‘Early one morning…..’
I was on Radio 4 this morning….maybe you didn’t notice! To be honest, it was more a case of my croaky voice, and cough!
St Mary’s Cathedral is convenient for the BBC in Glasgow, and is often used for services. Today Morning Service was live from there from 8.10 am. That meant we had to be seated by 7.45! The Choir of 40 was its usual wonderful self with some unusual pieces (including one from a Salvation Army book)For this wonderful piece of music listen to the anthem just after the Sermon….’The Quiet Heart….’ (words by James Morgan, and music by June Collin)….superb!
The uniquitous cold/cough which I brought into the Cathedral had to be stifled several times, and even my singing of the hymns had to be done with caution. I had two microphones quite close to where I was sitting, and I am sure that at least one cough may now be in the BBC archives. If you are a desperately-sad case, and want to see if you can spot it, then click on the link below…at least for about a week, and then the BBC will probably decide to edit it out after numerous complaints!
A new record?…no, actually quite old!
At the weekend we decided to do a lot of clearing out of photographs. This detail is not important, but it gave us the chance to do something useful, and, at the same time, take the opportunity to listen to a lot of music. Normally we would put on a CD, but this time I decided that we would listen to some of our old records (remember them?). Yes real vinyl! The oldest real one we had bought was Mozart’s 40th and 41st Symphonies. I bought it whilst we were courting in the early 60’s and listened to it until it became scratched….but we still have it.
Our first purchased one, as a couple, was one of Christmas carols, bought at Heathrow Airport in Dec 1967, not long after our wedding. Beautiful singing with a photo of an angelic choirboy on the front (he’ll be in his fifties now!) with dirty fingernails!
I also found small 45s which I had recorded in a studio on Sauchiehall Street, One was of a choir I had at Strathaven, and featured, ‘The Lord’s My Shepherd’, and ‘All in the April Evening’. Even after all these years i can still note some individual voices! The other was of me playing two piano pieces, one of which I had written myself.
The oldest records which I have acquired must be early recordings of the Orpheous Choir under H.S.Roberton, with many of his own compositions.
A great afternoon of memories…and we haven’t started on the tapes yet!
Notes Tremendous!
Have been listening again to a recording made by Frikki Walker of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow. It was his first CD (named as is the title of this post) and has a wealth of good ’solid’ music, which allows him to show off the instrument to its best. Recordings were made in May 2006.
Some are particular favourites of mine, and whilst I cannot even approach the playing-skill displayed, I always enjoyed having-a-go at playing them…
- ‘Nun Danket Alle Gott’, arranged as a chorale improvisation by Karg-Elert
- ‘Elegy’ by George Thalben Ball. I have a recording of this made in a south of England village organ, and it sounds so different….actually I prefer the more-gentle registration of the English organ (but don’t tell Frikki!)
- C.S.Lang’s ‘Tuba Tune in D Major’ looks easy on paper, but not so easy in the execution!
- He contributed his own ‘Oxford Elegy’, a gentle little piece with some marvellous original snatches of tunes….which would easily pass the Old Grey Whistle Test.
- The final piece is well-known to almost every church-goer. It is the noisy and fiery ‘Toccata from the 5th Organ Symphony’ by Widor.
I would love to put some of them as links here, but if you would really like to hear the CD, you can borrow mine, or (even better) buy one from the Cathedral!
P.S. If he brings out a CD with his own compositions, perhaps he could call it ‘Voices Tremendous’.
