Have been feeling very nostalgic today as my parents were married 72 years ago on August 23, 1952. Then I listened to this video with "Handel's Largo" that was played at their wedding. Mother loved the piece and talked often of her wedding day. When she passed away in December 1998 she chose for her funeral, "Thine Be the Glory, Risen Conquering Son." Perfect video for a nostalgic day. Thanks Ben.
Happy Resurrection Day to all who count themselves crucified, buried and risen with our risen Lamb! This is a very fine Easter treat, Ben. I enjoy touring the soggy English countryside with you and time traveling through centuries of stony church history. Blessings!
"Postlude for Mechanical Action" is brilliant. Modern, yet timeless. Written for the best and most logical intellectual reasons. yet intensely emotional. Your future as a composer is secure. You'll never be reduced to standing by the roadside holding a sign that says: "Will Play For Chutney." Somehow, Valerie's "spirit" seems to be in that organ (even though she's obviously very much alive). Did you sense it? The wood, the pedals , the pipes, the keys all seem to have something of her in them. No wonder she was happy to place it in your able hands.
Thine be the glory, risen conquering son, with music by Handel, is my very favourite hymn. Ben’s 24 videos since last October have attracted just over a million views, unequalled by any other organist in such a short time. To count oneself a member of Ben’s RU-vid family is to have won one of the best prizes in life’s lottery.
One of my favourites too. The only further comment I have is that I think he looks older with a beard. Maybe it’s ironic that perhaps when you’re young you want to look older. But when you’re older you’re very keen to look younger. Stay looking young as long as you can. Life tends to creep up on you.
Hello Ben, Trying to put my 5 month old grandson to sleep and as soon as he heard you playing Handel’s Largo he relaxed and went straight to sleep. Absolutely beautiful music and playing. I love your composition too, Ben. Thankyou 😊
Bless your heart Ben. My mother was a church organist (got her Masters in Michigan, USA in 1933 !) I have loved this music all of my life and have missed it so much over the years. Thank you for bringing us not only the gift of the music, but everything else you offer, program notes on so much and many varied yet pertinent facts, the beauty of the churches, grounds and countryside on film, and more. You are inspired, and a gracing to me and I'm sure us all.Thank you. Thank you Thank you 🙏🌷🤗
"Postlude for Mechanical Action" was just great!! Nothing like full organ!! I am so glad there was video of your feet on the pedal board!! I love watching organists play the pedal board!! Thank you from Maryland for this Easter video!!!
I had only ever heard that French melody as "Sing We Now of Christmas" before; I didn't know it had other words set to it. The words to that hymn are lovely!
Although I love Bach. And even when all the pieces of music you've played today, they were in my list of favourites. "Postlude for Mechanical Action" was the one that moved my feelings the most. I can't find an adjetive which could best describe my feelings than: Sublime! It is certainly a sublime composition! I was particularly amazed by the parts we hadn't yet heard! I don't want to exaggerate, but I feel it is at the same level of Bach, Albinoni, or any of other great composers. Congratulations, your composition is amidst my most dearest ones! (Of course, this doesn't mean much, as I don't know about musical theory and techniques; but in the end, music should be all about feelings and emotions. The Prince on Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot" is quoted to have said: "Beauty will save the world." And a question is left opened: "What beauty will save the world?" From my point of view, music is one of the means which drives to that Beauty. As we're made of vibrant energy -or something like that says the "Theory of the Strings" in Quantum Physics- music can move our vibrations into a higher level)
Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" is one of my favorite novels. Years ago when I was in a book discussion group it was my suggestion for one of the monthly readings. To my sorrow, a fair number of the people who read it, disliked it -- a lot! I was so disappointed. But I still love the book.
Preciosa Iglesia victoriana un bello marco para el Domingo de Pascua de la Resurrección de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo, a El gloria por los siglos de los siglos hasta la consumación de los tiempos. Gracias Ben por estas hemosas piezas para un día especial. Un abrazo virtual desde el este del Reino de España junto al mar Mediterráneo.😊❤
A tune kept going round and round my head... I couldn't think where I'd heard it... until I found it again here, after a bit of a search, your Postlude composition. Thankfully, I now know where to find it when I require that particular 'fix' 😄 Thank you!
Ben's cheese and pickle sandwich got a nice upgrade with that wonderful gift selection of chutneys, and the card was heartwarming. Made my heart glad to see him appreciated like this. I always look forward to his videos and music and his latest made Easter even more special.
Thank you Ben. I have such good memories with each piece especially "Thine Be The Glory" my late father and I belting it out whenever it came up to be sung in church on a Sunday. Happy and blessed Easter to all.
Happy Easter, Ben, and thank you for this beautiful program! I had sincerely hoped you would do something for your fans for Easter! It has been such a lovely Easter so far and this video just made it perfect! Thank you for sharing your gift with us!
An inspiring Easter "present". Thank you. Your music choices are superb, but I also greatly respect and admire that you clearly love the words of poets and hymn-writers. Just recently, you have brought so many "voices" back to me. I look forward to hearing what you select from George Herbert. Happy, blessed Easter, Ben to you and your family.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! I feel privileged to be able to enjoy your superb programs. Inspirational is the word I would use to describe this one.
Love your 'Postlude for Mechanical Action' it conjured up for me images of swashbuckling pirates, a bride pacing majestically down the aisle while her flower girl dances pirouettes & scattering petals in her wake'. Powerful stuff music! Thank you Ben.
Happy Easter Ben to you and your family. What a joy to hear beautiful seasonal music and played in such sublime surroundings. It now feels like Spring has arrived. Looking forward to your comments on the chutney in your sandwiches!!! Not only wonderful music but, as ever, packed with influences on Handel.
We had a couple of modern hymns in our service, they are so samey and more like funeral music, no one sings out loud because they don’t know them. However we did finish with a good rousing rendition of Thine be the Glory everyone singing out as befits the day.
I feel much the same way about mechanical action! Once a month I play a 1901 Lancashire Marshall tracker at a little Episcopal church in Negaunee, Michigan. It's quite similar to the organs you show on this channel. I jumped at the chance to play at this church because I love mechanical action organs. I enjoy the extra physical effort to play it, I feel more connected to the instrument, and I agree with you that the clatter adds to the character.
Thank you Ben. That was an absolutely sensational video! What a remarkable and careful interpretation of music that was both played and explained so well. This channel is such a delight to my every week. The recording of sound with various camera angles, and the masterful editing you do, really takes us on a wonderful journey of how the past can still be celebrated in the present.
Simply a wonderful presentation of the music of masters that many of us have studied in the past & have enjoyed. However, I am greatly appreciative of your own musical score arrangement offered since it was "simply" wonderful & enjoyable. Well done sir. you are a master of what you present & share with your audience. And as always, I sincerely appreciate the musical lessons & tutotals offered! This is Peter; out!
Happy Easter Ben! Your Handel and “Now the Green Blade Riseth” were exquisite. It brought me much tranquility after a long week of singing. Looking forward to your next video! ❤
What a joy to find a village organ in good condition and with such great voicing. Like your style of hymn playing too. Bach BWV 625 has always surprised me. Its minor mode and descending Hallelujah (which you even slow down at the end) may be indicative of our sin, our captivity in death, battle between life and death ... but the whole melody seems to contradict the "He is risen, Hallelujah". Might it be interesting to add a 'first verse' of a Bach harmonisation of the choral to which this is a prelude? "Ombra ma fu" is the very first Aria of "Semele", a very secular opera about earthly and sexual love between two noble brothers and two noble sisters. It is sung under the shade of a tree in the palace garden. However popular it is, however beautifully you play, I can't help feeling there are more appropriate voluntaries for Easter. The Hallelujah Chorus, the Fugue in G minor for manuals. "He shall feed his Flock". Then F MINOR again. Lovely strings and flute& Diapason. Love your explanation of mechanical action. you speak of British Cathedral organs, but did you know that Cavaillé-Coll built only Mechanical action instruments - even when they have more than 100 stops! ? Interesting Postlude. Again in a MINOR KEY. A little modulation or two would perhaps not come amiss in improvisations lasting more than a minute.
'Ombra mai fu' (Handel's Largo) comes from the opera Xerxes, the words are different to 'Where're you walk..." from the opera Semele which you mention.
@@pamelafrancis4476 You're quite right. I have recently seen productions of both operas and must have confused the titles. Sorry! My remarks concern Xerxes, of course.
Just had to comment when I got to the end of the video and the piece you have written. Postcode to mechanical action. It prompted me to simply say Brn you are a genius. Your piece achieved its purpose and end. Your videos are an absolute delight. The music the visuals, your comments and just everything about these presentations is a credit to you. Every blessing to you and thank you for brightening our day
You lift the heart of this old lady and have filled her eyes with joyful tears on more than one occaision. Yes, happy, happy Easter, Ben, and may the love you send out through your videos come back to you and carry you through out your life.
Listening while I rest and recover from playing two choir practices and four services, culminating with the Easter service this morning. So tired but this is just what I needed. Thank you Ben!
Thank you Ben. Every time I hear one of these lovely pieces of music I am transported away from all the cares of the world to a place of peace and tranquility. A blessed holy day to you and a good restful holiday as well. Let all the saints rejoice......HE IS RISEN......HE IS RISEN INDEED!
Happy Easter to you as well. My mother passed last December, and this was an unexpected uplift on a day that would have otherwise been spend with her. Beautiful work!
Apologies to add a 2nd comment but I hadn't listened to all the way through when I posted Happy Easter. Fantastic to hear you play your own composition all the way through. Let's hear more of your own pieces.
Couldn’t have a better Easter than one with Ben Gifted ,Talented and Blessed Beyond Measure. Brings Solace And Peace Always. A real pleasure to see and listen to. Richest Blessings and Grateful Thanks To You Ben from Scotland
Rejoice, o my soul, in Christ, the Risen Saviour! Ben, your narrating is truly wonderful, so beautifully English. Thank you for this wonderful recital.
Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Amen! Good music! Bach and Handel and that old French piece were very good. I'm 67 this year, and my ears don't work as good as they used to, but,,,, I did not hear "clattering" --- I heard organ playing. Love the stained glass windows and the Biblical people/places/things they remind us of, and the cross and candles. Thanks for explaining the difference between mechanical and the electric "cathedral" organs. Seems that most organs here (Stateside) are semi-portable electric organs, rather than built onsite with pipes and the other parts. {IF you can find a church/Chapel that has an organ anymore...or someone that can play it,,, 🤧🤕}.
A week or so ago I found myself humming the evocative and tingly anticipatory theme that plays in the Salisbury Organist each week; I sensed a Matonesque quality and curiously, was going to pose the question as to its composer this week. So thanks Ben for the fascinatingly full answer ... and bravo, it does the job clatteringly! Enjoy many a cheese and chutney sandwich in sunny churchyards through the summer and have a great holiday.
I follow most of the famous organists and venues, but this is the channel that I really look forward to each week ! I think we will be hearing a lot of your composition in the future, Ben. Onwards and upwards..........
My father’s cousin Fred used to play the Largo every year at our family Christmas concert. I think it was the only piece he remembered from his boyhood lessons. He played it lovingly and gently.
Because of my hearing impairment and because the auto-generated captions are unreliable, I especially appreciate it when you put the name and location of each church in the description, and also the names of the pieces you play and the composers. This music is indeed very soothing today. Happy Easter from California!
Such a beautiful video. I believe I have heard the Handel piece during communion. Yes, I am an Episcopalian here in the US. All these beautiful pieces I have heard and brought back many fond memories.
Once again, well done and well played. I really enjoy the historical anecdotal details you give on each given organ you play. You are very fortunate to have the opportunity to of doing what is obviously something you enjoy doing. Have, or continue to have a blessed Resurrection Sunday; He is risen indeed!
Ben! Just what I needed! A new video from you works wonders when I’ve been busy doing things. What a nice surprise. I came downstairs to listen to your channel and there it was. "Thine be the Glory" and "Love Divine" seem to be recorded into my head. Two favourites I hear all the time! Happy Easter. Have a great holiday. Liz❤
