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handsoff

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Posts posted by handsoff

  3. Posted · Report reply

    Audience numbers might increase if we all showed a little more bare leg. :P

     

    It worked for Jane Parker-Smith :o and I'm sure that the photograph of her on an LP sleeve (Blackburn Cathedral) was one of the reasons I was keen to play. I might have met her...

  5. Posted · Report reply

    No, its going in the pit in the screen above the 'additional' pedal stops so it will sound into Nave and Choir. Well thats the theory so I'm told

    PJW

     

    Ah, thank you Philip. I'd missed altogether the news that there is to be a new addition at Gloucester. Do you have any details please? I'll be going to at least one of the 3 Choirs recitals later in the summer which should give a chance to hear it.

     

    P

  7. Posted · Report reply

    Seconded. I once spent a Bank Holiday afternoon providing background noise on a C18th chamber organ at a (fairly) stately home open to the public, and, having dusted off my trusty set of Old English Organ Music for Manuals, discovered as I went, that about 70% of the pieces I was bookmarking were by him. They just seemed head and shoulders more interesting than the rest.

     

    "Thirded", especially one or two of his Cornet voluntaries. I used to play a lot from those books and the Novello "Early Organ Music" series, and still do on the occasions that I play for my own amusement. Benjamin Rogers (b. 1614) wrote some good stuff too and is worth a look.

     

    I think that manuals only music has a valuable part to play in the repertoire to get away from the seemingly omnipresent 16' tone and enjoy the times that such items are included in a recital programme. On one of the organs that I used to play, the Pedal Bourdon (the only pedal stop) was much too boomy for quiet music so tended not to use the pedals unless just coupled to the manuals.

  8. Posted · Report reply

    Thomas Trotter is a guest on Radio 3's "In Tune" from 5pm tonight and will talk about the new organ at Llandaff Cathedral.

     

    Given Sean Rafferty's almost total lack of knowledge of the subject ("I understand, Thomas, that the organ in Birmingham Town Hall sounds like a fairground instrument...") it might be fun to listen.

     

    P

     

    PS I was sent this link yesterday. Passed on without comment.

     

    P

  9. Posted · Report reply

    Reminds me of the organist who decided to clean the comsole during a sermon - somehow managed to touch the 'full swell' piston while dusting the swell keyboard from top to bottom, glissando style!

     

    The last thing my teacher said to me before I took a position (my first) at a small parish church was "Turn the blower off before the sermon if you're going to fiddle...".

  10. Posted · Report reply

    There's a programme about choral accompaniment at 18.30 on Radio 3 tonight (Sunday 18 April) dealing with the "challenges and highlights of this under-appreciated job." Sarah Baldock, Iain Farrington and Jeffrey Howard are featured.

     

    I'm sure that it will be on the BBC play it again system for those accompanying their own choirs at that time.

     

    P

  11. Posted · Report reply

    I've just listened, via the BBC i-Player, to parts of the Sunday Morning service from Westminster Cathedral. It's well worth a few minutes, including the last verse of the final hymn, starting at about 47.00. A clue; no descant... :ph34r:

     

    The voluntary was, of course, curtailed. Even as an Archers fan, I would have been happy to have had a late start to the omnibus edition to have heard all of it.

     

    P

  13. Posted · Report reply

    The new organ was featured on Radio 3's "In Tune" tonight. I caught about 50% of the Final from Widor VI - very fine it sounded too.

     

    There's something on R3 tomorrow (Saturday) - I think it may be Music Matters at 12.15 but I was busy cooking and missed most of the announcement.

     

    P

  14. Posted · Report reply

    I have Guildford Cathedral's and St John's Cambridge's recordings. I marginally prefer the former - has anyone noticed the way that it sounds as if the trebles sang "Sorrerful Road"?

     

    A great piece and one which has been with me all my life ever since my late father sang the tenor solos at a local performance in about 1963.

  15. Posted · Report reply

    I've just been listening to Ban van Oosten's recording from Église Sainte-Madeleine* of Lefébure-Wély's music and found myself singing the words of "All Things Bright and Beautiful" to the theme of his Communion in F Major...

     

    I know that a lot of people are sniffy about L-J-A L-W's music but I love it ;)

     

    *Am I showing my almost childish love of 32' reeds or does this organ and its wonderful acoustic just cry out for another 12 pipes to be tacked onto the pedal Bombarde 16' woodwork?

  17. Posted · Report reply

    I once attended, as a guest, a wedding in a large and quite well known church in Northampton. The organist* was improvising the music before the bride's arrival and when she was around fifteen minutes late the theme of a popular Christmas Carol started, intermittently, to appear. Before she arrived some 20 minutes late it had become much more obvious, to the clear amusement of the choir and quite a large proportion of the audience.

     

    *Not the regular, but an uncle of the bride lest it be thought impolite! I gather that he was auditioned before agreement was given for him to play.

  18. Posted · Report reply

    Here's a little something to uplift you all and gladden your hearts..... :rolleyes:

     

     

     

    Richard Hills FRCO plays 'Tiger Rag' on the Wurlitzer organ in the Assembly Hall, Worthing, UK. The video was taken by David Reed and the audio by John Leeming. The occasion was the Worthing Theatres' 'Open House' day when members of the public wandered in and out of various parts of the building over a period of about four hours. ...

     

    I've only just got around to watching this, and what a revelation! Absolutely stunning all round. I have spent the last hour watching several of the "Related Videos" and feel that a new world has opened...

     

    Thank you for posting it...

     

    P

  20. Posted · Report reply

    I think that it might depend on the expected audience. If it's likely to be a knowledgeable and enthusiastic bunch then I'm sure that the juxtaposition would work, but if it's a "Oh he's a nice chap, let's go and hear him play" group, it may be less apparent what you're up to.

     

    Bear in mind though that I've never given a recital, my experience being purely as a listener. There are many who should be grateful for that... :D

     

    Edit

     

    I've just remembered that I did actually give a very short recital in my school's chapel in about 1969 as part of some school/Shakespeare celebration. I've no idea what I played but it's a fair bet that John Stanley, John Bennett and JSB figured. The audience would been teachers, some local dignitaries and my teacher, who was probably more nervous than I!

  25. Posted · Report reply

    By the way, has anyone got that really cheap boxed set of Walcha's recordings - http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000E6U...;pf_rd_i=468294. Is the sound too bad or is it worth buying?)

     

    I have these, incidentally bought from Ebay for 1/2 the Amazon price, but don't much play them. The playing is fine, the recording quality is fine, but I just don't like the sound. It may or may not be "authentic", it matters not to me, but it grates on my ears. I'd much prefer to hear the music played on something like the instrument in Birmingham Town Hall...

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