DariusB

As this was mentioned in another thread, I should mention that the event with the organ builders to present all the details of the rebuild that was due to take place after last Saturday's recital has had to be postponed until 17 July at 1pm. Apologies to those who had planned to attend. You can get free tickets on the Town Hall website to attend live, or it will be streamed on YouTube - here's the link for both: https://www.leedstownhall.co.uk/whatson-event/meet-the-new-town-hall-organ/?venue=771/ Then we can (finally) announce all the details. Last Saturday's recital did go ahead, if anyone would still like to watch it (we now have video as well, plus improved microphones) - Guilmant, Grainger (not CPE Bach as on the listing), Bach BWV537, and pieces by S S Wesley, Robin Walker, Eric Coates and Vierne.

The complete recons Thank you! Members of the forum might like to know that complete details of the organ rebuild will be presented at a special event both live and online on June 26 at 1pm (preceded by a recital at 11am). I'll be giving a full presentation on the rebuild plans in conjunction with the organ builders, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions as well. Full details (and free tickets for those who want to attend in person) on the Town Hall website next week.

I’ve recently listened to Graham B’s recording of this piece. It’s a fabulous work, well worth exploring - almost as big as the Symphony but on one hearing seems more structured and with a more accessible harmonic idiom.

The most spectacular (and insane) piece for organ and orchestra (which would suit the RAH really well) is surely Khatchaturian Symphony no 3. Quite amusing comments below below the YouTube recording including 'is it even legal to write music this exciting' and 'pure musical carnage' (not sure if that's a compliment). Needs a huge orchestra including 12 trumpets. An amazing recording here - make sure the neighbours are out though... (disclosure - I was page turning for this!)

Leeds Town Hall resuming concerts tomorrow - now with video streaming, new mics for the audio, and a live audience! First of the new summer recital series tomorrow at 11am, with Christopher Stokes from Manchester Cathedral playing Mendelssohn, Bach, Widor etc. These are to raise money for the organ reconstruction which we are planning to announce at an event on 26 June. Recital link: https://www.leedstownhall.co.uk/whatson-event/summer-organ-series-christopher-stokes/?venue=

That raises interesting questions about perfect pitch and memory. I find that with slow pieces I'm effectively 'playing by ear' if I memorise, so the wrong pitch would definitely put me off. With fast complex pieces the memorisation is more mechanical so it might be less of a problem.

If the trumpet is on a low-ish pressure, it will fall off markedly in the treble, whereas the cornet will be non-existent at the bottom, quiet in the middle and get much stronger in the treble. Drawing them together is sometimes the only way to get an even volume through the whole compass.

Well that was interesting, and unexpectedly entertaining! I’ll never look at the SMITF organ the same way again......

The CD which I recorded at Rochdale Town Hall last year, just released, was made possible by the generous support of Peter Allison, a member of this forum - many thanks to you, Peter. Jake Purches at Base2 music has really captured the sound of this wonderful instrument. For those interested - Whitlock Sonata, Fela Sowande Kyrie (a really powerful piece), and two shorter pieces. Available at https://www.base2music.store

Thanks Peter - I tried Google but was less successful than you. I hadn't heard of Arthur Poister though - I looked him up and his Wikipedia entry doesn't mention this feat.

A mention of Demessieux on Twitter reminded me that she was one of a select few to play all of Bach's organ works from memory. Does anyone know how many organists have achieved this? I know about Dupre but not sure about anyone else. I'm assuming it's not a huge number....

The stop lists and specifications on NPOR (or anywhere else) won't have this information, because manuals on English organs are usually not numbered at all. So any numbering used is whatever the composer makes up. I wonder if Stanford and Elgar (being published by Breitkopf) used Roman numerals simply to conform to the publisher's 'house style'.

The whole I/II/III thing is a bit of a minefield - as you say, the I - Great, II Swell etc is 'usual', as Elgar does as well. Yet Lemare, Elgar's exact contemporary, uses I for Choir, II for Great, etc. I feel safer with composers who just use the names (like Hollins)....

As both of these have been under discussion here lately.... I got to know Douglas Steele a little when I was organ scholar at Manchester Cathedral in around 1990. He was about 80 then, a really lovely man with a huge enthusiasm for music of all kinds. He kindly gave me quite a bit of his old music - none of his own compositions - but it did include Norman Cocker's own copy of the Reubke Sonata hand dated 1908 (the original edition, obviously). Detailed registrations in pencil, and a list of all the dates on which he performed it (10 times between 1928 and 1939).

I think David Clegg was the arranger of Rubinstein's "Russian Patrol."

You may know this already (perhaps it's already well known in Masonic circles) but I accidentally discovered in the course of researching William Spark that he had compiled what seems to be an extensive collection of Masonic music for various instruments and genres: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/author/dr-william-spark/

Easter Monday recital tomorrow at 11am from the Schulze at St Bartholomew's Armley - by the man who knows it better than anyone else!

I certainly didn't mean to cause offence - apologies if any was taken. As you say, they're of their time, and some things from then have lasted better than others. But I wonder if the recording is also a problem - I rarely use en chamade reeds for anything recorded, because a mic placement close enough to ensure general clarity is often too close for chamades to sound any good.

Hopefully, not like the solo reed on the recently-binned Radley College organ which turned up on Radio 3 yesterday? The presenter described the sound as 'extraordinary' - which is one way of putting it.

It would certainly reveal how rarely some pipes are used! But the benefit of a 32-note pedal board for practice is not just from using the extra two notes - finding the top E and F feels totally different and can suddenly become difficult if moving from practising on 30 notes to 32 notes.

Hi Peter, hope you're keeping well.... It's probably a version of the artificial 32' reed that Compton used to make. I don't think they all had the same composition, but the one I've heard was surprisingly convincing. I can't remember where that was, but there's a composition of one here which looks extraordinary..... https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N07503 Darius

Based on my experience of modern Vierne editions, I wouldn't have an automatic confidence that any new edition would be 'just fine', as excellent scholarship is often undermined by careless printing or proofreading. Every Vierne movement I taught had at least one wrong note (and in one case half a bar that made no sense) - and these weren't corrections as they weren't mentioned in the (extensive) notes. At least the mistakes in the reprints of old Franck editions are known and well documented. If you're going to try a modern edition I'd suggest you speak to someone who has experience of using it first.

On the subject of women composers and York Minster, it was good to hear Ben Morris on Radio 4 this week playing some Florence Price on the newly restored organ. There's some more of her music available in the series 'King of Kings - organ music by Black composers" which is well worth a look (search Gia Music online).

Tomorrow (Monday): Thomas Trotter at 1.05pm. Live audio stream, link via the Town Hall website.All support gratefully appreciated!

A terraced house complete with pipe organ installed in the stairwell.... been in the same family for generations apparently! https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/76533279#/