Andrew Butler

What an interesting thread!

I remember being asked to play the Andantino in Db at a wedding about 40 years ago. I trotted it out at a service the week before, and afterwards, inevitably, someone said they'd enjoyed "Moonlight and Roses" I explained the origin of the piece, and from then on, the chap in question was always pulling my leg about it being called "Moonlight and Roses in Db"

I am furloughed until at least the end of June. I play at an RC church in the Southwark Archdiocese and the (I imagine very few) paid DoM's are paid on the diocesan payroll for tax and safeguarding purposes. I receive regular emails from diocesan HR saying furlough has been extended a month at a time, but have no idea what is going to happen. My church is currently closed for building and redecoration work, so is not opening for private prayer, and there is a change of parish priest next month. I don't know what will happen when public services resume if singing is not allowed......

Interestingly, with regard to the acoustic question, the last time I played "Master Tallis' Testament" (my favourite) in our acoustically dead building, someone totally unmusical told me afterwards that I should never play it again as it sounded awful, but they would have liked to hear it in a more reverberant building as they suspected it would sound better.

Absolutely agree - but the point I was seeking to clarify (and which has been answered further up) was why have an Acoustic Bourdon (ie quinted) AND a separate Quint borrowed from the Bourdon.

My main church is RC - it is an instruction from the Bishops' Conference rather than a recommendation.

Regarding access, I have been told by "The Powers That Be" at one of my churches that, as most people would think of the organist as a "parishioner" they would be upset that I had been allowed into the church and they weren't. At another church it was pointed out that it would be difficult to provide a convincing argument for my being out of lockdown.

Is it just me, or is anyone else having serious concerns about their organ playing in the current situation? I have a piano at home, but access to any of the four church organs I play regularly is not allowed in the lockdown. Is it possible to maintain organ technique purely at the piano ("pretend" pedalling etc) or is it best to just not try, and hope for the best (or start again!) if and when we get back to normal?

Pure surmise, but I wonder if the term "Clarion Mixture" might date from the time when Mixtures were unfashionable - and using the name of a Reed stop might render it more palatable...?

As a former member of the cathedral congregation, and having played this organ, this seems a sensible scheme - particularly the Clarion Mixture. Clifford Harker used to play RH up an octave with a big congregation. However, I am surprised at the same nomenclature for two Clarinets...? I am also struggling with the logic of an Acoustic Bourdon at 32' AND a separate Quint stop from the Bourdon.....?

I don't mind flats or sharps as long as there aren't too many for my brain to keep track of. As far as hand shape goes, A Major fits like a glove.....

Just heard that Odile Pierre, one time Titulaire of La Madeleine in Paris, died on Saturday.

https://www.sheffieldcathedral.org/news/2020/2/23/sheffield-cathedral-appoints-new-the-master-of-the-music

Yes - I've often wondered about that; and knowing my luck, and some of the crates I've had to play, there would probably be a crash as the linkage broke or the shutters fell off!

Many thanks - but as you are in the group I would rather it came from you first hand! I will link this discussion to it though as there have been interesting replies.

Stanley - would you have any objection to me popping a link to this discussion on my Facebook group (UK Catholic Organists Choirs and Cantors) as it is worthy of a wide audience...?

Just heard that David Flood is retiring from Canterbury in the summer.

The only time I have had a problem with time lag was when I was playing for a big deanery service at Canterbury (the Mander) and included a Stanley voluntary beforehand. The Cornet on the Choir Organ, being at the furthest east end of the triforium from the console was ever so slightly "behind" the accompaniment (Swell or Great flutes - can't remember) Not a lot, but enough to put me off in limited rehearsal time, so I programmed something else.

I understand that he is having an operation this month and then convalescing.

I agree about Hurford's "Laudate Dominum" suite. I used to play it a lot but have lost my copy. I once played the "Meditation" (I think it's called that) immediately before an evensong in Canterbury Cathedral when I was playing for a visiting choir. There was a large congregation, and the talking beforehand was phenomenal during something loud that I played, but when I started the Hurford - with the melody on the Choir Stopped Diapason with Tremulant, they shut up instantly!

I believe he moved to Tewkesbury

So sad - and not without parallels at all levels, not just cathedrals. In my own modest (though quite well remunerated) post, I no longer have a music budget, and deputies cannot be paid in my absence - owing to a new "parish centre" having been built. It has totally disheartened me - I never thought I would want not to be an organist anymore but am seriously considering giving up.

LOL!! I can't remember who the Assistant was at Norwich some years ago who "painted" "The lot is fallen unto me in a fairground" with the Cymbelstern and "There go the ships" with a blast on something low and strident....

I missed the word-painting when listening live. Very tasteful compared to what I do in the line of "How great though art" that goes "....and hear the birds singredients sweetly in the trees" ? Mind you, who was it who used the Blackadder theme as a descant to the 2nd half of the tune "Morning Light" ? ?

Temporary Viscount Regent instrument currently being installed at Canterbury - see Viscount's Facebook page.