sbarber49

Hear, hear!

There is a good repertoire list here, quite entertaining as well! http://www.cumbrianorganists.org.uk/ (Go to "features", then "choosing your repertoire") I think the Ann Marsden Thomas book "The church's year" is useful. A book I use a lot is "80 chorale preludes" edited by Hermann Keller - most are for manuals, or can be played without pedals: https://www.musicroom.com/product-detail/product450705/variant450705/80-chorale-preludes-by-german-masters-of-the-17th-and-18th-centuries/ The "24 Pièces en style libre" by Louis Vierne are very good. (and on IMSLP). As for hymn playing, excellent advice above. I would get used to having a regular gap between verses - I nearly always go for 2 beats - just seems natural to me. Personally I don't worry about the metre - after all, no-one is troubled by a pause in music: it doesn't mean the rhythm is compromised. You need to listen to the congregation: you may need to give a little leeway at the ends of lines, otherwise it can sound rushed. Congregations do sometimes need to be bullied, but if they are behind it may mean the speed is too fast or that they don't have time to breathe between lines. Personally I do sometimes put a little rit. at the end of the play over if it seems unnatural otherwise - not with the more muscular hymns and, in any case, no more than holding back slightly the last chord or two.. Provided the speed is well established at the outset the singers will be perfectly able to sing at your speed when they start. That is a minority view, though, I admit!

Pity it's on a Sunday morning when organists tend to be otherwise engaged.

Gosh! You certainly have a very low opinion of West (& Co.)! Certainly knowledge of historical practice was not developed in West’s time but, he would he really “ have had no interest in it”? I read that he was a pioneer in the field of editing, especially choral and organ music from earlier centuries and prepared an edition of the Bach motets. No doubt, of course, this would have reflected the knowledge and taste of his time. As for the Greene voluntary arrangement: I am grateful to you for the copy – thank you. I enjoy Simon Johnson’s performance of it on the Priory DVD from St Paul’s - a really sparkling performance to my ears. I think it’s a fine arrangement – well, the Allegro, anyway. Certainly the marked speed is very slow, but all Baroque music was then performed much slower than we do today wasn't it, so I’m not sure I’d want to be so critical of West & Co. I think the part writing is excellent and the doubled octaves only occur in 3 bars I think (though that passage repeats a couple of times). This particular movement seems to me to suit this treatment and I’m going to play it on Sunday - if my feet are confident enough on my 1865 pedal board. I’ll try not to fall into the trap of “pleasing my audience”, though! In general I do agree with you, though: I’d much rather play or hear the originals than these arrangements. However there are times when a fuller sound is required – those trumpet tunes at weddings for example, and other big occasions.

I agree about re-arranging 18th century English organ music to include pedals. However I'd make an exception for Simon Johnson's performance of Greene's "Voluntary in C minor (as arranged by West) on his St. Paul's DVD.

Though Peterborough now has a nasard and sesquialtera on the choir - added in 2016, along with a tuba mirabilis

Details here: http://www.rhinegoldjobs.co.uk/job/8433/director-of-music-in-cambridge

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/8390/organ-petition-to-cardinal-sarah-close-to-10-000-signatures (I know the petition has been mentioned before.)

Here is a link to the Allen site, giving some reasons for the installation - from Allen's point of view, of course! Apparently they thought it was intended for use in St. Peter's Square. Has St.Peter's ever had a satisfactory organ? https://www.allenorgan.com/www/allenews/mainallenews.html

Yes - it's the Casella one that has been altered quite a lot - and some bars excised. The orchestra/accompanist needs to use the same version. I attach a list of the changes a choir using Casella needs to make to match orchestral parts. (The opposite of what you would need but it shows where the problems are.) I also have replacement sheets for the In terra (Casella to what Vivaldi wrote and visa versa). Notes for Vivaldi.docx

You need to use the Ricordi score if the soloist is, as the Ricordi leaves chunks out!

I'll post this, then: https://www.rco.org.uk/news_displaystory.php?newsid=270

Lee Ward to be DOM at Liverpool Cathedral: http://www.liverpoolcathedral.org.uk/43/section.aspx/37/liverpool_cathedral_announces_lee_ward_as_new_director_of_music_

https://www.rco.org.uk/news_displaystory.php?newsid=265 (Oh dear - thought I was using a pseudonym! Can't delete.)

Andrew Reid, currently Director of the RSCM and previously DOM at Peterborough Cathedral, is to be the new Managing Director of Harrison and Harrison Organ Builders. http://www.harrisonorgans.com/news

Mark Duthie to move from Brecon to Carlisle. http://swanseaandbrecon.churchinwales.org.uk/news/2017/04/end-of-a-cathedral-era-as-music-director-moves-on/

What about the Elegy from Bridge's Downland Suite - arranged by Alec Rowley? I love the Méditation from Widor's 1st Symphony though it's beautiful rather than passionate.

I went to Boots for hearing aids as I wanted ones which didn't distort music and, especially, organ music. I got expensive Phonak ones. For general use they are great, and the audiologist very helpful. However I found that the higher pitches were being very badly distorted (including the harmonics on reed stops). I downloaded an app (PA Tone) onto my tablet so I could show the audiologist what pitches were distorting. She was extremely helpful but it took ages before she solved the problem. It turned out, in my case, that it was the "whistle block" that was causing the problem and when she turned it off the sound was perfect. It amazed me that she wasn't aware that this might have been the problem as I would have thought others would have experienced the same thing. (It's not just organ music, of course, though the distortion is most obvious with the high frequencies.) She set up a "Music" programme on my aids and, on that, the whistle block is disabled. I'm not aware of any problem with delay.

Well, copyright expires 70 years after the year of death. So that could be the next difficult debate for the Supreme Court judges!

No mention of such a thing on the cathedral website (May 2016): http://www.stpatrickscathedral.ie/the-cathedral-organ

I didn't know that either. Are you sure you're not thinking of St Finn Barre's Cathedral in Cork?

Jeremy Lloyd (currently organ scholar at Peterborough) to be Assisting Organist at York Minster from September.

Stephen Moore, currently DOM at St Matthew's, Northampton, has been appointed to Llandaff Cathedral, http://www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk/category/news/

My church is considering changing from the hymn book we don't mention to this A & M. I wondered if anyone who uses it has any comments to make, in the light of experience. Anything you particularly like or don't like? Is the music hard to read (the print seems quite small)? Do you need to buy the organ edition - £120! Do you use many of the huge number of new tunes? And new words, come to that. Needless to say, any change has got to be good! Does anyone know anything about the New, New English Hymnal supposed to be coming out next year? Just NEH with the contents of English Praise and New English Praise added, or something more radical?

David Pipe to be Director of the Diocese of Leeds Organ School and Organist of Leeds Cathedral from May 2016. https://www.rco.org.uk/news_displaystory.php?newsid=234