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Recitals


Peter Clark

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Anne Page is to give a recital to mark the rededication, following restoration by Richard Bower, of the GM Holdich organ at St. margaret's Church, Upton (nr. Acle), Norfolk. The oncert, according to the link below, is to be on Saturday 30th September starting at 7:30pm.

http://www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/news/joy-as-150-year-old-holdich-organ-is-returned-to-norfolk-church-following-82-000-restoration-project-1-5203269

http://uptonholdichorgan.org.uk/

Dave

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Another event for you. The yearly organ recital held at Worcester Cathedral to mark the anniversary of the cathedral's choir organ will this year be given by Colin Walsh (Lincoln Cathedral) on Saturday 7th October starting at 1845hrs. Programme:

Grand Choeur in D (Guilmant) || Cantilene from Suite Breve (Langlais) || Choral n. 2 in B minor (Franck) || Petite rapsodie improvisee (Tournemire, reconstructed by Durufle) || Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 538 (Dorian) (JS Bach)

= Interval =

Fantasie no. 2 in D Flat (Saint-Saens) || Symphony no. 3 in F sharp minor (Vierne)

Ticekets £14 (under 18s free). Could be a really good evening but unfortunately I cannot go. Pity.

www.ticketsource.co.uk/date/334546

Dave

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  • 1 month later...

Charles Andrews is playing a recital at St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park London W4 (opposite Turnham Green tube) tomorrow at 12.30.

Prelude and fugue in E flat - Saint-Saëns

Five portraits for home organ - W. Lloyd Webber

 
1. Carol - Lyric piece
2. Imogen - Fairy tale
3. Elizabeth - Valse de ballet
4. Justine - Romance
5. Mandy and Dula - Burmese blues 
 
Miserere - Byrd
 
Récit de Tierce en taille - De Grigny
 
Sonata no 3 - Mendelssohn
1. Con moto maestoso
2. Andante tranquillo
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Friday 17th November - 6.30 for 7.30pm

PETER KING - re-opening recital

Holy Trinity, Bradford on Avon

Peter King is playing the opening recital on the rebuilt Henry Willis III organ in Holy Trinity, Bradford on Avon, on Friday, 17th November. There is a reception at 6.30pm in church with a chance to meet representatives of Harrison and Harrison and Peter King himself, I believe, and the recital follows at 7.30pm. I have just become DoM at Holy Trinity and would be delighted to meet and welcome any forum members who might like to attend. In the meantime, I will do a separate post about the recent work.

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  • 5 months later...

The programme for the 2018 Proms season is out. Prom 10 is an organ recital by the Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna:

22 July -- 11.00
Iveta Apkalna

Symphony no.5  -- Widor
Trois pièces pour grand orgue -- Franck
Pavane -- Fauré, arr. Apkalna
Fantasia in G major BWV 572 -- Bach, arr Arnold Bax
Variations on a Theme of Paganini (A Study for Pedals) -- Thalben-Ball
Deux Évocations --Escaich

Also, Prom 17 (27 Jul) includes Parry's "Hear my words, ye people", although since no organist is credited it may be with orchestral accompaniment.
 

 

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I've given up on the Proms website until they get their act together, but I see that they've timed Widor 5 at 6 minutes and the Franck Trois Pieces at 11 minutes, and goodness knows what the Bax arrangement of BWV 572 is supposed to be, but my bet is that the reference is to an orchestration of it.

Ian

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3 hours ago, iy45 said:

I've given up on the Proms website until they get their act together, but I see that they've timed Widor 5 at 6 minutes and the Franck Trois Pieces at 11 minutes, and goodness knows what the Bax arrangement of BWV 572 is supposed to be, but my bet is that the reference is to an orchestration of it.

Ian

 

The website gives the title of Prom 10 as 'Faure, Frank and Widor's Toccata'  - so, presumably, she is only playing the last movement of the Widor - at 6 minutes long. The site also gives Iveta Apkalna as the only performer so it looks as if this is one of Bax's arrangements of Bach - for organ!! Bax did arrange BWV572 for piano - perhaps this is an arrangement of an arrangement! But it would appear that no orchestra is involved! 

I normally comment on the 'Proms' programme because there is, nearly always, so much exciting music to listen to. This year I haven't had a chance to have a look but I did notice that Prom 4 includes Messiaen's Turangalila Sumphony - a singularly amazing piece of music!

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4 hours ago, Vox Humana said:

The programme for the 2018 Proms season is out. Prom 10 is an organ recital by the Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna:

22 July -- 11.00
Iveta Apkalna

Symphony no.5  -- Widor
Trois pièces pour grand orgue -- Franck
Pavane -- Fauré, arr. Apkalna
Fantasia in G major BWV 572 -- Bach, arr Arnold Bax
Variations on a Theme of Paganini (A Study for Pedals) -- Thalben-Ball
Deux Évocations --Escaich

Also, Prom 17 (27 Jul) includes Parry's "Hear my words, ye people", although since no organist is credited it may be with orchestral accompaniment.
 

 

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

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  • 1 month later...

St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park, London W4 1TT (next to Turnham Green tube)

Friday 8th June, 12.30pm

D'Arcy Trinkwon

Concerto in G after Prince Johann von Ernst, BWV592 Johann Sebastian Bach

Prelude & Fugue in E minor, BWV548 

Tierce en taille (6thcouplet of ‘Gloria’) François Couperin from Messe Solemnelle à l’usage des paroisses

Ballo del granduca Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Prelude & Fugue in E Flat, Op.99 No.3 Camille Saint-Saëns

Symphonie Op.13 No.4 in F minor: Charles-Marie Widor, III. Andante Cantabile, IV. Scherzo

Suite Carmelite Jean Françaix

L’Ange à la trompette Jacques Charpentier

Retiring collection

 

 

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  • 9 months later...

Seeing as this thread has not had any posts for a good while I thought I would pass on, albeit at rather short notice, that Nathan Laube is giving a recital on the organ at Clifton College Chapel, Bristol (Guthrie Road, Clifton, BS8 3EZ) on Thursday 21st March 2019 beginning at 7:30pm. The concert is being hosted, it seems, by the Bristol and District Organists Association. I used to have lessons on the organ (Harrison & Harrison IV+P/49 from 1911 with further H&H work in 1978, 1994 & 2017) so I will be going to that. I look forward to hearing it.

This link to article on the Clifton College website shows the poster with the programme on it: https://www.cliftoncollege.com/news/2019/february/concert-by-us-virtuoso-organist/

Dave

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  • 2 weeks later...

Adding to the variety... Blackpool Opera House's Mighty Wurlitzer, the last to be shipped to the UK by the Wurlitzer company, is 80 years young this year. The only Wurlitzer to be installed in a true theatre in the UK, it is still used for shows and events, as well as concerts. The next concert will be on the 14th of May at 2 pm (doors 1:30). With tickets just £6.50, it's a cheap and easy way to support an instrument that marks the end of an era. 

Tickets can be booked online at -  Tickets

Or you can book from the box office on the day, or by telephone :- 0844 856 1111

 

Organists On Parade May 2014 copy (1).jpg

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9 hours ago, handsoff said:

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

 

 

 

 

There are three Wurlitzers in Blackpool.
1:- Tower Ballroom :- Yes, it is amplified. The organ can be heard perfectly well on the ballroom floor without amplification, however, the spaces along the sides of the ballroom floor where the "audience" sit misses the sound, so it was amplified for their sakes. These days, with how current sound technicians operate, it is often cranked up to silly levels which aren't needed at all. All it needs is a "push" into the sides of the room. 

2:- Empress Ballroom - This is a "hybrid" (as it isn't purely Wurlitzer, yet!). It was installed in 2014. The Empress Ballroom is a bit larger than St Georges Hall in Liverpool, almost twice the size of the Tower Ballroom. No amplification needed at all, it's pretty loud on the ballroom floor

3:- Opera House - The last new Wurlitzer to come to the UK from the Wurlitzer factory. It's installed understage and speaks through the orchestra pit. Some of the sound of the organ misses the stalls seating a little. So, for concerts, mild "amplification" is applied to give the sound a little push into the stalls, you'd never notice it was amplified though,  as I make sure you can't each morning before the concert. 

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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.

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6 hours ago, handsoff said:

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.

Both the Empress Ballroom and Opera House are in the Winter Gardens. Wobulation devices are there to be used, though, I will admit it takes a few minutes to get used to them after being used to hearing the straight sound.

Concert wise, May might be the only other date at the Opera House this year, getting the dates for concerts can be tricky as it's a very busy venue. Hopefully, there will be more dates later in the year as the theatre and the organ are 80 years old this year. 

Concerts in the Empress Ballroom aren't happening as yet, but that is on the cards for the future. Tower Ballroom concerts are like hens teeth now, the last one was 3 years ago for Phil Kelsalls 40th anniversary, this year marks 125 years of the Tower Building, and 90 years of Wurlitzer in the Tower Ballroom, so I reckon there might be a possibility of a concert there this year.

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7 hours ago, carrick said:

Wobulation devices are there to be used, though, I will admit it takes a few minutes to get used to them after being used to hearing the straight sound.

'Wobulation'!  Brilliant!

I have to say that I am no fan of theatre organs, at least when played like that.  To be honest, I can't say I have ever heard one played without such 'wobulators', but I'd imagine that they could emulate traditional church and concert hall pipe organs if the player wanted to do so.

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3 hours ago, John Robinson said:

'Wobulation'!  Brilliant!

I have to say that I am no fan of theatre organs, at least when played like that.  To be honest, I can't say I have ever heard one played without such 'wobulators', but I'd imagine that they could emulate traditional church and concert hall pipe organs if the player wanted to do so.

You need some rock solid regulators for that. Compton regulators behave themselves and can pull it off well, provided you don't use celestes or any tibias. Wurlitzers need a bit more care, as the regulators usually want bounce. I don't believe for one second that anyone can say they aren't a fan of theatre organs, it just takes for you to find the style of playing that you enjoy. That's the beauty of it!

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Hi

Having in the past played the Rye Wurlitzer a number of times for the school carol concert, I can vouch for the fact that theatre organs - with suitable registration (and you do need sometimes to think outside the box)  can work effectively for "serious" repertoire.  I've even heard the (in)famous Widor Toccata played on the Rye Wurlitzer by Nigel Spooner F.R.C.O.

I enjoy playing theatre organ when I get the chance, which isn't very often.

Every Blessing

Tony

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Cinema/theatre organs have always fascinated me at several levels (action, tonalities, repertoire, etc), and although my opinions won't count for much, I find them fun and equally fascinating to play when the opportunity arises.  Some which I've played in recent times include the Wurlitzer at the St Albans music museum (plus their rare Spurden-Rutt) and that at the Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust, and the Gosport Compton.  My first introduction to them was as a schoolboy when I was lucky enough to try the wonderful Conacher then at the Nottingham Odeon (formerly Ritz) thanks to the kindness of the late Gerald Shaw who was there to give a concert.  I had a sort of entreé to that organ anyway because its resident organist, Jack Helyer, lived only a few doors away from us at the time.  I have to admit, though, to not being terribly addicted to the type of light music which is their principal fodder, but that's just me and I have the greatest admiration and respect for the many professionally-qualified musicians whose amazing technique requires adjectives not in the language to adequately describe it.

Against this background I find it strange that so many straight organists, whose fingers have not come within a hundred miles of a theatre organ, can sound off so confidently about their perceived shortcomings.  This type of attitude not uncommonly spills over into related diatribes against the likes of Robert Hope-Jones, which wouldn't be quite so bad if these people actually knew what they were talking about at a factual level.  It is particularly galling that not a little of this sort of material comes from the pens of otherwise acknowledged scholars.

One expert not known for pulling his punches set a more proper tone, however.  The late Bach scholar Peter Williams in his book 'The Organ' co-authored with Barbara Owen wrote that " the result [of the various expressive resources of the instrument] was an amazing instrument with a warm, novel sound, ill-suited to the music of Bach but ideal for its intended purpose".  Succinct, correct, and a model that perhaps should be borne in mind more often by writers on the organ.

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As a small boy (I regret to say it must have been almost 70 years ago!) staying with an aunt in Brighton, I was taken to two church services, one in St Peter’s, the other in the Dome.  I can still remember both occasions, but the more vivid memory was of the Dome.   Obviously at that age I couldn’t form a musical judgement except that it sounded so much more vital and exciting than what I was used to hearing at Sunday school in my home church.  Many years later I had the privilege of visiting the Dome as a guest of the Crawley and Horsham Organists’ Association when Douglas Reeve demonstrated the ‘classical’ capabilities of the Christie/ Hill N&B organ - I remember a very convincing ‘Great to Mixtures’. He then played a programme on theatre registrations - a popular medley, entirely from memory, for one hour.  There was very little, if any, use of tremulant, and I don’t think they figured very much in his distinctive style of playing.  

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The Free Trade Hall Wurlitzer was quite well regarded in a "Straight" capacity, and I suppose in a general way, theatre organs (especially Comptons, which included mixtures) were at least as well endowed with upperwork as straight jobs of the time.  Peter Williams referred (unfairly!) to Weingarten as a baroque cinema organ (or words to that effect).

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1 hour ago, David Drinkell said:

The Free Trade Hall Wurlitzer was quite well regarded in a "Straight" capacity, and I suppose in a general way, theatre organs (especially Comptons, which included mixtures) were at least as well endowed with upperwork as straight jobs of the time.  Peter Williams referred (unfairly!) to Weingarten as a baroque cinema organ (or words to that effect).

I didn't attend so can't vouch for the accuracy of this story, but the late great Ronald Frost once performed BWV565 on the Free Trade Hall during a concert and claimed to have managed to use every single stop during the performance. And I've heard many superlatives applied to Weingarten but that's one of the best yet.

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20 hours ago, carrick said:

You need some rock solid regulators for that. Compton regulators behave themselves and can pull it off well, provided you don't use celestes or any tibias. Wurlitzers need a bit more care, as the regulators usually want bounce. I don't believe for one second that anyone can say they aren't a fan of theatre organs, it just takes for you to find the style of playing that you enjoy. That's the beauty of it!

At the risk of displaying my ignorance, what's a regulator?  Can't you just turn off the tremulants?

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6 hours ago, David Drinkell said:

Peter Williams referred (unfairly!) to Weingarten as a baroque cinema organ (or words to that effect).

I'm sure that's not too inaccurate; it does have several percussions, anyway, and an excellent Vox Humana.

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3 hours ago, John Robinson said:

At the risk of displaying my ignorance, what's a regulator?  Can't you just turn off the tremulants?

"Regulator" is a common word in theatre organ terminology for bellows. Yes, you can just turn off the tremulants (and the Tibias). 

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