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Andrew Butler
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Posts posted by Andrew Butler
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Then there is my main church, where the priest asked me a few months ago to only play quiet voluntaries, as "Some people have tinnitus" In my usual pig-headed fashion, I have not played a voluntary at all since! (Apart from a couple of occasions when I had received requests for special occasions)
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2 hours ago, Dafydd y Garreg Wen said:
I guessed that was what you meant! Attractive, but superficial, and thus tedious with repetition.
Indeed - and the repeats in this piece are integral as it is a dialogue between Horns and Flutes. Superficial is a good word!
There is a parallel - to me at least - with his Preces & Responses which, although attractive, do not stand up as well as others from the same period or earlier.
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On 2/2/2018 at 17:29, Dafydd y Garreg Wen said:
Eh?? How can it be both "attractive" and "dull"?
Apologies for delay in replying - I only look on the forum occasionally. That was badly put owing to doing it in a hurry - apologies. What I meant was that it is the sort of piece that sounds "nice" but is lacking something - I use it as a voluntary, and people have commented that they like it, but it bores me. I suppose it would be more interesting using a period "French Horn" stop than the composer's suggested Diapasons.
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There is an attractive but rather dull - and boring to play - "Air for French Horns and Flutes" by John Reading in Volume 3 of Novello's "English Organ Music" where Reading says "Play the French Horns upon the Diapasons an octave lower" (Only possible exactly as writ with a "long compass") It is true "horn writing"
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Interesting point! The present Nave Organ does a pretty good job and I was wondering what the logic was behind a division in the western transepts. Now, in the eastern transepts makes some sense, as at the moment, with a service in the Quire it is necessary to couple the Choir Organ ( most of which is at the east end of the south triforium - Tubas are near the Pulpitum) to support singing near the High Altar.
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On 1/12/2018 at 19:18, David Drinkell said:
The Flageolet is more of a fifteenth, I'm glad to say. A Swell which is used for accompaniment needs a 2' of principal (or near-principal) tone, otherwise there is a hiatus at a dynamic level which is needed quite often. A lot of instruments are let down in this way. Personally, I rarely care for a 2' flute anywhere except on the Solo (or the Pedal). Many forumites will remember the 2' flute on the Great at the RCO in Kensington Gore. To get Great to Fifteenth, you had to couple the Choir!
The last time I played an Evensong at Canterbury (a good 25 years ago now) I didn't have time to set up a capture memory channel, so I used David Flood's settings. IIRC one of the Swell pistons had a "mini full swell" effect with something like 16' Bourdon, 8 & 4 Diapasons, Flageolet and Hautbois - which was very effective and useful.
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Do we know what the "temporary organ" will be?
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Link isn't live - for me at any rate.....??
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On 11/19/2017 at 08:06, DHM said:
Anybody who knows better please correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe Carlo's former organ (or one of them) is now at Sutton Valence School in Kent.
Not sure what was there before (may have been an Allen but I have a feeling it was a Makin...) but Sutton Valence now have a custom Viscount.
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Are they Pipe-istrelle bats?
Groan
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I always enjoy KCC's offerings - how refreshing to read positive comments for a change!! I can't quite put my finger on why, but I must confess to finding the plainsong Passion Gospel a slightly weak link though...
Regarding the organ - has anything been done to the big Swell 8' Reed (can't remember if it's a Trumpet, Horn, or whatever)? It seems much more evident now...
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he's on sabbatical
I guessed that was probably the case - I just couldn't find any mention of it anywhere. I have subsequently found it in a St Johm's Choir association newsletter from the autumn.
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The Radio 3 Choral Evensong page for Ash Wednesday's broadcast from St John's Cambridge has John Challenger as "Acting DOM" I can find nothing on the college website as to Andrew Nethsingha's absence....??
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Carlise Cathedral advertising for DOM in this week's Church Times
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Talking of Canterbury, the first time I played there was for a local deanery choirs evensong with David Flood conducting. Unfortunately, a lightning strike the previous night had knocked out the CCTV link so I couldn't see him conducting. We agreed on tempi beforehand, and it went fine until I forgot in the Stanford in C Mag Gloria David didn't want any sort of rall at the end....!
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I almost had a bad accident at Canterbury Cathedral some years ago when playing for a visiting choir. I had a brief practice a couple of days previously and had decided, as time was too short to set up my own, to use the then Assistant's piston settings. Presumably for a psalm with trumpets and shawms mentioned, he had in the meantime changed Swell 1 from the Celestes to 8 & 4 Reeds. Luckily, I spotted it in time!
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I had a feeling there had been a similar topic in the past, but can't actually find it... Apologies in advance is this is a duplication!
We all make mistakes from time to time, and suffer problems caused by others. In over 40 years of playing in church, at the end of last year I had the worst "disaster" I have ever suffered. To cut a long story short, at a very big service which was supposed to proceed unannounced, the priest for some reason announced everything - sometimes at unexpected points. I was caught on the hop with an announcement of a choir piece (Warlock: Where riches is everlastingly) Owing to colds / fatigue amongst choir members it had been decided to perform it in C Minor rather than D Minor. Being caught "off guard" I totally forgot, and played it as writ in d; not having "perfect pitch" I thought nothing of it, until I realized the choir just could not "pitch" it. The performance collapsed - with much sniggering from the congregation. I apologized to the choir afterwards - they were surprisingly unbothered by it. I apologized to the priest, and asked if my apology could be printed in the following week's news sheet, but he said it wasn't necessary, although I pointed out that the choir, who were blameless, seemed to have been at fault to the ears of the congregation.
I was - and still am - totally devastated by what happened. My (admittedly rather silly) immediate "knee-jerk" reaction at the time was to resign from every professional body, unsubscribe from Facebook organists' groups, and "unfriend" on Facebook all my musical contacts as I felt totally unworthy to remain in contact!
I just wondered how others cope with such things?
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Leslie Pearson made an LP with the microphones very close to the pipework in order to cut out any natural resonance (not much at the best of times!) at All Souls...but I don't recall its title.
This was "Organ In Close Up" I was wrong in my previous comment about the performer being David Bell It was Leslie Pearson
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I remember MANY years ago having a record that was an experiment along these lines. It was the organ of All Souls Langham Place. Microphones were placed inside the organ in each division. It was recorded, then the recording was played back in auch more reverberant acoustic and recorded again. I can't remember the title of the record, but it showed off the resources of the All Souls organ and to be honest didn't really succeed as an experiment. I'd love to find it again as it was very interesting as concept!
The disc was called "Organ In Close-Up" Was the performer David Bell...? [see PS] I never quite understood the reason for it, although it was explained on the sleeve.
PS - See later post. It was Leslie Pearson, not David Bell
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There was a ukelele band playing and singing "Silent Night" outside my local Waitrose on Saturday morning.
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...any shop playing a traditional Christmas carol.
For my sins I've spent several hours over recent days in central Birmingham doing my Christmas shopping and we thought it would be fun to play "I spy (/hear)" and win a point for every Christmas carol we heard being played, whether live or recorded as we mooched around the stores. I didn't consider songs about giving my heart last Christmas or Santa Claus coming to town to be Christmas carols though I only heard each of these once, and am astonished to report that our running carol total to date is therefore - zero.
It struck me a few years ago how musically illiterate our children are growing up to be, when I set up a miniature orchestra for our church's talented young string, brass and woodwind players to accompany the Nine Lessons and Carols service. They complained could I give them something easier to play as they didn't know "songs" like O little town of Bethlehem. On reflection, I shouldn't be surprised - if our carol heritage is no longer heard anywhere at Christmas, except perhaps in church on Christmas morning, why should we expect future generations to recognise them? And is it only Birmingham where Christmas is a totally carol free zone, or is this complete absence of festive music noted elsewhere too?
If they are that "talented" surely they could use their music reading ability to learn the "songs"?
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I suppose they function much in the same way as a pair of geigens or suchlike would on a romantic Choir Organ.
Yes, I suppose so - although I would have thought as it is a combined Choir/Solo division, a pair of undulating strings - contrasting with whatever the Swell ones are like - would be of more use. (Not criticizing the scheme in any way, just a personal opinion)
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Everybody has seen this, I suppose? http://www.tickell-organs.co.uk/KebleCollegeOxford.htm
Exciting stuff.
I wonder what the rationale was behind the Viola 8 and Fugara 4 on the Choir/Solo? I am sure there was a reason and that they work well, but I am not sure, on paper, what I would use then for in that scheme!
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Question answered! :-)
Length of voluntaries.
in Organ Music
Posted
Or Caleb Simper? ;-)