer organ, sadly standing on a chest with the muddiest action of the instrument. Both preferable to a stopped voice, for me.
  10. Yes, there are many examples of historic box organs (they were larger (higher) than modern ones as they needed bellows, which consumed more space than a blower), but... Typical scenario: A very specialized Early Music Ensemble has to tour to make its money - and in the concerts they want to be seen by the audience and they want not to struggle with local instruments (pitch, temperament etc.), if available at all. So they need their mobile thing. Second typical scenario: The very specialized Early Music Ensemble has decided to make another recording - so they make their selection from abandoned abbeys in France, or nice churches in Tuscany (for the acoustics, not for the catering....!). There are no instruments at all on location, so another need for a small thing.... Check the cd market! Most 8' stops recorded are stopped wooden ones! There are very few examples of choosing a "real" pipe organ. Think of the wonderful recordings of GOArt musicians (Gothenburg, Sweden), or the Friedemann Immer Consort accompanied by timpanies and the powerful Silbermann of Ponitz, Saxony. That's all I have in my collection. And why is there so much hesitation to use proper instruments? For early "German" music, the "Chorton" pitch would give a' at 460 to 480 Hz, a semitone or more higher than standard. Early Music Groups usually run their instruments on 415, which is proper for music based on french traditions (using oboes/hautbois), but only for that! Italian music boasts different pitch traditions, so a dulcian or bassoon player would have to own 2 or 3 different instruments! String players can make it with "detuning" the strings, I know such a very gifted player (and her gifted violin) here in town. So I would like to point out, that the use of the box organs, as we experience it in our days, is definately a development of the 20th century. Some purchasers try to get mobile instruments which can give an imagination of a larger instrument. Some have been mentioned above. Here is a special one, by Kristian Wegscheider for the Dresden Kreuzkirche. The pipes are tilted 45 degrees to make it possible to look over the organ. Music desks allow singers to surround the instrument and make it the center of a small choir. Open Wegscheider's opus list and open the "Details" button on entry nr. 77. (The Subbass is in the "cupboard" at the back and is detachable). So this is more the Rolls Royce of box organs, but I like the approach to excape this eternal Gedackt 8' rumble.....
  11. There is just time for a short reply now, it will take time to get through it...: Dear MM, your last entry might turn out my biggest harvest on the Mander forum until now - thank you!
  12. My first experience with coffee-brewing in a church dates from the Anglican Christ Church Vienna during study times. There the choir run the coffee machine on the organ loft after singing up, so shortly before the organ prelude. And the nice smell of coffee and the typical finishing noises of the boiler - both very noticeable to the congregation due to the small size of the church - belonged to sunday morning. As a catholic then, I would not have dared to consume anything except Holy Communion within the church building, but learned that Peter Planyavsky, a heavy smoker in those days, took a cigarette in the stairs to the organ loft during every service he played on the gallery organ. With a group of Daniel Roth students from Saarbrücken, we found J-P Leguay smoking on the NDdP organ loft. The "Rauschwerk" on the Rieger of Ratzeburg Cathedral is still there (though its initiator, Neithard Bethke, has retired some years ago). But the tray was meant to be filled by the visiting organist! On my rare visits, I found it always empty....
  13. Dear MM, thanks for this. Regarding your treatise: Do not work to much ! Of course I'd know how to reproduce what I hear form the clips and discs on my (or any other) organ and a choir, at least I'd know the direction, as the result will be limited more or less to all the circumstances. For me it is interesting which effects con ONLY be produced on an English instrument, or, which effects found in compositions have been generated by it. You made an important point: "Strangers" to the subject often (like me) are endagered to mix up historic developments. So it is important to be pointed to the fact, that Stanford could never play his pieces like we here them on most occasions today due to the lack of technical controls. Many errors in performance practice may occur in organ life, e. g. to forget that the first Cavaillé-Coll expression pedals where just to be hooked in and placed on the outer edge of the console (similar examples are found in Germany at the same time)... or, that people marvel the beautiful organ of St. Johannis Lüneburg and imagine, how the teenage JSBach was there to invent his first large pedal solos under the eyes of Georg Böhm! But in fact, during Bach's stay in Lüneburg the organ had no autonomous pedal at all...! So it is good to know that the piston thing would have been strange to Stanford, too, if we would place him onto a modern console today. Your description of the outline of a typical Harrison are helpful, too, thanks! Worth of pilgrimage: Yes, I am mostly tracing the art of accompaniment. I think that it always was my most beloved subject among organ playing. And hear, coming from catholic practice in my youth in Austria, where weak choirs obliged themselves to sing a complete mass setting every sunday, I often sat on the organ trying to follow as much as possible the dynamic lines of the music and the choir, to give as much support and colouring as possible without overwhelming the singers. I still find this a thrilling challenge and enjoy myself pretty much in accompaning my relatively small congregation on my relatively large but very gentle-voiced organ. That's why I feel in a way so familiar with the work which is done by fine Anglican cathedral organists.
  14. Thanks to mpk for his interesting hints. Dear MM and friends, perhaps to start with the already mentioned Evening Hymn by Balfour Gardiner - a recording from King's offers a view of the organist making the decrescendo to the middle section. What exactly is happening there? And: My OUP source of the piece does not show any registrations. Many recordings offer a tuba entry before the "Amen" - is this oral tradition or has HBG indicated this anywhere?
  15. Dear Colleagues, this thread developed much better than I dared to hope.... dear Nigel, I fully agree and understand what you mean. Well, I hope to own some taste und useful ears etc., and now, many days after starting this topic, I want to tell that it had to do with a performance of some Stanford organ pieces and certainly two of the wonderful Biblical Songs together with my wife (soprano she is, but I found it comparable to the originally intended tenor voice). And indeed, there are some indications of registration which need explanation or research on the organ(s) which CVS used in the period when writing this piece. And I very frequently go through my growing number of recordings and Youtube clips wondering about the "how to" behind the music. The vocal labour is relatively easy to get through, but the accompaniment is a hidden thing. Short views of the organist, e.g. in the King's Carols Services, allow watching his use of manuals, of the pistons and the moving of drawknobs. If one would take time to compare those shoots with stills of the consoles, one could reconstruct the registrations. Of course the primary way to learn all this would be to become a page turner and organ scholar, but this is geographically out of question for me. We went to five cathedrals and four evensongs in february, and for coming october our next trip of similar extent is scheduled, as I know, that printed information well not convince as a primary teaching method. Most of you are aware that there are some churches/choir on the continent which dedicate themselves (occasionally at least) to hosting/performing Choral Evensong. As we here in Rostock hope to be able to add our church to the list (though everything will be translated to make it a service, not a concert), as circumstances developed well for that the last four years, any learning on performance practice is very desirable for me. Behind first-hand real life experience, the youtube videos are much of help. So I will be very thankful for MM's commented clips... Practically, some things (like MM's "clutch method" and other aspects of using the swell division) are known here, too, and have even been discussed in print. But for the music relying on divisional pistons, there is a barrier between our organs here and the English, though it can be overcome be the already praised hand-registration. Tonally, many instruments are quite different, of course. Mine here should fit not too bad to the coming challenge, because of his eclectic design of 1938. And if this organ really is fine at something, it is accompanying. Thanks for the contributions so far!
  16. Thanks for the material provided so far! MM's Youtube idea seems to be a nice one. In anticipation of video links, I am currently waiting for a Vodafone technician to restore my DSL connection to its nominal speed....
  17. Hello! Here some basics about the English way of playing/approaching an organ were given. Is there any book that gives even more insight into the way English instruments should be used? Maybe Stephen Bicknell's book on the History of the English Organ or one of the many "memories of an organist" collections...? Thanks!
  18. Living in the "East of Germany" (obviously it's the North), I can confirm that there is difference in wages (and often officially regulated), but also in the cost of daily life. You simply need more money to survive in the city of Munich, than you would need even in Berlin, not to talk about Dresden, Magdeburg, Rostock. Slovenia can more and more be compared to that "Eastern Germany", regarding possibilities of craftmanship and payment. They are really going strong there, and are powered by a sort of national spirit (which I do not consider unhealthy, in their way.)
  19. One should go further in adopting the score to the instrument by playing an octave lower to get 16'-range earlier and maye have a useful sound in 4' in the 8' position. Also mixtures, certainly if beeing enclosed, are more suitable to 19c style when turned one octave down. These ideas are connected to the liberty of splitting the score up to several manuals, when it should be played on the same only. To build up crescendi (or to do the opposite), a "seamless" switching to another division may help, as can do transposing of a part ov the voices only, not the complete texture. This would not work with a solo performance (but I have done such things also at some occasions), but many of the problems of such practice can be hidden by the sound of the choir accompanied.
  20. Colin, your extensive answer did not only respond to my original question (and built-up this topic together with the other contributions), but was very informative for me and answered other questions I wanted to ask when the occasion is right - thanks! Two additions: An enclosed division MAY be suitable for "open" tasks, like playing a trio voice. It depends on the circumstances, I have met divisions which coped well with that task. And: An organ with really good sounds in it will be very flexible to adopt to styles which seem to be out-of-concept on the first view. But this takes us to the question: What will this organ teach the students? If not guided well by the teachers, they will have difficulties to "re-create" the "original" sounds of compositions from different regions and eras. German academies, if funding di permit, tried to have a palette of several instruments with clear profile: A small italian organ for italian and south german baroque and renaissance works, a medium sized classical organ for Bach and other later baroque and/or north german music and even reaching out to Mendelssohn, and a romantic instrument with swell divisions etc. After all, we should never forget that travelling to foreign instruments, attending master-classes there (and enjoy regional food and drinks...!) are one of the most beautiful (and necessary) aspects of our instrument's world, beeing practiced even by people who do not play themselves...
  21. I made a late-night viewing via the rebroadcast on the Royal Channel of YouTube. Free of any spoken comments! Having sat very close to the Choristers and John O'Donnell about two months ago, I was very touched to see the Abbey again and to hear this perfect wedding music - I want to join the praises for those performances under difficult circumstances. For a foreigner, it is always amazing, how fluent and perfectly arranged those british royal events are taking place. And all those hats... Rutter - of course, he has his personal way of writing, and many true things have been said. I'm preparing the "Mass of the children" for performance on June 18 here, and after months I still can listen to the recordingand enjoy the rehearsals and am sure, that I will be touched to tears during conducting. Beeing very critical for second class composers (regarding work-out of construction etc.), I have to confess that I cannot flee the attractivity of - at least this one of - his works.
  22. Addendum: This one seems to be a predecessor of the concept!
  23. Beside the fact, that it will be an instrument made on highest level, what do English organists think about the tonal concept and the specification, as far as it can be imagined from reading? It reminds me to several organs (though often smaller) in Germany, when an organ gouverned by "french" taste (whatsoever this may result in) should offer some classical or neo-baroque features. The one in question, for me, hovers a little bit between general characters and the concept seems to be limited by space (probably not by funding)...
  24. That's true, Brahms' "handspan" was legendary and is a challenge for many pianists. Think of the E major Chorale by C. Franck, the opening section forces some players to use pedal coupler, too. Some of my fellow students where not able to play without those aids, and one girl was very disappointed to be unable to play Messiaens' Pentecost mass, as the problems occur in the right hand, with no possible pedal cheating...
  25. But that is not what I meant. Assumed that the above is true, it does not express that this would be the only way to build a useful two part piece. It just says it is a definite one. To clarify, the biggest enemy of improvisation is the fear to do it. But there are a few musicians around* one would like to ask to improvise less. It's more a question of character, I think.... *) and some of them get paid for their job, and sometimes not too little!
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