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e-mail us your postal address and we will send you out the CD from which most of these soundbites were taken. |
Most browsers now have the wherewithal to play backmp3 files, but if yours does not then you can go direct to www.nullsoft.com for the latest (or a MAC) version of WinAmp. This is a self-extracting zip, and just requires you to double-click on the file once you have downloaded it (save it to disk). The player will install itself on your system and you will then be able to play back the audio files in all their splendour. If possible, connect your PC up to some large speakers - this gives the best results. There is a lot of bottom end in all these clips, and they will play back at an unbelievable level of fidelity if your reproduction chain is up to it. The new St Peter's tracks are 192 kbps mp3s...
Click on this icon at the left of the description to download the clip.
- - - - THE PHOENIX ORGAN IN SAINT PETER'S Antrim Road Belfast - - - -
Starts by contrasting just the 8' flutes of Choir & Great. At 0:35 the 4' on the Ch are added and the Gt 4' Spitzflute @ 0:49. The Great 8' flute is real. Choir alternates with Great, and Solo provides echos. The Great is real pipes, and the 2' is the Fifteenth. The Pedal is coupled to the Choir throughout. Starts on the Choir 8' with the 4' added at 1:02. These two stops are extremely useful owing to their gentle singing tone. Starts using the Great Open III & Pedal Dulciana 16. At 0:33 the solo is taken by the Choir Bourdon, Koppel and Nazard (& Trem). At 1:34 it moves to Swell Oboe, then back to Nazard and a short coda on the Solo Kopfregal from 2:33 to finish with. The Transept Cornet speaks commandingly into the Nave, with "echos" on the Choir Bourdon, Koppel, Nazard, Block & Tierce, and quieter echos on Solo Gross Cornet, Rohrflute & Wald (box shut). Note also that it is used as a true 16' bass Cornet from 0:17 for a few bars of "duo". The accompaniment is done on the Swell Diapason & Stopped 8' with Principal 4' (coupled to Pedals as well). Plein Jeu - Gt Chancel Fluework, both 16's up to Fourniture IV (no 17th, Gamba or Fl Harm) Cantus played on Pedal - both 8' reeds and 4' Clairon. It ain't Couperin, but it's close! The difference between a K and a C! Starts on the German Choir Krummhorn (with Bourdon in best French tradition) and shifts at 1:08 to Solo Cromhorne, which has the proper French accent. The Gt Open III accompanies and the Pedal is Bass Flute 8' & Octave Wood 8' (both real). Accompaniment as the one above, LH on Choir Claribel, Bourdon, Praestant, Koppel, Nazard, Block, Tierce, Larigot & Tremulant. Starting on Choir Trompette 8' with Solo Shalmey 4' coupled. LH on transept Great Trompette & Clairon at 0:22. The Swell trompette (real!) and Clairon make the three stage echos from 1:00 onwards. At 1:22 the Grands Jeux comes into play - all the reeds as previously mentioned together with all the Cornets and all coupled to the Great. Manual "tirasses" also with Pedal Trompette & Clairon for added gravitas. At 2;00 the Pedal Bombarde 16' sneaks in. Manual 16' reeds follow at 2:20 and we descend into the "Ravalement" for the last AAAA.... the only "real" stop sounding here is the Swell Trompette. This just contrasts the Transept Trompette with the Choir and Swell ones. Easy to tell which one is which? The Swell Trompette is the one made from real pipes. This contrasts the Vox Humana on the Swell (used with the "real" 8' Stopped Flute) with the much rounder vox on the Solo, actually a Kopfregal (a big hollow ball with a hole in it atop a reed boot). With the two boxes either one can be the solo voice, accompanied by the other. Finishes with an arabesque on the Flute traversiere of the Solo accompanied by the Sw Vox. Two here - the Solo one is full blooded, no compromise; the Swell Gedektpommer is more refined. Both blend exceptionally well. This extract starts on the Swell Pommer with the Stopped Flute 8', and the overall effect of the combination is that the Pommer turns the SF into more of a Lieblich Gedekt. The Solo line at 0:49 is taken by both the Quintadena and Rohrflute of the Solo, both big stops. Pedal is Bourdon 16' & Bass Flute 8'(both real). At 1:43 a chance to hear both stops without the added flutes. And just Stoped Flute, no Pommer, on Swell at end. First we hear the Great 8' to Fourniture (no 17th), all real pipes. Pedal from Principal 16, Octave, Fifteenth, Mixture, Fagotto 16', all digital. From 0:15 contrasts with West 8, 4, 2, Ripieno III. From 0:50 the Great chorus is replaced by the Transept 8, 4, 2, V (no Cymbale IV) and both are reduced to 8, 4 & 2, then 8 &4, then 8 only. Then back up by stages again - mixtures @ 3:25, coupling West to Great, adding Tr Cymb IV & West 16' Gemshorn at 3:54, Pedals couple Swell 32' Fagotto at 4:00, at 4:21 W Acuta III, and finally 4:39 West chorus Trumpet 8'. No pipes playing at end. Starting on Sw all 4 strings & Ped Dulciana 16', @ 0:48 to Solo (with Sw coupled) and back again. Add Sw flutes & Pedal Bourdon at 1:18. Solo Clarinet at 1:49. Cor Anglais 16' at 2:17 (actually a Dulzian, not a proper Cor). 2:32 back to Clarinet. 2:53 add 32' Contra Bourdon. By 3:11 Swell has reduced to Echo Gamba & Vox Angelica only (real pipes). Starts on Trompette 8' (real). Add Cornopean. Add Bombarde 16' . Close box. Add Clairon 4'. Bombarde 16 by itself. Then in turn add 8', 8', 51/3' & 4' reeds for a few chords. The following famous extract uses only 16', 8', 8' & 4' reeds coupled to Ped 32' Bour, 16' SOW, 16 Bour, 16' Dulc. ... Bombarde 16'. Accompanied by the Choir Bourdon & Koppel, Pedal Bourdon 16' (& 32' at end) - Full Swell ! Starting on the Solo Strings build up to the full string chorus from 16' to III rank Cornet , including the Octave coupler, with the box open, and then add Full Swell box closed at 1:01 (including the 32' reed) and open the box. Then it's simply a reversal, back to the Swell strings, ending on the EG & VA at 2:32. Then the Flute Celestes follows for two bars, leading to an extended passage on the Erzahlers with Octave coupler & 32' from 3:00. starting with the Great Tromba, then contrasting the Swell Cornopean, then the Corn accompanying the Tromba. Ends with a bar or two of the 16', 8' & 4' Trombas for quacking good medicine. like to hear bottom notes of 32' reeds. Organists are indeed strange. The only way to really experience them is to be in the building. The same goes for our Double Open Wood. Starts with the Solo Rohrflute 8' with echos on varios stops including Ch Bourdon, Ch Clarabella, Sw Pommer, ends up at 1:04 on Gt Fl Harm, accompanied by the four Swell Strings & Ped Bourdon 16'. Later at 1:50 the Solo line is taken by all 6 flutes of the Gt, Ch & Solo. Whipped Cream. Tuba first, echoed on Gt Tromba. Then at 0:26 we move to the Posthorn, echoed as before on the Tromba. then at 0:47 there is some aimless 4th rate meandering (Sorry!) on the Gt reeds before at 0:59 the Festival Trompette is heard. At 1:13 I eventually get the Sw & Gt & Ped sorted out and continue with Festal Flourishes to the end. This piece only uses three stops - the 16', 8' & 4' reeds of the West. In the middle section the 16' & 4' are put in, but they return for the reprise. Some live music and real pieces for the next few tracks. This is what I refer to as "Ecclesiastical Wallpaper", just before Choral Evensong, from which the next few pieces were taken. This uses the quieter registers, although it's hard to resist a little "Full Swell bulge"... Not all of it - verses 17 to 32 - Sung by the Priory Singers, directed by Nigel McClintock.
The lovely chant is by C S Lang (of Tuba Tune fame)from Herbert Howells St Paul's Service. Again sung by the Priory Singers.
Ascending LH passage at Amens uses Posthorn. Last chord Full Sw (no 32'); Gt to Fourniture, no Trombas; Ped all fluework with 32 & 16 Ophicleides.from Herbert Howells St Paul's Service. Again sung by the Priory Singers.
Ascending LH passage at Amens uses West Militaire & Clairon against full Sw with 32', (on to get a dirty low FFFF on the pedals!) coupled to Gt to Fifteenth. Last chord as Mag but added 16 & 8 Trombas; Choir Trompette & Sharf; Ped all reeds 32, 32, 16, 16, 16, 8, 8"Through the night of doubt and sorrow", to the wonderful tune "Rustington" by Parry.
Last verse descant is by yours truly, paying humble homage to Parry's greatest anthem.You can't really finish a service like this any other way. Psalm Prelude Set 2 Opus 32 No 1 Psalm 130 "de profundis clamavi ad te, Domine" by Herbert Howells. Out of the deep have I cried unto thee, O Lord. This uses the full range & all choruses. No big Solo or West reeds. Erzahlers and Double Open Wood 32 only for last few bars.
- - - - ARCHIVE - - - THE MONEYGLASS PHOENIX COMPLETE - - - -
When we pressed this CD, the track numbers advanced at significant noted registration changes.
Mpegs will not seque together like this, so we have "glued" the tracks back together to maitain the musical integrity.
If you also download the booklet in whatever form, the description of each piece will refer to the track numbers, and thus a little imagination may need to be used.
Moneyglass CD booklet in A4 format. Moneyglass CD booklet in A5 format. Moneyglass CD booklet for DVD case insert. Because of the wonderful, careful manner in which post is treated these days, the CD was never shipped in a jewel case.
As a result, we never laid an insert out in that format (121x121mm), so we haven't one for you to download.
Hovever, if you are really determined, then here is a zip of the text in .doc format for you to design your own!
- - - - THE PHOENIX ORGAN IN St. MARK'S DUNDELA - - - -
This is normally a Compton 12 rank pipe organ which uses a Phoenix coupling, capture and transmission system. However, the soundboards were removed
for renovation and during this period the organ was fitted out with soundcards so that the music programme could continue without interruption
using a digital substitute.
We took the opportunity to record it at the beginning of June 2005, just before final recommissioning of the Compton.The first group of files were recorded by a real person (me) in real time, mistakes and all!
The next pieces I played in real time, and the organ's MIDI out was fed to a PC (running Cubase sequencer software).
We then corrected the wrong notes (of which there were many!) and then recorded the organ being played by this new MIDI file.
These pieces are from MIDI files which I created from scratch, using just the score, an electric piano and a mouse.
And these pieces are from MIDI files which I found on the internet. Some work better than others,
but it demonstrates what can be done in two minutes - set the right channels, delete all program changes, set stops manually and press GO!
**The Widor is possibly the most bizarre - we scanned in the score and a friend used a piece of software called Vivaldi,
which turned the printed music, including the four stave section, straight into a midi file.
Now it wasn't perfect, and was highly confused by some of the clef changes, but once these notes were transposed, all was correct.
I wouldn't say it was the most musical interpretation I have ever heard, but then again, it only took about fifteen minutes!
Compare that to the Duruflé files above, which took over a fortnight each (still a hundred times quicker than actually learning them!)
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