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Springtime news from Christchurch

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German translation launched!

Look familiar? It should.

Finally, after many months, tiptoeing through the minefield of German grammar, capitalised nouns, elusive umlauts and enough coffee to repaint our roof, here it is: the German translation of "Organs and Organists: Their Inside Stories". In this guise, it comes as you see: Hinter den Kulissen: Die Königin Lädt ein
Tatsachen und Turbulenzen aus der Orgelwelt. Translator, concert organist and long-term winner of Patient Chap of the Year Gong, Hans Uwe Hielscher, spent long hours turning the convoluted humour of O&O into its German twin. It was often hilarious ("Yes, it's OK Hans, ironing the cat is just a joke - I don't actually DO it", and "3 men and a dog doesn't really mean any dogs are present ..."), and long into the night and beginning early in the morning thanks to Skype. Hans' expertise linguistically and musically has resulted in a fine product which is now available from the publishers Dr. J. Butz in Bonn. We were fortunate to have the foreword written for this translation by Harald Schmidt, popular German actor, writer, columnist, comedian and television entertainer, who also plays the organ.

Meanwhile, the equally scurrilous English version is still available, either through the publisher Dr.J.Butz, Blackwells in the UK, or from our Pipeline Press website.
There you will also find links to other books and CDs, a links page and a popular series of articles by David Bridgeman-Sutton. The latest subject is the redoubtable Philip Marshall, late inhabitant of Ripon and Lincoln cathedrals.

The dates for the re-opening of the Christchurch Town Hall pipe organ are still set around March 2019. The Rieger Orgelbau team will arrive in Christchurch mid-October to begin the lengthy period of cleaning, voicing, repairing, checking, and whatever else they have to do to bring the beautiful beast back to life after being silenced for 8 years following the earthquakes. (Thanks to Christchurch City Council for above webcam image in the auditorium, taken August 20th at 5pm)

Like a giant stirring from hibernation,

Christchurch is slowly regaining an identity. Everywhere there are cranes, fences, trucks, mixers, cones (nothing new there - this has been the scene for the past 8 years) but now solid, four-square buildings are burgeoning. Churches are re-emerging, for example with St Augustine Anglican Cashmere pipe organ reinstalled in July after EQ repairs, and one soon to re-open under a new guise is that of All Souls Church in Merivale Lane (formerly St Mary's). One of the most often posed questions we try to answer while overseas is "What is happening to the cathedral (they mean the Anglican Cathedral) or "What is happening in the Square?" Here is a pertinent little video from Star.Kiwi on the Historic Places website which is about as much as we can tell you. Includes recent footage of the Square for those curious.

Music to come

Returning from our European concert tour, Martin has hit the ground running - or rather, playing. His next concert is in Nelson on Saturday, September 1, at 7.30pm, in the Nelson Centre of Musical Arts, celebrating the return of the Cawthron organ. For details click here. He follows that with a concert on Wednesday September 12, 1pm, St Mary's Manchester Street, Christchurch (Wednesdays at One series) and an inaugural recital on the new Makin organ in St John's Anglican Church, Rangiora, on Sunday September 23 rd at 3pm. Doesn't leave much time for mowing the lawn, I guess. (J looks around wildly for cat-sized mowers...)

Name the new CD - Ideas wanted!!

In late January 2019, Martin will be recording a new CD on the repaired and enlarged Rieger organ in the Christchurch Town Hall. It will be about 21 years since he made the very first CD there, called "Let the Pealing Organ Blow!", which was made soon after the inauguration of the organ. Since then he has recorded on the Rieger two "Bonbons for Organ" disks, "Pink and White", and lastly, just before the earthquakes which silenced the organ, "Great Australasian Organs VII" on the Priory label.
Although he is still finalising the tracklist of works to include on the new recording, we are looking for inspirational and witty ideas for titles that might become the title of the latest output from the rejuvenated Rieger! Clearly your job is made difficult by the lack of a tracklist at this stage, but we are looking for wit, pertinence, celebration - a general air of what the feeling will be as we welcome in a new era of organ music-making in the city's living room. If your suggestion is chosen as being the most outstanding for whatever reason, you will receive a copy of the CD once it is available. Send those ideas in now! (Closes December 1st)

From the Swellbox

A few snipplets:

What's better than an organist playing the Widor Toccata? THREE organists playing it. Watch here, taken from a concert in the Royal Albert Hall:
She describes herself at the end of this demonstration of the art of registering Bach on a Baroque organ as being "a small, humble organist." Marie-Claire Alain was much, much, more than that.
Back home, in Dunedin, the fabulous Norma pipe organ in the Town Hall is getting a bit of glamour film star treatment at the hands of Daniel Moult for Fugue State Films. Read more

I'll leave you this month with an image from our travels in the UK, Germany and France, which for me symbolises the delights of serendipity. We called in to see Ripon Cathedral, and what took our eyes was the 14th century rood screen in Ripon Cathedral, all of eight feet thick and sporting a rainbow array of Victorian statues. Apart from being colourful, the screen leads through to the choir with its misericords, one of which is said to have inspired Lewis Carroll (whose father was a canon at Ripon) with the image of a gryphon chasing a rabbit - hey presto: Alice through the Looking Glass, anyone?

Jenny
August 2018

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