Jonathan Dods

Thanks for your replies. Lots of food for thought! The recital's in June, so I've got some time to process it all.

Hello All, I wondered whether I could pick your brains? I've been asked to play a recital specifically for children. Local schools will be invited to bring groups to hear a 45 minute programme/presentation. I played a recital for a group of about 20 children at Christmas. I met them beforehand and showed them the instrument up close and we talked about how it worked. The recital consisted of Christmas music with tunes they might know, and a bit of talking about the organ and the music. It seems to have gone down well! I'd be interested in ideas for repertoire, both individual pieces and longer cycles of pieces or over-arching themes (I have an arrangement of Peter and the Wolf which is a possibility). Any examples of programmes, written notes or Youtube clips, also any ideas about what to say and show between the pieces. I'll almost certainly set up some cameras so they can see me playing more clearly and so they can see inside the instrument.

Just out of interest can you suggest organ music which was written at Christmas, or has some other Christmas link, but is not Christmas titled or thematic and isn't based on Christmas melodies? I have a vague memory that there's a big Howells piece written at Christmas, and I've just read that the Clavier-Ubung III might have been first performed in December, which is my tenuous reason for playing some of it on Friday...

We are very pleased with ours! http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=K01266

A new recording of the organ at St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJIsJpp9ITLz4YaNU1AkGCAciuW1ypPls

St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park, London W4 1TT (next to Turnham Green tube) Friday 8th June, 12.30pm D'Arcy Trinkwon Concerto in G after Prince Johann von Ernst, BWV592 Johann Sebastian Bach Prelude & Fugue in E minor, BWV548 Tierce en taille (6thcouplet of ‘Gloria’) François Couperin from Messe Solemnelle à l’usage des paroisses Ballo del granduca Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck Prelude & Fugue in E Flat, Op.99 No.3 Camille Saint-Saëns Symphonie Op.13 No.4 in F minor: Charles-Marie Widor, III. Andante Cantabile, IV. Scherzo Suite Carmelite Jean Françaix L’Ange à la trompette Jacques Charpentier Retiring collection

Another possible work around depending on the organ is to play the held A in the pedals as well as the written pedal line. Possibly controversial but playing two naturals with the thumb wasn't possible on a heavy tracker action for me.

Charles Andrews is playing a recital at St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park London W4 (opposite Turnham Green tube) tomorrow at 12.30. Prelude and fugue in E flat - Saint-Saëns Five portraits for home organ - W. Lloyd Webber 1. Carol - Lyric piece 2. Imogen - Fairy tale 3. Elizabeth - Valse de ballet 4. Justine - Romance 5. Mandy and Dula - Burmese blues Miserere - Byrd Récit de Tierce en taille - De Grigny Sonata no 3 - Mendelssohn 1. Con moto maestoso 2. Andante tranquillo

I'm accompanying a performance of the Kodaly Missa Brevis soon and I wondered whether anyone had any thoughts about the pedal part. On occasion it doesn't seem very idiomatic - manual parts which go beneath the pedal part, which might sound like second inversion chords on a small instrument withonly a few pedal stops and seem to produce a gritty texture. The way he prefers the middle of the pedal register (plus the balletic nature of the part in the Gloria!) makes me think he might have been thinking of orchestral basses, which would only sound an octave down, without the organ's problem of being mostly coupled through from the manuals at written pitch. However I have a vague idea that the first version of the Mass was organ alone and that he spent some time in Paris with Widor. Any ideas how to remedy the problems (if indeed they are problems) without losing the undoubtedly interesting textures you sometimes get from his use of the organ?

Does this count? http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N16895 Can't remember if the keys overhang and it's not clear from the picture. Most of the swell is TC.

This Friday, 9th June, 12.30pm at St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park London W4, Brink Bush plays the opening recital of the Bedford Park Festival: Fantasia and Fugue in C minor BWV 537 Goldberg Variations arr Middelschulte Aria Variatio 16. Ouverture. a 1 Clav. Variatio 17. a 2 Clav. Variatio 25. a 2 Clav. adagio Variatio 29. a 1 ô vero 2 Clav. Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639 (The Little) Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier, BWV 731 Prelude and Fugue in A minor BWV 543

Lovely to hear that current assistant at St Martin-in-the-Fields Jeremy Cole is going to Wells and former assistant Richard Moore is going to Guildford.

Jeremy Cole: Organ Recital Programme – St Michael’s Bedford Park – 6 December 2016 12.30pm Prelude and Fugue in G major, BWV 541 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) A Fancy William Byrd (c.1543-1623) Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland BWV 659 J S Bach Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland BWV 660 J S Bach Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland BWV 661 J S Bach Impromptu (Pièces de fantaisie, Op. 54) Louis Vierne (1870-1937) Méditation Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) Alleluyas Simon Preston (b. 1938) 

The set up we have is digital. The time delay is noticeable but not terrible. I got the impression that delay was unavoidable with new systems, but I'd be interested to hear if it can be overcome. Perhaps we could buy or rig up something to physically pan and tilt the present camera, but not to zoom and focus, as these are little mechanical controls on the lens. So has anyone installed a system recently, or should I be raiding junk shops and dusting down my GCSE electronics?

I need to get a remote control, mobile camera for our organ. We already have a camera and a display, but the camera is quite inaccessible, which makes moving it a pain. Does anyone have any experience of buying camera systems you can pan/tilt, zoom and focus remotely?

This coming Friday at 12.30, Peter Foggitt of Holy Trinity Sloane Street is giving a the regular recital at St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park W4 1TT Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott BWV 651 An Wasserflüssen Babylon BWV 653 Alleluia IV - Tournemire Master Tallis's Testament - Howells Fantasie sur le Te Deum et guirlandes alleluiatiques - Tournemire Improvisation https://youtu.be/gq4tVFPS-xU

I'm playing in a reduced orchestration of Parsifal later this month for strings, piano and organ. I'll let you know how successful that is.

Recital this Friday, 7th October 12.30pm at St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park, London (next to Turnham Green tube). Fine new St Martin organ and excellent player. Nicholas Wearne (organ) PROGRAMME Masterworks of the Eighteenth Century Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750): Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C (BWV 564) Michael Christian Festing (1705 - 1752) arr. George Thalban-Ball: Andante, Allegro, Air and Two Variations Thomas Tomkins (1572 – 1656): Voluntary (M.B. Vol. 5, p. 60) Johann Sebastian Bach: Prelude and Fugue in G (BWV 541) François Couperin (1668 - 1733): Offertoire (Messe pour les paroisses) BIOGRAPHY Nicholas Wearne has a busy career as an organ recitalist and continuo player which has taken him to many parts of the world. He combines his freelance work with a teaching position at Birmingham Conservatoire, where he enjoys working with extremely talented young musicians in a busy department. Previously he was Organist at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, having been Assistant Organist at St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh. This followed five years at New College, Oxford University, where he worked as Organ Scholar and later Assistant Organist with Professor Edward Higginbottom, and took BA (hons) in Music and MPhil in Musicology and Performance. He has also held organ-playing positions at Truro Cathedral and the University Church, Oxford.

The old organ at my church had a Salcional. And an Accoustic bass. I began to think that Noterman was not on the top rung of organ builders...

I think they have a Gt-Ped horseshoe pedal at St Cross in Winchester.

Lovely programme for the recital by Tim Byram-Wigfield at St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park, London this Friday at 12.30pm http://www.bedfordparkfestival.org Präludium über “Lobet den Herrn” Niels Gade (1817-‐90) Variations on ‘Unter der Linden grüne’ (Under the greenwood tree) Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-‐1621) Ave Maria, Op. 80, No 5 Max Reger (1870-‐1916) From Five Short Pieces: Allegretto – Scherzo – Folk tune Percy Whitlock (1903-‐46) Popular song, from ‘Façade’ Sir William Walton (1902-‐83) Coronation March ‘Orb and sceptre’ Sir William Walton (commissioned by The Arts Council of Great Britain for the Coronation service, 2 June 1953)

Laurence Caldecote Friday 6 May at 12:30pm St. Michael and All Angels, Bedford Park, London. Choral Song - S S Wesley (1810 – 1876) Prelude in E-flat - W H Harris (1883 – 1973) Grand-Choeur in A - T Salomé (1834 – 1896) Variations on “Mein junges Leben hat ein End” - J P Sweelinck (1562 – 1621) Marche Americaine - C M Widor (1844 – 1937), arr. Dupre Sicilienne - M T von Paradis (1759 – 1824) Toccata - M Leclerc (1939 – 2006) Free entry with retiring collection.

St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park London W4 1TT La manufacture d'Orgues St Martin 25/IIIP Friday 4th September 12.30pm (first Friday of every month) Rufus Frowde - Organist, Chapel Royal Hampton Court Fanfare pour précéder “La Péri” – Paul Dukas (1865 – 1935) [2’] A Fancy – William Byrd (c.1539/40 – 1623) [5’] Keyboard Sonata in A – Thomas Arne (1710 – 78) [7’] Presto – Andante – Allegro Allegretto Grazioso (from ‘Six Organ Pieces’) – Frank Bridge (1879 – 1941) [4’] Touch her soft lips and part – William Walton (1902 – 83) [3’] Paean – Philip Moore (b.1943) [3’] Carillon de Westminster – Louis Vierne (1870 – 1937) [6’]

A propos of nothing in particular, the organ of St Mary's Abbey Oulton has 'enclosed nuns' according to NPOR. Not a stop I've come across, either enclosed or unenclosed.

Friday 7th August 12.30pm St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park, London W4 Alex Roose baritone and Jonathan Dods organ Vaughan Williams Five Mystical songs, Moniuszko Lord's Prayer and Hymn to Jesus