BruceL

Renaissance and Medieval Organ Repertoire
Speaking of the Montreal Organ Book, does anyone have a copy of the original edition they produced back in the 90s? It used to be hosted on a CA university site, but is no longer there. WIth no offense to the IMSLP score, the original was a legit sc…

Comment by BruceL November 2023 permalink
Solid State Organ System Weird Issue
If this doesn't get sorted, PM me. I might have someone you could contact!

Comment by BruceL January 2023 permalink
MOST HIGHLY FAVOURED..... ORGAN BUILDERS
If you are interested in heading down a rabbit hole, check out Organ Media Foundation on YouTube. This organ is my favorite (for obvious reasons!): https://youtu.be/S85hRCxXgeo It was a wonderful collaborative project: we knew the direction we wa…

Comment by BruceL November 2022 permalink
Antiphons at Vespers
We did LOTH Vespers here for about six months (Birmingham AL) at St. Paul. We usually did it in English, but (roughly) approximated what they do at the NAC in Rome. We used the new Antiphonale II, which I actually got very accustomed to and enjoye…

Comment by BruceL April 2022 permalink
The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (2021)
Cathedral of St. Paul, Birmingham, Alabama (Forgive the c/p below!) ENTRANCE: Christus vincit (Traditional, arr. Latona) ENTRANCE ANTIPHON (11AM) Gregorian “The whole world is in thy power…”; Dignus est Agnus; cf. Est 4:17 MASS ORDINARY: Mass VIII;…

Comment by BruceL November 2021 permalink
Your favourite Masses
Malcolm Missa ad Praesepe. If you haven't listened...do it.

Comment by BruceL November 2021 permalink
Oblique organum
I believe the incipit, or at least the first few notes, would usually be rendered without the extra voice(s). So, no problem! :)

Comment by BruceL November 2021 permalink
Charpentier Messe de Minuit pour Noël
@llewopnhoj looks very elegant. We did this in 2019 for Midnight Mass. It is an amazing piece. I remembered the Concordia edition being good, but 1) they write out the notes inegales (which I don't care for...that said, our symphony musicians…

Comment by BruceL November 2021 permalink
Your favourite Masses
4v much more challenging than 5v, especially in Gloria and Credo. The writing isn't as smooth, etc. The 5v is really Byrd at his peak, although the 3v is probably more amazing because it seamlessly covers the lack of a fourth voice.

Comment by BruceL October 2021 permalink
Your favourite Masses
To those who "tire" of renaissance polyphonic masses, I'd suggest going through ALL the di Lasso Masses. He was, truly, the best of the time, and an excellent singer, too. Even the parody Masses have lots of "puzzles" that a…

Comment by BruceL October 2021 permalink
Recital Programming -
Another vote for NOT doing chronological. From an aesthetics point of view, I also think it tends to reinforce this modernist idea that newer things have somehow transcended the old.

Comment by BruceL September 2021 permalink
Original Organ Composition
Kathy, thanks for posting! Great to meet you in Jasper a few weeks ago!

Comment by BruceL August 2021 permalink
Kevin Allen's Matri Divinae Gratiae vs Motecta Trium Vocum
The Anima Christi is really lovely and works in pretty much any voicing. In fact, I'm using it this weekend because I have two singers sick! :)

Comment by BruceL August 2021 permalink
LOTH Resources
You might reach out to Fr. Samuel Weber, OSB, in San Francisco. He has the resources for a lot of this, and is also a good person from whom to learn the aesthetic of the sung office.

Comment by BruceL August 2021 permalink
Spanish Music
It's worth reaching out to my colleague at the diocese here, Francisco Carbonell. He is a very "legit" composer and a practicing church musician as well. I am always impressed with his ability to write for advanced OR modest groups. f…

Comment by BruceL August 2021 permalink
Anglican chant for Gradual Psalm (OT 18)
On the Assumption one: vs. 2, I would change on "Rev" of reverance, giving a melisma to that particular syllable. It's not particularly idiomatic in Anglican chant to make a note change on a conjunction. In vs. 3, I'd keep "…

Comment by BruceL August 2021 permalink
Dorico (alternative to Sibelius / Finale / Lilypond)
Technical question: I believe there were big issues (at least at debut) with Dorico importing MusicXML and the like from existing files. A lot of us don't want to re-engrave the last ten years... If that got fixed (it was claimed to be fixed a…

Comment by BruceL August 2021 permalink
It happened: Traditionis custodes (TLM crackdown) (Note: discussion is on hiatus.)
I would ignore the +DiNoia commentary. It was very disappointing and makes one wonder whom/where he is talking about.

Comment by BruceL July 2021 permalink
The choir loft: is it beautiful?
@CatherineS this is a great question. I'd say most are aesthetically bad. It's tough to keep things tidy once you have a lot of cables, etc., around, and old buildings in particular aren't going to have storage for odds and ends. We&#…

Comment by BruceL July 2021 permalink
Best Ordinary Form Masses, A Traveller's Guide
I'll plug St. Mary Cathedral in Austin. The noon Mass schola is one of the better singing groups you'll hear in any OF sung Mass in the country, and the liturgy is celebrated reverently in a beautiful (if small!) church.

Comment by BruceL July 2021 permalink
Dedication of a Church and an Altar
Harris "Behold, the tabernacle of God" is a great piece. Now I've got the Bairstow "Blessed City" in my head!!!!

Comment by BruceL June 2021 permalink
Sung propers for Memorial of St. Josemaria Escriva
Just seems this is a sacred music forum, so the editorializing was curious to me. Curious, as well, I suppose, that the "woke" and Catholic knowledge factions in a given place would confluence as to have singers pass on the gig. But, it is…

Comment by BruceL May 2021 permalink
Sung propers for Memorial of St. Josemaria Escriva
@Richard Mix, curious about how your first sentence relates at all to the question at hand. I think it should be deleted, especially as there is no evidence and we are talking about a saint who's been canonized. @chonak

Comment by BruceL May 2021 permalink
Electro-pneumatic releathering costs
Yes, the question of whether or not to make pipework, etc., in-house is huge. It certainly adds a tremendous amount of overhead. T&B, Fisk (although they will occasionally send things out), Richards Fowkes, and Juget-Sinclair (among others) all …

Comment by BruceL May 2021 permalink
Electro-pneumatic releathering costs
Detached console here was a must! I agree that the en fenetre keydesk is a huge disadvantage in practical terms. Ours was actually supposed to be a good bit more distant than it will be, but as the organ grew...the space diminished! Carbon fiber i…

Comment by BruceL May 2021 permalink
Electro-pneumatic releathering costs
Lots of non sequiturs here, in my opinion. You can't compare the best of a genre to the worst. The technology is much better now for both types of action than it was 50 years ago, and ciphers happen with either if things are aging or out of adj…

Comment by BruceL May 2021 permalink
Electro-pneumatic releathering costs
Indeed. And when a tracker touch goes sour and the roller boards get stiff... it's an absolute bear. You can perhaps limp along without as many siphons and dead notes, but your day will come too. (And for the record, trackers use leather at th…

Comment by BruceL May 2021 permalink
Electro-pneumatic releathering costs
The $35k estimate isn't crazy. This is one of the reasons I'm a "tracker backer", although I realize we can't pick the instruments we play. But the thought of releathering a bunch of pitmans every 30 years is...not fun.

Comment by BruceL May 2021 permalink
Thanksgiving for new position
This is wonderful news! If you're ever heading a bit West (or are on your way to the new post), please look me up! Congrats!

Comment by BruceL April 2021 permalink
women singing the propers - arguments and documents supporting the practice
I'm probably going to regret diving in here, but... Are people advocating that polyphonic propers could only be sung by men and boys?

Comment by BruceL April 2021 permalink

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Username: BruceL
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