Recorded today on the other organ of my parish. I have access to it but have no key as yet, so I don't come there often (but today needed to practise today for sunday's service). It has some different possibilities and impossibilities than my regular organ, but sounds not bad I think. For manualiter pieces it actually has some advantages, like having a 16-foot Bourdon and a Trumpet in the principal manual. Here are the remaining two of Girolamo Cavazzoni's 4 Ricercars (1542) and a re-recording of a Bach chorale, which sounds better yet than the previous one. I love this little piece with its incredibly dense counterpoint, giving hardly any hint that this is played on one manual only with no pedal part

Cavazzoni - Intavolatura libro primo - Ricercar No.1 (4:31)
Cavazzoni - Intavolatura libro primo - Ricercar No.2 (5:16)
Bach - BWV 689 - Clavier Übung III - Jesus Christus, unser Heiland(4:23)

I enjoyed these very much! All three were new listens for me, and I've never even heard of Cavazzoni before. The organ sounds very nice and full, and as usual I thought your playing was great. I would have never guessed that the Bach was done on a single manual; the only thing that could give a hint was the lack of those big bass pedal tones.

How do you get such good recording quality with a pipe organ? I would think such a project would present recorder placement problems on a grand scale.

Thank you Sarah
As to recording, I put the Edirol in the only place where there seemed to be a power socket. Which happened to be the place which I would have chosen anyway, i.e. on the altar table, right opposite the organ. The recording has a 6Db volume boost and 'Large Occupied Hall' reverb.
But I think recording an organ properly is probably a daunting specialist job.

Very enjoyable to our Sunday breakfast session. A pieceful mood in your playing and in the music which felt very good today. Great man!

Thanks ! Hehe yes, on a sunday morning, nothing beats some lofty organ chorales

Hello Chris,
I've just listened your Bach: beautiful sound, rendition and music, of course ! You're lucky to have access to such an instrument, and so are your parishioners to have the opportunity to hear you (every sunday ?).

Thank you Francois ! I always feel really inspired by this great little piece.


Good lord no, not every sunday
And it's not as if they get to hear this. Such music is too long and difficult to play during service, and whenever I play it before the service, they chat right through it so that I can hardly hear myself. So I prefer to improvise, er, ramble on, about some of the psalms or songs at hand. On autopilot, as it were.

Hehe, by the way it turns out that you are also an improviser ! What about some organ (or piano) improvisations for the impro page, where we still feel lonely with Glenn ?
Otherwise I also play sometimes in churchs (I am the official organist for the family events: weddings, as last saturday, or funerals...). And it's also my experience how little attention is paid to us, poor music functionaries... Anyway, for this wedding last week-end, there was a quite good choir of young people. Tradition-side catholics, not very close to me in terms of philosophy, but they sang well, which is SO unusual !

LOL... the fact that I can doodle along interminably on demand does not make me an improviser any more than putting some ideas on paper makes one a composer. I would not place any of my boring stuff alongside yours and Glenn's excellent offerings.

What amuses me is that, after wandering through strange tonal shifts, I most always manage to get back seamlessly into the key I started in. Somehow that seems important to me.


Yes indeed. Except when you do something wrong, then you'll get attention.
Now what about some organ recordings from you ?


That is nice. I used to play with a rickety choir of elderly people, and it was no fun mostly. They did their best, as did I, but I am glad I don't have to do it anymore.

I have listened to all three pieces with great pleasure (via earphones and mobile phone). These are splendid recordings, I think, though I had no score to judge it properly. I like also the renaissance pieces very much and I think the registration is very well choosen.
Thank you for sharing these little gems.
P.S.: see you on Wednesday for a good surfing:)

Thanks !

Ok ! Though the wind forecast does not look so good anymore, the 4-5 Bft wind is expected on Thursday now

Yes ! Also the people reacts when you play something modern (probably because for them modern = dissonant = wrong notes !).


This wouldn't be reasonable. I'm definitely not an organist, unfortunately, since I am absolutely unable to manage my feet and my hands together (I know, it is a matter of practice, but I did not make this effort to date...). But organ is a fantastic instrument to improvise...

About as reasonable as asking me to produce an improvisation recording.


Yes that is a matter of practice, as well as of grim determination. But there are many wonderful pieces for manuals alone.


Absolutely !

Techneut wrote:

Have a look at windfinder.com, please. They say 13-15 knots of windspeed for the afternoon. So, the wind shouldn't be too bad.

Hi Chris,

I think it would be hard to criticize any of these three pieces. They all seem well prepared and performed to me. The Ricecar No. 2 has a timbre that sounds a little more "reedy" than the other two pieces, perhaps because of the presets or registration used. Overall I think this organ has a very nice sound to it, although maybe not as powerful as the one you usually play. Very fine playing!

David