Regarding the previous entry...

Ok, then, here's the scanned music for you! First thing to remember is that you must have a reed organ of the same make and model as myself in order to make sense of the music. Then there are short hand notations that only I understand (saves time during a moment of inspiration). Then I have written notes and expressions in 3 different languages: Norwegian, English and Italian (musical). Then there's bad hand writing, and then there are plain faults...

You'll find my Tonal Demonstration at the Organ Amateur Page by clicking "Music" and "Music by me". You can also access the music here.

Then there is the Study of the Lakeside Organ at the Organ Amateur Page by clicking "Music" and "Music by me". You can also access the music here.

Both files are zipped. The target documents are in PDF format.

Still composing

Today I finished my second piece of music written especially for the "The Lakside" Chicago USA reed organ. I do not have an electronic version yet, as it is a demanding job to type the music into the sheet music software. An alternative is to scan the papers, but my music hand writing is not so easy to read, so I doubt anybody will find it any useful. Some day...

THE Messiah recording!

Naxos 8.570131-32 gives you the 1751 version - no female voices, baroque ensamble and all the good music! The countertenor solo is just out of this world!!! My ears are certainly not worthy to receive those devine sound waves emitting from Iestyn Davies' mouth, but I let them anyway, because it gives me such pleasure. Much better than sex, sorry, six pints of English bitter ale! This is THE recording of Messiah you'd want if you want only one recording. It is "just" out, recorded in January 2006.

About a Messiah recording

13 months have gone by since I first started practicing Messiah, and just over 10 months since the performance. Last Wednesday I bought it on CD with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields live from Dublin (Philips 470 044-2, reissue of 470 045-2). It has received fairly good critics, so I was very disappointed when I discovered that the tenor soloist didn't manage to sing "Comfort Ye" with any expression or intensity that I hoped for. He even missed on the pitch a couple of places. "Ev'ry Valley" was somewhat better, but still a boring performance. He has a good tone in his voice, but it lacks expression (or so I think, anyway). On the bright side the soprano part of the chorus was much more convincing that of the odd amateur choir, but I would not expect any less. My favourite track on this CD must be "And He Shall Purify", which is very easy and on time, and with plenty of dynamics. I agree that this is a recording that is easy to like, because there are no obvious faults or bad sound, but neither is there anything out of the ordinary. The price was nice, though, a double CD for the price of a single. If you have not bought a recording of Messiah for yourself yet, I would not recommend this recording. There just has to be a better one out there. But if you want several different recordings in your collection, this would probably be one of those that you'd want.

Who was Charles Macpherson, anyway?

• He was born in 1870
• He was a chorister in St. Paul's Cathedral 1879-1884
• He was the sub-organist in St. Paul's Cathedral 1895-1916
• He was the organist in St. Paul's Cathedral from 1916
• He wrote Andante in G published in A little Organ Book in
  memory of Hubert Parry (1918)
• He died in 1927
  

Please write a comment if you have more facts!

Listen to my Lakeside organ

I had a friend coming over with some recording equipment and recorded the sound from my beloved reed organ. We had to do some fiddling about before we got a recording that wasn't too embarrassing to put on the web, but still it could have been a lot better. Anyway, the point isn't to show off, but to get an idea of how the organ sounds like. Below you can hear Andante in G by Charles Macpherson which I adapted for my one manual reed organ: You can hear me taking the 16' out and in a couple of times; The Vox Humana is very hard to hear, but it is used in a two bar passage; Right after the Vox Humana I pull out the Celeste in a similar reponsorial passage before returning to the opening theme; Then I use the crescendo knee "pedal" or "wing" (left hand side) followed by the swell pedal (right) at the beginning of the loudest passage.

Download the mp3 file at The Organ Amateur Page

Geistliche Lieder

I went to a second hand book shop in Oslo last Wednesday. I do that from time to time, but I never find anything related to church music. I don't know why that is. Perhaps there aren't many books out there, or perhaps there are some very keen collectors that hoovers (british word for vacuum cleaning) the market constantly. This time, however, I found something: J. S. Bach's Geistliche Lieder (35 of them) translated to Norwegian with simple melody scores. I'm not sure how useful this little book is to me, but perhaps I can get some fun out of it sometime in the future. Maybe I can use some of the words in an anthem. Maybe I can compose arrangements and then compare what I have done to e.g. Bach's own arrangements.

This book of Geistliche Lieder (Sacred Songs) is not strictly speaking church music, but could be used as such. The words are written after the reformation, so I think anyway, jugded from both credits given and the content. There are very much "Herz" and "Schmerz" (heart and pain), in a sort of a pietistic style. I'm not sure if those are true pietistic poems, but they could have been, anyways. That's why I am not too excited about this little book, because I don't like Pietism very much. All this focus on life after death and overly self-repenting stuff.

Anyway, this is none-the-less the most exciting thing that have happpend since my last blog entry...

Luther's Hymn / Nun freut euch

As I mentioned in a previous post the hymn tune called "Luther's Hymn" (in Anglican hymn books) is not used in Norway. I can not be 100% sure that it is not used, because I have not actually checked the Norwegian hymn books, but I have never heard it sung. Norwegian hymns are difficult to search because they don't name the tunes, and nothing is electronically searchable. Anyway, to make things a bit clearer, I have found some info on this tune on the internet for you. Luther's hymn is (or can be) the same as Nun freut euch, lieben Christen. The tune is composed by Joseph Klug, to be seen here. Luther wrote the words. J.S. Bach has of course harmonised it, and Bach's version (BWV 307) can be seen here and heard here. I hope this has been an enlightenment for you all, because it certainly was for me ;-)

New organist in my local church

Since the previous organist left in February my local church has not had a regular organist. Today I had the pleasure to meet Jo (from England!!!) - our new organist. My first impression was very good, and I was very much satisfied with her musical skills. She also speaks Norwegian just after one year of living in Norway. Impressive!

For all I know, Jo might read this because I gave her the URL to my blog in case she was interested to learn more about who this person is that keeps moving the organ bench form time to time. If I had not said anything, she might believe that the organ is haunted, quit her job and leave Norway altogether, and I do not want that to happen, do I? No, that would be a very bad thing to do for an anglomaniac as myself.

And Jo, if you are reading this: I have a homepage in addition to this blog, there is a link in the heading at the top of this page.

New Norwegian hymn (number 18)

My eighteenth hymn tune, and the words to go with it, are one of those inspired-by-the-moment creations. I wrote the words and composed the music in a matter of hours. Compared to my sixteenth hymn, which troubled me every day for two weeks, this came about very easily. Even though I feel that I have finished it, it can still be improved upon, and any musical, literate and creative person will find ways to make it more suitable to a specific use without changing the fundamental idea. The words of my eighteenth hymn are in Norwegian, and are basically inspired by my own frustration over Church of Norway. I try to describe a situation that I regard to be in accordance to my own beliefs, implying that Church of Norway lacks or suppresses this dimension, making the described situation closer to wishful thinking rather than reality. The hymn are however theologically sound (I think) and embraces the ideas of Real Presence and Epiclesis.

You'll find my eighteenth hymn at the Organ Amatuer Page by clicking "Music" and "Music by me". You can also access the words here and the tune here.

I also wish to point out that all of my music and lyrics are intellectual property that belongs to me, but I welcome any use that are not commercial nor deceitful. If you want to use any of my material for, let's say, a church service, that is fine by me. Putting the printed music on the market for sale is NOT OK (just an example, many other things are also NOT OK - use common sense).

More Veni Redemptor...

After digging into my small collection of hymn books (with music) I discovered that the tune "Nun komm..." is given in Songs of Praise (a), my edition is from 1931. It is also given in "Koralbok for den norske kirke" (b), a Norwegian hymnbook first time published in 1926. The Norwegian tune that I was referring to in my previous post is given in "Norsk koralbok" from 1985 (c).

(a) This version is a copy of a German baroque style harmonisation, very much in the style of the Bach chorales, but not attributed to him. The performance note above the music says "slowly", and indeed the way the music is arranged invites you to play it slowly. The best part is that it sound really superb! What on earth is it that church musicians do when they throw away these really good hymn arrangements? The Anglicans are far more eager to preserve the hymn material from the time of the reformation up until Bach than the Lutherans are. Why is this? Another great hymn tune known as "Luthers hymn" is totally unknown in Norway, but in many Anglican congregations this is among the most frequent hymns sung. Why? I am tempted to say that they have a great taste in music, which is true, but that is not the reason.

(b) Then you have this retired Norwegian arrangement, harmonies corresponding in most parts to that of (a), but without the tension and fascinating bass lines. The tune is somewhat altered, according to the Norwegian tradition of ruining a perfectly good hymn.

(c) Then this later version really drags this great tune down in the mud, and runs it over with a steamroller. Now the tune has lost it's dignity, and is better played like a ridiculous dance tune. Just as well as the Church of Norway is about to formally introduce liturgical dance in their order of service (fools...).

After all this malicious damage, both to the hymn tune and to peoples minds, I am really glad that I composed this new hymn tune to my new translation. However, personally I prefer (a) for common singing. My hymn tune (and the translation) can instead be sung as an anthem.

Veni Redemptor Gentium

The famous Ambrosian hymn, better known to the Lutherans as "Nun komm der Heiden Heiland". In Norway this is the first hymn in the offical hymn book "Norsk salmebok". What most people seem to have missed, is that Luther has ommitted a couple of verses, and the Norwegeians have even further changed this hymn in their translation, bearing little resemblance to the original Ambrosian words. Therefore I have now made a new Norwegian translation. I am not the only one who has been concerned with this hymn. Take a look at this Dutch site:

Veni Redemptor Gentium / Nun komm der Heiden Heiland

Here's an English site with a literal translation (which indicates that my own translation to Norwegian seems fairly accurate):

Cantata BWV 61 - English Translation [interlinear format]

I have tried to be faithful to the Latin original in my translation. Some of the lines may differ for the sake of rhyme, but I believe that I have managed to express the bigger picture. It is difficult to show this in English, so I'll leave the analysis out. In Norway, the traditional Gregorian tune (the same as the German tune) is somewhat stuck with the Norwegian translation given in "Norsk salmebok". A radical change (i.e. a new translation) of the words would thus call for a new tune to indicate that the words now means something different than before. This is what I have done.

As far as the tune is concerned, I was determined to compose something that is totally different from the traditional tune to show that this is not an adaption of the already existing Norwegian translation. The traditional tune may be interpreted in different ways depending on which harmonies that are used. The harmonies used in "Norsk Koralbok" lends itself to either a somewhat lively or a marcato way of playing the organ, and you get an immediate impression that the hymn is old. Too bad, since translation does not reveal the old hymn. So I have done opposite by giving my new more faithful translation a very legato style tune, and harmonies that belong to our time. The whole experience of singing 8 verses fairly slowly and legato, not letting your lungs relax at any time, singing with an intensity that stretches all the way back to the 4th century... should underline the power that lies in the message of the chaste virgin giving birth to Son of God, the Redeemer of all people.

You'll find my translation and the new hymn tune at the Organ Amateur Page by clicking "Music" and "Music by me". You can also access the words here and the tune here.

Reed organ pictures

I took some pictures for the Robert Gellermann's reed organ database. I had to tidy the space around the organ i order to get a good view. Take a look:

You can find my reed organ in the reed organ database (go via http://www.reedorgan.info) with reg.no. 5224.

My beloved reed organ...

Every day I discover new details about my reed organ. When I pull out all the shutter stops together with Echo Horn and Dulcet (stops no. 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10) the colour of the tone is surprisingly similar to a real pipe principal sound, with the characteristic whistling sound. I believe that the reed cells are made this way to create wind "noise" when the shutters are opened. When the shutters are closed, the sound is nothing like a principal, but a clean, round, pleasant-to-the-ear sound.

Another thing I've noticed is that the organ needs to be "warmed up" to be in tune. That means I have to let all the reeds sound for a few seconds, or play it with all the stops out for a couple of minutes, before everything is in tune. It seems like the reeds go stiff after not being used for a while and need some stretching and bending to get back in shape. (added later: The organ stays in tune if I leave all the stops out when it is not in use, so that air can circulate inside the instrument).

The only down-side to this reed organ (not that much of a down-side, but still) is that the 16' stop does not go deeper than the usual pipe organ, even though it has got 7 extra keys in the bass region compared to a standard pipe organ. The positive side is that these 7 tones does not borrow from the octave above or another stop, but are 7 uniqe reeds with a pitch that is one octave above of what you would expect. Thus, the power of the sound does not get that much degraded because the F1 adds to the F2 creating a louder sound (having the same pitch). Anyway, the C2 is so deep that the sound board together with the organ case have a hard time giving enough resonant support to the low frequency of approx. 32 Hz that is the fundamental frequency of C2.

I had no idea that a reed organ like this would be so much fun to play. When I play with all the stops out the sound is almost unpleasantly loud, even though I intend to play loudly. When I play with only Dulcet and Echo Horn pedalling gently, the sound is so soft and quiet. It is amazing that this instrument sounds and plays so well after 106 years of playing, Norwegian temperature and humidity fluctuations, children growing up, moved from one room to another, from one house to another.

Since no music I've got is written for split keyboard, I have to compensate by playing e.g. an octave lower in the bass, ommiting some tones, playing some tones an octave higher and so on. In this way some music does not sound so well, while other music sounds perfectly OK. I admit that I miss the possibility to play with my feet, because most of the music I have played on the pipe organ is totally dependant on the pedals. This music is not possible to play on the reed organ without transcribing it. I doubt it is worth the effort. A much better idea is to write completely new music for this specific instrument. In fact, I am half way finished with my first piece of music which will demontrate the variety of the instrument.

Blogthings quizes say a great deal about a person's personality, or not? Anyway, here's my verdict:

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world.Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them.When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well.But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What's" Your Beer Personality?

You Are 18% Evil

You are good. So good, that you make evil people squirm.Just remember, you may need to turn to the dark side to get what you want!

How Evil Are You?

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Finally!

Note (30th May 2006): The stop list given below is not 100% correct. Which shutter being opened by which draw knob is not clearly understood. When I have sorted this out, I will publish a new stop list.

My beloved Chicago "The Lakeside" reed organ is now in my living room! Fully restored, cleaned and tuned. Everything in working order. A wonderful instrument! I don't understand how I have survived all these years without it. Clean, rich sound. Lots of character. A genuine American reed organ, build September 1900 (106 years old).


STOP LIST:

1. Bass Coupler (F2-E3)
2. Principal 4' (F1-E3)
3. Bourdon 16' (F1-B1 are one octave above, C2-E3 are 16')
4. Diapason (Dulcet + open rear shutter)
5. Dulcet 8' (F1-E3)
6. Diapason Forte (open front shutter)
7. Vox Humana (tremolo)
8. Principal Forte (open front shutter)
9. Echo Horn 8' (F3-F6)
10. Melodia (open rear shutter)
11. Celeste 8' (F3-F6)
12. Treble Coupler (F3-F5)

Left knee wing adds stops to create a crescendo effect.
Right knee wing shuts the shutters gradually (works only if the shutter knobs are in).

In order to avoid confusion, I have defined the octave nomenclature below. Octave intervals starting with the "c" stated:
C0 = C,, = Sub-contra octave
C1 = C, = Contra octave
C2 = C = Great octave
C3 = c = Small octave
C4 = c' = One-line octave (middle c)
C5 = c'' = Two-line octave

Dulcet and Echo Horn are the main voices (with no noticable change in tone colour between E3 and F3). Celeste is used in combination with Echo Horn for a loud string-like sound. The Bourdon is really deep and has a good foundation tone considering the free reed system. In other words: This reed organ makes good music.

Bye-bye, Roland RD 100, and good riddance!

Streaming harmonium music

Harmonium music on Pipedreams. You must have RealPlayer to listen to this. Quite entertaining and educating programme. Includes the beautiful and very romantic style "Dialog" , Op. 35, no. 1. of Siegfrid Karg-Elert - piano and harmonium together (scroll ca 45 minutes).

Way to go!

Jarle Fagerheim , 16 years old, is one of very few Norwegian organists who understands music, not only the science of pressing the right key at the right time (but he knows that, as well!). Listen to this:

Fantasia in G minor, J.S.Bach

played on a cinema organ. Good stuff! Never mind barouqe style and technique, music is more important.

Norwegian entry: Konstituering av kirkekor

Mye tyder på at mange norske kor ikke har et bevisst forhold til sin egen rolle i gudstjenesten. Koret er på alle måter medvirkende, tildels ledende i gudstjenten, og bør således betraktes som en av "lemmene" på Kristi legeme (jf. 1Kor 6:15, 1Kor 12:12-14). I tillegg til at kormedlemmene representerer seg selv for Gud, har koret også et felles, eller enhetlig, formål på vegne av Gud og til hjelp for menigheten. Koret bør derfor konstitueres ved bønn. Her er et eksempel:

Før gudstjenesten fremsier koret følgende:

Velsign, O Herre, oss som tjenestegjør i ditt tempel,
la skje til din glede at det vi synger med våre lepper blir til sannhet i våre hjerter,
og at sannheten vil vises i våre liv,
gjennom Jesus Kristus, vår Herre.
Amen.

Etter gudstjenesten fremsies denne bønnen:

Takk, Herre, for at vi fikk tjene i ditt navn,
og la musikkens gave være til vårt gavn,
og ditt behag,
inntil vi samles åpenhjertig i ditt navn,
til din ære.
Amen.

På den måten får man satt korgjerningen inn i en sammenheng, og man får også en bevisstgjøring av formålet til koret (i koret).

"Nun komm der Heiden Heiland" (BWV 659) for one-manual organ

J.S.Bach "Nun komm der Heiden Heiland" (BWV 659) prepared for one-manual organ is now available at the Organ Amateur Page under "Miscellaneous organ music". Click "Music" and "Music by me" in the menu to get there.

Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland BWV 659 on harmonium

In preparation and anticipation of my (one manual) harmonium to come from the organ builder's work shop I have looked into music that would be possible to play on the harmonium with only slight modifications. For example I have discovered that BWV 659 (the famous Nun komm' der Heiden Heiland) for organ would be playable on my harmonium. The only problem arises at the end:

The G in the pedal is impossible to play together with the left hand (my fingers are too short). I have tried to play the G an octave higher, but it takes away the edge of the music. Suggestions, anyone?

Birmingham...

Evensong from Birmingham Cathedral on Jan 25^th, BBC radio 3, is just another example of poor cathedral choir singing. This only shows how excellent Truro Cathedral Choir is. I don't think anyone held a pistol to the bishop's head in order to have the choir sing an evensong service for the BBC radio 3, so with all due respect (with emphasis on due): Practice, and practice correctly. It is shameful to have all these half-hearted choirs and excellent organists singing and playing together. Birmingham Cathedral is unfortunatety not unique in this respect.

The "Lakeside" brand name

http://mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/Digests/199903/1999.03.20.05.html

"Lakeside" is a name that goes back a ways. The Tryber & SweetlandOrgan Co. split up in 1899 to become the E. Sweetland Co. and theLakeside Organ Co. (quote from the link above)

More harmonium

I discovered that the exact same model is listed in:

http://www.reedsoc.org/ROdatabase/scrollfulldetails.asp?reg_no=3075&Choice=3&fs=Lakeside&Style=

Compare the picture in the reedsoc.org database to my own (the music stand and the top side decoration are not shown as I had disengaged them before securing the organ to the trailer):

Now I am even more excited since I know more about the organ. I wonder if there are other harmoniums in Norway of the same make and model, or if this model is unique? I also wonder if anybody elsewhere have experiences or recommendations with this organ model, how to maintain it, or other practical stuff. Are there any special written music for this instrument?

New Year

It's been a while since last time so I thought I would drop a few lines. I have had a long Christmas break, but I did not do anything of what I planned to do. Almost no music related activities. Not even on Christmas morning. What is the world comming to?

I am looking forward to get my harmonium back from the repair shop. The organ builder guy said that it would be ready by spring-time. That could be any time from March through May. I have tried to get the Karg-Elert harmonium music on sheet music, but I have not succeeded as of yet. I wonder how it will be like, because now I am playing on a Roland RD100 digital piano with headphones. I would of course prefer to have a real pipe organ with pedals, but the Chicago Lakeside organ will do fine as well. If the electricity goes out I can still play beucause I operate the bellows with my feet.

I did not take the time to record the specification of my harmonium before I handed it to the organ builder, but there are 12 drawknobs. 3 or 4 of them are couplers, I think. I know for a fact that there is a sub-octave, a super-octave and a third treble couple. I know that there is a 16' stop which goes up to the third F (including the lowest key which is an F, not the slightly higher C as in pipe organs). The keyboard thus spans over a larger range than the usual pipe organ. There is a Vox Humana that did not work. And there is one "wing" on each side that can be operated by the player's knee. The left one is for crescendo (adding stops) and the right one is like a swell pedal (increasing or decreasing sound volume). So I reckon this is a fun instrument to play with lot of possibilities for variation.

And that was all I had time to write. I am very busy these days. My wife shall be giving birth anytime soon now so there are lots of things to be done...!