Keitha
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Posts posted by Keitha
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I'm told that Volume 3 is in production, and that the plan is for it to be available to coincide with the "Bach & Friends" weekend. I will provide the publisher link as soon as it's available.
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The 'composing' phase of the Orgelbüchlein Project has now been completed and there will be a series of recitals in London to celebrate this, supported by the RCO, on 23rd, 24th & 25th September:
https://www.rco.org.uk/events/bachandfriends
I'm not sure where we are with publishers yet, but will update as soon as I hear anything.
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I thought that this was a particularly nice rendition (and appropriate for the occasion) - so I decided to play the piece this morning! I use the 2001 Barenreiter Urtext edition, which has crotchets = 60. Tried it at that tempo last night - I felt that I was grinding to a halt and getting very bored! I think that it needs a bit of 'movement'.
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The 1994 Walker at St Chads, Birmingham, was given a complete clean and overhaul by Nicholsons in 2019. I haven't played it since, but by all accounts, it is in fine fettle!
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I think that Rowland's point about acoustics is a good one. I know of one excellent Neo-baroque organ which is almost ruined by being in a carpeted church with a low wood-covered ceiling - there is literally no reverberation and the use of what should be an excellent Mixture is almost painful on the ears. The old adage of the building being the most important stop on an organ is not far from the truth in my view.
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I don't know a great deal of what happens in CofE cathedrals - most of my visits are as a tourist (when I do enjoy hearing the organ - as most tour guides that I have experienced have closed circuit radio links with their posse of tourists, if I want to listen to the organ, I simply walk out of range!) or as a member of a concert/recital audience.
However, I do admire the French (and sometimes German and Austrian) practice of having a recital either before or after Sunday Mass (in addition to the sortie and improvisations). For example, St Sulpice, Paris when you usually get a 15 minute session before Mass and a 45 minute recital afterwards and St Eustache, where you get a 40 minute recital before Mass, then a 10 minute improvisation before and a big sortie after Mass. Maybe something to think about...
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I wonder if the Leamington Spa music shop was Geoff Gough - just off the lower end of the Parade near All Saints Church? I used to buy both piano and organ music there. My preferred shop was Cranes in Smallbrook Queensway in Birmingham - they always seem to have just about anything in stock and I used to get the train to Brum as a teenager to buy stuff - all now gone, alas. One that is still going strong (since 1823) is McCullough Pigott in Dublin - again used to have a good stock of organ music - my Irish Granny used to treat me there by buying me pretty much anything I wanted when I was a 10 year old every time we went into 'town'. Great memories. BTW Presto (mentioned above) have a great online operation for CDs and sheet music and their in-shop staff are very helpful and are mostly musicians themselves.
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First Mass of Christmas - prelude on a series of Christmas Carols arranged for organ (back by popular request after last year's outing), traditional carols during Mass. Sortie - Toccata on 'Von Himmel Hoch by Marko Hakanpää (first seen mentioned on this forum, bought some of his pieces...and now I have to play them every year - whatever happened to Dieu Parmi Nous?). Predictive text's 'Parmigiano' spotted just in time!
Night Mass - prelude on John Rutter carols arranged for organ (again by popular request!), traditional carols, Mass Setting - Belmont Chant Mass by Christopher Walker, Proper Antiphons, Responsorial Psalm and Alleluia and the sortie will be Hakanpää's take on 'Adeste Fideles' (followed by mince pies and mulled wine in the parish room for all).
Day Mass - improvisation on Plainchant introit. Mass setting pretty much as per the Night Mass, but no antiphons, sortie '`In dulci jubilo' - JSB (that one!).
Sunday Holy Family (not St Stephen in the RC Church this year!) - Mass from the Ordinariate's 'Divine Worship" - setting is Merbecke, plus antiphons, psalm etc. Sortie will be the Sinfonia from Cantata 29 (JSB arr Dupré).
Then start working up for next Saturday (New Year Mass) & Sunday, Epiphany Eve Nine Lessons & Carols, and Mass for the Epiphany.
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I had the same thoughts as Rowland - but I've never played the URC organ. If you could identify the church (to put both Rowland and me out of our collective misery(!)) and PM me with the name of the person who last tuned the organ (I would bet that know him quite well!) I can probably get all the answers you need pretty quickly.
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I've been caught out in a similar way by modern suspended tracker action! In fact, having not long since commissioned a rebuild, I was given a choice of key pressure on an electro-pneumatic action, so it's not a question of looking silly. I regularly play 2 EP-actioned organs in the same city and the key pressures are very different. I prefer the lighter one (which I chose) - but it is a personal preference. Nicholsons are very good at this sort of thing and will be happy to provide good advice.
I am a little puzzled by the action - most of the originally Hewins organs that I have come across in the Warwickshire area tend to be TP or tracker - I don't think that I have come across an EP model - but there's no reason why it couldn't have been 'electrified' at some point!
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Thank you Martin for posting this. It may be 'interesting nerdy stuff' but could not have come at a better time - I yesterday agreed with our Parish Priest that we will now instal an A/V setup! This is all hugely helpful to our planning.
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Oops - sorry! I forgot to say that you need to open the "Contents" tab to access the full index of works.
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Bach Organ works - does this help?
https://www.baerenreiter.com/en/shop/product/details/BA5279/
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Credit where credit's due - full marks to the BBC - first we had Iveta Apkalna, now we have David Briggs. It's a pity it's late on Sunday night - but it goes well with my 'cocoa' (aka Sunday night malt!).
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'Super hanc Petram' is (to be) published by Bardon Music (http://www.bardon-music.com). It's currently shown as being 'in preparation'.
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It's not so much that there are 'rules', it's the fact that changes come out at the last minute and are badly communicated (and I sometimes wonder if those who prepare them live in the real world!). I saw these yesterday morning - passed them to my Parish Priest immediately, then our Diocese announced that it was going to follow them. He and I then need to devise a plan and communicate it to parishioners, the stewards and cleaning co-ordinator and other clergy, musicians etc tomorrow. We also have to take local conditions into account - only 66% single jabbed and 33% double jabbed here. Then we need to brief stewards, visiting organists (I'm passing all paid gigs to organists who need the income to live) and prepare signage...and it goes on, and on and on...
On the other hand, we have been fortunate in having a hard working and well-organised team of volunteers, cantor & organ at Sunday mass since last August, the organ being maintained, and a congregation of around 130-150 - with no-one catching the infection. One very real benefit has been the development of a cadre of parish supporters (many new to the parish), who will provide a backbone for the parish for a few years to come (looking on the brighter side). We've also gained a few things - such as having a proper and reverent Communion Procession rather than the traditional 'queue'.
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This is what the Catholic Church is saying (although there have been minor differences in one or two dioceses:
Social Distancing and Capacity of Churches
From 19th July, there will be no legislation on social distancing in England but regulations will continue in Wales for now, and thus churches may increase their capacity, recognising that for the time being different rules apply for England and Wales.
Care has to be taken to ensure that churches continue to be places where people feel safe to gather to worship. Each local community should examine the local conditions regarding the virus, and adopt an attitude of care for the people who desire to attend Mass. Suggestions to help this include (but are not limited to):
1. In large churches, designating an area of the church where there will be set places, socially distant from each other, and where those seated there will be required to wear a face covering.
2. In places which cannot do this, considering whether one Mass over the weekend schedule would continue providing a reduced capacity with social distancing.
3. Producing simple cards with a phrase such as “Please leave a Space” which peoplecan pick up on entry to church and put beside them so that a space can be left to allow for distancing.
The adoption of methods such as these will build confidence in the people that the church remains a safe place to enter and worship.
Each church should continue to assess the local situation regarding the virus and adapt as necessary to the local conditions. This may mean that in areas of very high transmission, churches may have tighter measures than in areas of lower transmission.
Congregational Singing
Indoor congregational singing will be permitted from 19th July. The use of cantor groups and other choirs is now permitted. It is recommended that singing should be phased in gently aspart of worship over the summer period and that face coverings should be worn by members of the congregation whilst singing together, until infection levels reduce.
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Thanks sb - the one place I didn't think to look was RCO News!
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William has advised me that there have been a few publication and copyright technical problems which have much delayed the publication of the remaining volumes. It is likely that Volume 3 will be published later this year, with two more volumes next year. I will advise on this thread as soon as I hear that further Volumes are published.
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Like you Martin, I have been following the project. There was to have been a competition to select the last two chorale preludes for Volume 5 in, I think, June 2017, after which Volume 5 was due to go into production. There has been no published information about this since then, so I emailed William Whitehead for an update. I will advise on this thread when I have more news.
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Jonathan has just made his Beethoven 5 and 7 scores available for purchase via the Scott Brothers website. I have listened to almost all his concerts over the last few years and I cannot recall a performance of Beethoven 6, and its not on any of his CD's.
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Just for the fun of it:
1. Regensburg Cathedral (Rieger 2009)
2. Introduction, Passacaglia & Fugue - Healey Willan
The above would sound great at Cologne, but I prefer the tone of the Regensburg Organ, which also has a 'Tuba Episcopalis' as well as full chamade battery. In case anyone wonders - no, I can't play the Willan - I'm learning it, but it will probably take the rest of my life to crack it! In the meantime, if I could persuade Rachel Mahon or David Briggs (who both play it extremely well IMHO) to stand in for me at Regensburg, I would be a very happy man!!
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I agree with Paul and Jonathan - this will not be a resultant stop, but will have full length resonators until space gets too tight, when half length resonators will be used - 'Acoustique' is always used to describe this arrangement in France (if it's described at all) in my experience, and will appear in brackets on a specification but not generally on the stop knob itself. Evreux has an odd pedal specification - because of space limitations. The nave is extraordinarily narrow for a cathedral of its size. However the sound of the organ is glorious in my view.
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21 hours ago, contraviolone said:
It's just a resultant stop. We may trust the French to tart up the word so that it sounds just superb when it isn't.
That organ case in Evreux is utterly hideous. What were they thinking? Totally out of sympathy with its surroundings and completely grotesque.
This is clearly a 'Marmite thing' - I applaud the Cathedral architects - who were involved in the case design. I think that it's imaginative, striking and solves a very real problem posed by the acoustics of the Cathedral - but that's just my view. The only thing I don't 'get' is the fitting of the slightly odd swathes of net-like fabric around the console. Maybe there is a point to it that I'm missing!
César Franck 200th Anniversary of birth
in Organ Music
Posted
Rowland mentioned the registration of the Ste Clothilde organ. Here is what is almost certainly the specification in 1859, from which you will see the playing aids and lots of other information about the original instrument and its subsequent changes:
https://organhistoricalsociety.org/OrganHistory/history/hist050.htm
I was there for a recital recently and it is in fine voice!