Davidb

I had forgotten the Mushel was in there, but yes very definitely. In the 'Easy Modern Organ Music' books, there is a curious little piece based on Picardy by ?John Jobert? - It's worth a look (just!)

It's quite interesting coming to these books 30/40 years after they were published (after i was given them by someone) Mathias - playable and useful, and the Preston is a good piece that i really hope gets released as a single copy or in a book that is available. But of the rest? The Leighton is ok, and as Peter said maybe the Nocturne. But other than that? IMO limited. Does anyone play any other pieces from these books?

A fine piece. It's in Volume one. At the risk of being shameless in advertising, its in Roger Moleneuxs' catalogue on page 52!

This piece is wonderful. As for anything else by him - never heard a thing. A quick search on the 'MusicRoom' finds no other piece currently being published

Sadly being French and with Durand doing large amounts of publishing, you have no choice but to pay high. Even the Briggs transcriptions , sold through his own publishing house, feature french-style pricing. What sort of thing are you looking for? the 1974 Scherzo Symphonique seems to be a very popular piece, i play it, and as long as you have a good grasp of scales (Especially chromatic ones) it's not very hard

Back on the original topic, the Norfolk Diocese has a yearly 'choral festival' service (on a tri-annual basis of Evensong, Eucharist and 'other') which features the boys, girls and men of norwich cathedral, as well as all singer from within the Diocese. Though the result may not always be the best musically, it is certainly very enjoyable to participate in. Music this year included harwood in a flat and Finzis' God is gone up.

Baroque transcriptions seem to work because there aren't so many parts in the original as the later pieces due to orchestras enlarging etc. Handel does seem a little out of fashion at the music, but equally his organ music isn't up there with his finest work.

can't believe i'd never come across that! thank you so much

Personally i wouldn't use these - not least because of the use of Alto Clef. Get a decent set. Barenreiter, Breitkopf (my choice) and Hansen all do decent sets

With thanks for what you sent Paul.

Evening ladies + gents, the proms were announced today. Here is a rundown of the amazing amounts of Organ music that will be featured. Fri 18th July (Prom 1) - Dieu Parmi Nous from La Nativite (Wayne Marshall) Mon 21st July (Prom 6) - L'Ascension, Saint-Seans Symphony 3 (Oliver Latry) Sunday 3rd July (Prom 21) - Wayne Marshall Demessieux Te Deum Messiaen Verset pour la Fête de la Dédicace Dupré Symphony for organ No.2 Naji Hakim Pange Lingua Messiaen Prelude Sunday 10th August (Prom 32)- James O'Donnell Messe de la Pentecote Sunday 17th August (Prom 42) - Jennifer Bate La Nativite Apparation d l'eglise Eternelle Sunday 24th August (Prom 50) - Simon Preston Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV565; Canonic Variations on 'Vom Himmel Hoch' BWV769; Prelude and Fugue in E flat major, ‘St Anne’, BWV 552; Chorale Prelude on ‘Vater unser im Himmelreich’, BWV 682; Chorale Prelude on ‘Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir’, BWV 687; Duetto No.2 in F major, BWV 803 Highly Impressive i think

The problem with Vierne Symphonies is their inconsistencies. Many of them have one or two superb movements, that just are not matched by the rest of the symphony (E.G. the 1st, 2nd and last movemnts of the 1st, 1+2 of the 2nd and 1 of the 3rd, finale of the 5th) Great music though? sadly not

I have friends at university, who find listening to pieces at A415 almost impossible 'as it just sounds wrong'

For Uni, i have just wrote a comparitative analysis of BWV 727 (the simple version of the passion chorale) comparing recordings by Vierne / Walcha / Preston / Vernet. The diffrence in tempo is quite interesting, as is how Vierne uses french string stops and heels, thus striving for what he considers to be the beauty of the piece, rather than what Bach, or Bach scholars consider the beauty of it

Sorry i forgot to put what i was doing! Sunday Evensong is the Highlight Ayleward Psalm 114/117 Brewer in D Awake thou wintry earth. Stanford B Flat Tedeum Voluntaries on sunday are the Mulet Carillon-Sortie in the morning, and the Dupre Resurrection from Symphonie-Passion in the evening. The Dupré has been the hardest thing i have ever learnt, but so rewarding. When i was singing treble, we always had a 'standard' easter evensong Smith Reponses 114/117 Dyson in D Blessed be the God and Father Stanford Te Deum Those were the days...

According to listings, this is repeated at 1.30 am

And to you Peter. What organ music are the members of this board playing? Or indeed, what are their choirs singing?

The last paragraph of said item was the most worrying piece really. (Interesting how many on here subscribe to private eye.)

Just the Toccata? UMP have it as a single movement (possibly Ed. Titterington) which would be £5-£6. It's well laid out, and very readable

I think there is only one Carlo, but we do need more. If only there was a way that someone could become some sort of Organ amabasador (no jokes please) in the same way that the likes of Katherine Jenkins have for getting into more serious vocal music... But to do that, you would need to get media exposure, and even in the classical music press, that would be no easy feat. The rewards, for someone who achieves it though, could be tremendous

being of the prime age to comment on this (18) perhaps i should now wade in. By suggesting stairway to heaven, the same mistake as has been made by everyone trying to make churches 'contemporary' has been done again. Stairway to Heaven is not this generation. A great song yes, but only Classic Rock fans (probably a small 15-20% of people my age at most) will know it. It is a song of the previous generation. If you try and attract youth with the ideas of the previous generation it will not work. So what would work? My own solution is to not change the services, and the music, but merely to make it accessible. Why can't we take the organ into schools, in the same way the voilin is? An electronic could easily be taken in, as this is far muchmore approachable to start wtih. In time, if people want to move onto 'real' organs they will, just like people who listen to EMO bands (fallout boy / my chemical romance etc) eventually move onto 'real' rock music after having served the apprenticeship. But at the same time, not to dumb down. Proclaim the wonders of Bach, but maybe dumbing down to the level of not chucking Messiaen onto unsuspecting 7 year olds is acceptable

Ending on the Messiaen? not really sure about that... a bit downcast for the end of a recital? I don't know the Leighton but just going from 'Toccata' in the title, perhaps this would be better at the end?

This ultimately depends on the church you are at i think. If you are somewhere that is comparitivly, musically uneducated they will often appreciate a piece of music with a 'nice tune' be that a trumpet voluntary, or a piece of Bach that has a 'hummable' bit. Play more post WW2 music, especially the modern stuff based on plaintchant by Messiaen, Hakim and the like and people cannot identitfy the tune. Maybe it is a cultural reason for this... the ultimately rythymless 'soaring' beauty of plainchant is quite alien to the musical aspirations of a congregation brought up on the four-in-a-bar of so many hymns, or indeed the rythmic regularity of a Bach fugue. Equally, do these people sit and truely listen? is a church even the right place to 'truely listen', in an objective sense? If someone played one of us, a new piece by Hakim or the like, and we only half listened whilst having a conversation about something irrelevant, would we see this as a nasty noise? Is it better to pander to the tastes of these people, or to play music for the few who do listen to more challenging repertoire, and enjoy doing so? For myself it is certainly the latter that i target my music at (Whilst making sure that i haven't overdosed on modern music... one sunday morning a month of it i deem sufficient.) Do i get negative comments? This is only natural when playing outside of some peoples comfort zones, but over time i think it has become accepted that I will play it, but that it is strictly regulated. Perhaps this is the way to introduce people to this repertoire, which is definitely not as easy to understand as Bach. or is that just because Bach has become fully accepted in our culture?

I think you've already thought of the most obvious piece yourself. It is achingly beautiful when played right. A few others? BWV 727 - an elaborated version of the passion chorale BWV 653 - Am Wasserflussen Babylon - it might be a smidge long though Or if you fancy something more 'up market' what about a movement from Le Cheme da Croix by Dupre (A Mediation on each of the stations of the cross)

1) Pierre Cohereau - L'organist de Notre-Dame. I really got into the sheer genius of this man this year, and this set prompted me to do so really. 2) Robert Quinney at Westminster Cathedral. A third im struggling on, as woebetied me, i don't listen to much organ music. I much prefer choral music to listen to So if i can make some choral nominations, it would be Stephen Layton & Polyphony recording Lauridsen, both 'Lux Aterna' and 'Nocturnes'. Or Road to Paradise by the Gabrielli Consort.