Hi Ben, some substandard verse for you: Driving through the countryside Excited for another ride We find ourselves again beside Mr Ben Maton Eagerly we join the search Weaving through the oak and birch Locate the village, find the Church Gems of the nation Doors shut behind, shuts noise outside And in where quiet does reside And for a breath our souls can hide Finding peace therein Respectfully Ben shows us round We marvel wrapped without a sound At treasures lost, now newly found And otherwise forgotten Ben tries the organ out at noon "Sadly we have cause for gloom Alas the organ's out of tune" Our hopes are failing Ben knows the thing our hopes will raise on He pulls the Open diapason Angelic music then ensues With hymns and songs and impromptus Play on dear Ben, play on my son For worship of the Worthy One Must go on and on and on. God bless.
Nothing substandard here! Simply words crafted to match the offering strains, summing thoughts into verse much the same as one note couples with the next to produce a melody. To all those who Create goodness, keep at it -- you are very much needed.
Ben and Billy have reached RU-vid perfection. This production is simply superb. I love visiting ancient English churches, countryside, rivers and listening to organ music…so I guess this is the perfect site for me! I am proud to support Ben on Patreon, which I recommend to all other viewers ❤️🎹🛐🌊🌲
A prayer for Billy and Ben. May God the exalted ruler of all bless you both as you share these lovely ancient sites and beautiful music with us all. May the Lord shine upon you, give you grace and bless you abundantly according to His riches in Christ now and forever.....amen.
I appreciate the addition of the guitar, especially this theme of Thomas Tallis. Vaughn Williams’s orchestral arrangement is my favorite orchestral piece of all time.
After years of having a guitar as the only accompaniment to our church singing, we recently had a pianist join us, and it's amazing the difference a keyboard instrument makes to the singing, the exact notes, not chords, and the appropriate 'flourishes' before and at the end of verses and the hymn itself. Any congregation that had you to play for their hymns would be truly blessed! Thank you for our weekly dose of calm and meditation on more noble things... With reference to England's many unloved churches, Lyte could have been thinking of our day when he wrote; "Change and decay, in all around I see, O, Thou who changest not, abide with me.."
I'm two minutes into this periode and I'm guessing: 1) he's going to be a priest, hence the beard, 2) he's going to play a dwarf in a new LOTR-movie, hence the beard, 3) he's going to perform in an add for shaving creme, hence the beard? I love the beard, but please don't leave us!
I myself, a "mature," adult man, of Anglo Saxon extraction (2nd generation), and I shave only twice a week, but that's peach fuzz, no whiskers. Hmmmm, weird DNA.
Billy is really making a valuable contribution, and his guitar music will fit in so well with the Church organ music. Acoustics plays such a great part too, and you seem to find such good places during your travels bringing a marvelous dimension to the classical and church music. The Ben and Billy road trips - will live forever!!
Thank you. Mr Matron. Both of you young men are an inspiration. Over fifty years ago, I lived in Europe and fell in love with the countryside, beautiful music and soft breezes. Love listening to your music. Thanks from Texas.
I enjoy your approach to tell about these lovely old churches and respecting all they have stood for through the centuries. Love hearing the old hymns so well played and also love classical guitar.
Gorgeous, interesting little church along with its organ, English heritage assisted many churches with exposing their medieval paintings from under whitewash, stabilising/conserving them for all to see. One of these churches is St Mary the Virgin Astley, Warwickshire. I wouldn't know whether you would consider the organ anything special, but the church has a lot of history being part of a former collegiate structure.
Thank you for all these wonderful videos . I used to stay with my God Parents in Wiltshire during school holidays back in the distant past. I'm 60 now and have a Viscount Legend JDF with twin Viscount Cabinets which I llove and several sythesizers. You are an amazing musician and we love your passion in your research in all your videos. Thank you ! They are a breath of fresh air !! I just wish I could play as good as you chaps ! A big thumbs up from the Scottish Highlands 😀
Thanks Ben and Billy. Great sound from such a small organ. Billy played the Thomas Tallis piece with great feeling and his guitar has such a beautiful sound. The final E major chord sounded heavenly.
Many thanks to Billy for the beautiful Tallis piece. The phrygian mode is so lovely! And thank you, Ben, for your lovely pieces. Eventide is probably one of my most favorite hymns! By the way Bach is my favorite composer as i feel he speaks to us so wonderfully through the organ!
Music runs in this Family. You both obviously have training in your Pocket, but the Phrasing, Artistry & Musicality shines above that. Well Done guys! Cheers from Canada
I grew up hearing “Abide With Me” as “that old west Texas funeral hymn”. That moniker stuck and then the only time anyone ever heard it was indeed at a funeral.
First, thank you for taking us on your very enjoyable journeys. And thanks for including your friend & musician comrade Billy. The classical guitar music is both mesmerizing and thought provoking. You are doing good yeoman service for all of us who will probably never get to experience any part of your travels.
Another wonderful video with extras! Billy is surely on his way to great things! What a fabulous little church & especially with its links to the RAF. The closing hymn...🙏🙏
Was looking forward to todays presentation. Your brother Billy, is an excellent performer. I'm not usually attracted to guitar music but I became captivated by his talent and it was a delight to listen to. Your talent on small organs is fantastic...as always, and this video was very good. If I ever win one of the lotteries in this country, you will be set up for life in presenting these wonderful videos. Thank You for sharing these with those of us less talented...they are appreciated.
Have you ever had the chance to experience or play in St. Giles CrippleGate Church? I have just been listening to music of Joe Hisaishi and his movie scores that were recorded in this church and the acoustics are superb. All the music is scores of movies from Japan. On the Deutsch Gramophone label.
Sometimes I have wished that I had lived in the sixteenth century, but then I realize that if I had, I probably would not have heard Tallis' music. So, I rejoice that I can now hear his music played so wonderfully in a perfect setting.
I just found you and am thrilled. Daughter of a fabulous organist mother (she did things with pipe organs that were beyond belief!). Thank you so much for all the interesting info and especially the music of you and Billy. From Redding, Northern California
Another enjoyable video along with the inclusion of brother Billy. I will surely subscribe to your new venture. A quick question....your opinion of Prog Rock keyboardist from the past Keith Emerson Rick Wakeman and Jon Lord of Deep Purple. Look forward to next week.
Thank you for a relaxing journey.and music. I grew up in England and enjoy your wanderings. I now live in Canada, so a bit of home in your videos is lovely, thank you.
@@SalisburyOrganist are you sure we’re talking about the same part? What you’re playing after you introduce the pedal doesn’t sound anything like Jesu in all the versions I’ve heard. Unless there’s a part of it I’ve never heard of before
a delightful little organ that is, and you both play beautifully😊 noice to hear Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring (13:20) , one of my favourite pieces and it sounds really lovely on this organ!
Bonjour Ben and Billy. I'm a french organist and I want to thank you a lot for all your youtube production. Nice country, nice churches, nice music ! Very happy to know you, realy. In communion in music and prayer ( I like too to play abide me!). Yours Jacques
Nice job guys. Billy that classical music on your guitar sounded beautiful. Well played. Ben, as usual, I really enjoy your playing on the organ. May God bless you both and keep you safe.
For a while, in my early twenties, I had a job which involved a lot of travel from Southampton all over the immediate Southern counties; that was over sixty years ago. Those quiet Wiltshire roads, villages, and churches appear exactly as I remember.
Once again I cannot thank you chaps enough…. The Tallis is impossibly beautiful - haunting … Please keep those wonderful organ hymns being played in praise of God until the young English Christian congregations return in the future great REVIVAL that is only a matter of time. The Lord’s love of England is written in the stars. The current shameful Godlessness will soon make way for joyous devotion and consequentially a return to His grace. Never give up your loyalty and Faith. 🏴🙏
Best Flute stop ever. When I was an apprentice I spent many hour's turning and binding new phosphor Bronze wires on trackers. It's quite a fiddly job but when you rebuild a mechanical action organ properly it gets rid of most of the noise. New bushes, new leather adjusting nut's etc. This Organ sounds like it has been restored. It sounds beautiful. Pucker job. And an excellent production too. Very well done lad's. The threads for tracker connecting wires are squeeze formed by a thread making machine with two hardened disc's. If they go out of adjustment the threads come out badly formed. The foreman gave me a bollocking when he caught me adjusting it and told me to use the other one. " This is the other one" I told him. It took an hour to dial it back in but I scored cred point's for fixing what no one else had managed to do. The joy of organ building is in the detail and the discipline it takes to do the job right. Much like being a good musician. Perseverance furthers.
That’s fascinating, thank you. I play a tracker action organ and have always been intrigued by their complexity, though I can’t say I’d like to crawl round the back of one! I wrote my dissertation (many years ago) on the Cavaillé-Coll pneumatic organs, which he developed from the tracker ones. The organ is a wonderful instrument and I definitely prefer these to the modern electronic ones.
@@VanessaHamshere A well built tracker action organ can last many centuries with a little care and attention. Pneumatic organs have a lot more leather and with age it perishes. Re leathering a Pneumatic is a lot of work. I would love to hear a Cavaille Coll in the flesh before I die. Magnificent reed's.
Please thank Billy for the Tallis peace; I’m familiar with the Vaughan Williams theme on this peace. One of the most beautiful works of music played at my fathers funeral. Ben, how can you gave caught so well the link with our history, the core of these churches in our nations history. I love your videos; every time the reminder comes up that you have posted it’s a must watch. Boscombe looks glorious and having spent the last few days tending the garden surrounded by busy bird song and nature is full early Summer mode, it lifts the soul as do your videos. Wonderful news about the new Patreon channel.
Hello Ben and billy thank you both for your playing the lovely hymns and billy for his playing his guitar what a lovely church ⛪️ this week thank you 🙏 till the next time
Abide with me, fast falls the eventide The darkness deepens Lord, with me abide When other helpers fail and comforts flee Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away Change and decay in all around I see O Thou who changest not, abide with me I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if Thou abide with me Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee In life, in death, o Lord, abide with me
I really like the sound of this organ. I am also a great fan of classical guitar. Well done! Thanks to take us to this beautiful church. Yes, Abide with me is truly a great hymn and I have sung it in church for more many, many years. Congratulations on your important announcement! I wish you nothing but the best with all you do.
Very good... that hymn is sung by wounded / captured British soldiers in the Netherlands, in the movie "A Bridge Too Far". After seeing / hearing it, and not knowing the words of the hymn, I decided that it was time to quit the "7-11" Praise songs and go back to using a hymnal with good music and meaningful words.
I played in a brass band for twenty years, and ‘Eventide’ was a beloved piece. Due to bullying, I had to leave the band, and this brings me back to the sorrow I feel, having to leave the glorious brass sound. Now I play the cello, and love it, playing wonderful music. I will forever miss playing brass band, though.
If memory serves, the string quartet played “Abide with Me” as the Titanic went down in 1912. What hymn could be more appropriate for souls facing eternity?
VICTOR HUGO , the world famous french literary giant once said: "England has two books.Shakespeare and the Bible. England made Shakespeare but the Bible made England".
This program is a delightful viewing experience! Brings a lot of pleasure to many of us around the world, thank you both brothers for the unique production.
Thank you so much for introducing us to so many new (yet ancient) churches, organs, villages and pieces of art - especially musical art. But special thanks for introducing us to your family, I wonder whether you yourselves quite realize how extraordinary you are. (Sometimes I wince when I think of how brutal sites like RU-vid can be. I have a sort of protective feeling toward you. But then I sense that you also have the inner strength to deal with whatever nonsense is tossed in your direction.) I believe Billy spoke not a word during this entire video. As I'd mentioned before, he seems to have a sort of innate tranquility that comes through in his guitar music. It's as though he slipped into a time warp in the era of Tallis in order to pay us a much-needed visit here in the 21st century. That's fine, as long as you both agree to stay here until the current culture regains its sanity. Thank you for another comforting video, and see you on Patreon.
Warm greetings from Ireland 🇮🇪🙏 As always, wonderful sharing of your God given gifts of music and histories. Lovely combination of talent from Billy and yourself Ben. Thank you sincerely for what you bring to us.
A triumph! Lovely church, beautiful music. I listen to the Tallis and I hear the Vaughn Williams arrangement in my head, Billy's interpretation is magical. You and Billy are so talented. It warms my heart that someone so young as yourself would take such an interest in the history of these small, out-of-the-way churches. You always display skill when navigating these instruments - no two tracker instruments play the same. I can imagine most of these instruments have not been regulated is some time. Great work, as always.
Another lovely church. Billy, you play with so much feeling. Ben, you found another good place to play, the church looks well cared for. Congratulations on launching your patreon.
Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, forswear our foolish ways. One of my most beloved hymns. I so love and appreciate this channel for its music, faith and history. I live in a tourism centre in Queensland Australia. No old churches, no organs no tradition. 🙏
We sang Dear Lord and Father of Mankind at my mother's funeral. Such a beautiful hymn and so many memories for me. Could you play the whole hymn one day? Greetings from South Africa 🇿🇦
Once upon a time, in my teens and twenties, I occasionally played a lovely old tracker organ in a neighboring village at the Episcopalian church. It had a fraction of the stops as the massive pipe organ I was normally privileged to play... but it had the most sublime sound! Authentic and pure.
0:25 Absolutely splendid! Nicely chosen a venerable church, and English country side venue. The musical repertoire chosen was simply beautiful. Thank you for that rendition of ageless and supernal sounding Abide with Me...and what to say of Billy's guitar rendition of that first piece by Venezuelan Maestro Antonio Lauro....just phenomenal. May God grant you both great and continued success! Keep it up!!!
Thank you Ben and Billy, you are great. So beautiful music and rather hearthwarming video, so lovely church and organ - I wish I could have that kind of church where to attend on services. 🎩 Cheerio
Before you even reached the organ, you had captivated me. Wow, a 17th century church with box pews, three-decker pulpit with tester. One of my valued books is The Churches the Victorians Forgot. It tells, with many photos, of churches like this that avoided the 19th century "restoration". The music from both of you was an enhancement to the location and the church.
So much for my guesswork. My first guess was that you have been appointed sub-organist at some UK cathedral and therefore you were going to have to stop filming. My second guess was that the BBC got wind of your channel and commissioned you to prepare a series of programs for the BBC using the format and style you had developed here, both presenter and player. Patreon wasn't the list. I always was a lousy guesser.
"Abide with me" One of my favorite hymns which I love to play on the Organ as a Prelude, depending on the Service. Ben and Billy , both of you are so musical. God Bless you for sharing your love of music. I also appreciate very much that this Old Church continues to be in Service once a month. We sing, in the USA, this last hymn as "Eternal Father" a Navy Hymn. Great video.
Thank you, Billy. Seriously, Mark-Across-the-Pond ====××==== But to you Ben, some O2O trash talk🎉. (O 4 "Organist.") Here is a less buttoned up "thanks" to Billy via Big Daddy Bruh (you: Ben). Except that you do do Big Daddy à l'anglaise. Ever so much better than the 1950s U.S. version, who has some strange state of mind we refer to as "the plantation mentality." What I'm trying to say is that the token of my thanks is ... ahem is a piece of American organ music. I must and will however repress the Puritan impulse towards braggartism (mine is bigger ha ha ha). So your job is to somehow deliver this "Danke schön" without lil bro wringing your neck due to KOIPD. King of Instruments Personality Disorder. But seriously: the Tallis original, then the Vaughan Williams, then Howells's "Master Tallis's Testament" is almost the non plus ultra of this sub-sub-sub genre within the whole of Music History. Let me propose, though, an honorable mention by U.S. composer Gerald Near. But before that pls give Near a little intro by listening to his arr. of Adoro te right here on RU-vid. This'd be for some late night in the dark and some good earphones. Near evolved late career away from a right good, but crowded field of American Hindemiths. Not bad just not very original. Near was smart enough to become more "of the people" a bit like Copeland but not as overtly. Near, then, became proficient in modal (as contrary to) functional harmony (which he had first to thoroughly master.) He then took that collection you surely know, The Sacred Harp, for his inspiration for the new direction. I hope you find the Adoro te as xyz (no words) as I first did. Then, at long last, the punchline of this missive. Near's take on Tallis. And I blush to say: "L'organiste, c'est moi." There! A little code switching into French makes the med.cine go down! N'est-ce pas? Cheers, Mark (Arizona)
I always look forward to your travels, your stories and your music. I also guessed what your surprise was going to be. It was Mother’s Day here so I was out most of the afternoon eating nachos and cake with my family. I will organize Patreon. Liz ❤
In the USA and also in GB I believe this to be The Navy Hymn 1 Eternal Father, strong to save, Whose arm does bind the restless wave, Who bids the mighty ocean deep Its own appointed limits keep; O hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea. 2 O Savior, whose almighty word The winds and waves submissive heard, Who walked upon the foaming deep, And calm amid the rage did sleep; O hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea. 3 O Holy Spirit, who did brood Upon the waters dark and rude, And bid their angry tumult cease, And give for wild confusion peace; O hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea. 4 O Trinity of love and pow'r, Your children shield in danger's hour; From rock and tempest, fire, and foe, Protect them where-so-e'er they go; Thus, evermore shall rise to Thee Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
So glad to see the channel expanding. The episodes continue to get better and better and your brother is a nice addition as I am also a big fan of the classical guitar. The hymn abide with me as one of my favorites. I might suggest that the best song you version I have ever encountered is found in a gay movie called latter days of chorus it concerns a Mormon and his journey. A highly entertaining movie though it might not be considered higher. But within this movie is a very touching scene and the music is someone singing abide with me in such a way I feel it was what the original man who penned it was the name escapes me at the moment must’ve been thinking . I hope you would seek it out just to hear the version it is available in a clip on RU-vid if you search abide with me and the movie is LATPER days. Well the music you generally play is very old your channel you and your brother are very fresh and very parents. I will check into Patreon all my best to you both.
