March wensletter
Win
Philip's Bawle, from a man who literally knew his music backwards [Details]
Managing director of Priory Records, Neil Collier with Martin Setchell, after recording in January.
1. Spot the difference competition for March
Never let cats use your computer. They mess with precious photos, and this week I found they had played with one of my favourite pictures of a magnificent Casavant organ. The wretches made 16 changes - adding stuff here, deleting bits there. What a cat-astrophe. So I may as well turn it into a spot the difference competition. Go here to read the competition details and see the photos (clicking on the images will enlarge them) while I password protect the computer.
NB: This competition closes on April 1st, so don't waste time - this is trickier than you'd think!
2. Thomas Trotter
Hopefully you have already bought your tickets (phone Ticketek 03-377-8899 - a booking fee applies) for what promises to be a stunning concert by Thomas Trotter, Birmingham City Organist. Thomas launches the 2010 Celebrity Series with a programme that includes works by Bach, Wammes, Schumann, Coates, Festing, Thalben-Ball, and Wagner. Go here for programme details and information about Thomas, and here for info about the series ticket prices and options. Encourage others to go to this marvellous series, played by players all at the top of their form on a world-ranking organ!
3. Palindromic music
Haydn, Mozart, Stravinsky, Webern, Bartok all did it - and so did Philip Marshall, the subject of David Bridgeman-Sutton's Musings and Amusing article last year? Did what? Wrote palindromic music. You know, A man, a plan, Panama! the most well-known palindrome, just in case you've forgotten what they are. Philip Marshall composed a clever example as a Christmas Card to his friends, and you can read more about this much loved character and his witty music here in David's March column.
4. Rieger on record - again (and again)
During our summer holidays, when normal people are diligently breeding skin melanomas in the baking sun or snoring off over-indulgence from the barbie under a tree, Martin Setchell, the organ curator at the Christchurch Town Hall, was recorded by managing director of Priory Records, Neil Collier, for a new CD as part of Priory's Great Australasian Organs series. The tracks will include works by David German, Handel, Maquaire, Karl Jenkins, Alain, Françaix, Saint-Saëns, Lefébure-Wély, Bertuletti, Böellmann, and Grison, and the CD will be released into the wild soon. Martin also recorded more tracks for Atoll records as a further title in their Bonbons for Organ series. Stay tuned for news of the CDs.
5. Friends AGM this Thursday!
Yep - it's that time of year when the good Friends of the Christchurch Town Hall Organ fight their way past Mongolian hordes, laser-wielding natives from the planet Twertie III and conquering snow, fire and staircases, rush to grab a seat for the annual general meeting of the Friends Trust. That's at 7.30pm on Thursday, March 4th (this Thursday, in fact) in the usual room 205, upstairs in the School of Music, University of Canterbury. There should be ample after-hours parking in the adjacent car parks but please do not use any user-designated (reserved) car parks. Click here for a downloadable map (.pdf, 508kb) of the Uni. The minutes of the 2009 AGM, the Trust’s annual report and the audited accounts for the 2009 year will be available for perusal from 7.15pm. Be there -
6. Websites to womble through:
A bigger than usual assortment to make up for the long interval since the last newsletter. The first 2 video links are a special illustration of just how busy life can be for organ loft assistants. (Just mentioned this for my fellow page-turners and stop-pullers. United we stand, divided we get a whole division to ourselves...)
- A mesmerizing display of improvisation by Yves Devernay (and his assistant) in Notre Dame, Paris, at Easter, 1989. Watch for the moment when Yves removes his glasses without missing a beat. Another of Devernay here is an inspiring lesson in improvisation by itself. A great loss to the organ world when Devernay died at the early age of 53 in 1990.
- Jos van der Kooy, at the Müller organ in St Bavo, Haarlem, plays the Max Reger Toccata and Fugue in dmin/maj op 59 - his assistants work almost as hard as he does (dodging the lit candles), and the stunning video shows this most impressive organ off beautifully.
- So you want to know how they got air into organs before electricity? Watch this example of a hand-pumped organ in Spain - in this case, it's the original pump (but hopefully not the player).
- For something completely different, try Creative Criminals, a blog created by three friends who studied marketing corporate communication together in Belgium. They present a great selection of creative advertisements gathered from around the world, both video and still examples. Some of the vintage advertising is fascinating. Look for the magnificent English dog food ad. Uh, sorry about that, cats.
- In the interests of self-preservation, I include a cat video that shows a French cat with a most bizarre method of drinking. Ok, the balance is righted, you can spit me out now, moggies.
- Just one last one: playing with their food, let's hear it for the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra. Instruments include celeriac bongos, a cucumberphone, and, oh joy, aubergine clap.
Thanks to all those readers who send in suggestions for websites. Keep them coming by emailing me at info@nzorgan.com
Cheers and see you at either the AGM and/or Thomas Trotter concert...!
Jenny