PGC

I recall a television programme many years ago where Dudley Moore was being taught the art of conducting an orchestra by George Solti. There is just one thing I remember above all else from the programme. Dudley Moore didn't know the piece Solti was teaching him to conduct, and he asked Solti at what sort of speed the piece should be taken. Solti's reply was similar to "a musician always feels and knows the right speed". Since hearing this, I have never taken note of the metronome speeds written in music when conducting. Some people argue, for example, that I take the Magnificat from Stanford's Evening Service in C too slowly. However, when hearing the result, my speed is agreed to work and it adds a solemnity to the piece that is often missing in other performances. What most people don't realise is that the service is the last set of Evening canticles Stanford wrote, and they show a maturity and simple elegance in the writing which is nigh on impossible to enjoy if the metronome markings are obeyed, as the piece almost dances along in a most undignified and inelegant manner. Phil

Wow, you must have practised super fervently. The piece is so difficult to play perfectly that even the top flight pianists fight shy of performing it. Phil

Is that the choral or orchestral version? :-) Phil

Thanks for the comments about the headphones - I will have to investigate those. As I may have said earlier in the thread (if I didn't, I'm surprised, I seem to be telling everyone!) I've been working in a school for the last 10 years as Network Manager and they got fed up with me pointing out their managerial ineptitude so paid me to go. We've now gone our separate ways, but this means I don't, currently, have income, which means I will have to put off buying luxuries like wireless headphones and further upgrades to the Hi-Fi until I get an income again. In the meantime, however, as well as job hunting, I'm also doing more modelling, and this gives me plenty of time to listen to music as well, so don't be surprised if I start putting up more posts of hidden gems. Last night I spent the evening detailing the front of my Lima Class 20, ready for the St Neots show this coming weekend (if you're there, come and say hello, I'll be with Blackwells Brewery Comapny, the layout of the Mid Essex MRC), and listened to my CD of the Scriabin Poem of Ecstasy yet again. However, this time I wasn't interrupted by the DG so heard the rest of the disc, which includes the piano concerto and Prometheus (Poem of fire). I just wish he'd written some choral music, I bet it would have been great to sing. While looking for links to YouTube clips of the piano concerto and Prometheus, YouTube suggested I might be interested in Symphony No 5 by August Klughardt. I've never heard of this composer, so looked at the piece. The notes on the recording make him sound an interesting composer and I started listening to the piece - it sounds good, but I'm not going to be able to get to the modelling bench today so I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to listen to it all, but in the meantime, if you're interested, I've put the link in. I noticed that this is yet another piece on the YouTube channel Unsungmasterworks so I've had a look at the channel, what a wealth of hidden gems. I'm going to have a lot of pleasurable time listening to unknown music while modelling. Going back to work will be a wrench - I wonder if I can find a rich benefactor who decides I don't need to work again so I can just do modelling and listening. Better start doing the lottery, then! Phil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMNf-2tT0E8

Thanks exmoordave - I hope my alterations will do justice to Dave's work, I think the layout's one of his best and I'm very pleased he's sold it to me. Phil

Considering what you started with, Mike, you have finished up with a wonderful looking lady. Can't wait to see her finished with identity etc. Phil

Most interested in the wireless headphones - how do they connect to the main hi-fi? I guess through a headphone socket. Phil

It's been a little while since an update, but that's really only because the little work I've done on the layout doesn't merit much in the way of a write up. As bought, Dave had used chocolate box connectors for the wiring, and I don't like them! So I've taken these off and replaced them with tag strips and soldered joints. I've also got a single panel made to replace the two that Dave had made to accommodate point and section switches, but that's yet to be installed. At the moment I've been concentrating on getting stock ready for the St. Neots show next weekend so Saxlingham hasn't been worked on, although while waiting for an engineer to come and fix our boiler, I've been creating a template for an over bridge.When Dave built the layout it was in two halves, the scenic section and the sector plate. There is a section of plain double track on the fiddle yard board, and my intention is to make this scenic. To disguise the exit from layout to sector plate, I will build a bridge based on the prototype at Takeley, and I've created a template so I can now start building the bridge itself. I'm not exactly sure how I'll do this, I suspect embossed plasticard, but that's yet to be decided for definite. So, a little further forward, and I will post more as it happens. Earlier in the post I mention getting stock ready for St. Neots, and one of the locos is my Lima Class 20. As you can read in this thread, I have modified the loco with the worm and final gear that Ultrascale have produced, and now the running is slow and smooth, as I like it, I'm working on back dating and detailing the loco, which is why the front of the loco is in the state it is. However, by the weekend, it will be detailed, painted and weathered. Phil

Seeing the posts on Hi-Fi - as people may suspect, I like my music and I enjoy listening to it on a good system. As I listen to predominantly classical music, I bought myself a system based around Ruark Templar II speakers, Phillips CD634 CD player and Musical Fidelity XA50 amplifiers. I specifically bought MF amps as Anthony Michaelson, the boss of MF, is a very good clarinetist himself and tends to bias his equipment towards classical music playback, which suits me just fine! :-) A while later, I was at the Hi-Fi show in Heathrow and one exhibitor had a pair of Audiostatic speakers. I'd heard a pair of these a long time previously and was delighted to find them for sale so bought a pair. Then, the amplifiers weren't powerful enough, so I upgraded those to a Musical Fidelity A3 pre amp and A300 power amp (300 Watts per channel, it will drive anything!), sat back and enjoyed listening. a friend whose hobby is Hi-Fi listened to my system and reckoned he'd never heard one with such a good mid-range, and his cost a lot more than mine as well! When I moved to the cottage where I now live, the Audiostatic speakers had to be put in to storage (they're taller than me and I'm 6' 4", our ceilings are just on 7 feet!) and I currently have a pair of Totem Audio Arro's. that make a very nice sound but don't go very loud as they're not physically big enough (although Domestic Goddess disagrees!). However, I still enjoy listening and now have a Micromega CD transport feeding a Musical Fidelity Tri Vista DAC and a Garrard 401 record deck with Rega RB 301 arm, Benz Micro cartridge in a hand built plinth. All in all, I'm nearly content with my system, although I do have some upgrades in mind, but not until I've got a new job paying me sensible money! Just listened to the Scriabin Poem of Ecstasy again - deep joy, oh bliss. Now that's what I call music! Phil

So which is your favourite Father Willis? I would have guessed either Durham, Salisbury or Truro, but I thought you were Home Counties lad, so these are all a little way from you. Phil

Sang Evensong at Chelmsford cathedral last night. The canticles were by Edmund Rubbra; I have sung them before, but a very long time ago, and I didn't have very good memories of them. However, having had the opportunity to revisit the music, my thoughts are I'd like to try them again, I don't think they're as bad as I remember them! I know nothing of Rubbra's music, but looking on YouTube there's a lot of it, so the next time I can spend a protracted period at the modelling bench, I'm going to listen to some of it. I also found a recording of the Rubbra canticles as part of a choral evensong from St. Albans Abbey. This includes a piece by C V Stanford, "For lo, I raise up", a great piece of music. If you're in to church music as I am, this would be well worth a listen. Phil https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlt0r754DYs

I really didn't expect you to mention JSB or French Romantic organ music, Tim. Honestly!!!!!!!! Phil

Spent a very pleasant day modelling while having a lot of music on in the background. One piece was Stanford Symphony No 1. Never heard it before, but I'm going to buy the CD. Another piece was Charles Tournemire's Symphony No 3 "Moscow". I only knew of Tournemire as a composer of organ music, so this was a revelation and I will be listening to it again (and possibly again, and............... :-) ) Phil PS - The modelling hasn't been as productive as I'd hoped, but that's another story! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fofY0bvzEB4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqmk29J8wAQ

Well, now the loco runs as I want it to, I've started detailing it, firstly with SE Finecast flush glazing. So far I've spent an hour and get three pieces of glazing to my satisfaction. Just as well I've got lots of hair, it won't notice so much as I pull bits out! However, the real reason for this update is that, as I mentioned in the last post, I've had the body off and taken some pictures to show what's involved in the conversion. This picture shows my loco chassis with the conversion in place and gear box lid removed. Please note, as well as using the Ultrascale conversion, I have changed the standard Lima motor (seen behind the chassis) for a Mashima 1830 with flywheel. This was in an attempt to improve the slow running, which didn't work as well as I'd hoped. There is no need, with the Ultrascale conversion, to change the motor. (Oh, and if you're wondering what all the wires are, I've taken the Lima pick ups off, replaced them with ,35mm PB wire ones and added them to the drive bogie - the loco runs far better for it) This picture shows inside the gear tower and the Ultrascale worm, while the last picture just shows more detail inside the gear tower. To do the conversion, the power bogie needs to be taken out of the loco (it just unclips) then two of the gears inside the tower need to be taken out (the sides of the tower need to be eased apart and the gears fall out) after which the shaft of the top gear (the one the Ultrascale gear replaces) need to be pushed out through the gear tower, after which the top gear can be replaced. To change the worm shaft, the front bearing just pulls off of the shaft and put on the Ultrascale replacement while the universal joint end on the original shaft needs to be eased off (I gently levered mine off with a screwdriver) after which the rear bearing can be pulled off the original shaft, replaced on the Ultrascale shaft, then the universal joint housing gets replaced, the whol lot reassembled and all of a sudden you have a very slow and smooth running Class 20. All in all, I reckon the conversion would take about 30 minutes maximum and gives simply wonderful running qualities. As I said before, if you're interested in getting some of these conversions, either contact me or Ultrascale direct. I'd recommend them, but I would! :-) Phil

Sadly, a lot of composers are highly under-rated. Why? Well, I don't know the answer, as I l prefer to judge what I listen to, and not who has written it, but I suspect there is a large element of snobbishness within classical music circles that means a lot of music is put down by the "academics" just because it's not written by someone who is in favour. I also get worried about the number of people who rise through the ranks of music just because they have good qualifications and can talk the talk, not because they are any good at making music. I can think of several examples immediately, but I won't name names here. Yes, a certain element of bitterness could be read in to this comment, but with Cantus, I have founded a choir that now has the reputation among English cathedrals of being one of the best visiting choirs. Personally, I let my music speak for me, and only now am I thinking about getting a musical qualification. As the old cliché goes, actions speak louder than words! Changing the subject slightly, mention was made earlier of Granville Bantock and Hamilton Harty, both excellent composers to my mind that have been overlooked. I have a song by Granville Bantock, "the song of the peach blossom fountain", that is simply beautiful, but it's not recorded on YouTube. Perhaps I'll have to do something about this! And what about Peter Warlock? A lot of people know his Capriol Suite, but what about "The Curlew" and his carol setting Bethlehem Down (as you'll see from the notes of the video, PW was an "interesting" chap! but still wrote fantastic music) Phil

A London centric joke! Lewisham Police have announced the discovery of an arms cache of 200 semi- automatic rifles with 250,000 rounds of ammunition, 10 anti-tank missiles, 4 grenade launchers, 2 tons of heroin, £25 million in forged notes and a ring of 25 prostitutes on a housing estate behind Lewisham Public Library. Lewisham folks were stunned. A community leader said: "We is well shocked. We never knew we had a library in Lewisham”

As I'm writing another entry to my blog and adding a bit about my Lima Class 20, I've looked at my last post on this thread and realised I didn't write it particularly well. Now that Ultrascale have produced the worm and final drive gear, they are prepared to offer these items for sale to modellers who want them. At the moment, the price is unknown but won't be desperately expensive, if you're interested, please either let me know or contact Ultrascale direct and they will know what you're talking about. I will be spending today at my workbench and one of the jobs will be adding detailing and flush glazing to the Cl so, so while the body is off I will take some photos to show how easy this conversion is. I may also try and take some video of it running, but I can't promise that, although I have to say that when running the loco on the club layout last night, the smoothness and slow speed ability are very impressive. Just what I originally wanted! Phil

Last night I was at the club. We were titivating BBC (Blackwell Brewery Company) for the St. Neots show next weekend (14th / 15th March). With all the layouts we currently have under construction, we don't have room in the clubroom to keep the layout permanently erected so this was the first chance I have had to run the E4 and the J17 on the layout. Frustratingly, they didn't run perfectly! The J17 suffers mysterious short circuits, which shouldn't happen so I will have to find out what's happening today and rectify the trouble. Otherwise, the loco runs as I expect it to, very slowly and smoothly. The E4 doesn't get round the curves without derailing. Last September, at the Mid Essex show, an EM layout allowed me to run the loco and it was fine, since then I've added the fall plate between loco and tender so I suspect the inability to get round curves now is because the fall plate is restricting the movement. This is easily sorted with a file and then touch up with a bit of black paint, so I now have two more jobs for the workbench today that I didn't expect. However, frustration can always be tempered with good news! I also have a Lima Class 20 and a Heljan Class 15, both of which have been converted to EM and ran very well, the Lima Class 20 in particular as it now has the Ultrascale produced worm gear and wheel. I will be taking some video at the show of the loco running and then will be posting this to the site, if you're reading this and interested, you can read more about this conversion here and Ultrascale are prepared to produce the gears for other modellers. Other jobs I have to do on the workbench today are to fit the detailing both locos and also flush glazing for the Cl 20. This won't be the end of the work on the Cl 20, however - it currently has headcode boxes and the early locos didn't, so I will have to remove them. As Tony Wright says in his thread, for some of us, the joy of railway modelling is making things, and this is definitely very true for me! Another frustration is that I have to re-apply the numbers to the Gresley 51ft full parcels brake that I made from a Kirk kit. I had numbered it, but then when I got it home, discovered the numbers had rubbed off in transit so this time I will varnish the coach once I've reapplied the numbers and before I do anything else. That's an easy matter to fix, but just annoying I have to redo a job! The last frustration was pointed out by the rivet counters at the club last night. Bless them! I have purchased a totem sign for the Saxlingham fascia that I will be redoing shortly, and thought the blue I'd ordered was the correct one. It turns out I'd ordered the Scottish region blue, so I'm going to have to reorder that or move the location of Saxlingham 400 miles North. I don't think Norfolk will be very happy with that so I'll just have to swallow my loss for being stupid! Hey ho. At least I'm on my own today, so the volume control on the music is heading clockwise! Phil

Glad to hear the campaign's working well. If I carry on being this successful, perhaps I'll go in to politics. On second thoughts........... To be honest, the performers reaction doesn't surprise me. In one concert, Richard Hickox gave the down beat and the note (that should have been in unison) produced a lovely open 5th chord. Without batting an eyelid, he stopped the chorus, gave a few seconds and restarted, this time the note came out in perfect unison. After the concert, however................. Excellent news. I like Scriabin's music. I mentioned earlier a concert where I heard one of his piano concert's and I bought a CD. It had the Poem of Ecstasy on it and I've loved the piece since. As I've mentioned in other posts, if you go in to YouTube and search for Scriabin, a whole list of music comes up. The domestic Goddess is doing a double shift tomorrow, so I'm on my own from 7am till 10pm. Guess who's going to be sitting at his modelling bench with the computer firmly stuck on YouTube! Looks a good day! Phil

After being married for 50 years, I one day took a careful look at my wife and said, "Fifty years ago we had a cheap house, a junk car, slept on a sofa bed and watched a 10-inch black and white TV. But hey I got to sleep every night with a hot 23-year-old girl. Now ... I have a $750,000 home, a $45,000 car, a nice big bed and a large screen TV, but I'm sleeping with a 73-year-old woman.” So I said to my wife, "it seems to me that you're not holding up your side of things." My wife is a very reasonable woman She told me to go out and find a hot 23-year-old girl and she would make sure that I would once again be living in a cheap house, driving a junk car, sleeping on a sofa bed and watching a 10-inch black and white TV.

An English ventriloquist visiting Wales walks into a small village, sees a local sitting on his veranda patting his dog and figures he'll have a little fun, so he says to the taff 'Gooday, mind if I talk to your dog?' Villager: 'The dog doesn't talk, you stupid English bastard.' Ventriloquist: 'Hello dog, how's it going mate?' Dog: 'Yeah, doin' all right.' Taff: (look of extreme shock) Ventriloquist: 'Is this villager your owner?' (pointing at the Villager) Dog: 'Yep' Ventriloquist: 'How does he treat you?' Dog: 'Yeah, real good. He walks me twice a day, feeds me great food And takes me to the lake once a week to play.' Taff: (look of utter disbelief) Ventriloquist: 'Mind if I talk to your horse?' Taff: 'Uh, the horse doesn't talk either...I think.' Ventriloquist: 'Hey horse, how's it going?' Horse: 'Cool' Taff: (absolutely dumbfounded) Ventriloquist: 'Is this your owner?' (Pointing at the villager) Horse: 'Yep' Ventriloquist: How does he treat you? Horse: 'Pretty good, thanks for asking. He rides me regularly, Brushes me down often and keeps me in the shed to protect me from the Elements.' Taff: (total look of amazement) Ventriloquist: 'Mind if I talk to your sheep?' Taff: (in a panic) 'The sheep's a liar !!!'

Oh the joys of singing Songs of the Sea. They're great music. I haven't sung them for a while, either in the chorus or as soloist, but would enjoy the opportunity to do so. I find it mildly ironic that Stanford and his great contemporary, C H H Parry are so over shadowed by Elgar. Without doubt Elgar wrote fantastic music, but so did Stanford, as did Parry with, for example, Songs of farewell. "My soul, there is a country" number one of the set, is a piece I love, both singing and conducting. He also wrote a lot of music that has faded in to obscurity but he wrote one of the most famous pieces of classical music, Jerusalem, as well as the Coronation anthem "I was glad" a setting of Psalm 122. With Cantus, I was privileged to sing the music at York Minster for the weekend of 1st / 2nd June 2013. Those of you who know your modern history will realise that 2nd June 2013 was the 60th anniversary of the Coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II, so we sang music at Evensong that had been sung at the Coronation itself. The anthem was "I was glad" and, in view of the special occasion, we sang the Vivats as well. A real privilege and one I will remember for a long time. However, for me, "Blest pair of sirens" is a memorable work, especially the line (at 7' 30" in the recording below) where the Sopranos sing "O may we soon again renew that song, and keep in tune with heaven till God ere long to his celestial concert us unite" the tune is simply sublime and reduces me to a quivering heap every time I hear it. Again, if you want to find more music of Parry, just try searching youtube for c h h parry and enjoy listening! Phil

It's a shame that I'm already doing something on 21st (singing in a concert of Russian Sacred music, none of which I know at all) otherwise I'd come over and listen. I don't know any music by Linley, and not ever heard of him until now, so it would be of interest. I'll have to see if I can find some recordings and take a listen. A few posts ago I mentioned the music of C V Stanford, and since then I've been upstairs doing some modelling (I will shortly be uploading some photos of the results on to my blog) during which I've listened to the Stanford Stabat Martyr. An interesting piece that I will listen to again, along with some more of Stanford's music. I think it's great stuff! What worries me is that I will shortly have to start finding another job, but I'm enjoying myself so much listening to music and modelling that I don't want to! :-( Phil

As you'll see in other entries on my blog, I build models of BR ex GER stock, and as the E4 and J17 are now virtually finished, I've started on a new build, a J19 (I've just edited this entry, I originally called the loco a J17. It's not!) 0-6-0 tender loco. As you can see from the photos below, I have used a High Level gear box (Road Runner +) at 60:1 ratio. The motor is currently a Mashima 1620 although I may change it for a 1624 or 1630 I have available. One of the things I dislike is seeing motors or gearboxes intruding in to cab, under boilers etc. With the modern range of gearboxes, I believe (although I would be happy to be proved wrong!) that you should be able to hide the motor and gearbox away, and this is why I have mounted the transmission the way I have. The one difficulty with this is that I have had to make a bracket to hold the gearbox in position when the body is mounted on the chassis, and it's fiddly to fix in place now, I dread to think what it will be like when I've got brake gear, pick ups etc in as well. However, that's my problem and as it's me who's created it, I'll live with it! Oh, and if you want to know whose wheels they are, all I will say is that the proprietor of Precision Paints and I are members of the same club. Phil

Thanks, Bill (and Jock, also), I will carry on, then! Didn't hear the Bruckner, I'm afraid, but I'm at home today and suspect I will find it on iPlayer while doing some modelling! If I start mentioning music that I've mentioned earlier, please forgive me, I can't remember what I've mentioned and it's quite a long thread to search. I suppose I could try using the search facility, but in all honesty, even though I work in IT and should understand these things, I specialise in making things work rather than using them and have never had much success with the search facility. As mentioned earlier, I sing in the choirs of Chelmsford and Ely cathedral, and I also conduct a choir (Cantus) that deputises for cathedral choirs when they're not in residence. This allows me to sing and conduct music from all periods - a few weeks ago we were leading the services in Exeter Cathedral and music by Purcell, up to Patrick Hadley who only died recently in 1973. Most of the choir members know my love of the music of Charles Villiers Stanford, and although really only known for his church music, the prime examples of which are Beati Quorum Via and Justorum animae, he wrote vast amounts of music of all genres, as you will see if you search for him on YouTube. In the meantime, a few more links to some of his music. I suspect I've posted this before, but as the comments say, it's possibly the finest piece of choral music written, and I won't argue the point, so it's worth listening again! :-) Phil