PGC

Thank you Jock, those words are very kind of you. As you may have guessed, to quote the song title from John Miles, music is my first love. I mentioned earlier having the finale from Vierne Symphony No 1 played when I walked down the aisle at my wedding. Later in life, when she ran off with another man and we divorced, I was devastated and buried myself in singing, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Friday and Sundays with model railways on Wednesdays and Thursdays so I had not time to sink in to depression. What I would have done if I hadn't got my music, I really don't know. I suppose, in many ways, I am very lucky that because of my history of performing music, I have performed and heard a lot of fantastic music. Another piece that springs to mind as I write this is Schoenberg's Verklerte Nacht. I first heard this when singing with the Chorus of Academy of St Martin in the Fields, we were singing Mozart's Requiem in Salisbury cathedral and the Schoenberg was in the first half of the concert. Needless to say, the orchestra were fantastic and Neville Marriner got the best from them. The first thing I did when I got home was go to Tower Records and buy a CD. Another composer I knew very little about was Alexander Scriabin. I was singing in a concert with London Symphony Chorus at the Barbican, and the first half was a Scriabin piano concerto and I was mesmerised by its beauty. While finding the Scriabin recording, I was reminded of another very little known Russian composer, Cesar Cui and his Magnificat, and finding the recording below on YouTube I saw Borodin mentioned. His Polotsvian Dances are wonderful. There's so much more music out there; I'm singing on a concert on 21st March which is all Russian sacred music from this Oxford Univeristy Press publication, and I don't think I know any of it so I can't wait to learn some new music! In another thread, you talk, Jock, about RM Web taking you down memory lane, and this thread is bringing back some wonderful memories for me, and as I think of more music, I will carry on adding it. I feel as though I am the only person who's actually adding music to this thread - if I am and people have got fed up, apologies, but this is the subject I love more than model railways! Phil

I sometimes look at threads like this and think "They have the space for a big layout, lucky bug*ers", but then I look at the work involved and think "thank god for my 8ft x 1ft shunting plank. Keep going Mike, your workmanship and dedication is impressive and invigorating. Phil

One of the things I never used to understand is why electrical good with 13 Amp plugs would suddenly stop working. My father, who was a member of the institute of electrical engineers, explained that AC currents, with their switch between positive and negative currents, can set up extremely small vibrations that work the screws loose. This, he added, was just one aspect of the problem, what about areas such as the expansion and contraction of different metals causing such small changes we would normally consider them insignificant. As he commented, metals don't think "Oh, I shouldn't be doing that", they just do it and it's our brains that say "they shouldn't be doing that!" On a similar but different tack - did anyone see the item on the BBC One show tonight about shower gels, face creams et. al. with exfoliant beads in them? Apparently these cosmetics have very minute beads in them that are small enough to get through the filters in the water systems and then escape to the sea. They showed some magnified pictures of plankton with these beads inside them. Plankton are the lowest level of the food change, so in time these small beads will get back to our internals. What has this got to do with model railways? Well, it just proves small details matter! Phil

In my previous post, I showed pictures of the E4 in ex works condition, without means of propulsion. In view of the loco being used on "Blackwell Brewery Company" (an EM layout of the Mid Essex MRC that's appearing at the St. Neot's show over 14th and 15th March 2015) I spent a little time tonight adding the propulsion fuel and making the loco look as though it's been working in the real world, rather than living in a shed. There are now 2 jobs to do and I ill then declare the loco finished - the first is to finish the front coupling and the second is add the fire irons in the tool tunnel of the tender. After all, although the fireman is obviously looking after the most important job of the day, getting the cuppa sorted, he does have a real job to do! For those who look at the pictures and wonder what the stock is behind the loco, the two carriages nearest are a 51ft Gresley Full Brake (can't remember the diagram, sorry!) from a Kirk kit and a Thomson 6W PBV from Comet sides with scratch built chassis based around a Brassmasters Cleminson chassis kit. Both will be at St Neot's, should you want to see them. Behind the kit built stock is the R-T-T stuff - some Hornby Gresley and Thomson coaches. And Yes, they will look the part once weathered! Phil

Stunning. Simply stunning. Phil

I've never had the opportunity to meet Howells - even though you may not have been old enough to appreciate it at the time, I envy you! One of the people I sing under, Paul Trepte of Ely Cathedral, was taught by Howells and speaks very highly of him. There is one piece of advice that Howells is reputed to have given that I treasure. He talked about introducing shafts of light in to the music, in other words, small silences that highlight particular phrases. Some of the conductors I've worked under just plough on regardless without realising that these gaps are as important as the music. Those performances aren't, usually, particularly stimulating. Phil

To my mind, if it's always the same place, I would look at track, wiring etc. rather than stock and I would be most annoyed if it was my layout! As I've mentioned elsewhere on RMWeb, I have recently purchased Saxlingham from Dave Tailby, and the first change I have made is to replace the chocolate box connectors with soldered tag strips so that I know teh joints won't fail. There will be other changes that I will make to get what I want from the layout in terms of reliability - this is not to say that Dave got it wrong, he didn't, he did it a different way from how I do it. Phil

I would have liked to say something like this myself, but this post say's it so eloquently I won't say more. Phil

I haven't trawled all the way through the thread, but has anyone mentioned the music of Herbert Howells? In particular the Requiem, but there is so much more. For example, the well known Gloucester, Collegium Regale and St. Paul's services. Then there's his organ music, in particular Psalm Prelude Set 1, No 1. Another gem is "Take him earth for cherishing", a piece Howells was commissioned to write for the memorial service of John F Kennedy. I've put a few links below, but all the works are well worth searching out on YouTube, Spotify etc. Psalm Prelude, Set 1 No 1 Gloucester Service - Magnificat Gloucester Service - Nunc dimittis Collegium Regale - Magnificat (has to put this one in, this is the choir I run!) St Pauls Service - Magnificat Phil

I can understand the Widor Toccata being popular, but most players take the piece far too fast. And if anyone wants to argue the point, this recording is of Widor himself playing the piece at St. Sulpice. OK, he was 82 years old, so physically may not have been able to play the piece much faster, but as the description on the video says, he always argued the popularity of the piece as a show piece and being played too fast. As composer, I think he should know! Personally, when I got married, my wife and I walked out to the Finale of Symphony No 1 by Louis Vierne. I posted a link to this performance a lot earlier in the thread - as you can guess, we were also fortunate to have a very good organist! Phil

True, La Madelaine is a Cavaille-Coll, but it's been messed around with and isn't in the original condition that the St. Sulpice organ is in. As well as Lefebure-Wely, La Madelaine also had Faure, Saint-Saens and Dubios amongst it's organists. St. Sulpice, however, had just Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupre as the only organists between 1870 and 1971 (I reckon in itself, that must be some sort of record), which is one of the main reasons that the organ has stayed untouched. Those two organists admired the work of Cavaille-Coll and wouldn't let anyone near the organ to "modernise" it! Talking either of the organists, their output, especially Widor's, was far greater than just his toccata, that everyone seems to know. Many years ago, I was driving home after a church service and Radio 3 was playing some beautiful chamber music. It was so lovely I stayed listening to the end, when I discovered it was a piano quarte in C minor by Richard Strauss. Next day, I went in to Tower Records in Piccadilly (that shows how long ago it was I bought the CD!) and found a CD that also had a piano quartet in A minor by Widor. This link takes you to a site where you can buy a copy if you're interested - I have no connection with Presto other than being a satisfied customer. Alternatively, you can listen to some (possibly all) of the recording on YouTube here. When I discovered this, I started ;looking further at the music of Widor. He was a very prolific composer, writing opera, chamber music and choral music as well as his organ symphonies. talking of which, as I said earlier, most people know the Toccata, which is the final movement of the 5th symphony. However, try the first movement here, it's a stunning piece of writing. Phil

Taking the title of the thread, and following on from the discussion on another thread about the BBC, Carol Kirkwood presenting her warm fronts. Phil

Highly impressive, Mike, especially when one takes in to consideration the enlargement factor of the photos. Keep going, you're almost at the end now. Phil

Sorry, senile moment on my part, I forgot about the white! :-(

Not sure if it's been suggested, discussed etc., but couldn't you just print the lining on transparent transfer sheet? To me, that alleviates the problem of matching printer and paint colours. Phil

Is that the organ that's in the chapel of Brazeneck College? It's a very well known instrument, built by that anonymous Englishman John Smith! Phil

Sadly, music shops do disappear. For me, the most missed is Brian Jordan in Cambridge - one of the best music shops in South East England. Sadly, Brian passed away and the last I heard his wife had decided to run the business as an on-line business, but I haven't been there in a while so I don't know what's happening now. Unless they've re-opened, I now have nowhere to peruse music unless I go in to London, which I try not to do if I can help it. In Chelmsford, there's James Dace- they used to have a very large shop in Moulsham Street but then moved and I tried to find them, without success, on Thursday. Perhaps I din't walk far enough up Moulsham Street so I'm going to try again next Thursday and this time allow myself quite a bit more time! Phil

Sang Evensong in Chelmsford Cathedral last night, the anthem was Geistliches Lied by Brahms. It is 5 minutes of sublime music - you can hear it on YouTube here. Listen to the Amen. The Tenors have one of the most memorable moments in music, lucky bu**ers! Phil

Mike Different printer manufacturers use different methods of sealing the ink to the paper. I can't remember which way round, but Epson use either a cold or hot application ink while HP use the alternative, so the papers they produce are quite different as are the inks. I don't know about Canon printers, but I do have a friend who works for Canon and would be happy to find out what type of ink they use, if you wish. If the decal paper is designed for something like a cold application ink and Canon use a hot application ink, you may find changing the decal paper will make a cast difference. Phil

It's very interesting the different way's that parentage have affected our listening. My parents knew nothing other than church and classical music, so it wasn't until I went to work that I started learning about Elton John etc., and I've been learning since. To me, however, classical music has always been in my blood, I really couldn't imagine life without it, and for that I can only thank my parents. Phil

Many years ago, I sang two concerts in Paris with London Symphony chorus. The first was a performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah (now there's a great piece - has any Mendelssohn been mentioned on this thread, yet? If not, shame! Symphony 3, the Italian - brilliant and there's so much more) in a concert hall while the second was Carmina Burana in a church. Knowing the meaning of Carmina Burana (if you don't know the meaning, it's all about the circle of life, including young men getting drunk then deflowering virgins etc and was written by 16th C monks - nudge, nudge, say no more!) , we were surprised that we were allowed to perform it in a church. Happy memories! Phil There's

If you like big organ music, try searching on YouTube for Daniel Roth. He is the titular (or head) organist of St. Sulpice in Paris, and one of (I reckon he is) the best organists in the world. The clips I like most are the ones where David Briggs (who was, at the time of the recording, Director of Music at Gloucester cathedral) plays improvisations while Daniel Roth watches on. Both are masters of the art of improvisation at the highest level, and their appreciation of each others art is wonderful. The organ at St. Suplice is stunning. It is attributed to Aristide Cavaille-Coll who was the most noted French organ builder of the late 19th century. With the St. Suplice organ, he took what was already an extremely good organ (built by Henri Clicquot, a noted 18th century French organ builder who also built the organs at Notre Dame and several other French cathedrals) and built what is possibly one of the greatest organs of the world. Under the care Daniel Roth, the St. Suplice organ is as built by Cavaille-Coll and sounds simply stunning. In addition to the big French organs, there are many recordings on YouTube of stunning organs throughout the world, but in reality the only way to listen to these organs is in the flesh. On the weekend of Valentine's Day, I led my choir in the services at Exeter cathedral with their newly rebuilt organ. On the Saturday, James, our organist (as in James Davy, Director of Music at Chelmsford cathedral) played Cathedrales by Louis Vierne. You can hear a recording of the piece on this link (but it's not James playing it!). Having heard this played at Exeter on their organ, all I can say is, the recording's impressive, but you should hear the real thing! Phil

Sorry to be so picky, but it was Faure's Pavane and not the Requiem. Don't know the answer to the classical question, but just want to say that I had a day out with the domestic Goddess today and as we were driving, had St Matthew Passion playing (she's singing it in a few weeks time). Wonderful stuff,driving through the Essex countryside with JSB's best playing while the sun's shining. Phil

Oh come on, Barry, the temperature's going to be above freezing. Are you man or Northern wuss? Phil

Ordered the kit yesterday - it arrived today. Excellent service, and I'm a very happy customer who's looking forward to more 4mm kits being announced (especially if one is a corrugated iron chapel! :-) ) Phil