For those who don't read "the other place" - EMI are shortly going to be releasing the complete series of original LP's for the 'great cathedral organ series' in a boxset - 13cd's for ?45

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Cathedral-Or...9352&sr=8-1

Despite being too young to remember this series when it first come out, they appear to have influenced the playing of a whole generation so I for one am certainly excited to be able to listen to all these recordings again. The only one I have ever heard is THAT recording of FJ at York.

The re-issue of this series is good news. I have a number of the originals on LPs and still listen to them from time to time, especially Francis Jackson's from York. The music on that and Jackson's playing are particularly memorable. That was the first time I heard Healey Willan's Introduction,Passacaglia and Fugue and I've never heard a better and more impressive performance. Francis Jackson, now in his nineties, still has this in his repertoire. I heard him play it at a public recital a couple of years or so ago. What an astonishing player he still is!

Even if half of it is tosh by today's playing/repertoire/recording standards, you can't argue with the value of this boxset. One for the Christmas list, I think!

I find that a lot of the older, analogue recordings are more pleasing to my ear than modern digital recordings, which I suspect are over processed. The vinyl LP record itself (and the mechanical stylus) was the weak link in the chain, but the analogue master tape recording was usually of the very highest quality. The limited dynamic range of an analogue tape recording also means that the music can be transferred to the CD medium without dynamic range compression; which is all too evident in some recent recordings.

Likewise I much prefer the sound of valve amplifiers than transistor/solid state designs, but that is another subject altogether.

SB

I agree, SB. One of the features I most dislike on many digital recordings is excessive resonance. The acoustic so often sounds artificial and is not to MY aural taste.
rk

Definitely one for the Christmas list.

Good playing, fine instruments and 13 CDs.

A lot of the recordings I've purchased recently or had purchased for me as presents, have been analogue recordings that have been digitally remastered and I have been delighted with them. So pleasant to get good performances rather than concentrate on the recording technology.

The sound has been great too.

It is out mid October.

As one who frequently feels thoroughly fed up with organs, organists and organ music - not to mention clergy and the world in general - I think I might just have to ask someone to put this on my Christmas list.

Well yes me too, although I think I shall probably have to pay for it myself and I'm sure I will never listen to every track on every CD.

Of the original LPs I bought only a handful but I remember three especially well. Firstly Christopher Dearnley's recording from St Pauls that included Carl Nielson's 'Commotio'. You young guys are probably unaware of Nielsen's organ masterpiece so this will be an ear opener for you all. The second one was Melville Cook from Hereford and his perfectly judged 'Prelude et fugue sur le nom d'Alain'. Marvellous! The third was Conrad Eden from Durham. The main piece on his LP was the challenging Schoenberg: Variations on a Recitative - does anybody play that these days? He also played a little 'Prelude' by my dear old piano and harmony teacher Dr Arthur Milner. Arthur was an excellent teacher, composer and a perfect gentleman to boot. I suspect that more than one of you who are in to middle age or maybe a little more like myself have some of Arthur's music tucked away somewhere in your organ music collection.

oldromola,
I'm tempted now to buy the newly re-issued set. I've got neither Christopher Dearnley's nor Conrad Eden's
original recordings. I should like to have a recording of the Schoenberg Variations which I think I heard broadcast once when I was a teenager or in my twenties (long ago!) by Ralph Downes who I believe gave its first performance in Britain. I don't think I've heard it since that broadcast but there was once an article about it in 'Musical Times'.
Nielsen's 'Commotio' is recorded by David Goode on a Herald CD with the title 'Commotio and Other Early Twentieth Century European Organ Music'. I'd like Conrad Eden's recording though. He used to be a fairly frequent broadcast organist and I once heard him play 'in the flesh' at the old R.C.O. Kensington Gore Building.
Arthur Milner's organ music was fairly frequently featured in recital programmes 50 years ago. I have a copy of his 'Diptych' but I have to confess that I have never learnt to play it. Sorry!
bws.
rk

His Prelude on a Theme of Palestrina (in Hinrichsen's Preludes, Interludes and Postludes, vol.6) is a very fine piece indeed - almost Howellsian (atmospheric beginning and end; good build-up in the middle). It really is one of my favourites. I also have his Six Pieces. I've read them through a few times, but their style is a bit more astringent and I can't quite engage with them, though their craftsmanship is first rate. I have heard one or two other pieces and they are similarly impressive. I would be quite interested in seeing more of his stuff as I suspect he is unfairly neglected. I seem to recall the late Sidney Campbell telling me that Milner sat the Durham DMus exam at the same time as he and Ruth Gipps (whose name will be known to one or two here), but I may have that completely wrong. Arthur Milner is not to be confused with Anthony Milner, who also composed a bit.

Searching the internet for references to Arthur Milner led me to the recent discussion on the ABRSM Forum. I am building up a collection of Milner's music and have acquired copies of 25 pieces published between 1954 and 1967. Most are out of print now, but some are available through the publishers archive services. In recent years I have included works by Milner in my recitals, including: Introduction and Fugue (1957), Galliard for a Festive Occasion (1959), Musette and Carol (1961), Nocturn from Six Miniatures (1961), Prelude on a Theme of Palestrina (1962), and Meditation on Psalm 62 (1966).

Mention has been made of the EMI recording of Conrad Eden playing the Prelude from Prelude, Siciliano and Ricercare (1960) which Milner dedicated to him; I also have a vinyl recording of the whole suite played by John Robinson on the organ of St Andrew's Newgate Street in Newcastle. There is a recording of three of Milner's psalm meditations on the Meridian label; By the Waters of Babylon is a recording which contrasts psalm settings for choir, solo voice, and organ. Milner's Meditations on Psalms 122, 23, and 62 are played by Lee Ward on the organ of Hampstead Parish Church.

Can anyone help in my search please? I think I have all of the published organ works (although I would be delighted to be proved wrong), so I am particularly interested in acquiring copies of Milner's anthems, carols, and piano pieces.

pitcher54 - thank you for your post, I have sent you a PM.