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Post by jk on Nov 27, 2023 16:32:47 GMT -5
#playlikeagirl is the hashtag used on social media by the young British organist, choir director and media personality Anna Lapwood. Although her name was not entirely unfamiliar to me from her work with the Pembroke College Girls' Choir, I first discovered her work as an organist on 8 October of this year. As I posted at the time, I usually disapprove of arrangements of pieces for instruments (or voices) for which they were not written (unless they were made by the composer). But there are exceptions. That afternoon I heard a stunning version of Debussy's (dare I say it?) over-familiar piano piece "Clair de lune" played on the organ. Later that day, I discovered the performer was Anna Lapwood. Here she is playing it live, as an ad for her new album Luna. This is fabulous, but the album version, the one that I heard, is sonically even better. (I'll link it if it ever turns up on YouTube.) I love the little smile at the end! This is Anna on "Clair de lune": My next musical encounter with Ms Lapwood pushed me over the edge into serious fandom. To be continued. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Lapwood
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Post by jk on Nov 28, 2023 5:40:25 GMT -5
First read Anna's YouTube blurb: "I often do middle-of-the-night practice sessions at the [Royal Albert Hall], and have grown rather fond of hall staff calling up to the organ with requests. At 1am on Friday 20th [2022], someone called up asking me to play Bach's Toccata in D minor. It turned out it was Bonobo's band. 12 hours later they had written me an organ part, and 18 hours later I was helping them close their show to an audience of 5000. This was, undoubtedly, the best moment of my life so far...!" Then watch this "short": I love this quip by commenter toomanytoyz5367 (scroll down here): Sound Engineer: "We've got 25000 watts on the main speaker arrays" Pipe Organ: "Hold my beer" I don't know how I got here but once I did, I was sold hook, line and sinker. It's ironic that a seriously non-social media person like myself got hooked by the "TikTok organist"! And now, enjoy: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo_(musician)
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Post by jk on Nov 29, 2023 5:01:00 GMT -5
Here's Anna explaining what she's doing in the Royal Albert Hall at two in the morning: And this is what she does while she's there. The set list is as follows (with thanks to commenter evanmccaskill3687): 0:00 Test Drive – How to Train Your Dragon2:22 Davy Jones Theme – Pirates of the Caribbean6:06 Chevaliers De Sangreal – Da Vinci Code10:16 Cornfield Chase – Interstellar12:29 No Time for Caution – InterstellarInteresting to hear chords booming out while both hands are arpeggioing like crazy (at the climax of "Cornfield Chase"). I can only imagine the pedals have somehow been programmed to reproduce the chords -- or there’s some kind of looping device at work. Whatever the case, the effect is simply stunning.
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Post by jk on Nov 30, 2023 6:39:30 GMT -5
The organ wasn't the first instrument the prodigiously talented Ms Lapwood learned to play. Here she is, aged 16, playing an Impromptu-Caprice by the Frenchman Gabriel Pierné on what was then her instrument of choice, the harp: I believe she was more or less pushed into learning the organ -- and then fell in love with it. And the rest is etc. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Piern%C3%A9
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Post by jk on Dec 2, 2023 18:01:32 GMT -5
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Post by jk on Dec 4, 2023 10:27:17 GMT -5
Another track on the album, Star Fantasy, is one of two works by the Armenian-born composer Kristina Arakelyan commissioned by Anna, both of which recently featured in an organ recital she gave at this year's BBC Proms: This is part of a live performance of Star Fantasy, as watching Anna play is more enjoyable (and educational) than just looking at a CD cover: www.kristinaarakelyan.com/bio
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Post by jk on Dec 6, 2023 4:47:27 GMT -5
"Upon Your Heart" by fellow organist and choir director Eleanor Daley is sung here by the Choirs of Pembroke College Cambridge conducted by Ms Lapwood in her capacity as Director of Music at that college: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Daley_(composer)
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Post by jk on Dec 7, 2023 5:30:02 GMT -5
Give a listen to this magnificent organ recital by Anna Lapwood, followed by a "fun chat" with uploader Richard McVeigh. It includes (at 25:31) Ghislaine Reece-Trapp's take on In Paradisum, another track on her album Luna, which according to the 2023 BBC Proms booklet was originally to have been called Moon and Stars: postimg.cc/WtmJmMgTBesides the extraordinary music produced by Ms Lapwood, this is equally astonishing visually, particularly when it goes into split-screen mode. You don't often get the opportunity to see organists' feet at work, and some of Anna's footwork is virtuosic in the extreme. Enjoy! PS: Ms Lapwood has managed to keep her private life private -- quite an achievement considering how visible she is, not least on social media.
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Post by jk on Dec 8, 2023 7:25:12 GMT -5
The Pembroke College Girls' Choir sings Nadia Boulanger's Cantique, conducted by Anna and accompanied by Joe Beadle. "The beauty of this piece lies in its simplicity; sparse chords on the piano twinkle like starlight, underpinning a melody that sounds as if it has been woven from a single thread. It exists in two versions, the one heard here, written for solo voice and piano with a beautifully evocative text by Maurice Maeterlinck, and a sacred version written a year later for voice, violin, cello, harp and organ, with the text changed to 'Lux aeterna'. I found myself repeatedly drawn back to the powerful text of the original. I also think it's important for the choristers to sing in languages other than those which dominate our repertoire (English and Latin). Nadia Boulanger's Cantique is a piece that draws you in, envelops you in a warm embrace and then doesn't let you go." [Adapted from Anna's YouTube blurb] A toute âme qui pleure _______To all weeping souls A tout péché qui passe _______to all sin to pass J'ouvre au sein des étoiles ____I open in the midst of the stars mes mains pleines de grâces __my hands full of grace Il n'est péché qui vive _______-No sin lives Quand l'amour a parlé _______where love speaks Il n'est àme qui meure _______No soul dies Quand l'amour a pleuré ______where love weeps Et si l'amour s'égare ________And if love gets lost Aux sentiers d'icibas ________on the paths of the earth Ses larmes me retrouvent ____Its tears will find me Et ne s'égarent pas _________and not go astray [Maeterlinck's French text and Hélène Lindqvist's translation] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Boulanger
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Post by jk on Dec 9, 2023 5:31:01 GMT -5
Anna conducts the Chapel Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge: "A couple of years ago I had an email from a young composer, Lucy Walker, asking if I could take a look at some of her compositions. She was worried they weren't academic enough for the Cambridge environment as she tended to write in a more lyrical, populist style. I looked through them and quickly realised that she had a gift for writing beautifully spun melodies and harmonising them in ways that singers loved performing. We started programming her music and Lucy ended up joining the choir, writing more and more pieces for us over the course of her time. When we decided to record a Christmas EP [ In the Stillness, 2023] I knew we had to include some of Lucy's music, so I asked her to send over everything she had. I love this new setting of Away in a Manger which Lucy describes as offering a slightly darker interpretation of the carol, reflecting the 'sometimes forgotten humility of the nativity scene'. I think Lucy is such an incredible talent, and I'm so excited to be able to share a snapshot of her musical world." [Anna's blurb, tweaked by me] www.culturednortheast.co.uk/2022/05/13/preview-northern-chords-festival-opens-at-sage-gateshead/
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Post by jk on Dec 10, 2023 5:15:42 GMT -5
Folks, if you watch just one video in this thread, make it this one:
"In 1969, as the world waited anxiously for Apollo 11 to land safely on the surface of the Moon, presidential speechwriter Bill Safire sent the following memo to President Nixon's office. It contained a speech titled 'IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER', to be read on TV by Nixon should astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become stranded on the Moon, never to return.
"Benedict Cumberbatch read this letter to close our [Letters Live] show on 28th October 2022 at the Royal Albert Hall, and was accompanied by the incredible Anna Lapwood, the Royal Albert Hall's organist on the Hall's 200-year-old organ, playing a new arrangement of 'Cornfield Chase' from Hans Zimmer's score for Interstellar."
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Post by jk on Dec 11, 2023 3:14:26 GMT -5
Think of the organ and one's thoughts inevitably turn to Bach. This is his Trio Sonata No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 526, in a "short clip from Anna Lapwood's concert from the Ryedale Festival Online 2020": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_Sonatas_(Bach)
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Post by jk on Dec 12, 2023 5:56:51 GMT -5
Here's Anna playing Patrick Gowers' An Occasional Trumpet Voluntary on the organ of Queens' College Chapel, Cambridge. It's a particularly virtuosic piece for all four limbs: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Gowers
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Post by jk on Dec 13, 2023 7:33:44 GMT -5
"Two Members of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain interview Eric Whitacre, Composer and Conductor, during the interval of the final Coronation Festival Gala concert held in the grounds of Buckingham Palace [in 2013]". H'mm. One of those two members looks familiar: And then nine years later you get this heart-warming rendition of Whitacre's Seal Lullaby by the Pembroke College Girls' Choir: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Whitacre
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Post by jk on Dec 14, 2023 6:22:03 GMT -5
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Post by jk on Dec 15, 2023 6:31:22 GMT -5
I've never been a fan of the music of Ludovico Einaudi but once again the "Taylor Swift of the organ" (that's the price of fame for you) makes it her own in this powerful rendition of his piano piece "Experience" from the OST of the 2014 film Samba: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovico_Einaudi
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Post by jk on Dec 17, 2023 13:41:40 GMT -5
Here's Anna putting in a stunning performance of Maurice Duruflé's technically demanding Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d'Alain at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, thus paying homage to both Duruflé (1902–1986) and the tragically short-lived Jehan Alain (1911–1940), two of the greatest organist-composers of the 20th century, as well as justifiably taking her place amidst such august company: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Durufl%C3%A9en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehan_Alain
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Post by jk on Dec 18, 2023 9:47:26 GMT -5
Yes, Ms Lapwood is also a composer... "I used to compose almost every day when I was a teenager but find it very hard to carve out the time for it now! Every now and then I get an idea that I can't resist trying out, though, and this is what happened with 'Drop Down ye Heavens'. I was in the middle of finalising [the Pembroke College Choir] Advent service repertoire with just a couple of weeks to go, and I couldn't decide on a setting of the Advent Prose to open the service. I left my desk to go and conduct our choir practice and a service of Compline, and came out a couple of hours later fizzing with ideas. I went and sat in my office, played around on the piano, and 3 hours later, had written this piece. I was really excited to hear what the choir thought as I had written it with their voices in mind, and so I typed it up and we sang it through at our next rehearsal. We ended up singing it at our Advent service the following week and recording it a couple of months later. In our 2nd rehearsal of the piece, we all felt that the organ part at the beginning reminded us of something – it wasn't until someone set the chapel alarm off mid-rehearsal that we realised it was exactly the same notes, rhythm and tempo, so now whenever we set off the alarm we sing this piece until it is deactivated!" www.societyofwomenorganists.co.uk/post/spotlight-on-anna-lapwood-director-of-music-organist-broadcasterwww.pacificsymphony.org/_px/_pdf/_files/1678932270pdf_22-23_Superstar_Organist_Anna_Lapwood.pdf
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Post by jk on Dec 21, 2023 13:52:59 GMT -5
Here's another Anna Lapwood composition, once again written for the Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge. This live performance of O nata lux by Sansara (conductor Tom Herring) was recorded on 19 June 2021 at the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon (UK): annalapwood.co.uk/project/o-nata-lux
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Post by jk on Dec 24, 2023 16:47:07 GMT -5
Anna Lapwood: "This is my current [August 2022] list of top 10 [organ] pieces, but it changes on a weekly basis!" Composer, work, organist in brackets (consult the article linked below for videos and AL's descriptions): Francis Poulenc: Organ Concerto in G Minor (Iveta Apkalna) J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in E-flat Major, BWV 552 (Leo van Doeselaar) Louis Vierne: "Finale" from Organ Symphony No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 14 (Diane Bish) Olivier Messiaen: "Transports de Joie" from L'Ascension (Jean-Claude Raynaud) Hans Zimmer: "Concert Suite" from Interstellar (Per Salo) Florence Price: Suite No. 1 for Organ (Ilona Kubiaczyk-Adler) Camille Saint-Saëns: Danse macabre, arr. E.H. Lemare (Olivier Latry) Jeanne Demessieux: Te Deum, Op. 11 (Katelyn Emerson) Gabriel Fauré: "Sicilienne" from Pélleas et Mélisande (arr. Thomas Ospital) Paul Dukas: L'Apprenti sorcier (arr. Jonathan Scott) bachtrack.com/playlist-anna-lapwood-top-ten-organ-works-august-2022
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Post by jk on Dec 28, 2023 16:49:00 GMT -5
This is rare footage of organist-pianist Jeanne Demessieux (see previous post) being interviewed on 13 March 1967 by Francis Cover, followed by an unidentified piano piece, probably her own composition: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Demessieux
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Post by jk on Jan 1, 2024 8:09:26 GMT -5
Check out * this page* of the latest batch of Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) as appointed by King Charles III in the 2024 New Year Honours list. Scroll down to the bottom of the first column! And well deserved it is too. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_New_Year_Honours
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Post by jk on Jan 2, 2024 8:05:47 GMT -5
In this short of the photoshoot for the cover of Luna... …Anna mentions the accompanying music she chose as being that of Melody Gardot, whose wiki makes fascinating reading. I googled snatches of lyrics from the opening song and discovered it was "Goodnite", the penultimate number on her debut album Worrisome Heart:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody_Gardot
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Post by jk on Jan 4, 2024 9:32:03 GMT -5
"This video has been produced to help anyone preparing for, or considering taking, one of the Royal College of Organists' diploma examinations. The film aims to prepare candidates by looking at the examination process in detail. It is equally relevant for the Colleague (CRCO), Associateship (ARCO) and Fellowship (FRCO) diplomas. Presented by Anna Lapwood (Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge), the film includes an illustrative walk-through of a mock ARCO examination taken by Anna herself." It's as well to remember that Anna was either 21 or 22 at the time that video was made. For a musical entr'acte from round about the same time, here is a "snippet of The Wren Ensemble rehearsing Ravel's Introduction and Allegro". The harpist should look familiar by now: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_and_Allegro_(Ravel)
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Post by jk on Jan 5, 2024 5:44:33 GMT -5
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