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January 2012Dear Friends Martinikerk Rondeau has also just been reviewed in equally glowing terms in Choir and Organ. The review concludes: “This DVD offers an utterly enthralling way to learn about the Dutch and north German organ tradition.” This film is available either as a stand-alone DVD or as part of the boxed set Pronkjuwelen in Stad en Ommeland. The new review is here. For those of you in or near London, please come to an event at 2.30pm on Saturday January 28th called Grand Orgue at Bloomsbury Baptist Church.
December 2011Towards a Modernist Organ is ready for release and is shipping! Our latest release Towards a Modernist Organ arrived from the factory on December 19, and is is ready for shipment. You can read about it here and you can buy it here! We hope you have a happy Christmas and New Year! Will Fraser and Simon Still
December 2011
New Release: Towards a Modernist Organ Christmas Special Offers Announced Update on filming The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll
We are very pleased to announce the release of our sixth DVD, Towards a Modernist Organ. This recording and film features organist David Butterworth and focuses on three Nottingham organs from three very different eras. David is a recitalist and organ consultant, and was for many years the organist of St Mary’s, Nottingham. It is the stunning Marcussen organ in this church that inspired the film’s title. The other organs featured are the magnificent 1909 Binns organ in the Albert Hall, which has to be the quintessential English town hall organ, and a charming domestic instrument dating originally from the 1600s at Wollaton Hall. The DVD contains both a live filmed performance of the music on the CD, and also a fifteen minute documentary. The package includes an illustrated booklet with photos and specifications of all the organs. You can see images of the design and packaging on the project page, www.fuguestatefilms.co.uk/modernistorgan David’s programme ranges freely over four hundred years. He plays several less-familiar works by well-known composers – Parry’s Fantasia and Fugue in G, Bruhns’s G major Praeludium for example. There is a nice selection of pieces by Gibbons, Tomkins and Stanley for Wollaton Hall. Then there are a number of modern works that have been recorded for the first time. Naji Hakim’s Fanfare to Nottingham (dedicated to David), plus modern Danish pieces by Jesper Madsen and Lasse Toft Eriksen that show off the many colours of the Marcussen organ. A tremendous rendition of Bach’s famous Passacaglia and Fugue rounds off the disc. David Butterworth has been responsible for all the organs on the disc in some way or other – he was involved in the restoration of the Albert Hall and Wollaton Hall organs, and designed the Marcussen organ at St Mary’s Parish Church. To put this neoclassical organ into context, we have also included a couple of other modernist organs in the Nottingham area – a very small and early von Beckerath at the German Lutheran Church and a ‘model’ Grant, Degens and Bradbeer that David has at his own home in the village of Halam. The DVD is currently being manufactured – we hope to be able to send it out in time for Christmas.
To celebrate Christmas we are offering a number of excellent seasonal deals! If you would like to be recognised in the credits of the upcoming Organs of Cavaillé-Coll, recognised subscriptions are available till Christmas at a 20% discount – for £89.95! This means that we can credit your support in the film itself. We think this would also make a wonderful personalised Christmas present, so please buy these for friends and loved ones. If you or the person you wish to buy a present for has already subscribed and wish to upgrade, you can do so at the discounted rate of £39.95. These discounted prices will only be available till Christmas and will not be available again! We are also offering a deal where you can buy both Towards a Modernist Organ and Virtuoso! for £31.95. And if you are thinking of buying our last release, Ex Tempore, it has garnered even more outstanding reviews: BBC Music Magazine describes it as “revelatory... well shot, engagingly narrated and beautifully recorded, Ex Tempore is a fascinating insight into a neglected art.” International Record Review describes it as “a phenomenally successful release.” All these DVDs and more are available here.
The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll: Production Update Our Cavaillé-Coll project is now well underway and is going very well indeed! We are amassing a huge amount of excellent material and are having a tremendous experience making this most important film. We’ve visited lovely towns and cities, we’ve been able to spend time in some of the most beautiful buildings in the world, and obviously we have revelled in magnificent music performed on superb organs. We have now passed the halfway mark in terms of number of locations and days of filming, and by Christmas we will have completed most of filming and recording. So far we have made three trips to France. At each location we have combined filming and recording performances of suitable repertoire, filming introductions to and demonstrations of each organ, as well as gathering general footage, interviews and presentation. This means we have material for each of the elements of the finished boxed-set – audio recordings, filmed performances and the documentary. In September we recorded at St Ouen, in Rouen, a famous organ that is one of Cavaillé-Coll’s very best. We recorded Gerard’s performances of Widor’s 5th Symphony, the Trois Pieces by Franck, and three transcribed improvisations by Vierne. We then went to Elbeuf, where there is a very small choir organ, and recorded some miniatures by Boëllmann, performed by Kurt Leuders. The village of Long was next, where Kurt recorded a fugue by Guilmant. I wrote an article about this trip for the Organists’ Review, in which I detailed our recording approach and philosophy. You can read that article here. In October we went to Paris where we recorded some of the famous French titulaires. At St Denis, Cavaillé-Coll’s first major commission (and thus far my favourite of his organs), Pierre Pincemaille let loose a series of blinding improvisations to demonstrate the organ. Pierre was brilliant on camera and his remarks about the organ will be a very compelling part of the DVD. Gerard, not to be outdone, calmly sat down and performed the tremendously dramatic Judex Crederis by Boely, followed by the Fantasia and Fugue in B flat. Next door to St Denis in the old monastic buildings is an organ by John Abbey, an organ builder active at the same time that Cavaillé-Coll was starting out. We recorded this organ to show what organ building would have been like without Cavaillé-Coll. It’s a nice, genial G-compass organ with an old-fashioned French pedalboard – but it is by no means revolutionary or the sort of thing that would inspire new repertoire. At St Sulpice Daniel Roth played the march from Widor 3 as well as the Prelude and Fugue in B major by Saint-Saens. He then improvised a two movement work based on two themes – a Noel and also Greensleeves! He also gave a demonstration of the organ that showed off its extraordinary breadth of character – he made a point of improvising various movements in the French classical style to show how there is still very much a Cliquot organ within Cavaillé-Coll’s masterpiece. We also interviewed Daniel in the Salon Widor, a little room at the back of the organ loft where Widor would entertain guests. We filmed at St Louis D’Antin, an organ that is very like what St Clothilde was like in its original state. The titular organist there is David Noël-Hudson, who gave us exceptional performances of Franck’s Prelude, Fugue and Variation and Priere, and the first of Gabriel Pierne’s Trois Pieces. Somewhat more off the beaten track is St Maurice de Becon. This is a unique organ that has a marked German character, perhaps because it was built in the wake of France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. Thomas Monet performed the Liszt “Ad Nos” fantasia here. It sounded extraordinary and proved a most interesting way to branch out from purely French music. In November we spent a whole week at Orleans Cathedral, where there is a perfectly restored symphonic instrument. In addition to recording all of Widor 6, performed by Gerard, the titulaire, Jean-Pierre Griveau, performed Duruflé’s variations on Veni Creator and his own variations on the name Cavaillé-Coll, a piece that was compelling, atmospheric and has never been recorded before. The choir organ dates from the 1840s, and Jean-Pierre recorded seven miniatures by Franck (who lived at one time in Orleans) and a piece by Tournaillon, the organist who commissioned the grand orgue in the 1880s. So that brings us up to date with filming so far. In December we will be heading to the south of France. We will visit Toulouse - St Sernin, one of the last symphonic organs - Bedarieux - a rare surviving grand orgue from the 1840s - and St Guilhem le Desert. This last organ was started by Jean-Pierre Cavaille, Aristide’s grandfather, and abandoned in 1789. It illustrates both that Cavaillé-Coll came from a family of organ builders and also shows what the French classical tradition, from which he grew out of to some extent, was like. That leaves a little bit of filming left for 2012 – we hope to go to St Omer, a groundbreaking cathedral organ from the 1850s, and Selongey, which houses Widor’s former house organ. Thank-you to everyone who has supported this project so far. Your support is critical to this project. If you like what we are doing and wish to be further associated with this project, please take advantage of our Christmas offer to become a recognised subscriber. With warmest wishes for Advent and Christmas, Will Fraser and Simon Still
October 2011
The End of Summer Sale ends on Wednesday October 12th!To celebrate the launch of Ex Tempore and Martinikerk Rondeau we slashed the prices of our back catalogue - buy now and enjoy reduced prices!Dear Friends, We are now preparing for the next leg of filming for The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll – we are setting off for Paris on Friday October 14th, and will film at St Denis, St Louis D’Antin, St Sulpice, St Jacques du Haut Pas and the Maison de Legion d’Honneur. This last location is next door to St Denis and contains an organ from the 1830s by the British-born organ builder John Abbey. We are including this organ in the film to show what organs were like before Cavaillé-Coll started, so we can compare the charming but rather average organ by John Abbey with the bold and revolutionary instruments of Cavaillé-Coll. At St Sulpice we will record Daniel Roth, and Pierre Pincemaille at St Denis, both of whom will improvise, though we shall also record pieces by Boelly, Saint-Saens and Widor on these organs. At St Louis D'Antin we will record David Noel Hudson playing Franck. At St Jacques du Haut Pas we will work with the American organist Carolyn Shuster who is an expert on Cavaillé-Coll’s salon organs – the orgue de choeur in this church was originally an organ in someone’s house. We are looking forward to the challenge of recording huge instruments in huge buildings. We used 22 tracks to record St Ouen in Rouen in September – we will see whether we need more tracks at St Denis or St Sulpice! This will be the second leg of filming – we still have a trip to Orleans, a trip to St Omer and a trip to Toulouse and other southern locations to come! Very best, Will Fraser and Simon Still
September 2011 Dear Friends, Please come to the premiere of our latest DVD, Ex Tempore at St George’s, Hanover Square in London. The film’s been given five stars in Choir and Organ and reviewed as “a fascinating, informative, enjoyable and well-made documentary.” Or, as someone commented on Ronny’s facebook page, “I doubt there is a better organ DVD out there!” Wine will be served and it should be a fun, informative and sociable evening. We hope to see you there. Wednesday 28th September 2011 at 7pm St George’s Admission £8.00, Concessions £5.00 Ex Tempore (1 x DVD + 1 x CD) will be on sale at the event for £20.00 (rrp £28.50) Thank-you again to everyone who gave us such generous support for The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll. Filming has commenced! We filmed and recorded between September 12 and 18 at St Ouen, in Rouen. Gerard Brooks performed all of Widor 5 as well as the Trois Pieces by Franck and some transcribed improvisations by Vierne. Gerard’s playing was brilliant, and the audio quality was superb. We want to present these organs as you’ve never heard them – I’ve written an article for the upcoming edition of the Organist’s Review detailing our approach, and once it comes out we will publish it on the website. If you want to subscribe to The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll we are still offering the set for pre-purchase at the reduced rate of £49.50 with free postage and packing. Thank-you as always for your help and support and we hope to see you at the Ex Tempore launch at St George’s on September 28th. Very best, Will Fraser and Simon Still
September 2011We have had very good news about Ex Tempore – it’s garnered a five star review in Choir and Organ, and they’ve summed it up as follows: “this is a fascinating, informative, enjoyable and well-made documentary.” It’s a great review and you can read it in full here. If you are in or near London, please come to the launch of Ex Tempore at St George’s, Hanover Square on Wednesday September 28th at 7pm. Admission is £8 / £5 and wine will be served. Other good news is that on Sunday we are heading to St Ouen, Rouen, to start the first leg of filming and recording of The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll. We will film and record Gerard Brooks playing music by Widor, Franck and others on the magnificent organ, regarded by some not just as Cavaillé-Coll’s best, but as a contender for the best organ in the world. We will then take in two contrasting organs, a tiny 1 manual choir organ in Elbeuf, and a small 2 manual instrument in Long-sur-Somme. One of the great things about Cavaillé-Coll is the high quality of his very small instruments, and we will proudly feature some of these beside the much bigger and more famous organs. This first leg of filming will take a week. We will then go to Paris and Orleans in October. We will put news of this part of the shoot up on our facebook page – if you would like to follow us on facebook please click on any of the facebook icons on all of the pages of our website. If you want to subscribe to The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll we are still offering the set for pre-purchase at the reduced rate of £49.50 with free postage and packing. We also are continuing our summer sale with excellent deals on all of our back catalogue, plus a few extra items such as the complete Bach organ works performed on American historically informed organs by George Ritchie, of Art of Fugue fame. All are available in the shop. Our filming and recording of Nottingham: Towards a Modernist Organ in August went very well with David Butterworth, playing the Marcussen at St Mary’s Church, the mighty Binns at the Albert Hall, and a small eighteenth century organ at Wollaton Hall, plus small organs by von Beckerath and Grant, Degens and Bradbeer. The programme of dynamic and well-chosen music is superbly performed. All of the pieces are fine compositions rarely recorded – works by Parry, Ireland, Naji Hakim, Eriksen, Madsen, Hartmann, as well as less familiar works by Tomkins, Gibbons, and Bruhns. But there is also the Bach Passacaglia – so one very familiar track! We have almost finished the audio edit and will keep you posted as the video post-production progresses. We will also keep you informed as the Cavaillé-Coll shoot progresses, and please read the full Ex Tempore review here. Very best, Will Fraser and Simon Still
August 2011New Releases!
Dear Friends, I am writing to tell you about two new releases from Fugue State Films: Ex Tempore: The Art of Organ Improvisation in EnglandWe are pleased to announce the release of Ex Tempore. The film is presented by Ronny Krippner, a German-born organist and former finalist in the improvisation competition at St Albans. He has made a long study of how English organists improvised between 1500 and the present, and the rich fruits of his passion and research are included in an 80 minute film and accompanying CD. The film is divided into sections for each composer, and the list of composers reminds us of what a wonderful musical heritage England has – Tallis, Byrd, Purcell, Handel, Stanford, Howells, Mathias and Leighton. The final improvisation is in a contemporary idiom. Each section of the film includes background about the period followed by a discussion of the composer’s style and a demonstration of how to improvise in that style. Then there is a full improvisation. In this sense this film is different to all of our previous ones, in combining documentary with complete filmed performances. This works really well! Ronny chose excellent organs – the RCO’s Wetheringsett Tudor organ, Adlington Hall, St Lawrence, Little Stanmore, Bristol Cathedral, Liverpool Metroplitan Cathedral and Kingston Parish Church. All are wonderful instruments; the last four have not been recorded very often. We feel that this project has turned out very well indeed, and we hope it will serve to popularise improvisation in English styles! The beautifully packaged DVD / CD set is available in the shop for £28.50. Martinikerk RondeauSome of you may have already seen Martinikerk Rondeau, the feature length documentary we made that was released as part of the boxed set Pronkjuwelen in Stad en Ommeland. We are now releasing the 110-minute film as a single DVD. We are really pleased to make this very significant film available by itself. The film charts the history of the organs of Groningen, Holland, the most important collection of historic organs in the world, including the organ of the Martinikerk, built between 1450 and 1740 and containing ravishingly beautiful stops. The film features fascinating interviews with Cor Edskes and Jürgen Ahrend, and brilliant performances by Sietze de Vries. “Martinikerk Rondeau is a revelation.” Organ Club Journal The DVD is available in the shop for £19.50. You also get a token for £15 off the price of the boxed-set Pronkjuwelen in Stad en Ommeland. It is a PAL release only, so unfortunately the DVD may not work on North American DVD players. We will release an NTSC North American version soon. End of Summer SaleTo celebrate and support these releases, we are having an End of Summer Sale.We have slashed the prices of our back-catalogue DVDs by up to 20% – The Art of Fugue, Pronkjuwelen, The Elusive English Organ and Virtuoso. This sale will go on for a couple of weeks or so, while stocks last, so if you want to take advantage of the great prices please do so now. We have also added three very good new products to the shop, all of which are for sale at reduced prices. We are the only shop in the UK, in fact probably the only one in Europe, to offer the 11 CD set of the Complete Bach Organ Works recorded by George Ritchie. George recorded the Art of Fugue for us (“the finest recording of the Art of Fugue” Gramophone Magazine). It’s not just great performances that make this set an excellent buy – George also recorded on nine tremendous organs built in America in German Baroque styles – organs by Taylor and Boody, Fritts, Noack etc. The sale price is £49.50, which is pretty good for 11 CDs! If you like the Art of Fugue, you will probably love the Goldberg Variations. There are many recordings but we feel this new one by Colin Booth is really excellent and offers something new. It’s only £8.99. Colin has also written a book about keyboard performance practice – Did Bach Really Mean That? This is a book that wields considerable authority lightly – it is a fascinating but also engaging read, and is an excellent choice for anyone who is interested in Bach’s music. The sale price is £42.50. And for something totally different – we recently completed a documentary portrait of an eco-community in Knoxville, Tennessee. Once Upon a Time in Knoxville is an off-the-wall and amusing film about some serious and topical issues. And it’s even tangentially connected with organ music – we filmed it when we were in Tennessee in 2007 visiting the organ builders Richard and Fowkes! It is £11.95. Upcoming ProjectsThank-you again to everyone who gave us such generous support for The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll. We successfully raised the £80,000 we need to make this film, and filming is commencing in September at St Ouen, in Rouen. It is not too late to buy this at the pre-purchase price – it is available in the shop. Also, next week we are filming and recording a new project, A Modernist Organ, featuring organist David Butterworth performing on the Marcussen organ he designed for St Mary’s Nottingham. We will also include a small Grant, Degens and Bradbeer house organ and von Beckerath’s first ever organ, which is now in Nottingham. David is also the custodian of the organs at the Albert Hall, Nottingham, and Wollaton Hall, as well, so they will be recorded and filmed in addition. Thank-you for your interest and support. We hope you will buy our latest releases and take advantage of the sale of our previous releases. We hope that you enjoy watching and listening to our films and recordings as much as we enjoy making them! Very best, Will Fraser and Simon Still
July 2011Campaign Successful! Dear Friends, We have now raised £80,000! We have had a flurry of final subscriptions, and our campaign to fund The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll has now successfully reached its target! Thank-you so much to all those who helped us reach our goal. We have benefited from great generosity, enthusiasm and belief in this project. We have received support from 337 subscribers, 58 recognised subscribers, 10 screeners, 2 angels, 10 associate producers and 1 co-producer. We will now move onto the next step – planning and preparing for filming which will start in September. We will keep you updated as the production progresses. We will leave the subscription options open on our website for the next few days in case there are people who would still like to support the campaign. Then we will change the deal slightly – we will still offer the DVD for pre-purchase, but we will raise the price. http://www.fuguestatefilms.co.uk/cavaille-coll Thank-you again for all the support we have received. We look forward now to making this project the best Fugue State Film so far! Very best, Will Fraser and Simon Still
July 2011Less than Two Weeks to Fund The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll Only £1,500 is needed to hit target of £80,000. Thanks to very generous and enthusiastic support, our campaign to raise money for the film The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll continues to go extremely well. We now have more than three hundred subscribers as well as ten associate producers and one co-producer. We have raised £78,500 of our £80,000 goal, leaving just £1,500 to raise before the campaign ends on 15th July.
June 2011Fundraising Concert for The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll Our campaign to raise money for the film The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll is We are therefore organising an event both to help raise these remaining The fundraising concert is at 7.30pm, on Wednesday 13th July, at: St James, Clerkenwell The fundraiser will consist of:
Admission is £10, and will include one free glass of wine. The cost of admission will be refunded in full if you subscribe to the Admission is free for everyone who has already subscribed or invested. So For any further information please contact me at We need another hundred or so subscribers and recognised subscribers, and Also, if you know now that you would like to subscribe, please don’t feel We really hope you will come and enjoy music and film clips. There will be Thank-you again to everyone for such generous support of our campaign. Very best, Will Fraser and Simon Still
May 2011Please Prebuy DVDs to help fund The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll Our campaign to fund The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll has received an amazing response – almost 250 people have helped us fund this project. In the last month we have raised more than £26,000, bringing our total raised to more than £66,500. Therefore our £80,000 target seems very reachable – it is just £13,500 away. We have offered various levels of participation in our campaign. Becoming a Subscriber, which involves prebuying the DVD for £40, has proved the most popular, with more than 200 of our 250 supporters doing this. As the Subscriber option is so popular, we have increased the number of subscriptions available to 350. On June 6th we shall raise the price of subscribing to £45. So please subscribe now to take advantage of the current price of £40 including postage and packing. The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll will never again be available at this price. To subscribe please go to: http://www.fuguestatefilms.co.uk/cavaille-coll/fund We have also secured the support of four associate producers and one co-producer. These producers are not just prebuying the DVD, but are investing between one thousand and ten thousand pounds in the production. The fact that they have come forward is a great vote of confidence, as it shows that they believe the project will be successful and they will recoup their investment. If you would like to become an associate producer, we still have six places left. If you want to become one, please read the endorsements by David Wakefield, president of the Organ Club, and Steve Dunk, two of our associate producers. http://www.fuguestatefilms.co.uk/cavaille-coll/endorsements.html To become an associate producer, please email Will Fraser at will@fuguestatefilms.co.uk Improvements to our Campaign We are also improving and adjusting our campaign in the following ways: Screener We have added two additional perks. We will make the film available for Screeners before it is widely on sale, so your screening event will be at the forefront of the film’s release. Also, you will be able to order copies of The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll to sell at a discounted rate at your screening. This will benefit members of an organist association that hosts a screening. In fact, everything in the Fugue State catalogue will be available at a discounted rate so people can come to your event and benefit from great prices. Angel We have adjusted this option. The major perk is getting five beautiful limited edition photos of the best Cavaillé-Coll organs. To make this a better bargain we have removed the right to host screenings of the film from this option – therefore we can offer it at a much reduced price of £350. We hope that these adjustments will make our campaign even better value, so that you will help us fund our project. If you have subscribed already at any level and would like to upgrade to one of the other options, just contact us and we will arrange it. All of these are available at: http://www.fuguestatefilms.co.uk/cavaille-coll/fund Please help our Campaign Please support this project by becoming a Subscriber, Recognised Subscriber, Screener, Angel or Associate Producer. We still need the support of up to three hundred people to make the film happen.
April 2011Fugue State Films seeks investors and subscribers for the Organs of Cavaillé-Coll
Details are at: http://www.fuguestatefilms.co.uk/cavaille-coll We want to do this because we think that Cavaillé-Coll is the best organ builder of the nineteenth century. We love the amazing instruments he built. Furthermore, his organs directly inspired people such as Franck, Widor and Vierne to write their compositions for the organ. http://www.fuguestatefilms.co.uk/cavaille-coll/fund
January 2011Dear Friends, We’ve been running a fundraising campaign to release our documentary “Once Upon a Time in Knoxville.” This is a documentary about a man in Knoxville, Tennessee who has created a low-tech, low-consumption community in answer to the energy / resources crisis. This film is very different to our other releases, which have all been about organ music so far! But we hope it will be of interest, as the questions of energy and resources are of universal interest. The campaign for the film is going really well – we are on our way to reaching our target of $3000 to manufacture and release the DVDs. We’re raising money by pre-selling DVDs and other perks at a fundraising website. Please take a look at: If you like the look of the film and want to watch something a bit different, please help us by pre-buying a DVD. We’re close to our goal so any sales now would be very helpful! This is the first time we have tried this funding technique, but as it has been successful we are considering whether to use it in the future for appropriate organ music releases. We will let you know about them if and when we start those campaigns. Very best, Will Fraser and Simon Still
December 2010Dear Friends, As Christmas approaches we would like to take the opportunity to wish all of our friends and supporters a very Happy Christmas! We received a very nice early Christmas present – for several months we have been developing a film idea based around the organs of the Laurenskerk in Alkmaar. There are two, an organ from 1511 by van Covellens as well as the famous van Hagerbeer / F.C. Schnitger organ. We have just heard that this project will probably go ahead, with filming and recording in Autumn 2011. This is tremendously exciting, as the Schnitger organ is surely one of the most iconic and perfect in the world. I have had a lifelong ambition to make a film about it. That the church contains a second instrument which is the oldest playable Dutch organ is a tremendous bonus that will allow us to construct a narrative around the two significant and contrasting instruments. This film should be something really special, and we will keep you informed as it develops. Work continues on other projects. We now have a title for the English improvisation project – Ex Tempore. We are arranging further filming for February 2011 on the Handel organ at Little Stanmore, the Early English Organ Project Organ currently at Holy Trinity, Prince Consort Road, and the modernist Frobenius organ at Kingston Parish Church. I hope it is okay to ask a favour: For those of you in England, our DVDs are available on www.amazon.co.uk We would love people to review the sets – if you would like to write a review you can find them at: The Art of Fugue: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Fugue-2CD-DVD/dp/B003PBLYBK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290416633&sr=1-1 The Elusive English Organ Virtuoso! Music for Organ Thank-you for your help with this. For those of you in America, we are hoping to get these products soon onto www.amazon.com in America and when we do this we will appeal for reviews again. We are now one step closer to releasing Once Upon a Time in Knoxville. You can find out about the project at www.fuguestatefilms.co.uk/knox It’s a really cool glimpse into life on a low-tech alternative eco-farm in Tennessee – there are recycled houses, fainting goats, mobile outhouses and many other surprises! Simon and I are now preparing to release the film and we’re appealing for a bit of help with the final stages – manufacturing the DVDs and promotional materials. We’ve therefore created a page offering DVDs, downloads and other perks including T-Shirts, posters, photos, even a tour of the farm – at www.indiegogo.com/knox It would be wonderful if you would help us reach our goal of releasing the film. Please visit the page and if you like what you see, please help us by taking advantage of one of the perks! And as Christmas approaches, please think of our DVDs as presents for people you may know! Prices of all our sets will be going up, but we will not raise prices until Christmas is over. With best wishes, Will Fraser and Simon Still
November 2010
Yesterday we received a very pleasant surprise – our boxed set The Art of Fugue has been reviewed again, this time in the November edition of the American publication The Diapason. The review is lengthy and detailed and written by early keyboard expert Gavin Black, himself a brilliant organist and harpsichordist who has recorded the Art of Fugue. Therefore the very positive comments are all the more gratifying: George Ritchie’s recording of the Art of Fugue is described: “The clarity and lucidity of the counterpoint is astonishing. The lines of each contrapunctus are so manifestly separate independent melodies that the listener never feels the need to strain or labor to hear them as such. This also creates the pleasant illusion that it is equally easy for the performer, which of course it is not: it is an act of transcendent virtuosity. It is also a source of great rhetorical power in this music and in this performance.” And the film Desert Fugue is described: “I reacted to it as being powerfully moving as well. The way the discussion was framed and carried out had the effect for me of delivering something like the following message: Bach was a person, albeit a very talented one; we are all people; we are all working together: each of us is part of the same fabric, the same web, the same picture. This is an elusive feeling that I try to capture myself whenever I can, and try to convey to my students. I have rarely found it evoked as strongly as it is in this short film. This comes about in part through simple things like the juxtaposition of pictures of Bach’s church and Bach’s town with pictures of Pinnacle Presbyterian and its desert environs. It is conveyed in the main, however, through the relaxed, joyous, humane, and serious but never somber demeanor of the participants.” It is wonderful when someone engages with our work on such a deep level. We thank Gavin Black for his thoughtful and expansive review and thank The Diapason for carrying it. If you would like to purchase the set, it is available at our shop: http://www.fuguestatefilms.co.uk/shop By a very pleasant coincidence, Desert Fugue is having a screening put on by the Knoxville Chapter of the American Guild of Organists on November 1st. This will be in the Cox Auditorium at the University of Tennessee, the home of a fabulous Richards and Fowkes organ, and as well as a showing of the film there will be performances on the organ. http://www.knoxago.org/programs.html http://www.richardsfowkes.com/pages/3instruments/15/15_index.php If you are in or near Knoxville, we hope you will be able to go to this event.
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To mark the 200th anniversary of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll’s birth, and the upcoming 150th anniversary of his organ at St Sulpice, Paris, we plan to produce the first ever full-length documentary film about the great organ builder’s life and work, as well as lots of filmed performances and recordings. We are working with English organist Gerard Brooks as well as famous French organists and scholars. The result will be a beautifully packaged DVD / CD set called The Organs of Cavaillé-Coll.
Dear Friends,
New Project 
