Out and about yesterday

Yesterday I played for the Parish Eucharist at All Saints, Northcote.  After all the running around last week it seemed like time for the musical equivalent of comfort food, so here is what I played.

Noel Alsacien -- Alexandre Guilmant
Noel -- Sigfrid Karg-Elert
Piece d'Orgue [BWV 572] -- J.S. Bach

Merry Christmas

Out and about on Christmas Eve

Christmas is usually a very busy time, as bulletins from around this time of the last couple of years will attest.  This year is no exception, but in a slightly different way to recent years on account of the large amount of travel involved -- I have a round-trip of about 160km from leaving home to play for the first service to returning from the last one.

I have two services on Christmas eve.  The first will be at Our Lady Help of Christians in Eltham at 7.30pm, which is a sort of carols-service-cum-Mass.  The music will include pieces by Harold Darke and Adolphe Adam.

The second is midnight Mass at Tarrawarra Abbey.

Neither of these services lays huge demands on the organ per se, so it has been difficult to plan any repertoire.

To all who visit this place: I hope you enjoy Christmas celebrations among friends and loved ones, and that your break (summer or winter!) is a restful one.

Out and about on Christmas Day

On Wednesday morning I will be playing for the 10.30am Solemn Mass of Christmas Day at St Aloysius.  This will be the last stop on the long road trip that begins tomorrow, after which I point myself homeward.

Here's the organ music I have planned.

Prelude: Christmas Pastorale -- Jacques Lemmens
Processional:  Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, allzugleich -- J.G. Walther
Offertory: In Dulci Jubilo -- J.S. Bach
Elevation: Vom Himmel hoch [1] -- Johann Pachelbel
Communion: Vom Himmel hoch [2] -- Johann Pachelbel
Postlude: Marche des Rois Mages -- Theodore Dubois

The local $2 shop: a study in un-PC-ness

More out and about on Sunday: Pop Up Concert

On Sunday afternoon I will be 'popping up' as one half of an organ and trumpet duo, along with Matthew Schultz.

The concert is at Richmond Uniting Church, and will include music by Charles Ives, Naji Hakim, Jean Langlais, and much else.  The program is loosely based around the Christmas story, and the music explores some different angles of the story.

Why a pop up concert, I hear you ask.

Well, Matthew and I have played a couple of recitals this year where one of the requirements of the programmes was that it should focus on Baroque music.  There's no problem with that, but it does sometimes leave you wanting to play other music.  Hence, we're popping up to share some of the other music for organ and trumpet that we've explored, mulled over, and marked for some prospective recital at some point in an indefinite future.

The turning point from 'some prospective recital...' was when I had the opportunity to explore the organ at Richmond Uniting Church when I played a recital there a couple of months ago.  The instrument and the building have the wow factor in spades, so we decided to book the church and put on a concert for whoever turns up.

Out and about on Sunday

This week I will be back at St Aloysius, Caulfield, to play the organ for the 10.30am sung Mass.  It will be a fairly busy day, as you'll see from concert posters hanging around here.

Here is the music I have planned.

Prelude: Tempo Moderato and Intermezzo from Sonata 4 (Op. 98) -- Josef Rheinberger
Offertory: Bells -- Jean Langlais
Communion: Intermezzo -- Jean Langlais

Postlude: Fuga Chromatica from Sonata 4 (Op. 98) -- Josef Rheinberger

A very good question...

Out and about on Sunday afternoon

On Sunday afternoon I will be playing for Vespers at St Aloysius, Caulfield.

This week they're having Vespers with a Bishop, which makes the service a bit more solemn than usual.  Having said that, compared the level of ceremonial elaboration that goes into a Pontifical High Mass, Solemn Vespers remains a relatively simple affair.

The service is fairly simple, and the organ pretty much tops and tails.  Here's what I have planned.

Prelude: Voluntary -- anon.
Processional: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland -- Johann Buttstedt
Postlude: A Fancy -- Peter Hurford

Out and about on Friday

This is going to be an extraordinarily busy weekend, from Friday till Sunday.

On Friday I am playing for two events in the Catholic Youth Festival being staged in and around Australian Catholic University.

The first is a High Mass for the feast of St Nicholas, to be celebrated incomplete vastness of Sacred Heart church, Rathdowne Street, Carlton, at 8.30am.  This is the festival showcase for the Latin Mass community in Caulfield, where I have spent quite a bit of time over the last twelve months.

Here is the organ music I have planned for the service:

Prelude: Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland [BWV 659] -- Johann Sebastian Bach 
Processional: Pleins Jeux -- Nicolas de Grigny 
Offertory: Prelude in G [BWV 541] -- J.S. Bach 
Elevation: Rorate Caeli -- Jeanne Demessieux
Communion: Adagio from Organ Sonata I (Op. 65, No. 1) -- Felix Mendelssohn 
Postlude: Dialogue sur les Mixtures from Suite Breve -- Jean Langlais

In addition to this, the choir will be singing Mass IV with organ accompaniment.

At 3.00pm I will be accompanying the singing of Vespers by the Cistercians of Tarrawarra Abbey in the chapel at Australian Catholic University.  For the organ this is largely a top-and-tail operation, so here is what I have planned:

Adagio from Sonata IV [BWV 525] -- J.S. Bach
Fantasie -- Abraham van den Kerckhoven

Gryphons

Out and about on Sunday

This week I will be playing at All Saints, Northcote.  The main moments for the organ are the prelude, communion, and postlude, so here is what I have planned:

Adagio from Sonata I (Op. 65) -- Felix Mendelssohn
Air and Gavotte -- Samuel Wesley
Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gottes-Sohn [BWV 601] -- J.S. Bach

St Cecilia II: Benjamin Britten posting

Happy St Cecilia's Day!

Coming up soon

Out and about on Sunday

This week I am back at All Saints, Northcote.  The main moments for the organ are the prelude, communion voluntary, and postlude.

Here's what I have planned.

Prelude in B minor (Op. 193, No. 3) -- C.V. Stanford
Prelude on Tallis' Canon (Op. 88, No. 6) -- C.V. Stanford
Fuga [BWV 541] -- J.S. Bach

Remembrance Day

Hockeynomics

Out and about on Sunday

This week I will be back at St Aloysius, Caulfield, to play for Solemn Mass.

Service Prelude:  Epitaphe No. 4 from 24 Pieces en style Libre (Op. 31) -- Louis Vierne
Processional: Fugue -- Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Offertory: Allegro Pensoso -- Edward Elgar
Elevation: Adagio from Organ Concerto in a minor [BWV 593] -- J.S. Bach, after A. Vivaldi
Communion:  O Gott, du frommer Gott [BWV 767] -- J.S. Bach
Postlude: Allegro from Sonatina in C (Op. 38, No. 1) -- August Reinhard

Out and about on, er, Monday

Tonight I am back at St Aloysius, Caulfield, for an evening mass that forms part of their Quarant'ore.

Here's the organ music I have planned for tonight.

Service Prelude:  Poco Lento and Moderato from Vesper Voluntaries -- Edward Elgar
Offertory:  Fugue -- Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Communion:  Toccata -- Georg Muffat
Postlude: Priere du Soir -- Joseph Jongen

From a country coffee shop: an old-fashioned sentiment

All Souls day

All Saints day

Palette cleanser

Same piece, same year, bigger brass and, well intriguing for different reasons...

Not to be uncharitable, but...

OK, everything before the 'but' is probably untrue.  However, this was referred to me as an example of something so bad it's actually intriguing.  It's a pity the video doesn't include the audience response...

Out and about on Sunday

This week I am playing for the 11.00am High Mass at St Aloysius, Caulfield.  The parish is keeping All Saints, plus the commencement of a forty-hour devotion.

Here is what I have planned.

Service Prelude: Fantasia -- Abraham van den Kerckhoven
Offertory: Voluntary -- William Boyce
Communion: Agnus Dei -- Georg Muffatt
Before the procession:Schmucke Dich -- Johannes Brahms
Postlude: Agnus Dei -- Frank Martin

Found in the back of an old harmonium

Out and about on Sunday

This week I'll be playing at St Stephen's.  This is the last week of the current locum, and it's the week after a concert, so time for the musical equivalent of comfort food!

Ecce Agnus Dei from Sinfonia in honore Sancti Ioannis Baptistae -- Naji Hakim
Bells from Three Characteristic Pieces -- Jean Langlais

A fragment from a leaked communique

Members of staff have been instructed on a number of matters touching portfolio business following the recent change of management.  Since we are now open for business, we must ensure that the brand of business being offered in this establishment is politically correct in the right sort of way.  Based on United Nations principles, just in case you have concerns that the language we are compelled to use is in some way irregular or carrying some suggestion of moral bankruptcy.

In all future instances of portfolio business, the following terms are to be observed:

All elected representatives are now to be referred to as loan customers.

For confidentiality and security purposes, members of the central committee will be known by the animals or cartoon characters they most resemble, viz, Shrek, Peppi Le Pew, Canis Gremio, etc.

A special case applies to the operative from Immigration and Citizenship.  Thankyou to those who spent a great amount of time and effort trying to come up with a suitable designation for him over the last few weeks, but we must now revert to the title suggested by the original task group for the previous operative.  All future communications from this department are to refer to the current operative as The Patient.  Accordingly his staff are to be known as The Men in White Coats.

Your continued co-operation in this particular matter is greatly appreciated.

In other matters this week....

Concert programme for Sunday at Richmond Uniting Church

Tomorrow afternoon I will be playing a short recital at Richmond Uniting Church as part of the annual Historic Organs of Richmond Hill.  The recitals raise money and awareness for the Richmond Hill Churches Food Centre, which has seen a very significant increase in client numbers over the last twelve months.

The recitals start at St Stephen's, 360 Church St, Richmond, at 3.00pm.  My contribution to the afternoon will be somewhere around 4.30pm.

Click here for programme details.

Bells and Smells

OK, this one might need a little bit of commentary!

This is a corner of the choir gallery at St Aloysius, North Caulfield.  At one time the organ console stood here.  The box on the left of the photo is the switch for the long-disappeared blower.

The organist would have had his/her back to the left hand side of the photo, and so would have had a view down the church by looking to the left.  This is much easier than the mirrors and periscopes you find elsewhere, and doesn't require mentally inverting the view in order to see things the correct way round.

This would work most of the time.  However, sometimes you can't see what is happening, like those occasions when the thurifer gets a little over-enthusiastic and the incense cloud obscures the sanctuary.  Hence the warning bell in the centre of the picture.  There would have been a button down in the sacristy to allow the organist to receive a signal for the entry of the sanctuary party, or the arrival of a bride, or the nearing completion of a prayer said in the vox mystica.  This would allow the organist to tail off so that the next thing could happen down the front.

Another recital on Sunday afternoon

Out and about on Sunday

It's going to be another busy weekend, as you'll see from other posts here.

On Sunday morning I will be at St Stephen's, Richmond, again.

Here's the music I have planned.

Before the Image of a Saint (Op. 142 (I), No. 8) -- Sigfrid Karg-Elert
Fantasia -- Abraham van den Kerckhoven
Fugue in G Major [BWV 541] -- J.S. Bach

From a window

Out and about on Sunday

This week I'm continuing the locum at St Stephen's, Richmond.  For reasons you'll see elsewhere here, this weekend is going to be very busy indeed.

Here's the organ music I have planned for Sunday.

Lento (Op. 105, No. 3) -- C.V. Stanford
Fugue G-dur [BWV 541] -- J.S. Bach

Out and about on Saturday night

Once a month I play for the Saturday evening Mass at St Mary's, West Melbourne.  This is that week.  The organ music is generally a repeat of whatever I'm playing on the Sunday, so look elsewhere for what repertoire I'll be playing this weekend.

Concert on Sunday afternoon

By their beans shall ye know them

Springtime views

Another choir stall critter

Out and about on Sunday

This week I am starting a four-week stint at St Stephen's, Richmond.  It's a real doozy this time round: a baptism combined with the annual blessing of pets (sequentially combined, that is, not simultaneous!).

Since it's a likely to be a bit of a festive and mildly carnivalesque atmosphere, I'm breaking out the French music for the prelude and postlude.

La Cygne -- Camille Saint-Saëns

Sortie -- Louis J.A. Lefébure-Wély

Is it that time of year already?

Mince pies with Christmas labeling have been on sale at my local supermarket since the beginning of Term 3, which was in July.

I suppose it's fair enough that times and seasons don't really mean much for supermarkets, given that they will stock all sorts of fruits and vegetables out of season.  But mince pies?

Spring sights

Why real estate agents need sub-editors

Can you spot the problem here?

Out and about on Sunday

This Sunday I'm playing at All Saints, Northcote, again.  Here's what I have planned.


Priere du Matin -- Joseph Jongen
Adagio -- Arthur Bird
Praeludium G dur [BWV 541] -- J.S. Bach

Cherry blossom, singing: Spring has Sprung

Out and about on Sunday

After the Sunday off that, er...wasn't, I'm playing at All Saint's, Northcote, this week.

Here's what I have planned.

O Gott, du frommer Gott (Op. 122, No. 7) -- Johannes Brahms

Before the Image of a Saint (Op. 142 (I), No. 8) -- Sigfrid Karg-Elert

Praeludium G dur [BWV 541] -- J.S. Bach

Principles vs The Things That Matter

A surprising find

It's been a while since I last uttered that name of names in music theory, Ebenezer Prout, in this place.

Some people are very unkind about Prout, not least Hubert Parry with his satirical verse in the style of Prout's own mnemonics for Bach's fugue subjects:

Old Ebenezer Prout is a very clever man,
but he can't write fugues like John Sebastian...

I think the fact that Prout's treatises were standard university textbooks for a very long time might have something to do with this.  I'm a fully signed-up member of the Aldwell & Schachter survivors club, for that matter, and occasionally have guilty relapses into my undergraduate harmony text.

Still, I think Prout was about as gifted as any of the good composers of his generation, and like them he had his good days.  This organ concerto appeared on YouTube, and certainly comes from one of Prout's good days.  Enjoy!

The rare bird did fly

Well, the Sunday off turned out to be a bit of a passing fad.  My phone rang on Saturday with the inevitable harried conversation: the parish organist is stranded in an airport somewhere a long way away, can you help us?

So that's how I ended up playing at St Stephen's, Richmond.  Here's the organ music they experienced:

Before the Image of a Saint (Op. 142 (I), No. 8) -- Sigfrid Karg-Elert
Sinfonia from Solomon -- G.F. Handel

Anglican Chant for everyone, II

Anglican Chant for everyone

A thought for Friday 13

Rara Avis

That very rarest of things: a Sunday off.

That said, this isn't really a quiet week.  Last night I was back at St Aloysius, Caulfield, playing for the first mass of a newly-ordained priest.  On Friday morning I have a funeral to play for, and weddings are gearing up now that the days are lengthening and the weather is showing signs of warmth.

For now, here's something from the recording archive for you to enjoy.

The day after the night before

Out and about through the weekend

This weekend I'll be playing at St Mary's, West Melbourne, for the Saturday evening Mass.

The music is fairly simple, consisting mostly of hymns and a psalm.  There's not a lot of liturgical action to cover other than at communion, when the cantor often sings something.

The only place for an extended piece of organ music is the postlude, which will be Prelude in c (Op. 73, No 1) -- Felix Mendelssohn

For Sunday morning I'll be playing the piano at Holy Trinity, Port Melbourne.

Out and about on Sunday

This week I will be playing at St Aloysius, Caulfield.

A little while ago the priest decided to clarify what he wants the organ to do at High Mass, and what came out of that process looks very like the rubrics in Adrian Fortescue's Liber Organi.  This is good on the whole, and helps to simplify things for planning purposes.

Here is what I have planned.

Prelude and Entrance music Toccata -- Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer
Offertory Voluntary Praeludium und Hymn (Lydisch) -- Flor Peeters
Communion Voluntary Canzona -- Johann Kaspar Kerll
Postlude Ballo del Granduca [SwWV 319] -- Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Rooster meets feather duster

The leaders debate: a study in contrasts

OnthebeachSyd
21 August 2013 1:41pm

Abbott has from the outset wanted to make it a referendum on Labor’s past. His best line on Wednesday night was in his conclusion when he said whatever Rudd was now promising begged the question as to why he hadn’t already done it over the past six years.

You're right, Rudd can't go there. He's like Basil Fawlty .... "Whatever you do don't mention the war".
All Abbott has to do is ask the audience whether they want another 3 years like the last 6 years and he walks away with a draw. That is all he needs.

-----

JohnB1ack @ OnthebeachSyd

21 August 2013 2:47pm

All Abbott has to do is ask the audience whether they want another 3 years like the last 6 years and he walks away with a draw. That is all he needs.

Strewth mate I hear ya. Another 3 years of:
* first world beating growth
* low unemployment
* record low interest rates
* record high house prices
* huge mining investment
* lower taxation as a proportion of GDP
* investment in clean energy
* disability care
* NBN
* big school funding
* $18,200 tax free threshold
* super co-contributions
* rising super guarantee
* school kids bonus
* family tax benefit A/B
* pension increases
* carbon tax compensation
WE GOTTA KICK THIS MOB OOOWWWTTT!!!

From the Guardian.

Out and about on Sunday

This week I'll be playing for the Anglican Parish of South Darebin again.

Here's the music I have planned.

Freu dich sehr, O meine Seele -- Sigfrid Karg-Elert
Sarabande from Holberg Suite -- Edvard Grieg
Schmucke dich, O liebe Seele -- Sigfrid Karg-Elert

March 'Over the Hills and Far Away' -- Percy Grainger

Three years since that party in Parkville

...and thank goodness it can't be an election day this time.