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Peter Clark

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Posts posted by Peter Clark

  1. On the profile page there is a category called "friends". What does this mean?

     

    There are people here with whom I communicate by e-mail or PM but I am not sure what help it would be to have "friends" in the obviously restricted sense of the word as used on this forum. Indeed I hope that these people are already my friends without my having to declare it publically.

     

    I also hope that there are more here who are my friends but with whom I do not communicate by e-mail or PM. I hope in addition that there are those, many of whom may not yet have joined this forum, and with whom I may or may not in the future communicate by e-mail or PM, but with whom I may in the future claim if not friendship then at least not emnity.

     

    Is there an advantage to this? How does it work?

     

    In sweet innocence

     

    Peter

  2. Now there's a thought - I wonder how something like that would go down at my place just before the notices! It might add a little spice to the whereabouts of the coffee morning or whatever.

     

    AJJ

     

    That rerminds me of something Gordon Reynolds wrote, to the effect that some church organists secretly covet theatre organ add-ons, so they could then reinforce profound statements in the sermon with a distant roll of thunder or add birdsong effects to the notice about the next Mothers' Union meeting. :lol:

     

    Peter

  3. I don't want to seem Macabre but.....

     

    also, Hollins' Trumpet Minuet.

     

    Philip Glass Dance No 4 (don't care too much for No 2, and I have no idea what happened to 1 and 3).

     

    Hope this helps

     

    Peter

  4. Really very good, Bill B is a great act

     

     

    ...and a considerable musical talent too. I think I once read that he was classically trained.

     

    P

     

    PS - has anyone ever clicked on the "please click here if you do not wish to wait" instruction when logging in and found it any quicker than waiting? <_<

  5. It is in an article posted on Sunday 14th June entitled "The age of new music for Mass" by Jeffrey Tucker. Worth reading anyway. Find that and click on "Choral Gradual by Richard Rice". Alternatively go direct to

    www.musicasacra.com/books/simplechoralgradual.pdf

     

    Malcolm

     

    Thanks Malcolm

     

    P

  6. On the website of the New Liturgical Movement there is a link (published on the site yesterday) of new, simple and effective chants for choirs of the propers of the Mass which can be downloaded, printed and used by church choirs gratis, free and without charge (as they say). They look rather better musically than the utterly horrendous books of responsorial psalms that Anglicans and Roman Catholics have been largely dependant on for a number of years now, especially those from one publisher in particular. They are well worth downloading and investigating.

     

    Malcolm

     

    It may be me Macolm but I couldn't find the link. Could you assist? Thanks.

     

    P

  7. This is, often correctly, the conventional interpretation of the Roman Rite, which basically tries to get the people to go forth and do after receiving the means with which to do it. There is, however, no reason why they should not go forth singing (or even listening to an organ voluntary!) <_<

     

    I'd go further and say that the concluding organ voluntary should be seen as an integral part of the liturgy, a response to or a summing up of all that has gone before.

     

    Peter

  8. Patrick I share your fears! For a start I cannot see how "and with your spirit" is any more meaningful than "and also with you". Does this mean then that only the celebrant has a spirit? As to the music, as one who has done a lot of settings for parish and choir use, I am concerned that the new texts will stifle composers rather than inspire them. I know of nobody who is currently working on music for the new texts (which are not as yet officially released).

     

    From a theological viewpoint I am disturbed by the proposal to restore "for many" at the consecration of the wine. This may be an accurate rendering of "pro multis" but does not convey the meaning of the Hebrew/Aramaic rabin which means many in the sense of the many including the "all".

     

    Back to the music. I trust that the Bishops' Conference will allow the continued use of current settings for at least five years after the change. Watch this space.

     

    Peter

  9. A new organ is planned for St Ethelreda's, Ely Place, London, built by Spaeth of Rapperswil, Switzerland:

     

    Manual 1

     

    Bourdon (12 from Rhorflote) 16

    Principal 8

    Rohrflote 8

    Gamba 8

    Octave 4

    Holzflote 4

    Quinte 2 2/3

    Superoctave 2

    Tierce 1 3/5

    Mixture III 1 1/3 + 1 + 2/3

    Trompete 8

     

    Manual 2

     

    Bourdon 8

    Salicionel 8

    Unda Maris 8

    Traversflote 4

    Fugura 4

    Flageolet 2

    Cimbel III 1 + 2/3 + 1/2

    Oboe 8

     

    Pedal

     

    Subbass 16

    Bourdon (12 from Subbass) 8

    Flotbass 8

    Choralbass 4

    Posaune 16

     

     

    I am assuming the usual couplers. Mechanical keyboard action, electric stop action, allowing programmable stop combinations. The compass is, I believe, 58-note manuals C-a''', 30 note pedalboard C-f. I think the pedalboard is straight concave. Manual 2 I a assuming to be enclosed. Playing aids, other than pistons, I am not sure of but I would imagine drawstop couplers duplicated on pedals (basing this on other Spaeth instruments but principally that in St Peter's, Cardiff).

     

    Peter

     

    The opening recital was given recently by Dame Gillian, details here:

     

    http://www.stetheldreda.com/June-August%202009%20web.PDF

  10. Playing all toes should be the default way of playing Bach, but should be seen within the broader aesthetic of the performance. If your organ is a Norman and Beard with a slow penumatic action, take you Novello edition, play with your heels and open the box gradually.... your organ, and the music will sound better.

     

    Greetings

     

    Bazuin

     

    I have no problem with toe and heel in Bach or Buxtehude &c but I would never use the swell pedal(s) when playing music from that era, which probably makes me a semi- or pseudo-purist! Neither do I have any real argument with Novello, especially the Orgelbuchlien. The inclusion of the chorale and text assist the interpretation of the music, in my opinion.

     

    Peter

  11. This is all most interesting, in light of what Geoffrey Haydon found when writing "Glimpses of Paradise" (the first in-depth study of John Tavener and his music)...

     

    He notes that the composer did not seem to care much for "Mandelion" (originally supposed to be an orchestral work) - he is quite pleased with the closing section "Dormition of the Mother of God" but "deplores the traces of Messiaen" throughout the rest of the piece. Indeed, it's a similar story with many of Tavener's earlier works: until he fully embraced Greek Orthodox music, he spent a lot of time experimenting with serialism and other formulaic methods which he subsequently came to detest.

     

    "Mandelion" therefore doesn't strike me as the sort of piece Tavener would want to revisit, much less revise. On the other hand, it remains his only solo organ work and as such it attracts periodic interest, as evidenced by those of us on this board who have copies (yes, I've got the scrawled m.s. too, and there are quite a number of other Tavener works available via Special Order which are also m.s. photocopies) and implicit in the publisher's response to the query.

     

    I guess we must wait and see what happens...

     

    Was Tavener's deploring of traces of Messiaen due to an aversion to Messiaen's music (JT was after all a convinced Orthodox at the time) or was it that he deplored being (in his view) derivative, I wonder. I don't actually see a lot of Messiaen there, other than the sectional nature of the piece and the infrequent Messiean-like passages.

     

    Peter

     

    Peter

  12. I have just listened to Dupre's own recording again and is it my imagination or does he speed up towards the end, ie from the couple of bars before the Cortege and Litanie themes merge? When I started to learn this piece I was warned about this and so always try to aim on the slow side.

     

    Peter

  13. It happened some time ago at Peterborough Crematorium - the Wesley System replaced live organists and I was out of a job. (A job which I mostly enjoyed.)

     

    The clergy weren't keen, but nobody seems bothered any more. I'm sure it will happen everywhere. The system is very efficient and can do everything an organist can do on an electronic, except bring music at the beginning to a close rather than just fade

     

     

    Yep, it happened in Cardiff Crem a few years back. The Wesley system took over, and now if a family want a "real" organist they have to find onw, or at least the FD does. This seems to happen very rarely (once that I can recall in about 4 years and that was the post-church cremation of a chorister's father at which |I was asked to play as a friend - which I did of course).

     

    Peter

  14. The current issue of The Catholic Herald carries an advert for a company called Hymn Technologies offering one of those computerised hymn playing gizmos, which it describes as "the ultimate worship music solution". Adding insult to injury it heads this advert with the strap line "No organist? No musicians?"

     

    Really, what can be done about this? It would be irresponsible of me to suggest that members call the company on their freefone number to complain about such insensitivity. The freefone number is 0800 043 0503.

     

    Peter

  15. The CDs arrived today:

     

    Rare Material

     

    New Sound of an old instrument

     

    The German Years

     

    H'art Songs

     

    All I can say is I did an impulse buy from Amazon, and the recordings do not dissappoint. On one disc there are songs about Pigmy Pigs, I'm a hophead etc - then on the same disc are movements from The Art of Canon, a wonderfully crafted Prelude and Fugue, and also the extraordinary organ music. This is such fresh stuff to listen to - and even I, the stuffed shirt from Sevenoaks, completely love it!

     

    All I can say, is that I'm toying with the idea of sporting a viking helmet at school!

     

    hector

     

    What organ - and what organist?

     

     

    Yours nordically

     

    Odin

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