Classical Music
By John Bladen and others
HomeThree things inspired me to learn the organ.
The first was hearing the outstanding organist Roger Carter play the organ for our annual school carol services at St John's Church, Harpenden. I was immediately struck by the beautiful tone, the beautiful music, and the beautiful playing. We were truly lucky to have a musician of such calibre, capability and sincerity at our school, the likes of whom I have not encountered since.
The second was hearing the organ of St Albans Cathedral played twice a week for our school services. When I heard the instrument play, soon after starting at the school, I decided that I wanted to play it regularly before leaving the school. I decided this even though I was in no position to learn it, given that my family could afford neither a piano nor music lessons. Yet, by turn of events, it was something that I managed to achieve.
The third was hearing, at around the age of 12, the canonic variations on Vom Himmel Hoch by J S Bach performed on the radio by Peter Hurford. This highly musical piece, written toward the end of Bach's life, is deceptively difficult to play. Yet Peter Hurford, who for me stands out as the one organist of all time who truly mastered the art of performing contrapuntal music, played it to absolute perfection. Over thirty years later, I can still recall the experience.
Another significant influence was the notoriously accurate and throughly musical Thomas Trotter.
At the age of fourteen and a half, thanks to my father deciding on his way home from being made redundant to spend his entire redundancy money of £600 on a second hand electronic church organ, I started learning the organ. I learned it with such eagerness and speed that after just two years I began playing in cathedral style church services between once and four times a week (with both single and double choirs), accompanying choral and other concerts, and giving solo and dual/duet recitals.
At the age of 18, I was offered an organ scholarship at Cambridge. However, reluctantly, I did not take up this offer. This was due to (a) pressure from my career advisor who advised me in the interests of supporting a family to pursue engineering rather than music, and (b) pressure from a company that wanted to sponsor me to go to university to study engineering.
Much later, at the age of around 30 or so, I decided to learn the flute. I love the flute and worked hard at it, but sadly my lips are not well suited to it. However, what I learned from learning the flute has been invaluable for improving how I play other instruments, including the piano and organ.
On this webpage, the organ recordings marked 'JB' were played by myself. Unless marked otherwise, they were played on the organ of Christ Church Fulwood in Sheffield, UK - a fairly typical English 3 manual organ of disappointing sound quality, but generally good reliability. The flute recordings marked 'JB' were played by myself on a Miyazawa 201 flute. The recordings marked 'synthesizer' were made using the Yamaha DS-XG synthesizer in a Toshiba laptop.
Feedback to feedback2jsb@gmail.com.
Please also see Free organ music and Organ repertoire.
My Story (Improvisation) mp3 (JB)
See here for a version with Mandelbrot and Waveform visualisations.
See here for my transcription as a score.
Performed 1st December on the Freisach pipe organ using GrandOrgue.
Chorale No 2 in B minor for organ by Cesar Franck mp3 (JB)
Inspired by Imogen Morgan playing at Durham Cathedral, I finally got around to learning this wonderful piece - after almost 40 years of intending to!
Recorded 15th May 2021 on my Yamaha Clavinova digital piano with added 32 note pedalboard.
Christmas Fantasy by Jonathan Scott (final two pages) mp3 (JB)
Recorded 27th December 2020 on my Yamaha Clavinova digital piano with added 32 note pedalboard.
Prelude in C by J S Bach BWV547 mp3 (JB)
Recorded 5th February 2021 on my Yamaha Clavinova digital piano with added 32 note pedalboard.
Here's a heart warming review: I love your playing of it on so many levels. It’s so joyful & even the harmonic digressions feel they’re not going to knock the bounce out of Mr JSB’s stride today! No Sir! I can imagine Bach going off to work in the morning thinking, "Ah, those students of mine, how they would love music if they just think their first efforts learning the scale of C major are just a stepping stone to the real stuff!". He chortles inwardly & hums a little scale to himself. Then as if answering his own question and the jolly good mood he found himself in he almost starts to skip along to the Kirche. “Tum tee dum, Tum tee dum Ta da da, Dum!” he hums (in 9/8 of course!). I don’t know how you pulled it off but there is an exquisite balance between the more dominant thematic elements and the playful decorative & harmonic elements. They seem to tumble over each other like the electric and magnetic field components of a light wave propelling it all forward!
Sonata No 1 in Eb 1st Movement for organ by J S Bach mp3 (JB)
Inspired by Peter Hurford in his BBC Radio 3 complete Bach organ works series in the 1980s. I still remember his introduction to it! Such a lovely and lively piece. The left hand part is quiet because I'm playing it an octave lower to avoid collisions on a single manual instrument.
Recorded 7th April 2021 on my Yamaha Clavinova digital piano with added 32 note pedalboard.
Sonata No 1 in Eb 3rd Movement for organ by J S Bach mp3 (JB) YouTube (JB)
Delightful piece. And is there any better way to acquire independence of left hand, right hand and feet than learning it?!
Recorded 24th October 2021 on my Yamaha Clavinova digital piano with added 32 note pedalboard.
Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture
Arranged for organ by the wonderful Jonathan Scott. Please see here for the score, which I highly recommend. (I genuinely believe his scores are some of the best value things money can buy).
Recorded on my Yamaha Clavinova digital piano with added 32 note pedalboard.
The result of the past 10 days hard work! It has ten very very fast pedal runs (which you probably can't hear!).
It's not perfect yet (some of the 552 note-per-minute pedal runs still need fastening!). Also the pedals have come out too quiet on the final section (page 12).
Nevertheless, it's where I'm at, and I'm pleased with it for the moment. For me, it's the hardest section of the piece, mostly because of its speed.
I've just got one more page (the second page, which is page 4) to learn, then I can record the whole thing.
Here's the ending. I recorded it this morning.
State of play: Piano-concerto-like-octaves need some polish.
Feel free to add cannons at 03:25!
Toccata from Symphony V by Widor mp3 (JB)
Recorded 16th October 2020 on my Yamaha Clavinova digital piano with added 32 note pedalboard.
Organ recital, St John's Church, Ranmoor, Sheffield, May 2012
These are live recordings from a recital of popular music that I was asked to give in May 2012 at St John's Church, Ranmoor, Sheffield as the opening recital of their series of PROM concerts:
Fantasia in G minor (BWV 542i) by J S Bach mp3 (JB) (26th July 2011)
Recorded at St John's Church, Ranmoor, Sheffield. Recorded whilst trying out the organ.
Prelude in E minor (BWV 548i) by J S Bach mp3 (JB) (26th July 2011)
Recorded at St John's Church, Ranmoor, Sheffield. Recorded whilst trying out the organ.
Toccata from Symphony V by Widor (Draft) mp3 (JB)
Recorded 18th June 2009 during a wedding rehearsal. From memory.
In dir ist Freude by J S Bach (BWV 615) (Adapted for wedding entrance music) (Draft) mp3 (JB)
Recorded 18th June 2009 during a wedding rehearsal.
Final from Symphony No 1 by Louis Vierne (From Easter service) mp3 (JB)
Recorded 12th April 2009 at the end of the Easter service - hence the background noise! From memory.
Hornpipe by Noel Rawsthorne mp3 (JB) (4th September 2007) mp3 (ring tone version) (JB) (4th September 2007
Fantastically fun piece! The ringtone version makes a good ringtone for mobile phones.
Fugue in G minor by J S Bach (BWV 542ii) mp3 (JB) (Major ending) (8th January 2007) mp3 (JB) (Minor ending) (8th January 2007)
There seems to be some uncertainty as to whether there should be a major or minor ending so I have included both versions. The switch occurs at the final pedal entry.
Fugue in C major (from Toccata, Adagio and Fugue) by J S Bach (BWV 564) mp3 (JB) (5th February 2005)
A lightweight, cheerful and very pleasant fugue.
Fugue a la gigue by J S Bach (BWV 577) mp3 (JB) (28th July 2004)
A delightfully simple but nevertheless tricky fugue that was always my Dad's favourite.
Final from Symphony No 1 by Louis Vierne mp3 (JB) (15th March 2002)
Even though I must have performed it a dozen times or more, I still love playing this piece! One of Vierne's earlier works, this piece really shows off the energy of the organ. Best heard live - and on a better instrument!
Sortie in Eb by Lefebure-Wely (1817-1870) mp3 (JB) (31st March 2002)
This can best be described as liturgical fairground music. Enjoy it!
Chorale No 3 in A minor by Cesar Franck (Draft) mp3 (JB) (26th Dec 2001)
This is the last composition by Cesar Franck, and is one of my favourite pieces. I recorded it to try out my newly acquired Sony ECM-MS907 microphone. (Not rehearsed).
Baroque Toccata mp3 (synthesizer) score
This was one of my first ever compositions (Sept 2001),which I wrote when trying out various scoring programs. I guess it is part German and part French in style, and though a relatively simple piece has proved to be quite popular, even with people who aren't normally organ music enthusiasts. The middle section was intended to be a fugue, but degenerated into a simple imitation when I found that fugues were actually quite complicated things to write!
Please also see Free piano music.
Intermezzo Op 117 No 2 in Bb minor by Brahms
mp3 (Yamaha CLP 280 Digital) (First version) (2011)
mp3 (Yamaha CLP 280 Digital) (Second version) (2011)
Beautiful and emotional music. Two different interpretations.
Intermezzo Op 118 No 2 in A major by Brahms
mp3 (Yamaha CLP 280 Digital) (2011)
mp3 (Piano recital on an old Steinway Model B) (2014)
Again, beautiful and emotional music. The hammers of the Steinway used in the recital version needed attention (and have now been attended to). And the recording was made from the wrong side of the piano. Nevertheless, I include it here in memory of my mother. I gave the recital just before she died and I dedicated the performance - which brought tears to my eyes as I played it - to her.
Nocturne Op 9 No 1 in Bb minor by Chopin
mp3 (Yamaha CLP 280 Digital) (2011)
Nocturne Op 9 No 2 in Eb by Chopin
mp3 (Yamaha CLP 280 Digital) (2011)
The Cook Waltz by Adrian Cook (1986)(for 4 hands) (transcribed by John Bladen)
mp3 (synthesizer)
score
One school afternoon during our A levels this piece was born. And if I remember correctly, a small but nevertheless
significant amount of alcohol was involved. The piece was created by Adrian Cook almost in entirety. However, I
contributed the ghastly D major section in the middle in an attempt to return to a world I recognized - and promptly
had my hands pushed clear of the piano! The piece is said to be an acquired taste - one that clearly hadn't been
acquired by Mr Andrew Parnell (organist at St Alban's cathedral at the time) when he informed us that the music
department was for music - so just what did we think we were doing? He also showed distaste for the impact this piece
had on the new school piano. Nevertheless he tolerated the piece, and in the course of a year it matured and became
a regular feature of the music department at St Alban's School. In order to make the score readable, many (in fact most)
of the notes present in the original have been omitted.
Minuet from Flute Sonata No 4 in C major by J S Bach
mp3 (JB) (snippet) (~2002?)
OK - I'm still very much a beginner so I'm a bit embarrassed about my flute playing - but there it is!
Fugue in D Minor by J S Bach (BWV 565ii) arranged for solo flute by John Bladen
mp3 (synthesizer)
score
midi
This was an attempt to arrange the fugue from the famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach for solo flute.
I've heard that it has been arranged for solo violin, though I've not heard it or seen the score, and the violin
has the advantage of being able to play more than one note at a time! Though tricky to play in places, this version
works quite well except for the last couple of bars of thick organ chords, when the flute is unable to do anything
to rival the intended power of these chords. I suspect that the only option is to completely change the ending.
Variation on Twinkle twinkle little star by John Bladen
mp3 (synthesizer)
score
This is an improvised descant that I play when my young kids sing this song - which is most of the time.
Everyone seems to love this piece!
Conversation No 1 for Flute and Brick Cart by John Bladen
mp3 (synthesizer)
score
When attempting a flute recording to send to a friend, my 18 month old son insisted on banging his brick cart,
full of bricks, against the radiator downstairs. When I sent the recording I apologised for the banging in the
background. My friend suggested that I composed a piece called 'Conversation No 1 for Flute and Brick Cart'
and so before breakfast that day, that is what I did. At the start the brick cart bangs a crazy rhythm. Then
the flute plays a flowing melody. The brick cart comes back in and interrupts the flute, knocking out notes as
it goes. Gradually the flute and brick cart adapt their parts until they manage to play along together. They
perform a dialogue, then a duet, before coming to a gentle conclusion - or what would be a conclusion if it
weren't for the resumed impatience of the brick cart - now rattling it's bricks in fury. The flute scolds the
brick cart from on high - as a bird scolds a cat. The original brick cart rhythm returns, now with cymbals
mimicking the bricks sliding in the cart. The flute dashes for the finishing line and finishes with a triumphant
arpeggio. But the brick cart is there - waiting to have the last say! For those of you that don't know - that is
precisely what it is like having young children around the house!
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Updates: If you wish to be advised of updates, please send an email to feedback2jsb@gmail.com with the subject 'Music Update Request'.
Copyright information: Please note that these recordings and scores remain my own personal property and are licensed for use by individuals only. They may not be redistributed. Hypertext links may be created to the recordings and scores, but please contact me first. No composer, author, performer or copyright information may be edited or removed.
Performance: If performing from any of the scores, please send an email to feedback2jsb@gmail.com with the subject 'Score Performance' describing the event (e.g. recital / church service etc).