handsoff
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Posts posted by handsoff
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Having watched the first two episodes of the programme, I was fascinated to learn that Spanish clergy clearly delineated by law the days upon which a Trompeta en Chamade could be used. How mean...
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Stephen,
It is also possible to buy them directly from Solstice. The link is below. I must recommend PC's last recording, the improvisations on The Gospel According to Matthew. They are so moving, especially bearing in mind that PC's own death was so close...
http://www.solstice-music.com/caddie/catalogue.php?
I found them to offer very quick delivery; more so than some UK-based companies.
P
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Splendid indeed.
I bought the CDs of these services, on the advice of pcnd5584, and rarely get through the week without playing some of them. There is a wonderful improvisation at the end of Colin Mawby's "Alleluya" on the same disc as the Te Deum which rounds off a compilation CD I put together for the car. It does turn heads on the few occasions I have the car windows open...
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Yes, fair comment Ian. I usually attend recitals on my own, Mrs H coming along only when it's held in a town or city she especially likes!
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I'm also sure that Worcester Cathedral itself, and thereby the music including the planned new Chancel organ, will benefit from the admission charge. Whatever, I still regard £15 as an insignificant amount.
Perhaps Adrian or Chris will give us approximate attendance numbers after the recital...
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I would have thought that £15 is a bit of a bargain to hear DB at Worcester. I paid £17 each for Mrs H and me to hear him at The Three Choirs in Hereford** Cathedral and it was worth every penny and more. £15 buys less than 1/5 of a tank of petrol today and one can barely get a couple of pints and a sandwich for the same amount.
**The seats were comfy too - I guess that they were hired-in for the occasion so the cushion in Mrs H's bag was superfluous on this occasion!
P
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That certainly strikes a chord with me as, and without being flippant about migraines, on occasions in my younger years the use of mutations at an all too early Sunday morning service exacerbated the after-effects of an all too late Saturday night and actually hurt, making the headache worse.
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ALERT Totally useless response following.
They were described to me as 'like stars' just coming out 'any old how'My wife always describes the sounds mutation stops make as "twinkly"...
Maybe the priest had never previously heard the mixture used? -
Not quite Notre Dame, but a few years ago Mrs H. and I were on holiday in a village in North Devon and attended the morning service. There was a nice bright two manual organ and after the voluntary I wandered up to the console for a look and spoke to the lady organist who asked if I played. I replied with my usual, "I used to do a bit but haven't played regularly for a while now", whereupon she said something along the lines of, "I don't suppose you're free tonight, I've got a family problem and can't make it or find a substitute, so it will be a said evensong."
What could one do?! It was just 4 hymns, a psalm or two, accompanied responses and a voluntary at each end, so I stepped in having spent a pleasant hour or so practicing during the afternoon. The earthly reward was from the vicar - a couple of pints and a bag of crisps in the local across the road after the service.
Fingers crossed MAB (not that I'd wish JPL to suffer a family crisis!).
P
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I must try this one on my wife - I don't know how she would react to being described as silent and eerily beautifulI worry if Mrs Handsoff is silent.......
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What a splendid recital this was. I shall leave any detailed critique to those better qualified than I but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. For me, David's performance of the Franck Chorale No.3 was the most thrilling and moving I have heard; such beautiful articulation, phrasing and registration.
His own music was quite superb, whether played with the score upside-down or not. (You had to be there!) and it was a great pleasure to meet the man himself afterward the recital.
The organ sounded magnificent; I had forgotten what a fine instrument it is heard from about 1/3 of the way down the nave on the north side. It was good to hear a real Willis tuba (more than once...).
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Nice idea!
Opening Voluntary - Pastorale from Guilmant 1
Introit - Bring us O Lord God (Harris)
Responses - Smith
Psalm - 130 (Out of the Deep) - Walford Davies
Office Hymn - When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
Canticles - They're in C Minor (I think) by Hugo someone or other (possibly Cole?) - last heard by me in about 1978/9 when we performed them at St. Mary's Warwick. Absolutely super!
Anthems - Vox Dicentis (Naylor) and Evening Hymn (Balfour Gardiner)
Final Hymn - The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, is Ended, with a big lush reharmonisation of the final verse, maybe even with a few extra bars afer the last word!
Closing Voluntary - Final, Guilmant 1
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I've just received this from Europadisc advertising the DVD and wonder if forum members might be interested.
I recall seeing a couple of shows on TV; rather good I thought.
P
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Isn't this treating the organ as a curiosity? By contrast, Ex Cathedra will be performing some proper repertoire - and possibly some quite recondite stuff, too, by the sound of it. They will not be "demonstrating the human voice"; nor did I notice the Britten-Pears Ensemble demonstrating a variety of stringed and woodwind instruments.Possibly, but it will draw the pipe organ to the attention of those who may otherwise never hear one. Carlo Curley's concerts fall, for me, into the same bracket and he has done much to raise the organ's profile. If just one or two of those present are inspired to learn to play or to even gain a love for the proper repertoire, and I can think of few better than Andrew to pass on his enthusiasm for the instrument, then the exercise will have succeeded. The real purpose of the event, though, is to give the people of Birmingham an opportunity to hear the exceptional qualities of their (for it is a municipal instrument funded by tax-payers) organ. Low-brow and undignified as events such as this may appear to some, I enjoy hearing an organ well played whatever the circumstance and have every intention of attending to better appreciate this marvellous organ and thus gain more when I go to "proper" concerts there.
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I used to play at a church in a "picture postcard" village with an idyllic setting amongst thatched cottages and a beautifully maintained churchyard that could have been laid out for photography. An ancient lychgate added to the attraction and the church was in constant demand for weddings. Between 3 and 5 on Saturdays from Easter until early July wasn't uncommon. The rector always allowed time in the bookings for a decent lunch break; (underage (in my first 2 years tenure)) organist to pub coupler in use...
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Although not a recital, on Saturday 12 September Andrew Fletcher is demonstrating the the organ in Birmingham Town Hall as part of the Artsfest Weekend. The time for this is 4.30pm to 5.15pm and is preceded from 3pm by Ex Cathedra singing early choral music. I think that these items will be of interest to any local(ish) members. Mrs Handsoff and I will almost certainly be going along.
Admission is free.
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Oh yes, I have done it too; notably whilst waiting for Mrs H in town on a very hot afternoon and playing the Pierre Cochereau recording of Vierne's mass. It caused one or two heads to be turned!
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I watched part of the TV version of the First Night of the Proms on Friday and amongst a lot of inane chat from Clive Anderson there was a short piece about a new composition by someone called Goldie. The person talking to Goldie, the name of whom I forget, said that the only "thing" he had heard that was louder than Goldie's drum and bass* was the organ in the Royal Albert Hall. This comment was accompanied by a note or two from BWV 565.
I do hope that Mr Mander is delighted with this comparison
. *I believe that "drum and bass" is the sound usually heard coming from a Renault Clio dressed in a party frock driven by a nodding oaf dressed inter alia in a white baseball cap. Maybe I should buy a subwoofer for my car's hi-fi and drive around behind aforementioned Clio with a recording from the RAH organ blasting out
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Here are Mr & Mrs Pneumaticaction and their lovely daughter Electra...
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Please welcome the fake-sounding M & Mme Phonie-Passion and their son Sym, along with Mr & Mrs Bordun and their argumentative son, Contra.
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This is from the NPOR entry for St George's, Stockport. It's a long and uninteresting story as to why I was looking at this, so I won't bore anyone with it....
"Pedal Contra Trombone - 12 lowest pipes ex Fort Augustus Abbey"
P
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Well, at least this is a Michael Jackson-free zone - so far...Thank God.
Well, it was......
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Members may like to come along to St. Chad's Cathedral Birmingham nest Wednesday and hear Roy in person. 19.30 hours start £5 on the door. JWhat a splendid recital (and organ) it was too, which was enjoyed by the disappointingly small audience...
The programme included Anon (arr. Massey), Bach, Mendelssohn, Howells and Guilmant, demonstrating both Roy's mastery of the instrument and the wonderful colours of the Walker organ. It's a shame that it isn't heard more often. I hadn't seen Roy for years, the last time being when he turned pages for me at St Agatha's, Sparkbrook. Not quite so grand as it may sound as my DoM of the time is a lifelong friend of Roy's and we, as a visiting choir, sang CE there and he came along. The arrangement was that I would start an improvisation based on the final hymn for the voluntary and Roy would take over after a short time. Mmmm, I learned a lot that night! He hasn't changed a bit in the intervening years and I hope that I can play like that when I'm 75. Who am I kidding
?This was Mrs H's second recital in recent months and she is now positively looking forward to David Briggs at Hereford.
P
Maybe the priest had never previously heard the mixture used?
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Howlers
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There was something towards the front of A & M Revised which was equally open to misinterpretation. I forget the hymn number and the exact phrase but it included the words sick men and beds, plus another I completely forget.
I was much too young to understand why the older boys in the choir found it funny but laughed anyway...