Days to go: 858 -- Pieces to go: 9.75

Day 142:

IN THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness;
Bow down before Him, His glory proclaim;
Gold of obedience and incense of lowliness
Bring, and adore Him; the Lord is His Name!

Low at His feet lay thy burden of carefulness;
High on His heart He will bear it for thee,
Comfort thy sorrows, and answer thy prayerfulness,
Guiding thy steps as may best for thee be.

Fear not to enter His courts, in the slenderness
Of the poor wealth thou canst reckon as thine,
Truth in its beauty and love in its tenderness,
These are the offerings to lay on His shrine.

These, though we bring them in trembling and fearfulness,
He will accept for the Name that is dear.
Mornings of joy give for evenings of tearfulness,
Trust for our trembling, and hope for our fear.

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness;
Bow down before Him, His glory proclaim;
Godl of obedience and incense of lowliness
Bring, and adore Him; the Lord is His Name!

(John Samuel Bewley Monsell)

So, three months in heaven singing at St. Mary Magdelene finished today. This year to come: no church work, just school, which needs my full attention and energy. I will miss SMM a lot. Good music by good musicians: what a rush!

Every Sunday: hymns of whatever style sung musically, excellent homily every single time, super accompaniment, whether by a real English organist (thanks, Simon) or, at the 9:30 Mass, piano, two violins, and sometimes recorder. Last week with just two violins and recorder it was like a chamber ensemble -- a really good chamber ensemble -- accompanying us.

I actually got to intone the Psalm twice, a small thrill! And hear a small children's Orff ensemble for a special occasion. Stephanie says we have a magic building -- the little instruments sounded quite lovely.

This morning I had to leave the loft briefly during the service and so listened to the Gallery Choir instead of singing with it. The Choir was upstairs and I was downstairs, I mean. Ooooooooo. Beautiful. And so nice to hear clever improvisations and, as preludes and postludes, major organ repertoire played so well.

It is REALLY exciting sight-reading motets and masses with such an accomplished choir. Choir practice starts up again soon and I will miss the chance to actually prepare the music properly, not just sight sing it as we (um, I mean, "I") have been doing all summer.

There is so much space in the service. Not a single piece of musical clutter. Lots of silence. Lovely to hear the Ritual Choir of men by the altar sing the various parts and sentences from a little chant book. A feeling of spaciousness and peace. Frequently we will reach the end of a long service -- 1 1/2 hour or more -- and after the postlude I feel so energised that I want more. More! More church! Now!

Friendly people. This morning I was surprised to find that I had so many folks to say goodbye to. So grateful to be able to "worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness" these past three months. Thank you, SMM.

Days to go: 859 -- Pieces to go: 9.75

Day 141:

VULPIUS

The strife is o'er, the battle done;
Now is the Victor's triumph won;
Now be the song of praise begun,--
Hallelujah!

The powers of death have done their worst,
But Christ their legions hath dispersed;
Let shouts of holy joy outburst,--
Hallelujah!

The three sad days have quickly sped;
He rises glorious from the dead;
All glory to our risen Head!
Hallelujah!

He brake the age-bound chains of hell;
The bars from heaven's high portals fell,
Let hymns of praise His triumph tell.
Hallelujah!

Lord, by the stripes which wounded Thee,
From death's dread sting Thy servants free,
That we may live, and sing to Thee,
Hallelujah!


Latin, mediaeval: Tr. Francis Pott
Music: Melchior Vulpius; arranged (with Faux Bourdon) by
Ernest MacMillan, Free harmonisation by Bert Van der Hoek;
Chorale prelude by Healey Willan

Days to go: 860 -- Pieces to go: 9.75

Day 140: Just tried to link the Cortner concert program to this blog but couldn't do it. When I figure it out...

The concert was a joyous celebration of Larry Cortner's life and legacy. I am pleased with how things went and everyone in attendance pronounced the concert a success. Also thank you to James Reaney, and his article about the concert in the London Free Press.

We were witnesses to the beginning of an urban (organist's) legend concerning Michael Unger, who as the last performer played the Vierne Final from the 1st Symph. A cipher started! Oh no! It blended in quite well with the harmonies for a while. In trying to disengage the cipher, Michael Unger started to play trills here and there, hoping to hit on the note, thereby stopping the cipher. No luck. Then he figured out that the cipher was in the pedal, so he started to play the pedal notes with more vigour. Soon the cipher stopped. Michael Unger had fixed it himself, while playing at full speed and full organ, without dropping a note! You deserve to win at Harlaam, young padawan. Show 'em how it's done!

Days to go:861 -- Pieces to go: 9.75

Day 139:

THE DONKEY

When forests walked and fishes flew
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood,
Then, surely, I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening bray
And ears like errant wings--
The devil's walking parody
Of all four-footed things:

The battered outlaw of the earth
Of ancient crooked will;
Scourge, beat, deride me -- I am dumb --
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour --
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout around my head
And palms about my feet.

(G. K. Chesterton)

Days to go: 862 -- Pieces to go: 9.75

Day 138: Here are the performers for the Memorial Concert for Larry Cortner:

Paul Merritt (First St. Andrew's United Church, London, ON)
Dr. Ron Fox (St. Peter's Cathedral Basilica, London, ON)
Sandra Young Tangjerd (London, ON)
David Palmer (All Saints' Anglican Church and the University of Windsor, Windsor, ON)
Michael Unger (Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY)
...et moi!

The London Centre of the RCCO is bringing refreshments. Gabriel Kney and Paul Poppy have been working on the organ (Casavant 1972, mechanical action) in Studio 18 of the Don Wright Faculty of Music, University of Western Ontario.

Dr. J. S. McIntosh, colleague of Dr. Cortner, will be attending along with Mrs. McIntosh. Former students and friends will be in attendance, and the concert is open to the public.

If a google search of Larry Cortner's name has brought you here, please feel welcome to come to the Concert, which will be held at 3 o'clock on Sunday, May 1, 2011. Free admission and free parking.

Days to go:863 -- Pieces to go: 9.75

Day 137: Well, the really exciting news is that David Palmer is going to play John McIntosh's "Thou My Soul's Shelter," a piece dedicated to Larry Cortner, on the Memorial Concert. Such a gracious person. All of them are gracious people.

Practiced most vigorously last evening and ache all over now, especially my shoulders. Lesson learned. Ouch!

The Bach is not in good shape but will be.

Days to go: 864 -- Pieces to go: 9.75

Day 136: The Reboot of An Organist's Bucket List!

I am happy to announce that I have started serious practicing again. It helps to have motivation: in my case, the Memorial Concert for Larry Cortner, 3:00 pm, May 1, 2011, Studio 18, The Don Wright Faculty of Music, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.

I am going to play the .25 of this list -- the Fugue from the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor by J.S. Bach. I was going to play John McIntosh's "Thou My Soul's Shelter" but I have a different plan for that work.

So I stopped by St. Patrick's and played the fugue 4 times through on a full plenum. Many errors up to tempo but none at a slower tempo so I guess the future is clear... 60 days to fix it before the concert.

This is fun! I'd forgotten.