Sir George Thalben-Ball plays Elegy in B-flat

[MrBooker39]

Wonderful...I love GTB's lavish use of rubato to make this piece come alive. Too often, it's played too strictly and much too slowly.

Thanks.

[DavidSnyderLumierist]

Dr. Ball was great friend of Dr. Virgil Fox and of mine. I wept today listening to him once again and remembering the number of cherished times we three spent together ,at work in the Temple Church as he and Virgil poured over Virgil's "Ad Nos" by Liszt,, or simply telling jokes and laughing over dinner at his Club. He said he refused service as a clergy because he feared attainng a title of "Cannon" BALL, and being a " big gun" at church !

Bless you Dr. Ball. Thank you for posting his music

[leporello56]

aww no intro? well thanks so much anyway :)

[adeclark]

Wonderful! This piece was originally an improvisation by GTB during a BBC broadcast and I think this performance by the composer really shows that -  with much more rubato than is usually heard

[Rubbermaskman]

Who can forget the Wednesday lunchtime concerts at Bimingham Town Hall each week - what memories

[PipeOrganHymnsG0OJF]

My boss, when I did my organ building appretticeship, was Alvin Groves who was himself trained by Willis. He said he was asked to attend an important Thalben Ball recital at Birminham town hall in his capacity as an organ builder, in case of instrument malfunction. During the interval, Mr Groves asked Sir George if he wanted the reeds 'tickling up' on the tuning. "Not at all" was Sir Georges reply. "There are no problems, just sit down & enjoy the recital". Mr Groves found him very approachable

[pipes4life12]

WOW...that is really all I can say. wow. ♫

[michaelgphillips]

This is superb, a great find on You Tube

[all1rog]

I knew him a little. He had a phenomenal technique, which made the hardest music seem simple. Thank you for posting this.

[midlander07]

where did you get this? Its' so very lovely and really sounds great!

[handelfan610]

it always sounds better when the actual composer plays it cuz they know how it is supposed to go! this is gorgeous...i cried.

[TGMKJr]

@handelfan610 Same...