Lloyd Holzgraf - Percy Fletcher - Festival Toccata

[@richardhoover4471]

You’re much missed, Lloyd! Thanks for the opportunities to play The Organs!! RIP

[@richardhoover4471]

Stunning performance of a little “chestnut” by a dear man. I was privileged enough to be on Lloyd’s on-call list whenever he was sick and couldn’t do his Midweek Noonday recitals. I miss him and his kindness and generosity.

[@charlesdavis7087]

I absolutely love this little piece of Joy. Thanks so much for sharing.

[@joespeciale5875]

Holzgraf was an amazing artist. I regret that many years ago when I was a student living in Los Angeles I didn’t go to hear his noontime concerts at 1st Congregational (but unfortunately, I didn’t have a car).

[@charlesdavis7087]

For me this piece is like walking straight up and into the Realms of Heaven. Thank you so much for sharing. Blessings on The Way.

[@PauletteSzuhay]

Wow!

[@paulcouvreur7353]

Bravo pour cette très belle interprétation!

[@chucklambooy8457]

Absolutely stunning performance

[@sfopera]

Superb performance of this showy, somewhat overblown, work.

[@marcbnaylor7340]

I have played this piece many times and this is an interesting interpretation which I haven’t heard before. I first came across it on Jonathan Bielby’s Romantic Organ Music of Yesteryear recordings for Priory on the organ of Huddersfield Town Hall.

[@davidgriffiths7215]

Boy do I wish I could play like Lloyd Holzgraf even if this isn't a piece I'd go out of my way to listen to!

[@Lou31510]

OMG!!! FABULOUS!!!

[@scottw6704]

A must-have for every beginning organist - it sounds difficult but is by far one of the easiest concertpieces to learn, particularly for the pedals.

[@douglasherbst7001]

Thank you for posting. Lloyd was a dear friend and mentor of mine. I have these records. We used to sell them at the Friday night organ recital series. We are mostly hearing the Gallery organ in the recording of this piece. However Lloyd always used both the chancel and gallery organs for this piece. He played this piece quite often for the Tuesday and Thursday noon-day recitals as well as Sunday morning postlude.The large reed you hear is the Trompeta Real at 8'. Near the end his uses all 3 of those ranks at 16' 8' and 4'. Those reeds were very impressive but the sound did not carry very far toward the front of the church. Really something though if you were playing from the gallery console with those reeds right above you.

[@klauscartesius1275]

Douglas Herbst Thanks for the insider info! Bought the records when direct-to-disc was new and popular. Always assumed the Gallery organ to be the main/loud/close one here, but since I've never visited the church, it's still unclear to me where the organs are in the building(s), since the pictures I've found so far are close-ups; any (approximate) info on that? I've heard that the organs are being sampled for Hauptwerk now, and the Skinner is already done, while the Gallery/Schlicker organ should be ready later this year - will probably not be able to resist buying the samples if they are good ;)

[@douglasherbst7001]

Klaus Cartesius The large gallery organ was added in 1969 (134 ranks) and also an Italian organ (11 ranks) in the chancel above the side chapel (peace shrine). The skinner chancel organ was enlarged from 58 to 70 ranks. I really enjoyed playing some of the noon-day recitals on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Lloyd was on vacation or ill. The organ stayed the same until a large reed was added in the chancel to honor Lloyd on one of his anniversaries at the church. Then they decided to enlarge the organs from 11,949 pipes to 22,000+. New 5 manual consoles were made. I have only played the organ once since. The new stuff is fun but the skinner lost its character. The skinner in the divided chancel chambers was pushed back (double deep chambers) as it had been before 1969 and lots of new pipes installed in front. Could barely hear the clarinet on the choir with the box open. Most of the chancel organ is now other than skinner. No one thought when the 1969 organs were being planned that the front and back organs could be used together so well. But it was great. We used both at the same time for the hymns and marching processionals for services. The Schlicker consoles were very user friendly. Only drawback was no memory and not enough pistons. 6 generals for the front and 10 for the back. You had a tab that would combine the two however. Sometimes Lloyd would spend 10 minutes resetting all the pistons during the sermon the for the second half of the service.

[@cameronplatts9630]

Thank you so very much for restoring this off the M&K Realtime direct-to-disc LP. It’s too bad both albums are not available in SACD format or other digital formats today 😢 Legendary performances by Lloyd Holzgraf for sure.

[@dalerider3124]

the registration distorts this wonderful piece.

[@32pedalnotes]

Simply stunning! The playing is just fiery! This is the best interpretation I have heard, and yes I play this piece. The recording itself is of a great quality sound. Thanks for posting.

[@charlesdavis5802]

OMG! Never heard it before. Stunning! What fun. Thank you. Sent with love. CVD

[@Taoseno2007]

Astonished! Just love Percy Fletcher!! ( My Mom's Maiden name too!)

[@7CieGrim]

Stunning performance ! I MUST show this piece to my teacher...

[@mistertornado2303]

BRAVISSIMO!! I have to learn this one now :D

[@catenazz]

stupendo

[@Highinsight7]

FUN piece!!!!

[@eddiehuss5707]

Nice piece, I also like Fletcher's Fountain Reverie.

[@claudias2724]

Geilomat!

[@Narayan_1996]

Can you give me the original digital copy without any filters or process added to it? just the plain direct copy, please ♥

[@charlesdavis7087]

Fucking fabulous. Do it... a round the world! Wonderful. JOY!!!!!!

[@Utoobtime27]

PERCY FLETCHER composer - there is a Facebook page dedicated to Fletcher's music facebook.com/groups/248392666159225

[@catenazz]

STUPENDO

[@alf30585]

SUBLIME INTERPRETACION

[@jameswilson807]

What's up with those bass clefs...?

[@ryankennedy3109]

Novello house style. In fairness, it looked archaic even in 1915.

[@BenEmberley]

Where can this publication be purchased???

[@mw11stuff]

There is a novello wedding album that contains this piece. The front cover is pink, I cant remember exactly what its called.

[@seansebastianlam9257]

I am playing this piece and I am just 11

[@WINCHANDLE]

Seems really fast tempo. Maybe I'm just missing it.

[@ejsiisiwkwiwi3829hwjwjhdhf6w]

ale ta wersja jest szybka

[@PauletteSzuhay]

Who is or was Lloyd ?

[@charlesdavis7087]

I want to played at my funeral! Twice. I'm into reincarnation. Yeah!!!!!!

[@berkburk8598]

The piece should be nice but the recording is very bad… you don't hear half the notes, there's too much reverberation, you don't hear the pedal. When there is a lot of reverberation, it is necessary to play more slowly and especially more staccato. Now all we hear is a sound boiled... A pity.

[@ChrisJustinian]

Just too fast…… it’s like he forgot to take his Lithium.

[@twillertorganprojects]

A fast tempo indeed. Too fast in my opinion.

[@Highinsight7]

***** It's... kind of hard to tell whats going on... still FUN piece!

[@p.e.gottrocks4528]

It's a Toccata,,,,, as in TOCCATA. They are usually fast and flashy. If you're looking for a funeral dirge, see CORTEGE.

[@Highinsight7]

Yes... I too love playing fast... BUt for me... this was just a little to excessive... just an opinion....

[@phulnelson]

when left & right hand are playing alternating chords, you don't need to hear them individually. when played very quickly as he does here, it simply adds more excitement to the sound. he does play the other sections at a slower tempo.

[@Highinsight7]

I get it... still...

[@bau-ch4259]

much too fast, sorry!

[@sethmaskovich6541]

you can slow it down to .75 speed then

[@dehnerbootboy]

How many remember that Lloyd performed TWO noonday concerts every week at 1st Congregational Church for decades!