Rick Wakeman At Lincoln

[mgp]

I happened upon the following in youtube whilst looking for something else.

[AJJ]

I happened upon the following in youtube whilst looking for something else.

 

Good to see he's still playing - Lincoln sounds good whatever you do on it - I wonder who was registering for him?

 

AJJ

[Guest Cynic]

Good to see he's still playing - Lincoln sounds good whatever you do on it - I wonder who ras registering for him?

 

AJJ

 

 

 

Different tack:

On the left of the music desk is a (Novello) Howells volume (the cover is unique) but what's the other book?

It's a Peters volume in portrait orientation... not Reger or Karg-Elert, I think, but what?

[mgp]

Different tack:

On the left of the music desk is a (Novello) Howells volume (the cover is unique) but what's the other book?

It's a Peters volume in portrait orientation... not Reger or Karg-Elert, I think, but what?

How about a Kalmus edition of VIERNE?

[mrbouffant]

Not bad. Where can I get the score?

[pcnd5584]

Good to see he's still playing - Lincoln sounds good whatever you do on it - I wonder who was registering for him?

 

AJJ

 

 

How about a Kalmus edition of VIERNE?

 

Indeed - my copy of the Deuxième Symphonie has a similar cover.

[MusingMuso]

Good to see he's still playing - Lincoln sounds good whatever you do on it - I wonder who was registering for him?

 

AJJ

 

 

=============================

 

 

Rick Wakeman also has a real passion for theatre organs, and was once interviewed by the TV people, inside the bowels of one such instrument.

 

MM

[Guest Lee Blick]

Sorry, but I thought this was crap. I have heard better compositions written by GCSE music students.

 

Please keep this man away from cathedral organs.

[pcnd5584]

Sorry, but I thought this was crap. I have heard better compositions written by GCSE music students.

 

Please keep this man away from cathedral organs.

 

 

I cannot say that I was greatly impressed, either.

 

[Vox Humana]

Thirded. Surely the success of people like this owes more to image than talent? I certainly don't see any of the latter here.

[Guest Lee Blick]

Could Yoshiki become the new organist at Norwich Cathedral following Wakeman's appointment to Lincoln? You have to wait about 40 seconds in to see.

[AJJ]

Good to see he's still playing - Lincoln sounds good whatever you do on it - I wonder who was registering for him?

 

AJJ

 

 

No comment intended here on the STANDARD of the music rather just that it was happening etc.!!

 

AJJ

[Tony Newnham]

No comment intended here on the STANDARD of the music rather just that it was happening etc.!!

 

AJJ

 

Hi

 

The clip comes from a CD that he released last year. The music is somewhat rambling, but I think well played - perhaps not much use of pedals? I enjoy listening to it occaisionally. For those into technicalities, the recording is a 2 CD set, the second disc being a binaural recoring of the same pieces (best listened to on headphones).

 

Rick did start a course at a music college, and I think had some organ lessons during that time, although piano is his main instrument (along with various electronic devices). He has used pipe organs on a number of his solo CD's - starting with "Catherine of Aragon" on The Six Wives of Henry Eighth (recorded at St. Giles, Cripplegate) and at one time toured with a small extension organ (2 man 2 rk) built by Mander's as part of his keyboard rig. He still owns the organ.

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

[john carter]

Thirded. Surely the success of people like this owes more to image than talent? I certainly don't see any of the latter here.

Vox, I'm sure it is unintentional, but these remarks appear distinctly snobbish. Though you may look down on people who don't share your musical taste, his success suggests he does have considerable talent - albeit different from that which you consider worthy.

 

As for Lee's comment about keeping such people away from Cathedral organs - it reminds me of my unenlightened headmaster of fifty years ago who would not allow jazz to be played on the Bechstein for fear it would be damaged!

 

Music that brings pleasure to others is always worthwhile, whatever its pedigree.

 

JC

[Guest Lee Blick]

Vox, I'm sure it is unintentional, but these remarks appear distinctly snobbish. Though you may look down on people who don't share your musical taste, his success suggests he does have considerable talent - albeit different from that which you consider worthy.

 

As for Lee's comment about keeping such people away from Cathedral organs - it reminds me of my unenlightened headmaster of fifty years ago who would not allow jazz to be played on the Bechstein for fear it would be damaged!

 

Music that brings pleasure to others is always worthwhile, whatever its pedigree.

 

JC

 

Sorry, I take all that back. Rick Wakeman is an amazingly talented organist. His music rivals that of Messiaen, Dupre and Howells. I am looking forward to hearing his interpretation of La Nativite du Seigneur very soon.

[john carter]

Sorry, I take all that back. Rick Wakeman is an amazingly talented organist. His music rivals that of Messiaen, Dupre and Howells. I am looking forward to hearing his interpretation of La Nativite du Seigneur very soon.

So am I. I'm sure I will have heard worse.

[Peter Allison]

Lee,

Rick wakeman started out at the RCM but gave it up and went on to play with a group called the Stawbs and the rest is, as they say is musical history. He was during the 70's and eighties voted many times by the popular musical press as "the best keyboard player", and during the on and off periods he was with the group "YES" played before many thousands of fans. Give the man his due, he has achieved ( and lost) more in his short musical career, than many organists / keyboard players will gain in a lifetime. Ok, so his music played on a pipe organ may not be good music, at least he gave it a go and some one backed him enough to make a world wide selling CD. His albums number many and have sold millions worldwide, now if that was an organist, well

regards

Peter (a life long rick wakeman fan )

[jfdg]

Sorry, I take all that back. Rick Wakeman is an amazingly talented organist. His music rivals that of Messiaen, Dupre and Howells. I am looking forward to hearing his interpretation of La Nativite du Seigneur very soon.

Well I shouldn't be one to criticise, but I don't think, based on this, that Colin Walsh's job is at that much of a risk!

[Vox Humana]

Give the man his due, he has achieved ( and lost) more in his short musical career, than many organists / keyboard players will gain in a lifetime.

Undoubtedly - and the same can be said of countless other popular musicians. Personally - and this is the point I was making previously - I think this says more about the taste of Joe Public than about the musicianship of the performers. You may make a mint out of giving the public what they want, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you know anything about music.

 

Now if other people choose to regard this as a snobbish view that is fine by me. They are as entitled to their views as I am to mine. I do not see it that way; I regard it as a matter of musical education. If education is snobbish, so be it. In my (admittedly rather opinionated) view, there is good music and there is bad and whether it is pop or classical is neither here nor there; the criteria for what works and what doesn't are the same - it all belongs to western musical culture. However I do not intend to argue the point any further here. Experience has taught me that such arguments are pointless: they never change anyone's views.

[Guest Lee Blick]

I'm sorry, but Rick Wakeman's music in 'Yes' and as a solo 'artiste' is awful. My father made me listen to this stuff when I was a kid. I used to yawn through all of it. It was torture. Really.

[Vox Humana]

My goodness, doesn't my last post sound truculent! Sorry about that: it really wasn't meant to. One of the perils of trying to keep comments concise.

 

The thing is, I've been through this sort of argument many times with my son, who has a Tonmeister degree and is developing a nice little sideline as a DJ. (An LP of stuff he has cobbled up on his computer has created enough of a stir to get him onto Radio 1). But he doesn't really know anything about musical theory. Like many "popular" musicians it's all empirical. At least he has the advantage of having some sort of feel for a proper bass line, having learnt the cello while at school (well enough to do a pretty mean Elgar concerto), but for the rest we will never see eye to eye on issues of musical structure. The great unwashed aren't able to listen that critically so they won't care. All of which means that my son will end up earning much more money out of music than I ever have. That's the economics of the music industry for you. And good luck to him, I say.

[Guest Lee Blick]

Looks like Rick has met his nemesis. Meet Christian

[Peter Clark]

Rick Wakeman used a pipe organ in Switzerland (I think) on his album Criminal Record. I had heard that he was an organist in a (Baptist?) church on the Isle of Man. So what the hell is doing on Countdown?

 

As to good/bad music and snobbery I happen to believe that the finest, tightest and most disciplined pop single to be relased in recent years is The Ketchup Song (Asereje) by Las Ketchup.

 

Peter

[riddler67]

As to good/bad music and snobbery I happen to believe that the finest, tightest and most disciplined pop single to be relased in recent years is The Ketchup Song (Asereje) by Las Ketchup.

 

Peter

 

It's extraordinary how The Ketchup Song has become an accepted part of my musical diet after prologed exposure to it in the car: it's my 5 year old's favourite. The chromatic descent from the tonic through major and minor sevenths to added sixth (as in the underlying harmony to My Funny Valentine) is always a winner.

 

Speaking as someone whose career has spanned the traditional church organ scene and the rock/pop world, I do think that rockers like Rick Wakeman (and Jon Lord of Deep Purple) are inspirational musicians. Wakeman is developing arthritis in his fingers now, but his dexterity on the MiniMoog and the piano in the 70s was remarkable. Yes, the music of that prog era is pretty overblown, but the virtuosity could, on occasion, be a bit special. Can't say this Lincoln thing is my bag musically, but if it gets some new punters interested in the organ as a musical instrument rather than an ecclesiastical architectural edifice then it's surely served an admirable purpose.

[Peter Clark]

It's extraordinary how The Ketchup Song has become an accepted part of my musical diet after prologed exposure to it in the car: it's my 5 year old's favourite. The chromatic descent from the tonic through major and minor sevenths to added sixth (as in the underlying harmony to My Funny Valentine) is always a winner.

 

Speaking as someone whose career has spanned the traditional church organ scene and the rock/pop world, I do think that rockers like Rick Wakeman (and Jon Lord of Deep Purple) are inspirational musicians. Wakeman is developing arthritis in his fingers now, but his dexterity on the MiniMoog and the piano in the 70s was remarkable. Yes, the music of that prog era is pretty overblown, but the virtuosity could, on occasion, be a bit special. Can't say this Lincoln thing is my bag musically, but if it gets some new punters interested in the organ as a musical instrument rather than an ecclesiastical architectural edifice then it's surely served an admirable purpose.

 

 

Also Keith Emerson of Nice and ELP. I think they got into trouble with Leonard Berstein for a version they did of America from West Side Story. Emerson actually wrote a paino concerto (which was quite weak IMHO). But like Rick Wakeman Emerson certainly had an enviable keyboard technique.

 

Peter