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DouglasCorr

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Everything posted by DouglasCorr

  1. Message Boarders have recently been recalling how important the Flor Peeters organ compositions are, although not frequently played nowadays. He was a towering organ virtuoso, in the era of Langlais, Dupre, and Germani. His 3 volume organ tutor Ars Organi was unrivalled in the literature for students of the organ. David Morgan, a friend of mine, who died earlier this year, had lessons with Flor Peeters in August 1965. Flor Peeters gave David several sets of notes, which I now have, these relate to Peeters' organ works up to 1965 (that is works up to opus 114); the notes are- • "The composer and his compositions" • List of organ works • List of recordings • List of organ publications I think these will be of interest to some members of the Discussion Board and I would be happy to e mail anyone a copy of all of these documents if you contact me through the Discussion Board messages. I would say however that "The composer and his compositions" is very interesting but not, shall we say, earth shattering in what it reveals. The list of organ works includes a difficulty grading.
  2. DouglasCorr

    New CD

    I wonder if this comes with a health warning? Last year the IAO Congress visited Tonbridge School - Simon Preston gave an excellent recital - but the volume of the organ was almost unbearable - I can't imagine why anyone would want an organ as loud as this one! It goes on my list of organs not to hear again...
  3. According to Wikipedia the Gavioli firm started in Italy in 1806 and had offices in Paris from 1850s. I wonder what interaction there may have been with Paris based church organ builders of this era, for example Cavaille Coll. As fairground organs are out in the open and in a noisy environment, quite a lot of power is required to be heard, did Gavioli have any unique ways to produce the volume of sound necessary in the reeds and flue pipes and did this migrate into church organ building?
  4. This seems to me not so much of a disaster, but a foreseeable eventuality, particularly in light of the previous flood. It's shocking that there were apparently no procedures in place to check that the pumping equipment was always operating correctly.
  5. for those that have only lived in the post transistor age my message of April 15 2008 will provide additional explanation.... "My late toaster really was a toaster! I think it was 1960s vintage and it came from St Marks Middleton Square London. Unlike many electronic organs that derived most of their notes from a single oscillator - it had a separate oscillator for each note. From 16 ft to 2ft for a 56 note range, I think it was, resulting in around 80+ vacuum tubes. These all glowed and generated much heat - as good as any toaster! Appropriately I kept it in my kitchen... "
  6. When I was young I practiced mostly on the organ in the Royal Free Hospital Chapel (then at Gray's Inn Road) - this was at pyjama temperature throughout the year; no cold fingers there! Another nice thing was that the patients said how much they liked the music. I wonder if nowadays, with the rapid in-out style treatment that is available, the only people in hospital are those that are far too ill to be able to attend a chapel on Sundays, and that consequently hospital chapels are a thing of the past?
  7. Out of nostalgia for services I played at a long time ago I recorded the Ireland "Greater Love hath no man..." 61 Mbyte - I can send you it on CD if you would like it and can't get the whole service. Send me an e mail through the system. Unfortunatley I didn't have time to copy the Stanford.
  8. It would last longer if it were played gravissimo molto surely??
  9. Visits to organ builders workshops were not unusual 50 years ago. My school had a Norman and Beard organ and I remember visiting Hill, Norman and Beard in North London (Hornsey?) one very memorable Saturday afternoon. Very generous of them to do this.
  10. You can see some operating at the Kempton Steam museum if you go when the engine is in steam (there is a little more to life than just organs and 17th ranks..!)
  11. I once used a cream cleaner for car metal work (not a cheap one) - nice lasting shine! But try on the back of a pipe first and wait a few weeks in case of unforseen problem.
  12. I used to practice here 40 years ago, but I'm sorry to say I thought the organ sounded dreadful... maybe it's better now? Try before you book.
  13. No one has mentioned Atlantic City yet? Looks really steep!! And how would you fancy your turning pages, let alone look at a score!!
  14. It's in A maj. Dupre has fully marked in the fingering and pedals, so you have a flying start. The notes are basically easy enough but the rhythm might prove problematic though, particularly between hands and feet until you get used to it. Possibly you might not quite have enough time, but it would be ready for next year! (Dupre gives a difficulty grading for each of the chorales according to the number of voices; for the ones in 5 voices it is the easiest.)
  15. I think you meant to say "Can anyone shed a kindly light on this please"
  16. the specification Search Tip: switch to the French Google Google.fr and type in French. You can do similar things with google.it and google.de
  17. Isn't it like riding a bike, ie that when you have learnt you never ever forget ? Gosh!... I only wish it were so .......
  18. hoodies with perfect pitch will steal people's PINs.....
  19. A well thought out scheme for the breaks in the mixture composition must surely be essential to acheive this type of wonderful effect?
  20. On page 33 of Organ Building 2004 a wind usage graph shows that a 16 ft Bombarde uses approximately 13 times less air than a 16 ft sub bass. So adding the reed to the sub bass doesn't increase air demand significantly. However I wonder if unsteadiness of wind rather than wind volume was a more important consideration when higher pitches were added; to reduce unsteadiness it would be better (I suggest) to use pedal reeds alone with the pedal upper work?
  21. Do you mean 8-10-12-15 -that's a different set of harmonics to before the break. 8-10-12-13 ?? Just asking
  22. What do Boarders think about the solo string chorus at Ely?? Contra Viola 16 Viole d'Orchestre 8 Viole Celeste 8 Viole Octaviante 4 Cornet de Violes III When I was younger I thought it was rather a luxurious waste- but I haven't heard it since.....
  23. ....bit of a strange selection.... quickly weed out the robot players.. First 3 , second 6 third place not awarded... PS there used to be a voting button gizmo, which I can't find now, that was last used ? concerning the type of organ shoes you prefer and the type of pedal board
  24. :angry: Hmm ...it sounds more like a sad but light heartedsong/dance to me. Does anyone know how these words came to be associated with the variations? I vaguely remember some suggestion that Mein Junges Lieben (my young love..) might be the intended title.
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