Tag: Duet

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Videos and Concerts

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AllSaintsAisle2Duets and Pedal Fun

Preparing for the two organ duet concerts with Jaime Carini created a very intense week. I hope you enjoyed the video from our first day of practice in the last newsletter. ( Click here in case you missed it or to see it again.) We also posted Promenade by Dello Joio from our practice session in Daytona here. By far, the most popular piece on the program was the set of waltzes by Johann Strauss Jr. transcribed for four feet. These were very challenging to learn as we often found ourselves playing the exact same notes right after each other. We had to practice slowly and watch where and how we moved to each note in order to make sure we didn’t step on each other or keep the other person from getting to the proper location. We even took a little video to see if we could spot any better ways to stay out of each others way. Have a look and see for yourself: Pedal Practice for Strauss Waltzes.

Naji Hakim – The Apostles

It was a great joy to play the US premier of movements from The Apostles by Naji Hakim. We have audio and video from both concerts, and I hope we will receive permission from Hakim to post a couple of excerpts on YouTube. We enjoyed doing these concerts together, and we both hope to be able to play the pieces again in other locations as well as actually learn all the movements of The Apostles.

John Stainer – The Crucifixion

After putting Jaime on the plane early Monday morning, I went up to Leesburg that evening to play for a rehearsal of The Crucifixion by John Stainer at Morrison United Methodist Church. When I last played the piece, I burned my hand the week before the concert, so had to play the piece using basically only my right hand and pedal with a few single notes by my left hand and a little assistance from my page turner for a couple of passages where Stainer requires the organist to play on two separate manuals. The concert is tonight at 7:30 pm. I am looking forward to it as not only a wonderful musical event for the Lenten season, but also as a chance to finally play the piece uninjured and pain free!

Even though I know many of you are not able to attend these events in person, I hope that the clips on YouTube provide some entertainment. Once this set of concerts is over, I hope to be able to post more videos of performances and improvisations in the next few months. I also wish to continue exploring how music gets both to and from the written page.

Hoping spring arrives in April!

Glenn

Newsletter Issue 18 – 2014 03 31
See the complete list of newsletter issues here.

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Organ Duet Concert – All Saints in Winter Park

Wm. Glenn Osborne and Jaime Carini will present a concert of organ duets as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the installation of the organ at All Saints Episcopal Church in Winter Park, FL. Included on the program will be works of Gustav Merkel, Johann Strauss Jr., Modest Mussorgsky, and others. The program will feature the US premier of The Apostles by Naji Hakim. The complete program is available here.

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Pedal practice – Strauss Waltz for Pedal Duet

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Jaime Carini & Wm Glenn Osborne prepare for organ duet concerts on Friday, March 21, 2014, at All Saints Episcopal Church in Winter Park, Florida, and Sunday, March 23, 2014 at First Church of Christ, Scientist in Daytona Beach, FL.

This excerpt is from a set of waltzes by Johann Strauss Jr. arranged for four feet. We took this video today while practicing in Daytona to see how we might better avoid each other….

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Merkel Day 1

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day! While everyone was out celebrating, Jaime and I were working on our program for our concerts this weekend. We still have some polishing to do, but here is a little teaser so you can see a little of what happens when two people sit down at the organ.

Naji Hakim – The Apostles

Because our concert in Winter Park is the same weekend as the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival, we chose to include as many art-inspired music selections as possible. While looking for repertoire, I discovered a set of pieces for organ duet by Naji Hakim inspired by wood carvings by Lucas Cranach the Elder. The Apostles presents a series of short movements based upon the artwork but also making use of Gregorian chant and other chorale themes. As the composition was only written in 2011 and not that many people perform organ duets, I recently contacted Dr. Hakim and was informed that we would be doing the US premier! We are super excited to be the first American performers and hope you will be able to come hear it at one of the concerts on Friday or Sunday!

Wishing you all the luck of the Irish!

Glenn

Newsletter Issue 17 – 2014 03 18
See the complete list of newsletter issues here.

RSCM Tulsa

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Prelude and Fugue on themes from RSCM Tulsa 2013This past week I was able to attend the RSCM Tulsa Course with Malcolm Archer as director and Bruce Neswick as organ instructor. It was a wonderful week of music making which included the following partial repertoire list:

  • Missa omnes sancti – Malcolm Archer
  • Rejoice in the Lamb – Benjamin Britten
  • Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in A – Stanford

Included as part of the week’s activities was a talent show on Saturday evening. After deciding to perform a piano duet with another participant, I offered to write a piece for us to play. In addition to themes from the pieces listed above, I included a musical rendition of the name of our conductor for the week: M-A-L-C-O-L-M A-R-C-H-E-R. I was a little concerned about meeting the deadline with so little free time in between and after rehearsals, but I think the piece was clearly a success, especially for all those who recognized the theme citations. The video below was recorded on my iPhone. Enjoy!