handsoff

Oliver Latry, in an article printed in The Times this morning, says that the organ in Notre Dame may well be playable within 3 years. The article is ahead of his Proms appearance next Sunday morning.

Having just joined the 21st century and bought an Amazon Alexa thing for the home (after enjoying the use of one in a holiday cottage) a voice activated console should be a possibility. It would need a faster response time than Alexa but with a closed-circuit system rather than wi-fi/internet it should be possible. "Fred, swell No8, swell to great" etc etc Mind you, some careful filters for error-led profanities and mischievous asistants/choristers/ curates/ spouses and so on might be advisable. </realmoffantasymode> 🦄🦄

There was a standing ovation at the end of Dame Gillian Weir's inaugural recital on the Tickell organ at Worcester Cathedral. I was seated in front of the tomb of King John on an especially hard seat with no back support and was one of the first to leap to my feet...

In 2019 is it really a problem that one cannot listen to a live broadcast? In my house we have 3 devices capable of recording high quaity digital sound plus 2 others, with simple timers, that can record a very decent analogue broadcast all of which can be connected to a sound system to be replayed at a time convenient to all. This does not of course address the simple fact that the BBC Proms authorities regard organ music, and the simply amazing instrument available to them in the Albert Hall, with disdain and being of lesser status than the scratching of strings 🤾‍♂️.🏃‍♂️

What a gloriously moving and engaging service this is. I can't stop watching... I wish that I were there.

Earlier in the week there was an incident in St Patrick's cathedral, New York when a man was arrested in possession of petrol, lighter fuel and lighters.

Oops! It was in the presence of Giscard d'Estaing the mass being in honour of De Gaulle. I should wear my specs for CD case writing.

If, as we all hope, the organ were to be saved I imagine that it would have to removed from the cathedral to allow for the fabric of the building to be properly assessed and repaired. With this in mind it will be many years if not decades before it will be heard again. I have just played the Solstice recording of Pierre Cochereau's improvisation in the minor key on La Marseillaise which he played in 1977 for the funeral mass of Pres. Giscard d'Estaing. It seemed appropriate... Amd what has Radio 3 just played? Go on, guess. [Clue - it's not an improv by PC]

I remember hearing Paul Hale play a recital at Walsall Town Hall on the excellent Nicholson and Lord/Compton/Mander/Hawkins organ. He ended with an arrangement by a theatre organist friend of the Widor V final movement interspersed with "When the Saints Go Marching In" theme largely in the pedal. He ussed the wobulation devices (😊) and I recall thinking at the time that is was a shame that there wasn't one on the pedal organ as the 32' reed in particular would have been fun had there been.

Thank you carrick - my ignorance of the Blackpool Wurlizter scene is shocking! Having never visited the town or known anything about the organs I had wrongly assumed that all 3 venues were part of the same. I am fascinated by the theatre/cinema organ and enjoy the sound; especially when the tremulants are used a bit more sparingly than sometimes seems to be the case but I put that down to my, ummm, blinkered early years! Mrs H and & I have long said that we should like to see the Blackpool illuminations so in the coming Autumn we shall and try to time the visit with a concert.

I recall hearing or reading somewhere that the Blackpool Wurlizter has a significant amount of electronic amplification. Is this correct or an urban myth? Thanks

I have vague memories of seeing, when very young (8 or 9?), a "light-organ" show at the long-gone Bingley Hall in Birmingham during a visit with my parents. I recall that dancing columns of water illuminated by coloured lights were accompanied and controlled by an organ although whether pipe or electronic I don't know. The performance was during some sort of home economics event where housewives were able to buy various new new kitchen implements. I can still in my mind's eye the yellow plastic butter dish my mother bought which had a hollow lid into which warm water could be poured to soften the butter on cold days! I remember that better than the light-organ show...

Sad news indeed. I very much like his anthem, "O Lord the Maker of All Thing" - wonderfully atmospheric and exciting music to both perform and hear. On a lighter note; on the day that the 2012 Olympic Torch was being paraded through Stratford-upon-Avon (1 July 2012) I played "Torches" as a postlude to our morning service. The congregation just didn't get it...

May I say how much I miss pcnd5584's erudite and knowledgeable contributions to this forum...

Stainer: The Crucifixion ...and yes, I really mean it! I am very fond of this work with its drama, word-painting and simply wonderful hymn tunes. A good tenor soloist is clearly needed and I'd allow you to omit the Prelude! I know it's unfashionable to like Stainer at the moment but his time will come again...

I have two carol services at different churches within the Benefice; for the first, a very cheerful and quite light-hearted affair I shall end with a simple arrangement of "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" - short so that it can finish before the kettles boil and catchy enough to make the audience listen. The second service is more traditional and they shall have "In Dulci Jubilo" by Wilbur Held. On Christmas morning I'll play "God Rest Ye Merry" also by Wilbur Held.

If she were ever to come back..!

I've always been a fan of a good last reharmonisation and in most circumstances much prefer one to a descant with a few exceptions such as Andrew Fletcher's "Hark the Herald" and one to Divinum Mysterium we used to do at Warwick. Last verse jobs do seem to have gone out of fashion although I don't go to nearly as many services in cathedrals and other churches with good organists as I once did. When much younger I went to a residential accompaniment course at Addington Palace and learned a huge amount, including the art of last verses, most of which I seem to have lost over the years. In my own small way I always try to vary the harmonies of at least one hymn per service but bearing in mind there are rarely more than 15 in the congregation and the organ is, umm, limited, I have to be circumspect. One funny story from recent years. In our annual carol service not long ago there was a woman in the congregation with a very pronounced and uncontrolled vibrato coupled to a loud voice and apparently equally large ego. She was the sort that would finish a loud carol by say, going to the upper 5th and then the tonic an octave higher to finish. In "O Come all ye Faithful" I had prepared an alternative harmony for the final verse ("Sing Choirs of...." as it was before Christmas) but she took it it upon herself to belt out the Willcocks descant in competition. Even with the limited organ, I won. Enough to say that she didn't hang about for the mince pies... 😈

That'll spur me on mightily - I like the idea of "Dripping poison on the Dons" (if that was the quote I think I remember reading somewhere!).

Woohoo, a chance of an organ scholarship at last! My last exam was Grade 7 so St John's Cambridge at least please.😁

Thank you Wolsey, that will explain the apparent change in volume in the broadcast. Time for another visit, I think...

I echo all the thoughts about the service expressed above. It sounded to me, listening with a mid-price soundbar and subwoofer, as if the pedal reeds were more forceful than I remember either from other recordings or being in the building. Has any revoicing been done recently or was it likely to have been simply the placement of the BBC's microphones?

During a short break in the village of Coln St Aldwyns, in the Cotswolds, I was able to play this organ. The front, Open Diapason, pipes are beautifully decorated as are, more unusually, the Bourdon pipes placed at either end of the organ. This view shows them to a reasonable extent. The console can hardly be described as beautiful but the sound of the organ is decidedly so. The Gamba is almost Oboe-like and blends perfectly with the Stopped Diapason and 4' Flute; the OD and Principal and quite powerful and bright and supported well by the Bourdon Treble, an unusual manual double for such a small organ and judging by the stop knob a later addition to the organ. The console is unusually sited at the East end of the organ facing West and directly under one set of Bourdon pipes and needs a double mirror setup for the organist to see the choir stalls.

I played a new organ with fully electric action in Witheridge, North Devon, a couple of years ago. This had four different settings available for the general crescendo pedal and they all were set to do exactly what most GCPs don't in that the superfluous quieter ranks were taken off as the louder stops came on. In this case it was clearly up to the player to choose the sound required in each of the settings. The level of playing aids was almost overwhelming to me; used to playing instruments with none! I do appreciate that older organs don't have the flexibility that a new state-of-the-art electric action can provide. Here is a rather blurred picture that Mrs H took on a very basic digital camera as i was playing. The GC pedal is the the right-hand (foot!) of the two. This is the specification although the GCP isn't shown in the leaflet from which it was taken.

A masterful improvisation from Daniel Roth. The relationship between M. Roth and the régistrants is almost telepathic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxJuwWP_s6Y