Organist Kevin Bowyer gave the first UK performance of Xenakis’ organ piece Gmeeorh. He discusses aspects of performing this remarkable piece, with excerpts played at the organ of St Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York City.

The art of accompanying a choir, and conducting (or ‘waving’) at the same time, is explored by Simon Williams, a Director of the RCO, and also Director of Music of Harrow Choral Society.

Conductor Nicholas Cleobury looks at the differences between conducting a capella, and working with orchestras.  In two films he discusses conducting skills, and how to prepare a score for performance, using Haydn’s Little Organ Mass as an example.

Director of Oundle for Organists, Ann Elise Smoot, explains how the Organ Voluntary developed as a new form of organ music, in the context of the new liturgy of the Protestant Reformation in sixteenth-century England.

RCO Chief Examiner, Stephen Farr, discusses the significance of Urtext Editions for the practical performer, and comments on the issues surrounding them.

Meantone, Werckmeister, and ‘the wolf’: Cathy Lamb compares temperament systems and explains how they came about. 

Gerard Brooks gives a brief survey of the organ works of Camille Saint-Saens, and describes what made him different from other organist-composers of his time.

THE ENGLISH ORGAN is a series of films and recordings made by Fugue State Films, telling the story of the English organ and its music, over five hundred years.  In these three final films Daniel Moult takes the discussion from the nineteenth into the twentieth century, with performances of Stanford, Whitlock, and Patrick Gowers on historic organs.

THE ENGLISH ORGAN is a series of films and recordings made by Fugue State Films, telling the story of the English organ and its music. In these three films, Daniel Moult looks at the beginnings of English organ building, playing Byrd, Purcell and Handel on three historic organs.