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Choir Man

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    Kalevi Kiviniemi RIP

    in General discussion

    Posted

    The international Finnish organist Kalevi Kiviniemi died last week after suffering a heart attack.

    Although he didn't play any concerts in recent years, his exuberate style and improvisation skills won him many admirers. He also had over 200 titles in his discography and was the first to record the complete organ music of Jean Sibelius. He was awarded the Finnish State Prize for music in 2009.

    Fraser Gartshore, a long time friend of his, dedicated last Friday's organ programme on YouTube to him. Definitely worth a watch for the anecdotes and old photos as well as the music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f687aa9X2jw

    My favourite YouTube clip of his is a spontaneous improvisation after an ambulance siren interrupted a recording session at St Ouen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gVVdj8hocA

     

     

    St Eustache, Paris

    in The Organ

    Posted

    I recall that a few weeks before Christmas they had to cancel their usual Sunday recital becasue of some problem between the console and the organ.

    Slightly tongue in cheek, but might the penchant for furiously fast improvisations cause the action to wear out faster?

    Computer sound settings

    in Nuts and bolts

    Posted

    I had similar issues in 2020 when I first started running a lockdown choir and was using Audacity to mix home recordings from different choir members. Playback quality was initailly awful! Following advice from the Audacity user community I made similar tweaks to Windows settings and acheived a significant improvement.

    However, when I realised that this venture was going to be a long term effort, I got an external sound module. The difference in quality was, and still is, phenomenal even compared against the tweaked settings. This is the case whether using Audacity, streaming YT vdeos from the better channels, or playing media stored on my PC.

    Without repeating Colin's excellent explanation, the small headphone socket on any computer and the drivers that sit behind it, are never going to deliver true HiFi quality. I agree that the problems aren't as bad with Macs, but fundamentally the problem will still be thre. If you are looking for HiFi quality you really need an external audio interface (or separate sound card if you have a desktop PC) with 'proper' audio output sockets.

    Gloucester rebuild

    in The Organ

    Posted

    The author of the comments on facebook about the Gloucester instrument is vociferous about his dislike of the instrument. He also goes on to comment that "The specification is being kept under wraps until well after the organ has been commissioned and had its opening recital series. We want people to hear it before seeing what we are going to do."

    It feels strange that the head voicer at Nicholson's would be commenting in this way and leaves me wondering if this is the official Nicholson's position or if indeed the facebook account really belongs to the Nicholson's employee of the same name.

    The organ project page on Gloucester cathedral's website describes the project as "We are proud to have one of the most significant instruments in any cathedral accompanying daily worship. It is time for a sensitive refurbishment of our much-loved organ to ensure its future at the heart of our musical life."

    Nicholson's website describes the project as "We are pleased to have been commissioned to refurbish and renew the famous organ of Gloucester Cathedral."

    Neither of the official sources make any reference to scrapping the old instrument and replacing the instrument with a wholly new and different instrument. For my money I'd be inclined to believe the official sources rather than unregulated social media.

     

    Worcester Cathedral.

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I met James Lancelot at Worcester a few years ago when he was the interim DOM there. At evensong there was some lovely psalm singing from the choir which also tackled "I Was Glad", it being Parry's birthday, despite there being only 8 boys available (4 each side).

    During the final hymn he retired to the organ loft to play the voluntary. I wonder how many other cathedral DOMs do this?

    New Year's Honours

    in General discussion

    Posted

    James O'Donnell has been appointed as Lieutenant of The Royal Victorian Order upon his retiremnt from Westminster Abbey. This honour is the personal gift of the Monarch so he wasn't mentioned on any of the government lists.

    Scanning through the full honours list I found 28 other ciations for music, but I don't think any went to organists.

    Looking to the future

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Not all journalism has been so low. Quoting from a recent Telegraph article: 

    "One obvious way for the CofE to repay the Queen’s parting gift is to persuade people that what they felt over the last few days - about duty and eternity, mortality and grace - is on offer every week. Of course grand spectacles like these don’t come around often. But breathtaking buildings, the language of the King James Bible and The Book of Common Prayer, the psalms and choral anthems, the ageless beauty of Byrd, Tallis, Parry – all can be found across Britain for free."

    The full article is unfortunately behind their pay wall, but if you can get to it its here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/09/21/britain-yearning-traditional-christianity/

    Like many others before I would like to pay tribute to the standard of musicianship seen in the last two weeks. Royal occasions have almost always included new music and the funeral was no exception. So whether its a march or a fanfare or a psalm setting, I look forward to listening to what will be presented for the coronation.

    New Organ For London Bridge Station

    in The Organ

    Posted

    I can't find much info online, but a few Twitter messages have informed me that London Bridge Station now has a pipe organ. Similar to public pianos that are now available at many stations, the organ will be available to any member of the public that wishes to play.

    I do know that the organ has been placed there by a group called Pipe Up For Pipe Organs. Some photos are available here: https://newslicensing.co.uk/groupitem/59738/


     

    Bach for Ukraine

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Anna Lapwood and the Pembroke College team, together with Beauty In Sound have pulled together a 24 hour Bachathon. This year's effort was used as a fundraiser for the Disasters Emergency Committee's Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. 

    Featuring 70 or so organists and organs from all around the world this is well worth the watch, although probably not all at once! Some of the recitals are now on Anna's YouTube channel and the rest are currently available to re-stream on facebook.

    Recital 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPbScTqno3o

    Recital 2: https://www.facebook.com/pembrokechoir/videos/1064686500811360/

    Recital 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv_D9x1VACM

    Recital 4: https://www.facebook.com/pembrokechoir/videos/554458282744272/

    Recital 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxhE0BdQ3NY

    Recital 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns20kCDlupk

    Recital 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOg6v4qjF5c

    Recital 8: https://www.facebook.com/pembrokechoir/videos/745209759940425/

    Gloucester Cathedral

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I agree, Gloucester's website isn't the easiest to find information from. The best info is actually on a page of an organ recital given earlier this week:  https://gloucestercathedral.org.uk/whats-on/evening-organ-recital-with-james-mitchell

    In his introduction on the video, Jonathan Hope references that Nicholson's wont be starting for a few years and that the cathedral also need to do fundraising to pay for the work. As a result the organ, which is now unplayable, will be of action until 2025. They are currently using a digital instrument with a local sample set from down the road in Hereford.

    If anyone wants a reminder of what a fine instrument this is, here is an recital given by Jonathan Hope in October last year.

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