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SomeChap

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  1. How exciting - I love the case; it matches the building beautifully and looks about the right size. 850k seems a lot of gravy for a 3-decker though (or is it these days?). I presume it's going to be electric action with a detached console? Very very good that Pershore is emerging from the wilderness of electronic organs. Somewhere online there are minutes of the woes the PCC had in trying to find somewhere appropriate to put an organ in the face of considerable resistance from the Victorian society and the DAC, and of their struggles with early electronics - at one point I believe they were considering an offer to install the Carlo Curley Allen organ - did it ever get there? Years ago John Norman wrote an article on the acoustics of Pershore (he'd had some tests done professionally) and I dimly remember that the location of this Rufatti wasn't his preference. I might be able to dig it out, watch this space ... Best of luck to the fund-raising team; they are righting a wrong going back many decades.
  2. Just a quick note to say thanks to Sprondel for a helpful and informative post. I was not aware of Lynn Dobson's casework portfolio (other than Merton Coll Ox) and it is very varied. I have also struggled in vain in the past to find the two very fine and famous Stephen Bicknell rants you've linked, so have bookmarked them now!
  3. God's own county provides a couple more bonkers ones to chew on. Most obvious is the post-fire Hill monster once to be found in York Minster, with ten 4ft Principals on the great, and three 32ft flues. Imagine the mushy celeste effects! http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N03908 Very obscure but even more chin-scratching is the Binns at Kirk Hammerton: only 15 stops, but it has recently acquired an Oboe-Quint at 5 1/3 on the Swell. No, me neither. http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=E00648
  4. I think what I'd most like to know is: in what way is a 1/2 draw stop better than providing two separate knobs? So far we have one vote for 'taking up less room at the console'. Perhaps it also takes up less room on the soundboard if two separate sliders can be avoided? I've never played an organ with 1/2 draw-ers but I've got a feeling they might be a bit fiddly in practice? G&G have been mentioned, but Orgues St-Martin use them a lot as well. How do you know when you've correctly managed to pull a stop 1/2 way out (as opposed to 2/5 or 5/8, both of which presumably count as 'close but no cigar')? I can think of one organ where the draw stops were so stiff that the organists had to grow massive biceps for psalm playing; that instrument did not have any 1/2 draw-ers but maybe it would have been a bonus not to have to heave out the quint and tierce separately? Otherwise I'm at a loss... thanks in advance!
  5. Thanks for updates all. It looks like it might be possible to get in contact with the organ builder Stefan Heiß via facebook (he's also the mayor of Vohringen!) so i'll let you know what I learn that way...
  6. Ah, thankyou very much. Looks like a detached console then, so electric action...
  7. Ps. All I can find is a tiny peak on the Abey's facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/120322257677/photos/pb.120322257677.-2207520000.1441895160./10153856567917678/?type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-fra3-1.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-xfa1%2Ft31.0-8%2F11088600_10153856567917678_1264972384476839104_o.jpg&smallsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fscontent-fra3-1.xx.fbcdn.net%2Fhphotos-xfa1%2Ft31.0-8%2Fs960x960%2F11088600_10153856567917678_1264972384476839104_o.jpg&size=1365%2C2048&fbid=10153856567917678 (compare with npor: http://npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/XMLFunctions.cgi?Fn=GetPicture&Rec_index=N04584&Number=1 ) This leaflet gives a few hints: http://www.stmarysgrantham.org.uk/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=r3JBS-TGsMM%3d&tabid=120
  8. Does anyone on this forum know anything about the organ imported in 2014 from Munich to Mount St Bernard, the Cistercian Abbey in Leicestershire? Someone I know plays there occasionally but has struggled with it, and I felt as though I ought to be able to give some advice as to repertoire,registration etc. I didn't want to press him for details, but I wondered if I could help him more by knowing what he's up against! I'm guessing it's a neo-baroque job because one complaint was that there's no Swell pedal, but don't know any more than that. Google not much good and NPOR not updated yet - any other leads much appreciated! SC
  9. Don't know if this is of any use, but there's a mechanical 'Cuculus' stop at Weingarten, demonstrated to debatable musical benefit here by Andre Isoir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsR55YdESE0 You get a chorale for free as well!
  10. Oh yes, more please! Is this part of a bigger project?
  11. Britten Cantata Misericordiam is also based on the Good Samaritan. Might be too hard though and too big for what you had in mind (25 mins, big Tenor solo, strings)? The only other thing that comes to mind is Egressus Jesus by Giaches de Wert, which isn't a parable but is a gospel passage containing the verbal teaching of Jesus to the Canaanite woman whose daughter was possessed by a demon. (Matthew 15:21).
  12. 1. Re. Controlling the touch on tracker actions. I agree that rather too much has been made of this over the last thirty years or so. Particularly in fast music on a large organ, conscious control of pipe-speech is largely unattainable (and, on a return-on-effort basis, probably not worth the bother if it was achievable, given how subtle the effect is). On the other hand, when playing (say) a slow chorale obligato on a small tracker instrument on a single stop with the pipes physically near to the keys, I am definitely aware of the effect of touch on pipe speech; I will instictively begin and release certain notes more gently or more quickly according to the colour, attack or legato effect I feel the line needs. This is quite a specific instance though, and it's not a technique - it just happens naturally. More generally I think tracker action often does make an audible contribution to the pipe-speech, but it's not as a result of conscious control by the player, more that the motivic shapes (and technical demands) of the music cause the player to involuntarily change the way they play each note (eg. because some fingers are naturally stronger than others), thus incidentally causing variations in the way the pipes speak. The reason I think this is a result of my experiments with the Hauptwerk organ software - I actually notice the absence of variation in the way the pipes speak (eg. particularly during trills and ornaments). [back on subject:] 2 Re. Tracker + Electric couplers: I would personally regard this as a tracker organ, but with a bit of cheating going on! ;-) 3. Re. Tracker + Mechanical couplers. Generally this comes under point 1 - there's probably not much benefit of the varied touch on the coupled manual, though on a smaller organ you may still hear nuances coming from the pipes of the primary manual. It depends on the organ, the coupling mechanism, the pipe voicing, the music being played etc.
  13. I take it this is no good??: http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N10255
  14. "In fact, coming to think of it, I busk most things these days." A wonderful comment; what I particularly like about it is that many illustrious names from history would nod in agreement - old Bach, Mozart*, pretty much any French organist/composer you care to mention etc ... Raul Prieto Ramirez, one of the best players around, had no formal early education in music; he just busked from a very early age; and studied formally much later. It's done him no harm at all of course. One of my friends (not a musician) asked me what instrument I'd recommend his son to learn; I answered 'anything where he can just sit down and play when he feels like it, not needing other musicians to play with, not needing a score, just let his fingers follow where his mind wonders'. We agreed either guitar or piano (probably a dabble at both); having seen so many ex-orchestral players who never pick their instruments up any more and get no pleasure out of the time they invested learning to play, I'm convinced it's the best way. SC * eg, some of the violin sonatas had no written piano part until well after the first performance - Mozart tried to fool the audience by playing from a blank piece of manuscript! See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Sonata_No._32_(Mozart)
  15. Sorry, 'Civil War' was a bit sensationalist, wasn't it! I think when the final printings of the new missal come through, they'll have much more musical notation embedded in them than has been the case before. With some luck this might increase the amount of chant heard at mass. The new texts sound much better chanted - particularly the collects and prefaces. Did anyone hear the Radio 4 broadcast from OLEM in Cambridge a couple of weeks ago?
  16. MM, I think you're imagining the translation process a little more prosaically than it occurred in reality! The reality is that the current text is the result of a thirty-year 'civil war' between various factions of the Catholic church. The translation itself was pretty easy once the squabbling had been calmed; eventually the Vatican cut through all the guff you're imagining by insisting on completely literal renditions, and that's why a lot of people don't like the text. I think there's the beginnings of a flame war in this thread, which it would be best to avoid. The full story of the genesis of these translations is thirty years of church politics, and doesn't make for very edifying reading.
  17. A couple I'm surprised not to have seen yet ... :: St Bee's priory :: Boston PC :: Farnborough Abbey I should say I've not actually heard any of these in the flesh, only that I'd expect them to have come up by now! They're all thoroughbreds with good reputations. Agree? Disagree? SC
  18. Pleasing to note we've already got some excellent bases covered here. As a suggestion, might we agree to stipulate that so-called 'worship songs' be excluded from consideration entirely, since they can almost all be assumed to be loathed by default? It might be a way of keeping all our blood pressures down*. Sticking, therefore, to proper hymns in NEH and AMR in no particular order may I nominate three: 1. I've always hated 'Tell out my Soul' (more the tune and its strangely bare harmonies than the words though. Maybe it's something to do with trying to get to the mediant major and back in four phrases?). 2. 'Onward, Christian Soldiers' - who are they supposed to be? When was the last Christian crusade? The Templars were disbanded almost six hundred years before this horrible, pugnacious hymn was written. Also, it goes pom-pom, pom-pom. Hymns should not vamp; Flanders and Swann songs may vamp, but hymns: no. 3. 'We plough the fields and scatter' - no we don't, we get Tesco's delivered. And it is not fed and watered by God's almighty hand, it's so intensively farmed that it has to be fed by inorganic fertilizer from a factory, and the climate veers between flash floods and hosepipe bans. Surely this one is now meaningless and is ready to be put down. Also we find here the pom-pom, pom-pom again; most unpleasant. Honourable mention goes to the Lord of the Dance because, like MM, I actually quite like it (at least with its original text), but it's so obviously not a hymn - it's a solo folk song (albeit a relatively recent one), to be danced to, and dance for the last thirty years has been so vulgarised that songs like this are almost impossible to appreciate in their intended context. A shame. I must say I can feel a certain degree of sympathy for Whistlestop's old lady and her observation of 'dead nineteenth century hymns', though few are as bad as the average baby-boomer worship song. Surely the hymnal golden ages were the ancient gregorian period (Veni Creator, Vexilla Regis Prodeunt etc), post-reformation Germany (examples probably unnecessary) and twentieth century England (All my hope on God is founded, My song is love unknown ...). Is there a way to set up voting poll on this board? We could do our own survey; I bet it would be more interesting than the Beeb's! SC * As just one example of why this is necessary, I'm already convulsing with distaste at the memory of 'We are marching in the light of God', which I have - thankfully - not heard for a good five years or so. It's so repetitive that for me it gradually moves beyond mere hatred into actual panic: I simply have to get out the building about the time I hear the fourth verse kicking off. Quick, Gin.
  19. Hexham Abbey (pre-Phelps)? 47 stops = 3 smaller than Calne!
  20. No experience with injured feet, but I've broken various bones in both hands / wrists at various points in my seemingly accident-prone life. I can definitely confirm that playing has been excellent physiotherapy in my own experience (I even remember trying to play at home on the piano with one finger while the poorly hand was still in plaster! Not as entirely disastrous as you might think, but I believe I had to hum some tenor...) The absolute key thing is not to over-stretch yourself. Be very, very gentle at first and stop at the first sign of discomfort. Don't rush: only do as much as you're enjoying. Build up strength - I found I could literally feel the progress I was making, and that was one of the most rewarding aspects of the convalescence. Overall, I'd say if there's one way to prove pessimistic doctors wrong, it's playing the organ! So long as you're careful and realistic, it essentially becomes music therapy, and people pay a lot of money for that .... Best of luck.
  21. SomeChap

    Pentecost

    Palestrina 'Dum Complerentur Dies Pentecostes' - a bit ambitious, but not as much so as Loquebantur, and probably not beyond the reach of all choirs? Six parts I think, SSATTB. There's also a Missa Dum Complerentur by Victoria (I think it might be on CPDL) which I believe is SAATTB. Just in case it's of interest to someone next year anyway...
  22. A fascinating organ - very thought-provoking. Thanks for sharing the details. Just a quick question ... what's the rationale for the 8' flute on the Resonance? Is it a solo flute, or a displaced pedal stop etc? Somehow it looks all on its own, on paper at least! SC
  23. Thanks to pcnd for clarifying what he meant, but this is still good stuff IMO. I'd also add that gathering all this data is one thing; getting the data you've gathered into an accessible and searchable format is quite another. Part of my job is to help companies do just that, in preparation for litigation. I'm slowly getting used to their faces going white when I explain to them just how much it will cost. The world loves technology, but understanding of it is patchy. This means that things aren't as joined-up as the big tech companies would have us all think. (eg You just try converting Lotus Notes email into a format you can read in Outlook. Now try doing it for 50 people's email. Now try 5000 people's...) I would however say that this fact doesn't necessarily stop agencies of different types from trying their best to apply the level of surveillance we've been talking about.
  24. Each to his own, say I. For myself, I am utterly insignificant in the Organ world; I've found it to be a much nicer place when viewed from an armchair! I stopped aspiring to be an 'eminent' organist years ago and have been much happier for it. Still love the organ as an instrument though, so I'm still reading, listening and (occasionally) playing. Perhaps one or two members here would know who I am, but other than that I think my identity is not relevant to my occasional participation here - I really am just 'some chap'. For me, the opportunity to evaluate the post and not the poster is one of the most refreshing things about this forum. Al
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