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David Burchell’s prelude on the well-known hymn tune “Love Unknown” was included in An Oxfordshire Organ Book, published by the Oxford and District Organists Association. The excellent hymn tune on which it’s based was originally written by the composer John Ireland, who died in 1972. David Burchell was organ scholar and later assistant organist at…
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John Riley’s “Two Pieces for Manuals” are from An Oxfordshire Organ Book, published by the Oxford and District Organists Association. The two pieces in question are entitled “Lullaby in Dorian Mode” and “Mediaeval Rondeau”. < John Riley, one-time resident of Oxford, is now a freelance musician based in Edinburgh. In his notes he mentions that…
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The hymn tune Cranham is best known to us for the Christmas carol “In the bleak midwinter”. Relf Clark’s chorale prelude on the tune is from An Oxfordshire Organ Book, published in 2019 by the Oxford and District Organists’ Association. (You can find out more about this collection of pieces in the general introduction to…
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As we near the end of 2020, a year of virus-related restrictions, it seems ironic and possibly even a little cruel to have chosen late in 2019 to feature wedding and memorial music in this year’s tutorials. It has been a year in which those important events in human experience have sometimes been limited in…
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The fifth piece in the 2020 organ tutorial series is Pachelbel’s famous (some might say infamous) Canon in D. For reasons that probably have a lot to do with Classic FM, movies, and wedding websites, it has become a firm favourite for the bridal procession at weddings. It was the hilarious topic of a sketch…
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The fourth piece in this year’s organ performance tutorial series is Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, written by England’s arguably greatest German import, George Frederick Handel. Jonathan Kingston and Francis Rumsey discuss what one might do with it on the organ, as it’s often asked for at weddings. The Queen of Sheba herself is…
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The third piece in this organ performance tutorial series is Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring by J.S. Bach. It’s a useful and relatively gentle piece that’s popular for weddings, perhaps at the signing of the registers, but could equally well be used for memorial services. < “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring” is a popular and…
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For the second piece in this year’s series Francis and Jonathan discuss the Solemn Melody by Sir Henry Walford Davies. Rather like Nimrod that they did in the first tutorial of 2020, this could be a useful piece for the end of a funeral. The work was originally scored for cello, strings and organ, so…
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Following on from David’s Desert Island Discs for organ players – I thought I would add to the theme. We had a great discussion about it and thought: how would we fill our time if we had to isolate ourselves (Coronavirus style) on a desert island. This led to some interesting answers and I think…
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For our first piece in this year’s series of organ performance tutorials, Jonathan Kingston and Francis Rumsey take a look at “Nimrod” from the Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar. It’s a useful, solemn piece for the beginning or end of a funeral, or perhaps for Remembrance Day, which needs careful management of dynamics. < Enigma…
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Our organ performance tutorials for 2020 concentrate on the playing of organ arrangements for weddings and memorial services. Often requested, this music is a regular feature of many organists’ work. Most of the pieces we’ve chosen to feature in our organ performance tutorials can be performed successfully on a wide range of different instruments. All…
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For our fifth tutorial in the organ registration tutorials series, Francis discusses the registration of hymn accompaniments with Jonathan Kingston. Accompanying hymns is many organists’ primary role, and feedback suggests that a number of you would like to hear a bit more about this. We’ve chosen three hymns —“Praise my soul the king of heaven”,…
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For the fourth tutorial in our 2019 series, Francis Rumsey discusses the registration of Franck’s organ works with Jonathan Kingston. They decided to use his Chorale in A minor as an example, because it typifies a number of the challenges faced by organists who need to create sounds similar to those Franck might have expected….
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In the third tutorial in our Organ Registration Tutorial series we’re using extracts from Herbert Howells Psalm Prelude. Jonathan and Francis discuss and demonstrate a challenge that most organists will have to master at some stage in their careers — what could be termed the “seamless crescendo”. Of course there’s no such thing as a…
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If you are a regular viewer of our video publications you will almost certainly be familiar with our colleague Francis Rumsey. He is a key member of the part time team both in front of and behind the camera. Francis is organist of St Mary’s Church Witney where we have made some of our video…
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For our second tutorial in the Organ Registration Tutorial Series Jonathan and Francis take a look at Buxtehude’s big G minor Praeludium, as a way in to discussing how to register baroque music of the North German school. This piece is a great example of the so-called stylus phantasticus, and a precursor to Bach’s preludes or…
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Welcome to the first of five videos in our Organ Registration Tutorial Series for 2019! In this first tutorial we’ve chosen to discuss two contrasting chorale preludes by J. S. Bach – Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (BWV 639) and the Trio on Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend (BWV 655). In…
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On a lovely April spring day, we had exclusive use of St Kenelm’s Church Enstone to film a much more detailed presentation of our popular Envoy 35-F church and home practice instrument. The particular model we used having been ‘upgraded’ to provide sub and super swell octave couplers. Francis Rumsey in charge As ever the…
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I (Francis Rumsey) found myself in Dublin in late August, invited by Viscount’s Irish dealer David Jeffers to voice two rather different Physis-based organs that they had recently installed. The experience brought into sharp focus the differences between voicing a smallish organ in a modest church with limited reverberation, and a large one in a…
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We thought that it would be helpful to provide a detailed run through of one of our more popular instruments, the Viscount Envoy 35-F, on a voice by voice basis. On the video produced you will hear almost all stops individually demonstrated and also their use in the choruses to which they belong. This will…
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My first encounter with the Blenheim Palace organ was over 20 years ago when I wrote in and asked to play it. Then and now they will accommodate visiting musicians but you have to be there early before the house opens at 10.00am. Blenheim Palace Organ in need of repair Sadly the condition of the…
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I write this on a slightly sad day having returned from playing for the funeral of my local church organist. She had reached the age of 80 and had played at St Mary’s Helmdon for almost 40 years. So another vacancy on the bench has opened up with precious few candidates willing or otherwise to…
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An Organ Recital given by Francis Rumsey will take place on Saturday 28th January 2017 at 7pm in aid of the St Mary’s roof restoration fund. Francis Rumsey is the organist at St Mary Witney. As well as an accomplished player Francis is an audio engineer and former professor who will illustrate the programme with interesting information about…
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