Justadad

From the Encyclopedia of Organ Stops http://www.organstops.org/d/Dulcet.html "Osiris contains sixteen examples of Dulcet at 4' pitch, ten examples at 8' pitch (of which half are of two ranks), three examples at 2', and one at 16'." Best wishes J

Is Musing Muso (MM) OK? Does anyone know? He last posted on 16th July and has an average posting of three per day so nothing in over a month seems a little odd. Perhaps he is away. I hope he's well. J

I wasn't really trying to be positive, or encouraging anyone else to be. I just thought that it was worth trying to be constructive. I'm sure there are enough people here with enough bright ideas to refresh the RCO. I'm just hoping that sufficient will remains amongst sufficient members to have a go, even if that requires the dispensing of a good deal of forgiveness. I'm pretty certain that the RCO will be more than happy to listen to, and embrace, practical and attractive enhancements to its activities. (I know they'd rather all the great organists here who have resigned were still happily in membership.) Best wishes J

There seems to be general agreement that the RCO does good things for kids. What sort of events would those who have withdrawn from membership like the RCO to have run that would have made their membership 'value for money'? I've attended a few events (as a parent) which whilst being 'open' were only attended by kids. These have included, for example, opportunities to improvise with David Briggs. I should think that might not be beneath some of the highly competent members here. Maybe grown-ups can't get away in the day because of work, or at weekends because of family commitments. Or maybe they feel uncomfortable about being mixed in with 14 year olds with grade 8 distinctions. But I don't know. And neither, obviously, does the RCO. So perhaps it would be good to give them a few sensible ideas of the kind of thing they might do to make membership attractive to established organists. What sort of events would you like them to organise? Best wishes J

I guess he didn't like the way Vierne wrote it J As an antidote, might I suggest this Frescobaldi on the 1636 Antegnati in San Carlo, Brescia? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDVsvPZv-vo...feature=related

That's like saying "If only Joni Mitchell sounded like Britney Spears I'd like Joni Mitchell". Best wishes J

Too fast! J

Has this been posted before? Apologies if so. Ton Koopman playing the BWV 564 Toccata on the Arp Schnitiger at St Jacobi, Hamburg. Nothing to see, but what a sound! This is the high quality version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxas24VwSHI&fmt=18 Best wishes J

I thought the Diane Bish Pomp and Circumstance clip I posted to her thread previously was, well, really slow and ponderous (though I didn't say so at the time for fear of exposing my ignorance). Afterwards I watched her Bach T&F from St Bavo. I thought the intro a bit mannered but I have to say I enjoyed the rest of the performance, and the organ, very much. It's worth taking the High Quality option (just under the Views tally). Best wishes J

Pomp and Circumstance from Canterbury Cathedral There are many more. http://youtube.com/results?search_query=di..._type=&aq=f Best wishes J

Following on from GP's thread about playing to the gallery, I thought I'd ask for opinions about 'crowd pleasers'. By this I mean pieces of legitimate organ music that an uninitiated crowd might be likely to get into even if they haven't heard them before*. Pieces like Vierne's Carillion de Westminster, Mushel's toccata or the Lanquetuit toccata that has been discussed here recently. I'm especially interested to hear of lesser known music that you have found has gone down well whenever you have played it. Best wishes J *So I'm excluding (for the purposes of this thread) transcriptions like Thunderbirds.

Dear Paul I'm sure you are right but that is categorically not what the chap at the MCPS-PRS said (which probably shows what a mess this whole area is). At that time it was certainly their view that You Tube was the publisher of all its content. I remember being told that if you post a clip on your own site the holder of the performance rights could come after you but if you put it on You Tube they would have to take it up with You tube. Perhaps their stance/advice has changed now that they have established their General Entertainment On Demand licence (which is clearly designed to cover broadcasters such as You Tube). If I have a moment later today I'll call them again to see what they say now. J

I had quite a long and detailed conversation about this with the on-line department of the MCPS-PRS Alliance a couple of years ago. As it was explained to me then ... The person who makes the recording owns the copyright of the recording. The performer's rights are not infringed if the recording is for domestic use only and if it is not exploited commercially. Where clips are published on You Tube without the performer's consent, and where they believe their rights have been infringed, their argument is with YouTube, being the publisher, but not with the contributor. This, it was explained to me, is a simple matter of practicalities; it would be impossible to police the posting of video clips to You Tube and other such on-line media hosts, so the MCPS-PRS was, at that time, in negotiations with You Tube, trying to arrange a fee to be paid to the MCPS-PRS as an acknowledgement of all the infringements that might be assumed to be made. I do not know whether any such agreement was ever arrived at, nor how any such fee might be distributed. Moving on from Wolsey's point, a degree of realism is desirable here, I think. Nowadays almost everyone carries a still or video camera and MP3 recorder with them in their mobile phone. If you play you should expect to be recorded and charge for it accordingly. I understand that wedding fees have largely moved from £x unrecorded, £x+50% for an audio recording and £x+100% for a video recording, to a composite rate that assumes recording because, frankly, it's bound to happen. If we know that, it shouldn't surprise us. Of course, nice people will ask permission, but not everyone is nice and that shouldn't come as a complete shock, either. There are many more soccer clips on You Tube than there are organ recitals but I have yet to see Wayne Rooney complain that no one asked his permission. J

Yes, it's a bird whistle. http://www.theatreorgans.com/cotos/Stoptab...toptab0301c.htm J

Hello Barry If it's not too personal a question, which did you enjoy most, playing your recital or conducting the concert? Also, were the recitals or concert recorded for commercial availability? Best wishes barry

I noticed a few weeks ago that Barry Williams has also disappeared from membership. Are we an endangered species? Justadad (aka barry)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFpASpezhp8 Jonathan Hope playing the Lanquetuit Toccata in D Maj at Blackburn Cathedral Best wishes J

A few weeks ago, Lawrence was asked to play at two RC confirmation services. It was a novel experience for him given what he's used to (Anglican/Cathedral tradition). The thirty voice choir all sang the melodies and there was a music group of two flutes, two guitars and a bongo. The church is modern and they have a toaster - a rather nice one, with good amplification. Each evening about 40 candidates were confirmed and about 300 people were in the congregation. At the end of the first service it was party time and the congregation broke into photo groups, laughing and chatting and celebrating - and completely ignoring the voluntary (which had been left to L's discretion as had the choice of all the filler music through the service). The first night he played JSB's Fantasia in G Maj and it got completely swamped by the noise of the congregation. On the second night he played the Toccata in D Maj by Lanquetuit (which he had bought the previous day). Soon there were a dozen people gathered around the console watching him play and by the end 300+ people were clapping enthusiastically. Then they got on with their photos. (I don't remember seeing Lanquetuit mentioned here. There's a clip of Jon Hope playing the toccata at Blackburn on YouTube that I'll put in the YouTube thread.) Give people the right, good music and they'll enjoy it even if they've never heard anything like it before. Best wishes J

Dear MM I don't know what hidden agenda or prejudices you imagine, but I'm not aware of any. I was simply saying that I don't think there is any evidence to suggest that tampering with the music has made the organ more popular. Best wishes J

This subject gets frequent outings but I don't recall seeing a dedicated thread lately. Not so long ago there was much chatter about balloons and the nightclub generation. Now one man's efforts to reach a new audience are being reviewed in the YouTube thread. Rather than continue the discussion there I thought it worthy of being a topic in it's own right. I'm sure many will disagree but it seems to me that those claiming to champion the organ and bring it, and its music, to a wider audience have done no such thing. Virgil Fox, for example, did not popularise the organ, clearly, as Arty Nobile is still trying to get that job done. Virgil Fox popularised himself. Mr Nobile (and it is probably unfair to judge him on his website and YouTube clips alone, but that's all I have to go on) doesn't strike me as having VF's basic talent so it's hard for me to imagine him doing a better job. Is it not the case that music 'popularises' an instrument; not the player. In fact, isn't it the music that popularises itself rather than the popularising either the instrument or being popularised by the performer? Which are popular instruments from the listener's point of view? I have no idea. Even people who like listening to violins probably don't like listening to all violins playing anything by anyone. Which are popular instruments from the performer's point of view? I guess guitar, violin and clarinet (because of the relatively low entry cost) and piano because every primary school used to have one and starter keyboards are relatively cheap. It seems unlikely to me that the organ will ever be popular from the musician's point of view because they are so big and expensive you can't have your own, and have to go to church to play one. For the organ to be popular to the audience they have to hear the music. We know there's a lot of fantastic organ music that more people would like if they knew it existed, and that means getting more TV and radio time for organ music. But that means more air time for organ music as it exists; as the composers wrote it. Tarting it up or dumbing it down does nothing except provide tackier or stupider organ music that still doesn't get air time. I'm only speculating but I imagine that if you asked the public about their favourite organ music they'd say the BWV 565 toccata, and the toccata from Widor 5 (or at least that's what they'd mean even if they couldn't name them). Why? Because someone jazzed them up or messed around with them? No. Because someone played them incredibly quickly? No. Because someone wore sequins while playing them? No. It's surely because they have heard them the most. I suspect, therefore, that all attempts to 'spread the werk' via balloons, fusicianship and the like are unlikely to do the organ any favours and more likely to do it a disservice. Such stunts may grant the perpetrators a certain following they would not otherwise have had, but that's all. I have noticed a distinct increase in the amount of organ music being played on Radio 3 recently, especially but not exclusively by Mr Cowans. Hurrah! Best wishes J

Aren't we being a bit unkind? After all he makes it clear in his biography that he's not an organist. He's a 'Fusician'. http://www.nobile.com/html/biography.html J

Yes. He's credited at the end. J

There's a terrific little promotional video here which I hadn't seen before and think deserves a link. J

I was reading through the CD reviews in the Sunday Times Culture Supplement when it occurred to me that I couldn't remember reading a review of an organ CD for a long time. Then I wondered when the last time some purely organ music featured on Radio 3's Building A Library. Looking at their database it seemed that it might have been Bach Trio Sonatas, back in 2003, so I e-mailed them and asked if this was so. Almost immediately I got a jolly nice e-mail back saying that there had been some Vierne a few years ago but that if my query was a criticism it was justified and needed rectifying. It said that there's some Messiaen coming up next month but did I have any suggestions as they are putting together the Autumn schedule. Well ... there are many people here more knowledgeable than me. So I thought I'd ask what piece you think would make a good subject for an edition of Building A Library, and which recordings do you think merit inclusion in the considerations. Please DO include your own recordings. If I am going to make the suggestion to Auntie there's no reason for anyone to be modest. Best wishes J

Just my six penny'th ... Is it not the case that the vast majority of musicians play for free? Don't most violinists, flautists and trumpeters play in ensembles that not only yield no remuneration but very often they have to pay to be a member? Singers too. I was present at an audition for the up-coming BBC Choirwars yesterday. Brilliant singers. All amateur. They had clearly trained and studied and were stunningly good - and performing (as usual) for free. Do we think the people who arrange the flowers or read the lessons should expect compensation too? I imagine that for many of them it is part of their act of worship. I am sure that for some organists it is part of their act of worship too. I wonder what proportion of violinists are remunerated, and what proportion of organists are remunerated? I wouldn't be surprised to find that a higher percentage of organists get paid for playing - though that's just conjecture. Please don't think I'm against organists being fabulously remunerated; I'm not. I'm all for it. I just think we make a mistake in thinking it should be obvious to everyone else that that should be the case. Best wishes J