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Colin Harvey

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Everything posted by Colin Harvey

  1. A very interesting question. I see a performance of a piece of music has 3 major elements: the piece of music, the performer and the instrument. Each of these has their own character to bring to the performance. The performer brings his own ideas and personality to the piece and the instrument also adds its own voice. I believe a performance of a piece of music is about interpreting it - bringing it to life - and communicating it. I started having singing lessons a couple of years ago and I started to learn that skill of actually performing and communicating the piece of music before me. It's partly doing some "internal conducting" and partly communicating what the music is about to the people around me. It's almost like acting and bringing words to life with meaning. Yes, it is a question of looking at what the composer intended and was thinking about but ultimately, it's about my own interpretation of the composer's intentions and what I think he means and what I want to express. On the organ it's very easy (and necessary, in my case) to focus on the many technical aspects of playing the instrument that the skill to communicate through the music can be overlooked very easily. So I'm beginning to think that the "what makes music" is as much about the performance of the dots on the page as the dots themselves. From the composer's viewpoint - and I've only written one piece of music (if you can call a psalm chant that) and I realise what I was thinking about when I wrote it I was not the "correct" way of singing it but what the possibilities were for interpreting the dots on the page. I was thinking "how would choir x sing this chant to verse n in psalm a?" and "how would choir y sing it to psalm b?" Perhaps rather than look for the authentic way of playing Bach we should look for the possibilities for interpretation that Bach had in mind. Perhaps he was wondering how would J.G.Walter play his new Prelude and Fugue under his pen on the town church organ in Weimar or how Willhem Friedman would play it in the Johannes Kirche in Leipzig. I believe that one of qualities of Bach's music is the sheer number and qualities of possibilities of interpreting his music -unparrelled anywhere else - and another quality is its inscrutability. It is this that makes me come back to it time and again and I believe the reason why there is so much debate about how to interpret his music. It never quite gives definitive answers to the questions it raises. I also smiled knowingly when I read this. I had the exact same experience, down to Alkmaar being the first organ I played in Holland. In fact, the only difference was that I played the G minor F&F... but I justed wanted to say "I understand" too, MM, - and I certainly couldn't put it into words any better than you have. The only thing I would add is that I experienced heaven on earth that day in that church and I can't explain it either. I believe that we need to continue to look for those possibilities Bach was thinking about and the study of the "authentic" way Bach performed his music and the instruments he had at his disposal helps to shed new light and new perspective on how to interpret his music. And that is one reason why I support the authenticity movement. Certainly, my visit to Holland taught me a huge lesson about how to play music - Bach especially - and it taught me that by making me listen and feel what the organ I was playing was "telling me". That's what I meant by "it's a question of making Bach's organ music work on the instrument at your disposal and making a musical effort of it". Let me explain: When I got back from Alkmaar, I had a big revalation when I got back to the 1910 Walker I played at the time - all of a sudden, by listening to it and responding to what it wanted to do, Bach's music started to make sense on it, and I lost my frustration with it. I knew from my experiences at Alkmaar what to look out for and what effects it had and I suddenly realised that my organ - which I had all but written off before as hopelessly slow and dull - had a lot to give to the performance of Bach's music and had its own voice to add. Suddenly, I didn't mind the lack of an independant pedal division and no ruck positive - I suddenly realised the strengths of the organ I had and to play to those. I learnt how to play to that organ's strengths to bring Bach's music alive and let it have its voice and influence on the performance. Going to Alkmaar had taught me to work with what I had at my disposal, rather than dream about what I could do on "the ideal authentic organ" and try to emulate that and that a satisfying performance could result. If I were to comment on many of today's organs, I would say that they seem to have lost that ability to educate and communicate like Alkmaar does through becoming equally versatile in all schools of music so that they have nothing to say. They appear to me to be blank canvasses that we are asked to paint on, leaving the performer and music to speak for themselves with as little interference from the organ as possible. You can perform a piece very well on them but a dimension has been lost. Perhaps they are victims of their own success. They'll let you play Bach at a snail's pace on all the 8s quite happily or at warp 9 overtaking the Battlestar Waynemarshall with 8' flute and mixture without communicating the slightest thing back to you about what's the best way to do it. But perhaps I'll lose my frustration for that when I finally become a recipient for a new organ.
  2. I strongly recommend Stephen Bicknell's article on it in Choir and Organ. Stephen talks a lot about its almost obsessive levels of detail during construnction (just look at the turned posts supporting the upperboards - they're more elaborate than most people's stops), the very gritty, quite pungent chorus (probably quite unsuitable for a big Bach P&F to some ears) and the strange quieter stops, concentrating more on novelty strings than sesquialteras... Looking at the construction of this organ, it's quite clear why on-one has copied it: no-one (except perhaps the Americans) could afford it and even they could, you'd be hard pressed to find a builder happy to copy every detail...
  3. To question 1, we can also add organs like Lewises, Hills, etc. Question 2 really isn't answered by a yes/no answer.... it's a question of making Bach's organ music work on the instrument at your disposal and making a musical effort of it. It's just that some organs are better at it than others...
  4. Would anyone recommend any recordings of Vierne's Pieces de Fantasie? I've heard a few of the pieces in performance but would I'd like to get a fuller idea of what they're like. Suggestions please....
  5. Hi Paul, I can see why you felt my words were perhaps a slur on Father Willis. Every organ I've played of his has left me with the overriding impression of a superbly engineered machine: the way his organs work mechanically is usually superb and I admire the very smooth build up and blend of the voices. Certainly, I wouldn't turn my nose up at them. However, I don't think it pays to be wholly uncritical of his work and I would make the following observations: Basically, Willis seems to have in his tonal repertoire: 3 flutes (Lee Blick Gedact, Claribel Flute, Harmonic Flute) 3 strings (salicional, Gambe, Open Diapason) and his reeds, which also tend to be fairly standardised across his organs. His organs, while they sound impressive in big spaces, are not suited to small spaces where they sound harsh and unforgiving. If I was looking for an organ transplant for a small church and I had the option between a comparable Hill and Willis, I know which one I'd have... They don't really have a good organo pleno - for playing Bach, his contempories or predecessors. So playing Bach becomes quite a compromise - either you let full swell muddy the last few pages of the fugue if you're going for glory or you're left with relatively tiny sounds which don't exploit the power of the Willis organ, leaving listeners bereft of the grandeur and power of Bach's organ music. I'm not entirely sure how much credit to give Father Willis. Vincent certainly seems to hold a lot of the patents for the actions and innovations and I wonder how much credit he deserves for the success of the Willis organ. They are very much organs of the period - of mechanical ingenity and engineering, getting it to work well. There's also that element of commericialism - viz. the zinc 32' front at the (do I say this or not?) Alexandra Palace as FHW realised he could get the same sounds out of it as the tin front at the RAH but making it cheaper, the loss of casework so you could spend more on stops for the money. To me, the standardisation and commerical interest started tp pave the way for extension organs and all those things the organ reform movement sought to expurge. However, while some of FHW's disciples may have made mistakes and not lived up to the quality of their inspiration, I have to revoice (sorry) my admiration of Willis organs - those I've heard or played have left me impressed. The way they work always feels smooth, reliable and beautifully engineered and I've really enjoyed playing those I've got my sticky mits on . Musically, I feel they're quite machine like - they hit you more like a lump of machined iron from a machine than the wood and leather from a musical instrument, if you know what I mean.
  6. Hi David!! Happy New Year. Been meaning to email you anyway.... On the subject of small builders - there are a few small builders who have the potential to build absolutely 1st class organs and they need opportunities to thrive. I'm sure you and I have the same names going around our heads.... however, there are also lots of small builders who buy in lots of supplier parts and simply assemble them into an organ. The results are frequently not of the same quality as the bigger, better know players, like Manders & H&H, who have bigger resources, facilities and more specialised staff in each area and can take much more responsibility and control for each item to get it right for that organ. When drawing up the list for builders for a contract, the thing that goes through the client's head is "are we confident this firm is capable of doing a job upto the standard we want for the quarter of a million pounds we're thinking of spending?" It's about managing risk and most people will feel much happier putting their money with a big company that's done similar work before very well than a small company that's unproven doing the work and you're unsure whether they've got the facilities and resources to do a good job. The only way for the builder to get up there - and those like Ken Tickell have done it - is to start small and build your way up. I believe there's a certain organbuilder in Westbury that should be given the break to build a new organ.... On publications for new organs in UK, there's the IBO's organ building annual journal: http://www.ibo.co.uk/IBO2005/publications/...ing/journal.htm which is well worth getting, highlighting work in organ building in the UK each year. I think this is the replacement of "The Organbuilder". I fully agree with pcnd's comments: I was at Chichester over the summer and the organ is a gem.
  7. I'm currently client, along with the rest of the church, for a new organ in England. Much as I'd love to, haven't got time to write about it right now. Usually, these things are paid in installments (especially for new organs) and the terms of payment (time and amount) are agreed in the contract. Boat builders- well, it tends to be what sort of a boat it is. If it's a custom job made by a yard and you've comissioned it, then it would be installments. If it's a "production" boat, my experience is you pay for it in one shot, (or deposite + payment) usually through an agent rather than direct from the builder. It's more like a car, really. Fr.Willis died with enormous debts and, indeed, his financial irregularities beggar belief. Reason why there are so few Willis II organs is that they were effectively priced out of the market by the debts the company had and their overhead of the repayments they had to make. I would not hold him up as a paragon of good financial management in the field of organbuilding - in, fact, quite the opposite. No-one still knows quite how the exhibition organ was funded. However, Willis was brilliant spin doctor and the reputation of Willis organs has much to do with the reputation and mystique he created.
  8. I agree. I don't think that was a mistake made on just your side of the pond. Plenty of examples of too highly pitched swell mixtures over here in the UK which rather sit atop the foundations and reeds - even on fairly recent instruments. I think perhaps the influence of the organ reform movement has a part to play - that mixtures on the 2ndry chorus should be a scharf above the main chorus mixture, or something like that. didn't most Willis I swell mixtures include tierces, even if they were the only mixture? However, you tend to draw foundations and reeds together on those organs in practice - flue foundations and mixutres alone can sound pretty harsh and uncomfortable without any reeds. Fully agree with your other points...
  9. I've come across 2 Barpfiefes, both in Holland. Both were rather lovely flutes, halfway between a gedact and a Quinataton. I understand they can also be reeds so the name can mean a lot of different things.
  10. Hi Adrian, Well, I'll join you in your minority. I fully agree with your points of view. But I also agree with Brian's points of views. I use NPOR to check the spec of an unknown organ I'm going to play and they do have their uses. On your latter 2 points, I tend to look more at the period/builder and performer rather than a stoplist myself. But unless stoplists are there to illustrate a point someone is trying to make, I find myself wondering why they're on this board. I don't know why certain people have recently taken to posting up specs with very little prose or reason. But each to his own. Neat trick with the code tag, btw!
  11. I rather agree with you nfortin. They seem to be very popular on new english organs right now at 4' on the Great or Choir. Don't know what it is, I can't say I've come across a bad one yet, they all tend to be either good or at the very least OK. Perhaps it's just my dislike of things being ordinary.
  12. I would like to be a Tromba Bastarda. I would probably like to be mounted en chamade. http://www.organstops.org/t/TrombaBastarda.html In actual fact, I'd probably be a Stopped Diapason. Gentle, unassuming, rather quaint and old fashioned but loved by all who really know me. There would be an open diapason who tries to take over and shout me down and there would also have to be a lieblich gedact who's a bit flashier than me and generally gets the best solos. The ability to make others like me has been lost in the mists of time. I am an art all to myself.
  13. Ah, it would be a Helicopter 64 for me. But if I had one, I wouldn't get rid of it because it's a special effect for signalling impending doom in certain pieces (the local anoraks would get really excited by it when you bring it on) and really good for one-upmanship with your neighbouring organists.
  14. After looking through his recent posts, I'm changing my opinion of Steve C Bournias. I think he's got a lot more than vast schemes to offer and I read what he has to say more assidiously and with a lot more humour, understanding and tolerance. Steve: I've had another look through your scheme. It's good to have an "America Mega Organ Scheme" for the Vatican at last and yours is a fine scheme. I'm sure it's just an oversight but it seems to be missing a 14th 2 2/7 on Great A. If you're going to a sixteenth 1 7/9 then I think it should have one.... Sorry. My major gripe would be using it. I don't think organists would get much time to acclimatise to it in practice and discover the wealth of sound and colour it could provide. I doubt that even a titulare of the calibre of Cochereau in post for many years would have discovered even a fraction of the sounds it could give. If I were visiting this organ to play it in anger, I would probably have enough time to learn which swell pedals to use, stick to the divisional pistons, give a blast on the rather excitingly named stops of the fanfare division and hope for the best. It would have to be a "smash and grab" and I would leave thinking I hadn't really used my time there well or really got to understand the organ. I probably wouldn't really have time to think about which one of the three swell 2' flutes would be best to use - and when would I use the other two instead? It seems a bit of a waste, really. I haven't been to the Vatican so I don't feel qualified to dream up my own spec for it. For now, I would simply have the choir organ at Alkmaar installed and let people marvel that something so small and beautiful can produce so much noise. Seeing for the recent love of specifications, here is its stop list: Hoofdwerk (FGA - g''a'') Doof 8 I-II Octaaf Doof 4 I-III Mixtuur II-VI Scharp III-VI Trompet 8 (on the bovenwerk chest, played from the Hoofdwerk keys) Holpyp 8 Openfluyt 4 Sufflet 1 1/3 Borstwerk (FGA - g''a'') Quintadena 8 Fluyt 4 Octaaf 2 Super Octaaf 1 I-II Pedal (FGA- c) Trompet 8 Borstwerk to Hoofdwerk - by 2 small brass knobs between the keyboards (not to be operated while playing the organ) Hoofdwerk to Pedal Tremulant
  15. Woh! That is seriously amazing! I've heard David Briggs, I've seen a video of Pierre Cochereau. I have massive respect for people who can do that. Some organ, too.
  16. I find this prejudiced and racial post unacceptable. I am sure many Americans would also find these comments from a fellow countryman unacceptable. The points of view in it are misinformed, biased and untrue. I do not think they have any place on this forum. Personally, I have very rapidly lost any respect and trust in the member who posted them.
  17. For Christmas, I was given "Everything Else An organist Should Know" by Robert Leach and Barry Williams. My (non-organist) mother couldn't put it down - it has lots of pearls of wisdom you can apply well away from the organ loft, despite covering topics such as "Clergy Discipline" "Dealing with the congregation" "Choir vs Music Group" "problem choristers - the foghorn, The arguer and Past Sell by date", such as employment law, tax and how to deal with your employer. Fascinating and surprisingly gripping reading. Strongly recommended. BTW, my mother used to be a book seller. You can't keep her off Amazon or ebay for finding a book...
  18. Thank God that spec has disappered. I lost the will to live when I saw it. Couldn't be asked to read through it. Did it have a 64' by any chance? I can't see the point in the things. They do nothing in the bottom octave (except sound like a helicopter in the distance) and take away the fun of the bottom octave of the 32 in the bottom octave by having the 32 in the middle octave.
  19. I managed to slip in Darth Vader's march from star wars one day into Nimrod for the entrance of a very insistant bride. I warned her I was going to do it, she laughed and said she would kill me if I did it. Thankfully, it was quite subtle.
  20. Totally agree with Musing Muso here. I think exactly the same is true with children and music for children in church. I really cannot stand those people that try to use what they think is the taste and sensitivities of children (and "young people") to try and lever the music and liturgy of a church. They frequently don't accept that children are quite capable of understanding and enjoying "adult" music far earlier than they expect - and very quickly filter out those banal "children's songs". They can have very sophisticated tastes at remarkably early ages and they never cease to amaze me what they are capable of. And all at the expense of those people who have choosen to go to that church because they like the music, liturgy and ethos of the place as it is.
  21. Last year, I went on holiday, ski-ing in Switzerland over xmas. Thankfully there were enough students back from University to cover my duties at church. But while I was on holiday, I ended up playing for 4 services over 3 days in churches over the ski resort.... 3 of these services were on this vile philips electrone thing. I was told afterwards that it was the highest Anglican church in Europe - Geographically, that is! I had about 1 book of music with me and do you seriously think I got paid?
  22. That's the one. Visually, it reminds me of a bird's nest. I would much rather have the TSCH organ than that thing.
  23. It reminds me of an almost identical organ in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Southampton. Made by Hall and Broadfield circa 1968. Vile thing.
  24. I heard a similar story from Geoffrey about Tom Murray: "what's the correct position for the swell shoe?" <normal bafflement> "Movang!" The word "restful" is probably right with salis and vox angelicas - soporific is another word that could be applied. But they don't really work with other stops. They add nothing to Gambes or Claribel flutes. I think Henry Willis is to blame.
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