Making Music on the Organ

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 176 pages
• Published by: Oxford University Press, USA; Rev Sub edition October 18, 1990
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0198162073
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0198162070
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Weighs: 10.4 ounces

Product Review
`A book of great wisdom, culture, and positive common sense.' Musical Times

`Full of insights that come only from a very experienced player enlightened and enlightening.' Peter Williams

`A short but pithy treatise on music-making first and foremost, and on the organ as one of the most problematic, but ultimately one of the most rewarding, means of doing so.' Classical Music

`a cogent, well-illustrated explanation in terms of the greatest clarity and readability, eschewing the arcane mumbo-jumbo that can assail writers on the subject Hurford's immense experience of performing and teaching enables him to encapsulate his thoughts on each topic in a few, brilliantly-chosen words. A book of great wisdom, culture and positive commonsense.' Anne Bond, Musical Times

`This book is absolutely essential reading for every student of the organ who is desirous of acquainting him or herself wih Hurford's Art This publication is clearly laid out; and is a useful compendium of source-materials for the serious student' William McVicker, Hi-Fi News and Record Review

`His book is compact with ideas and advice that come only of long experience' Charles Morgenstern, Oxford Times

`an admirably open-minded and pragmatic guide' Nicholas Kenyon, Observer

`Hurford has worked steadily and painstakingly to distill into one tidy and gorgeously-produced volume a lifetime's experience as one of the world's most respected players and teachers an encouraging and optimistic book, written with authority, affection, enthusiasm and just enough wry humour to add a human face to a subject that might well have drowned in a sea of seriousness and self-importance Susan Sturrock, Music Diary

`The author's own curiosity and liveliness make for an very stimulating book, which can be read profitably by non-organists with an interest in keyboard music, especially that of the High Baroque essential reading for anyone seriously interested in organ music' Early Music

`Within the confines of this comparatively small book there is to be found in every chapter more commonsense per page than is usual in many a greater volume covering the same ground I can unhesitatingly recommend this book as one of the most perceptive to have been published in recent years.' The Organ

Product Description
With the first publication of this book in hardcover in 1988, Peter Hurford, acclaimed for his performances and recordings, demonstrated his ability to communicate to professionals, amateurs, and general listeners the ideas that underpin his performance and teaching. Making Music on the Organ
sets out the relation of both the instrument and the performer to the world of music at large, gives authoritative advice on technical problems, and describes the workings of the instrument itself. The chapters on interpretation, with particular emphasis on the music of J.S. Bach, are invaluable,
arising from the author's own lifelong dedication to the performance of Bach's music. For this revised edition, the author has made a number of textual emendations and additions and has included new material on the principles of good organ design and the History and use of the swell-box, and a
useful summary of temperament.