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Phoneuma

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Posts posted by Phoneuma

  1. I'd be pretty wary of Lebrecht, he isn't really regarded as very accurate in his reporting. However, there are other organs there, not least the St Paul's Wood organ. I believe there has been a dwindling number of student organists over the years. I'm sure his comments regarding the HCMF are not realiable although it has been scaled back somewhat since Covid.

  2. Before I pen any biographical titbits may I firstly thank Martin for giving us all a shove on the forum. It seems to have worked well and it would be a shame to lose this valuable resource.

    I can't exactly pinpoint where it all started but it began when our next-door-neighbour asked my father if he'd like their Kastner Pianola. Dad played a little, having learnt from tonic sol-fa years before and he could get around the piano reasonably well (mostly popular songs from the 30s and 40s). He had a good ear and asked us if anyone would like to learn the piano, I volunteered. Derby was an interesting and quite musical city then (recently, Melvyn Bragg described it as a cultural dessert which is not far off really). I was eleven at the time.

    About two or three years later I expressed an interest in learning the organ and we attended the local Baptist Church, Broadway Baptist, which had a very decent three manual Atkins rebuilt from the old church into a brand new building in 1939. It had fine acoustics and the instrument could make a very grand sound in there. I'll name my very first teacher, partly because he will be unknown and mostly because I still regard him as the greatest start I could ever wish for. Norman Hendley was a fine organist, he himself would say he was no recitalist but he could trot out the Boellmann Suite with panache and accuracy. He was also the kindest and most patient man and we went through Stainer's Organ Primer methodically but at some speed.

    After a while Norman recommended that I might change teacher as he thought I needed to go to the next level. Now that, to me, was a very humble admission but he said that he couldn't really go much further, such humility. I moved on, to the then Head of Music at the Grammar School I attended in Derby. Another good move, David Johnson knew his stuff and was very fine musician.

    I also had the good fortune to meet and maintain contact with the madly eccentric Wallace Ross from Derby Cathedral. A fine musician with an impeccable pedigree, I'd see him regularly after I'd been to college as we conveniently shared the same local, the Victoria Hotel in Derby.

     

    Having realised I might even be able to go on to higher things I applied to some universities via UCAS. I'd also received some sound advice that I might also try for some other places. Birmingham School of Music – didn't get in there......But Huddersfield seemed attractive so I went and failed my interview there as well. However, I managed to persuade them to give me another try after scraping some rather better A Levels than I perhaps deserved. Donald Webster interviewed me and I got in. This was 1976. Huddersfield in the 70s was really rather good with an excellent if rather eccentric roster of lecturers and instrumental teachers including Harold Truscott and Arthur Butterworth.

    On arrival I was asked if I'd like to do percussion second study instead of piano so I gave that a go, which was another very good move as I had the good fortune to be taught by the enormous bear-like Eric Wooliscroft from the Halle. I'm afraid that my enthusiasm for the organ then began to wane rapidly. I won't name my first organ teacher there but he was terribly pedantic, pompous and de-motivating (and bore a real grudge when I asked to be transferred to Keith Jarvis instead). KJ was far more interesting and we shifted a fair amount of repertoire. However, I was enjoying ensemble music so much I eventually ditched the organ, moved to percussion first study and then piano second study, another good move! Huddersfield then was remarkably flexible and they really did want students to be happy in their studies and select / elect their strongest suits.

    Some years later (I'd left in 1979 and the recession hit hard although I managed to always be in some sort of work), I did my PGCE and spent the next 24 years teaching in selective boys grammar schools firstly in Gloucester and then in Skipton. The organ then featured quite prominently for Founders' Day services and the like. I eventually quit playing regularly around seven years ago, it's always been very love / hate!

    Innate of this forum will recognise some of this as he also hails from Derby. We've crossed paths a couple of times since (once in Oxford and once in Gloucester when he was a member of Piano Circus).

  3. 15 hours ago, S_L said:

    Well done, Barry!! I don't know of anyone who 'bangs the drum' more for a restoration of Hull Minster, aka Holy Trinity, organ more than you do! Eventually the sleeping giant will sound again and the organ world will realise what a magnificent beast she is!

    I look back on my childhood with a certain amount of affection. Sitting next to the console, with the great Ronald Styles (M.A., B.Mus., F.R.C.O., A.R.C.M., L.R.A.M. - he taught Chemistry at Hymers!!!) playing, was an absolute joy!

    I hope that, when the work is eventually done, apart from a considerable tidying up, they leave the rather wonderful console alone and did someone mention that one of the quotes received involved some new casework too!

    Having played now and again at Derby Cathedral I’ll fully concur about those Compton luminous stop controls. I do hope they keep them, an ergonomic delight.

  4. 14 minutes ago, S_L said:

    Of the music by contemporary composers I thought Roxana Panufnik's Sanctus to be the most inspired. The Debbie Wiseman 'Alleluyas' and Paul Mealor's 'Kyries' left me cold.

    To use the word 'drivel' for the ALW anthem is too kind! I cannot understand why anyone would have asked him to set the words 'Make a joyful noise ......' 

    All wonderfully performed though!!!

    Yes, the Panufnik was good, and I rather liked that Richard Strauss Fanfare, solid brass playing.

     

  5. 1 hour ago, Malcolm Riley said:

    Watched the service without commentary. How refreshing! A veritable musical feast, though ALW's contribution was lacking a certain something (such as anything melodically memorable), not helped by a rather crass attempt at a modulation. The Abbey organ sounded magnificent, ditto the playing. 

    I think you’re too kind - it lacked almost anything memorable. The rest of the music was excellent, rather taken with the Panufnik Sanctus. Roderick Williams outclassed Terfel by a mile (the latter was all over the place and sounded way past his best - I wouldn’t think singing with your arms folded is much help either). 

  6. 1 hour ago, S_L said:

    Two things I notice from the application pack:

    1) The historic office of “Organist and Master of the Choristers” is open to candidates of any gender, and whilst this document reflects the convention that the two roles have been held in combination, we are open to applications from exceptional choral directors with the ability to lead across the full range of the Abbey’s music but who are not organists or would not wish to perform in that capacity.

    The first, of course, is a now legal requirement but I am pleased to note that the next Master of the Choristers need not be an organist.

    2) An early priority for the incoming Organist and Master of the Choristers would be to review and agree with Chapter the planned approach to the introduction of girl choristers and to lead its implementation in the near future

    Absolutely!!

    I’m in total agreement with both of your points here!

  7. I don’t post as much as I used to but I still come here only because it still has that balance of knowledge, decent debate and good manners. Forums come and go but I’m pleased this one has survived, albeit somewhat shrunk.

    For those wondering about ‘that FB site’ the very latest ‘post’ (comparing DACs to donkeys) epitomises the lowest common denominator Colin mentions. 

  8. I see very little worthwhile ‘debate’ at all. A useful place but inhabited by closed mindsets, instances of shutting down inconvenient ‘chats’ and , in the end, its public presence does organists no favours at all. That’s FB for you, a mixture of some good information shovelled into a cesspit.

  9. I can see why this instrument means so much to many. However, ‘the die is cast’ and the chosen course seems irreversible.

    I’m not interested in the views on the risible FB site, a veritable cess  pit of so-called opinion. It’s interesting that the builders do contribute there, in some detail and with polite language. But they shouldn’t be the ones having to defend the decision to replace the organ. The phrase ‘wanton destruction’ is not helpful here, it serves to perpetuate what has turned into a very polarised debate.

    The idea of a Code of Conduct is very laudable but it would need real teeth to have any influence and I can’t see that would be the case.

    The HOC scheme is an important register but remains only that, it’s perhaps a pity that it doesn’t really contain any clout.

    The steady decline in attendees at CoE services, the elimination of many choirs and difficulty in recruiting are all major contributory factors. Mind you, the recent changes in recruiting girl choristers (St John’s College, Chichester and now Hereford) can only be a positive move.

  10. 2 hours ago, Peter Allison said:

    A late friend of mine, Mr David Rogers played  the closing ode in the form of an improvisation, in Durham Cathedral in 2008, its on my soundcloud, along with another "Masonic" based one, (as my late father and I and David are/were Freemasons) https://soundcloud.com/peter-allison-571354835/masonic-improvisation

     

    How wonderful to hear Dave again - thanks so much Peter, I’ll keep an eye on that Soundcloud site. I can remember the Fulda session from a Doncaster visit - Dave’s ‘mucking about’ was often way ahead of some more professional attempts I’ve had to endure. Always full of clever and oblique references and played with a huge twinkle in his eye when you got it. Thanks again Peter.

  11. 'A professionally qualified organist wrote yesterday on this forum of the cliqueiness of the organ world.  How right he is.'

    I suppose that is to a certain extent true. However, if I sleighted the poor amateur organist then please accept my apologies, it was not intentional - Hans Keller once came up with a very true comment something on the lines of 'the love of music is most apparent in the amateur musician even if you don't necessarily hear it'. Nevertheless I'd suggest that there are some basic standards which I'd regard as essential.

    One or two current threads are pointing out quite clearly that the current reputation of the organ world is in a bit of a parlous state. I'd agree but I might take the opportunity to make some points which have become apparent to me over the past 20 odd years.

    Hymn Singing – right from the outset I was fortunate to have an excellent teacher at a local Baptist Church (I should point out that I've no particular allegiance to the Baptists, it was the nearest one and I was in a scout troop there). He was not a regular recitalist but he knew how to teach well, a very pleasant, kind and humble man who was meticulous in his service playing. He would practise hymns himself, memorise the tunes, pencil in registrations and keep a rock-steady tempo. It was an excellent start and those particular skills were imbued in all his teaching. Nothing was left to chance. Words were paramount and I was encouraged to memorise the tune and follow the text (same went for Psalm chants later on of course). And yet, I'm sure we've all heard / suffered the megalomaniacs hell bent on drowning out the singing, the shape-shifting tempo pullers intent on adding a drawn out ritardando at the ends of final verses and other such transgressions. As Rowland quite rightly says this is the organists number one job. It's not a sideshow, its what they should do – lead, inspire and support the spiritual act of worship and if that can be further enhanced by tasteful musical means then all the better. It's not rocket science to support and to lead a hymn.

    I'll add here that I never left any post as the consequence of an altercation with any member of the clergy – it was always other organists who were the troublemakers (like the one who would not permit music in major keys during Lent!).

    What is to be done about encouraging take up? Study at degree level has shrunk with no courses now at the RNCM, a severely depleted organ department at Huddersfield (which is where I studied – it has a first-class concert organ and the new Phipps organ to boot, what on earth is happening there?).

    Churches and organs are routinely locked (yes, I can see why but it's an important reason). Where they are accessible you might then find and over-zealous organist who won't allow his (sic) precious instrument to be made available. Practise then becomes well-nigh impossible.

    I fondly remember the encouragement I received from some well-known cathedral organists – Richard Lloyd at Durham who I approached to 'have a go' on the Cathedral organ there and was most welcoming. It was something on the lines of 'I'll just drop the latch to the loft on my way out and no-one will bother you for an hour or so' with a huge grin! John Sanders at Gloucester was similarly helpful (by then I was teaching and had a big Founders' Day service every year and wanted some practise time). Michael Tavinor when Precentor at Ely, a fine organist himself but he was very complimentary when I visited with another choir even though I suspected he could have easily played better than me. Does this still happen now – I do appreciate that with large and paying visitor numbers it's not as simple.

    I stopped playing around four years ago (mostly due to a debate I lost with a paint scraping tool!). But even then the robed choir was a thing of distant memory, congregations were shrinking and there was, as now, little or no organ music broadcast by the BBC. I'm of the opinion now that it's almost too late to rescue anything from the fragmented remains, the odds are stacked quite firmly against the organ world. I feel somehow that many of us have stood helplessly by whilst this demise came to be.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  12. As there seems to be some cross-referencing between two recent threads (BBC Organs and Organ Recitals : Audience Preferences) I thought I'd start one off which might be worth debating. There seems to be some consensus that there is some repertoire which we might consider to be less than attractive for general audiences. I'd suggest there is also quite a lot of music which is also overplayed and I'd like to kick off by suggesting my nomination for Room 101, a piece I'd be glad never to hear again in a recital.

    However, I'm also suggesting that we should suggest something we consider more worthy to take its place, let's try to be positive

    I'm mindful that there are some sacred cows out there in print which should remain forever but here is my own nomination for the abattoir – Widor's ubiquitous Toccata. Now, I realise that its sheer sonic impact alone is almost a reason for including it. I remember (as many others will) the impact it had upon playing the Germani/Selby LP for the first time. But, as time passes I came to realise that its not really a very good piece at all. I'll pass on the 'it's the prototype for the French Toccata' on the grounds that if it is then it could have been a lot better. What is there to admire in a piece that relies heavily on an over-repetitious RH figure which is then doubled by the pedals as a so-called pedal theme? And on and on it trundles, with such predictability that even a first-timer at an organ recital knows what's going to happen next. Even the (probably) easier Boelmann Toccata has much more variety and certainly more interesting harmony and modulation - it seems to have fallen out of favour as well and I don't know why, it's a fine Toccata. Just before I pull the lever on Widor I might also mention I attended a recital a few years back where it was played on this organ (!)

     

    https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=D06838

     

    Anyhow – my own nomination to replace the Widor would be Franz Schmidt's Toccata in C. It's one heck of a technical challenge and I suspect that's why it's not programmed more frequently. But what a delightful piece. Clearly delineated themes, a logical Sonata form structure which I think is pretty straightforward for an audience to follow and some very interesting and taxing tests of dexterity (it would be fun for the audience to watch on a big screen, I think they'd be impressed).

  13. ‘So whydoes live pop music attract such crowds? ‘ - (tongue in cheek here) - because it’s popular?!

    I’d also suggest that the prospects for bassoonists and violists are possibly better. By pure chance I had a very interesting conversation with a professional horn player who has had to be laid off recently. In a general discussion about the sorry state everything is in now he was very much of the opinion that there are far too many trumpeters, clarinettists, flautists around for the amount of work. Pre-lockdown and as a horn player he found little difficulty in staying on the podium. 

  14. 35 minutes ago, Brizzle said:

    Stephen Farr, Daniel Moult, Nigel Allcoat, Kevin Bowyer

    I don’t think I could have come up with a better selection of organists who are really worth hearing. Correct me if I’m wrong but at least three of them have no other church duties which suggests that the more successful organists seem to be the ones who can solely concentrate on that aspect.

    Thanks for clearing up some of the mysteries of the German system, I had a vague recollection of the ABC designations and, like the entire tertiary music education system are we turning out too many highly qualified and competent musicians - there doesn’t seem to be anywhere near enough employment for them.

  15. 9 minutes ago, Brizzle said:

    ‘Performers.  Guy Bovet said, in a radio interview, that the organ is the instrument that you can most regularly hear badly played.‘

    (I seem to have parsed my reply in the quotation field, forgive that bit of IT uselessness). 

    I’d agree entirely. It is, essentially, an amateur profession in its wider context. If we take Brass Bands, for instance, the contest circuit sets levels of competency and musicianship which guarantee a progression. There is a bar set there and players are eager to try to up their game (although, having played in many contests the whole thing can become a trial). It keeps players in their toes, sharpens up their general reading and interpretation, all of which is beneficial. It’s also an example of music-making for amateurs which can produce superb musicians. 

    in Germany there are the levels attained for different standards. What do we have? A phantom College administrating diplomas which try to cover everything and largely fail. Is it really necessary to have the paperwork sections including exercises and questions which I’d suggest are of little practical use (Organology, whatever that is supposed to be). 
     

    I’d entirely concur that there are some duds amongst some of the most highly regarded repertoire, Widor is a good example, do entire symphonies have to be programmed? Is there a tendency to include composers such as Liszt, Elgar, Mendelssohn simply because it’s thought they might have more kudos on the programme? This then, as a consequence, succeeds in implying that real organist/composers are not up to the mark (although in my opinion, the Mendelssohn Sonatas are trite, nowhere near the standard that FM showed in the Octet, Symphonies, Chamber works).

    I groan when the Britten Prelude and Fugue appear, it’s a dreadful piece, again nowhere near his other achievements. But it appears because it’s by Britten, not because it has any intrinsic merit. 
     

    It’s also clear that many local association programmes are limited by the ability of their performers and they frequently revert to the odd easy Toccata, dreary Rheinberger ditties, Whitlock (the easy ones). If it’s a public recital then the public demand a far higher standard and are frequently let down.

    Theres no easy solution here, the situation has been largely left to fester and decay and I’d agree entirely that the general public are passed over.

     

  16. A valuable exercise indeed. There’s probably a case for saying it might be too late but there are some points where the marketing and planning of recitals falls way short of similar events in, say, local music societies.

    One of my biggest gripes is the abject failure to publish the programme of music in advance and this is pretty widespread. I simply won’t go to any recital if I don’t know beforehand what is to be performed. There’s really no excuse for it and it strikes me as lazy and even amateur. You wouldn’t be expected to turn up at the Wigmore Hall not knowing the programme so why is it that this happens at organ recitals? Organ recitals.com has the facility to append programmes, easily. Leeds TH, for instance, publish their full programme at the start of the season.

    I attended one recital in which a respected organist programmed the entire Elgar Vesper voluntaries, a guaranteed turn off. These are of such insignificance as to be rightly forgotten, the sort of bland doodlings to be found in those Victorian Vademecums, serviceable music to fill a gap but nothing more.
     

    My other bugbear is the outdated ‘every organ recital should include Bach’ statement. Colin’s analysis appears to quash that. Why Bach? Why not Buxtehude for instance? 

    And, biggest turn off (for me) - transcriptions (or, more accurately, arrangements). It’s almost admitting that there’s no decent organ music and I’m inclined to agree at times with that. Decent organ music is there, it’s mostly written by organist composers (much like guitar repertoire) and can I think capture the imagination of the audience. This ‘transcriptions’ lark reaches its absolute nadir in a certain organists fixation with Mahler symphonies, an utterly pointless exercise, futile.

    Maybe some of my comments are abrasive, possibly prejudiced, but the organ recital business is a victim of its own narrow mindedness. There are exceptions of course but joe public isn’t going to be persuaded by a lack of publicity/programme, obscure repertoire, attempts at popularity (arrangements of lollipops from other genres) and a feeling that there is some sort of special alchemy involved - there isn’t.

     

  17. ‘So what we're seeing is that the conventional bounds of accepted wisdom in the recording industry can be broken and are ripe for re-investigation, and in the 21st Century defined by uncertainties of unstoppable biospheric forces rather than the anthropocene illusion of dominance of the 20th century, all areas of accepted wisdom are ripe for re-evaluation.’

    Good grief - care to offer a translation in layman’s terms!?


    From many years of recording a variety of performances, including the organ, it became clear that a lot of the built-in mics on portable digital recorders were excellent (admittedly I did have a pretty expensive Sony, PCMD50). However, I always felt that those old school Tandy PZM mics were fantastic. Durable, easy placement and uncoloured. I invested in a Rode stereo mic which was expensive (and still is) - the old Tandy’s still did better. There’s so much choice now that I’d be hard pressed to recommend anything - they all claim to do everything.

  18. I recall a discussion at school with some pupils in which I posed the question - which is the easiest key to play. True to form they nearly all said C Major, I suspect due to subliminal piano teacher brainwashing, that it has no accidentals and was  therefore easier to read. Fair point I suppose. However, I suggested they try playing a B major scale and say how that ‘felt’, under the fingers. Unanimously the answer was ‘dead easy’. And why? Because thumb passing is simpler off black keys, C involves a contraction to pass the thumb. Same principle goes for D flat, a similar easy feel. It’s Not conclusive by any means but at least they began to think about physical movements rather than getting bogged down deciphering sharps and flats. 

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