Charles Holt (d. 1978) was an organ enthusiast who made a point of listing several hundreds of performance timings of Vierne’s music – in particular his 24 Pieces en Style Libre.  Hugh Benham analyses Holt’s listings in this article from the RCO Journal of 2011, which reveal interesting differences between individual performers and Vierne’s own […]

Edward Higginbottom discusses aspects of performance that can bring to life the repertory of French organists composed between c1650 and c1750 – the ‘French Classical School’ – in the light of the aesthetic theory of the time.  In particular he discusses how the job of the organist of the time was to express the omitted […]

Stephen Farr discusses Helga Schauerte-Maubouet’s edition of Jehan Alain’s organ works for Barenreiter, and asks to what extent it represents an advance on previous published versions of the scores, and whether it resolves the fundamental problems of the source material for Alain’s music.   RCO Journal 2012_Farr  

There is always so much to pack into an organ lesson, and introducing a new piece to a student is often rushed, with the student then using unsuccessful strategies to learn it on their own.  This download from the RCO Academy suggests ways in which you can encourage a student to learn a piece accurately […]

Choosing the next piece for the student to learn is arguably the teacher’s most challenging and important task.  This download from the RCO Academy looks at how to choose good teaching pieces and suggests suitable tutor-books and anthologies.  It also includes a chart to assess the standard of your student and typical appropriate pieces. Repertoire […]

This article expands upon a paper given by Jane Flynn at the London Organ Forum on 22 November 2008, and upon other papers she has presented for the Early English Organ Project.  It analyses Tudor organ versets in the light of techniques of improvised descant against chant, and shows that they are closer in style […]

This is an edited transcription of a lecture given at St George’s Hanover Square, London in April 2003 as part of that year’s London Handel Festival. Organised in collaboration with the Royal College of Organists and the Handel House Museum, the event to which this lecture was an introduction was entitled ‘Emerging from the Organ […]