Description
This issue takes a step back in time to another desperate era in the world of organs and music: the Commonwealth. Musicians being musicians still survived and Dominic Gwynn takes an anecdotal look at how this happened, particularly in Worcester. Gerald Gilford takes a more scholarly approach and introduces the range of material stored in the Founder’s Collection at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and Martin Souter introduces three English pieces from the extended period in his You Can Play This article. As February sees the Mendelssohn centenary, Peter Dyke and Hilary Norris discuss the similarities between the Mendelssohn Six Sonatas and the Bach Clavierübung III.
Also, Stephen Cleobury has supplied two articles. Although by now Christmas is already a dim and distant memory, the first is about the history and preparation of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols and the second about how to plan an interesting organ recital — useful information yet rarely taught.
Returning to this issue’s subject, the centre-page spread is of the gloriously Baroque chapel at Great Witley, an early instrument from this period. The cover shot, taken by Mike Gutteridge, is of Derby Cathedral,
quasi-classical in its design.
PAGE 7: Organ music in the Founder’s Collection at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Gerald Gifford
PAGE 15: Mendelssohn’s Six Sonatas for Organ: the case for an influence from Bach’s Clavierübung III Peter Dyke and Hilary Norris
PAGE 21: How organs and organists survived the Commonwealth Dominic Gwynn
PAGE 28: Building on tradition Dr Helen Smith
PAGE 31: Where is thy zeal? Dr Christopher Maxim
PAGE 38: Preparing for A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols Stephen Cleobury
PAGE 43: A Hill refreshed Paul Hale
PAGE 46: Sprechen Sie Franglais? John Norman
PAGE 48: Choirmasters’ questions No. 1: personal relationships Dr John Bertalot
PAGE 50: Help save a pipe organ
PAGE 53: Organ-ise puts Worcester Quire organ at heart of community
PAGE 54: NPOR news Nicholas Watkins
PAGE 59: You can play this Martin Souter
PAGE 68: The planning and presentation of an organ recital Stephen Cleobury
PAGE 71: CD reviews
PAGE 82: Music reviews
PAGE 92: DVD reviews
PAGE 93: Book reviews
PAGE 94: Continuo
PAGE 95: Association events
PAGE 99: Association News
PAGE 104: Letters
PAGE 106: Closing thoughts
PAGE 107: Crossword