S_L

It was good to hear the Albert Hall organ leading the singing of 'Jerusalem' last night rather than the Elgar orchestration usually used. And, what seems to have become the norm, to hear the hauntingly beautiful rendition of the National Anthem by Benjamin Britten.

I have a ceremony to play the organ for next Tuesday - it's for the installation of a Hermit within the Archdiocese of Bordeaux. I was planning to improvise on the sequence 'Stabat Mater dolorosa' (page 1634 - Liber Usualis) - the phrasing and structure of the sequence does rather lend itself to an improvisation

No Martin - it isn't - I've got part of the tune in my head - and I'll grant you that 'A virgin most pure' is a very definite possibility - but it isn't that! The first three notes repeat and then go up and down the run - and then repeat again!! Of course - I may be wrong!

In which case - I apologise!

I can see half a dozen interesting discussions going on. Perhaps let us have your thoughts on the Hurford 'Laudate Dominum' or on 'Organ music from the Proms'. Have you played at 'Downside' or seen the work Nicholson's are doing at St. Laurence's in York. Martin Cooke is looking for help with Kenneth Blackwell and we'd love to know what is in your 'Room 101'. The forum isn't as lively as it used to be but at least we don't have members, and I can think of two of days gone by in particular, making silly or unnecessary comments every five minutes!!

I've listened to 'French Carol'. It's a well-known, well to me at any rate, tune but I can't for the life of me remember the name of it!! Senility is creeping in! The tune isn't in 'Oxford' - and there are several French tunes there! I think they would have been composed at his desk. Hurford must have been able to improvise - he held the FRCO!! But, at St. Alban's, I suspect, he didn't need to. He had assistants who played for services and who would improvise short little pieces if the occasion arose. These are not lengthy improvisations. I suspect they were written for one of the many special Advent/Christmas services to fit in between readings or the like! And also improvisation wasn't Hurford's 'big thing' - he was a Bach scholar! Just my thoughts - but there are others on here who may, I suspect will, disagree!

I'm afraid I can't help much. I think it was written in 1960/61 which would be when Hurford was Organist and Master of the Choristers at St. Alban's. The music is dedicated to Ralph Downes. Of the six movements it seems, judging by the number of YouTube recordings, that 'Meditation' is the most popular. At a total of 11 minutes playing time for the six pieces and with quotes from the Psalms heading each little piece, it does suggest that Hurford might have had some liturgical happening in mind when he wrote them.

As one who has played and conducted in Symphony Hall on a number of occasions I can assure readers that the acoustics in the hall are excellent and, of course, are 'adjustable' to suit a Symphony Orchestra or a string quartet. As far as the organ is concerned I have only been to one organ recital in there. I had the impression that the organ was a little underpowered but, there again, the recital was so awful that the dreadful playing, from an organist if International standing (no names!!), distracted from any thoughts about the instrument. The playing was so bad that a very large number of the audience left at the interval!!!

At Symphony Hall there are, indeed, several large concrete chambers to the sides of the main organ case. The doors of which can be electronically opened or closed. Two of the chambers contain organ. The 'Right Echo' and the 'Left Echo' containing: Right side: Unda Maris 8', Trombone 16', Trumpet 8', French Horn 8' Left side: Tuba 8', Cor Anglais 8', Tuba Clarion 4'

This isn't mine and isn't in full by any means - but it may help to work out where things have come from: This organ was build in 1931 by John Compton with 35 ranks, retaining pipes from 11 ancient stops.At the console this is a big organ with 4 manuals and a floating Bombarde division:Actually, the organ is entirely enclosed in three Swell boxes, while the true specification is as follows:Chamber A: Great, Choir and their Pedal bassesPosauneTrombaDiapason IDiapason IIDiapason IIIDiapason IVSalicionalHohl fluteFlauto traversoClarinetTierceGedecktDulcianaVox angelicaCelesteGemshornDiaphoneChamber B Swell, Solo and their Pedal bassesTrumpetHautboyHornGambaGeigenStrings (two ranks)VioloneDiapasonStopped Diapason(Harmonic) fluteHarmonics 4 ranks(Orchestral) OboeGreat FluteChamber CTubaWith this relatively modest, but carefully tought specification, widely duplexed and extended, Compton gave us a splendid organ, which says a lot about the man'sabilities.Quite surprising is the way the Mixtures are obtained:-The Great Plein jeu is extended from the four Diapasons and the Gemshorn-The Great Cymbale from the Salicional and the Gemshorn-The Swell Cymbale from Gamba, Geigen and Violone-The Choir Acuta from the Dulciana-The Choir Petite Cymbale from Diapason III, Salicional and Gemshorn-The Solo Kalophone from Gamba and Harmonics 4 ranks !-And the Baryphone from Violone, Harmonic Flute and Harmonics 4 ranks.The independent mutation ranks are of course extended from foundation ranks as well.Many people could believe such mutation ranks obtained from tempered foundation stops won't work, being off-tune.But we must take the place of such stops in such a design into account: the Mixtures are there to add sparkle, not to build true choruses, while the Mutation stops areever soft, intended for synthetic registrations.AccessoriesDetached electric consoleDouble-touch luminous disc stopsSolid state memory to all pistons (this is a later addition)8 pistons each to Choir, Great, Swell and Solo8 pistons to Bombarde, 10 to Pedal8 general pistonsGeneral crescendo Pedal (acting upon) Great and PedalUsual couplers including Great to Choir, Bombarde to Great on second touch andSolo to Choir on second touch.Sustainers to Choir and SoloSix Tremulants to different ranksWind pressures from 6" to 20"

I'm afraid, as Cantoris has said, abuse happens in all institutions whether they be RC or otherwise and in the public and private sector. The difference seems to be to me, and this is not a sectarian remark, that the Church of England washes its dirty washing in public whereas the RC church tries to hide it away! I speak as a Roman Catholic! And members of our profession are not immune from carrying out this abuse as has been evidenced by the number of organists, both Cathedral and otherwise, who have been convicted of serious crimes against children in the past few years. What is even more worrying is the way that the perpetrators of these crimes are welcomed back into the fold as if nothing had happened! Abusers remain dangerous - even after they have served prison sentences! The Downside abuse happened a long time again and the school has, since, put in stringent procedures to deal with the protection of children. All of us who have or have had contact with young people need or needed to be aware of our own safety. We were all advised, for instance, never to be alone in a room with a female student without there being a door with a window in it! As for the Abbey church - I don't know the buildings but perhaps, when the brethren eventually do leave, it will become the school chapel!

Within a couple of days I suspect that this forum is going to disappear and I would like to post something before it finally goes. It seems, and Rowland confirmed this in a private communication we had, that I am the one with the acerbic comments. However I'm also grateful to Rowland for his public comments concerning my knowledge. As I have said, on numerous occasions here, I am not what I would call an organist. I can play to ARCO standard. I am, however, a musician, slightly well-qualified, a 'cellist in another life who has been a member here now for ten years. In that ten years I have made 644 posts. I won't apologise for disagreeing with anyone here but I do want to say that if at any time I have been less than gracious, less than polite, sarcastic or perhaps even petulant (The 'Buckfast' thread comes to mind!) in my disagreements with fellow 'forumites' then I apologise unreservedly. Put it down to being a blunt Yorkshireman who was always told to call a spade a shovel!! It's important to end on a positive note! I shall miss the forum but good things come to an end. Stay safe and I wish you all well.

Wonderful - I didn't think that German organists played Bach like that!!!

In 1972, I think it was, Raymond invited me to his house in Summerfield Road in Bridlington to listen to the recording he had made of Garth Edmundson's Apostolic Symphony. He hadn't played it to anyone else and said that he greatly valued my opinion of his playing. I thought it to be very fine and told him so, even if the critics were fairly scathing about it later. His death on Christmas morning 1977 was a sad loss to the music scene of the East Riding of Yorkshire. He was a lovely man, a fine organist and a real gentleman.

There is a thread about this somewhere but i can't find it! In these days of rather a lot of doom and gloom it seems appropriate to begin another. I am told that Nicholson's arrived at St. Lawrence's church on York on the 4th of August and began the reconstruction of the 1885 three manual Denham organ previously in St. Michael-le-Belfry in York. The story of St. Lawrence's is an absolute joy. The church was almost made redundant, services were being held in the church hall. The old organ was sold to St. Marys church in Lastingham, my home village. (If you don't know Lastingham it is well worth a visit. Home of St. Chad and his brother St. Cedd the, heavily restored by Pearson, church is magnificent and its Saxon/Norman crypt is one of the holiest places in the islands of Great Britain!). Now, once agan, the church is, seemingly, at the centre of the local community and alive. A choir sings the services, including choral evensong and the new organ will soon grace what is the largest Parish Church in York. There are a host of pictures of the work being done on Nicholson's website. http://www.nicholsonorgans.co.uk/pf/york-st-lawrence/

Thanks to Steve Goodwin for setting up a new board. Initially I joined but then had second thoughts and asked for my membership to be deleted. It's time to call it a day! I shall continue to read this board and to post if I feel the urge but once it has gone that will be the end of it. Good wishes to all. Stay safe.

Just looked it up - wrong 'Hoar'!! The one I was referring to is 'Hoare'!!

I don't know the answer but I do know that here is a collection of rather high-quality and slightly pricy cards, often sold in Cathedral bookshops, that feature ornate ecclesiastical impedimenta (burses, veils, cope details etc.) that give as their inspiration 'From The Hoar Collection - Liverpool Cathedral' .

That wasn't what was asked! DHM wrote "How many members do we have" - and that was the question I was answering! I'm well aware that there are possibly only 30 or so members who actually post on here and I can understand why for some things! I think a good deal more read the posts though!! I notice, for instance that since joining in 2010, ten years ago, you have made only 43 posts of which 10 of these have been concerned with an alternative forum!

Somebody asked how many members are there? There are 1,125 members of which the most ever online was on January 19th 2019 when 255 were 'on line'! It says so on the front page!!!

I've always thought of Alkan as being the writer of some horrendously difficult piano music and little else - sort of the Paganini of the piano!!! - Lots of notes and little music! Having said that I'm sure that I have played a Sonata by him - named, rather like the Beethoven Op. 5 Nr. I Sonata, for Piano and 'cello - with the piano part doing the brunt of the work! If you look on IMSLP there are quite a few really rather easy little pieces that you might think are worth a second glance! Be warned - some of it is not great music!!! Most of Alkan's organ music he writes on two staves. But for a period of his life he owned a pedal piano and wrote 12 studies for it as well as the Op. 54 Benedictus. The above were originally written for this pedal piano.

Reported in 'The Church Times' of Friday: https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/31-july/news/uk/petition-seeks-sheffield-cathedral-choir-u-turn

I think that we will be living with Covid for much longer than any of us realise. It is very sad news that a firm of such distinction should be in the hands of an insolvency practitioner - but, I'm afraid, given the present economic circumstances, they won't be the only, highly skilled and highly specialised, firm that finds itself in this situation.

The Dean's Address: Address at the Cathedral Eucharist The Very Reverend Peter Bradley Dean of Sheffield Sunday 26 July 2020 In place of a sermon this morning, I would like to tell you what is happening with our Cathedral Choir, and why this is happening. I would like to set Chapter’s decision in a wider context which I hope that you will find helpful. There have been real high points in our choral life, such as the live BBC TV broadcast on Easter Day in 2018, our Advent Carol service and Christmas Carol service this past year, and many others. However, for many years, there have been only one or two, sometimes nobody attending Choral Evensong on weekdays; fewer people are attending Choral Evensong on Sundays too. Our worship is offered primarily to the glory of God, but it must surely give us pause if we all put such great effort into our choral music, and only a handful of people join us. Attendance at Cathedral Choral Evensong nationally is very strong, with rising numbers. We are all aware too, that despite some really good work, recruitment to the Choir has been weaker than we would have hoped. Towards the end of 2018, Chapter decided to commission an external review of our worship and music. You might recall that every member of the congregation on our electoral roll was asked to contribute, and there was widespread consultation of Choir members and Choir parents, our Diocese, and the civic community. Chapter received the report in early summer last year. It was very encouraging that contributions to consultation showed broad agreement. To summarise the the findings: we want a choir that is full--which has not been the case for some time we value our choral tradition here very deeply, but we want the choir to be singing at services with much larger congregations we want greater flexibility, experimentation, and imagination in our worship we want to raise our ambition for excellence in singing, so that once again we will be one of the best, if not the best, Cathedral choir in the UK our Diocese and Bishop as for better provision for Diocesan services, not least in light of the new Diocesan strategy members of the congregation--very strongly--want systematic provision for choral worship every Sunday of the year To achieve all this, Chapter received the recommendation to close our current provision, restructure, and begin again with a fresh vision. Since last summer, Chapter has been planning to make these hopes a reality under God. In our discussions, we have also been considering these additional questions: will recruitment be stronger if we extend our reach, and work with a wider group of schools? As “a place for all people” we have been asking ourselves if our Choir can better reflect the diversity of our city. what might a more flexible provision of music actually look like? should we be considering entirely new ventures, such as a short Sung Eucharist on Friday lunchtimes when the city is full of people? should focus on a new student choir, and from which we can build up our provision? Do we need more choirs? how can we make proper provision for boys whose voices break? Would this be a VI Form choir for young men and women? are we able to offer choral Evensong at 17.00, when the city centre is much fuller? That’s already a long list, but as we reflected, Chapter discerned three further issues: It has become impossible to go into a mixed sex school and only audition younger boys, or older girls. Schools rightly require parity of treatment, and so do the Cathedral’s own values. Does this mean that we should have two choirs of younger children? Or one choir of boys, as at present, and one of girls at the same ages? We were already aware of the challenge of live-streaming but following COVID it is clear that we will need to live-stream all major services. How we can best live-stream choral worship in our building is not obvious, and in any case we will need to find significant new funding for the equipments such as permanent microphones and cameras As I say, this is a long list, and it has become clear to Chapter that to have any real chance of renewing our choral life so fundamentally, an incremental approach is unlikely to be successful. We came to the view that it would be best to stop, reflect, recruit and plan, and then systematically build our choral worship in a new way. Chapter keenly understands that many people have found this decision painful. We know that it has caused real grief, not least to those who are currently members of the choir and their parents, but also to many in the congregation and the wider community. We know too that this decision may mean that colleagues who have worked here for many years may be made redundant. Chapter is required to plan for the long term, and it is our prayerful discernment that a new beginning is in the best interest of the Cathedral’s mission. We fear that if we do not take this opportunity our choral life will simply decline. This morning, I would like to reiterate Chapter’s and my own thanks to the whole Choir community, children, young people--and the parents who have so generously supported them--Choral Scholars, and Lay Clerks. I know too that the whole congregation will join me in this thanks and appreciation. Our hope is that children and adults who will not be singing during the coming year will continue to be regular members of our worshipping community, and we hope that many of them will consider joining our new choir (or choirs). You will have heard in the press concerns about bullying. I cannot, for legal reasons, comment on these, except to reassure you that any complaints which have been raised are taken very seriously by Chapter, and will be dealt with through our robust official procedures. Chapter also thinks that this is the moment to review our provision for safeguarding in the Music Department. Therefore, in early July, Chapter commissioned a lessons-learned review of safeguarding in the Music Department during the past five years. Chapter has committed to publishing the executive summary of the review report when it is finished during the autumn. Please note that, unlike many other churches, Chapter is not seeking to reduce our investment in choral music. Finances remain very tight, but Chapter intends to maintain our current funding, and indeed will be seeking to increase music funding with the help of our funding partners. We are keeping national partners briefed during this whole process. I say this again: we are not seeking to save money, but to invest more. Our decision to make a new beginning for our choral life has certainly not been taken because of COVID; we had been discussing a fresh start for some time. Nevertheless, Chapter’s view is that if we are ever to restructure, now is the time to do so. In the lift of COVID many civic services in the autumn will not now take place, and even under optimistic projections we are not confident that sustained choral training will be possible during the autumn. It would, perhaps, have been easier to announce the end of the Cathedral choral tradition, and some commentators have understood that this is actually what we are doing. Can I once again state, as clearly as I can, that the Anglican cathedral choral tradition will remain fundamental to Cathedral worship in Sheffield Cathedral? The changes we are making will not diminish our choral life; rather, they should be understood as a sign of confidence in the long term potential of cathedral choral music here. Chapter’s vision is that by raising our ambition under God for inclusion and excellence, and by taking the many new opportunities we now discern for the development of our music, we will best fulfil our vocation to be “a place for all people” in service of our Diocese, city, and region. Share

I'm sure friends know about the following website: https://organsparisn.vhhil.nl/ Very useful if you are visiting Paris with details of all of the 260 organs within the city and also with links to stop-lists, pictures, details of origin and rebuilds and the times of Services/Masses where the organ is being used. Hope it might be of some help.