The Pipe Organ: A Composer's Guide

Arts & Photography

MITCHELL, JAMES

Music

Oxford University Press

The organ is one of the oldest instruments in Western music, and its sound has inspired many of the greatest composers from the past half a millennium from Bach through to Messiaen. The full possibilities of the instrument, however, have often been overlooked. Orchestration textbooks tend to mention the organ only in passing, with little practical advice for the composer to latch onto. Many organ books will explain technical jargon and how the organ is designed, but do not discuss what should actually be written in the score. This book, on the other hand, offers a practical guide for composers on how to write idiomatically for the instrument with the aim of helping them exploit the instrument's full timbral and technical potential. It provides in depth advice not only on notation but also the full resources of the modern organ, including dedicated chapters on registration, writing for manuals and pedals, and using the organ in ensembles, among others. Multiple musical examples 
are quoted from across the history of organ repertoire, with a particular focus on contemporary composers and music. There is advice tailored to non-classical musicians, such as guidance on virtual instruments. The online companion website to this book provides video demonstrations, chapter summaries, sample organ stop-lists and other useful further resources. In summary, the goal of this book is to show not just what organ music was, or what it is, but what it can be.

The Scottish National Party is a study of the SNP immediately after it came to power in May 2007. It is based on a survey of the entire membership and elite interviews with over 80 senior party figures. Discussion is located within the appropriate literatures and comparisons drawn with other British parties. The image of the SNP as a youthful party, with a decentralized social-movement-type organization is challenged. The party is much older and much more male than had previously been thought and appears more like other conventional parties than its past image suggested. Its increased membership in recent years holds few clues as to how to re-engage youth, as even these recent joiners are predominantly older people, often former members returning to the party. The Scottish National Party questions the value of the civic-ethnic dichotomy in understanding nationalism. SNP members, it argues, acknowledge different ways --civic and ethnic, with the emphasis very much on civic--of defining who is Scottish. The picture emerges of a coherent left-of-centre party that accepts the pragmatism of its leadership. While independence remains the key motivation for joining and being active, a sizeable minority see the party as a means of furthering Scottish interests. The idea of independence is examined in elite interviews and found, again, to be understood more pragmatically than many commentators have suggested.

The Scottish National Party: Transition to Power

Politics & Social Sciences

Bennie, Lynn

Rob Johns

Politics & Government

Over half a century ago, a leading commentator suggested that Scotland was very unusual in being a country which was, in some sense at least, a nation but in no sense a state. He asked whether something 'so anomalous' could continue to exist in the modern world. The Scottish Question considers how Scotland has retained its sense of self, and how the country has changed against a backdrop of fundamental changes in society, economy, and the role of the state over the course of the union.The Scottish Question has been a shifting mix of linked issues and concerns including national identity; Scotland's constitutional status and structures of government; Scotland's distinctive party politics; and everyday public policy. In this volume, James Mitchell explores how these issues have interacted against a backdrop of these changes. He concludes that while the independence referendum may prove an important event, there can be no definitive answer to the Scottish Question.The Scottish Question offers a fresh interpretation of what has made Scotland distinctive and how this changed over time, drawing on an array of primary and secondary sources. It challenges a number of myths, including how radical Scottish politics has been, and suggests that an oppositional political culture was one of the most distinguishing features of Scottish politics in the twentieth century. A Scottish lobby, consisting of public and private bodies, became adept in making the case for more resources from the Treasury without facing up to some of Scotland's most deep-rooted problems.

The Scottish Question

History

Europe

Russian Roulette

David Callan has proved himself a ruthless and effective assassin working for a small section of British intelligence. As a consequence he has made many enemies and very few friends. The Russians have uncovered a British spy inside the KGB but are willing to trade. The price they demand for the mole's safe return is the death of Callan, in revenge for being a thorn in their side. Callan has no say in the matter; he is to be sacrificed. Yet with his eyesight failing and his guns, money and passport all taken from him, Callan has no intention of going quietly.

Russian roulette

Literature & Fiction

Hamilton

Anglo-Italian private detective Tommaso Ronald Hogget, excels at finding missing things and missing people - sometimes when they're dead. Hogget enjoys fine wine, good food and always travels first class - when he's on expenses. He's not necessarily the most honest detective and certainly not the bravest, but he has a back-up man for the violent bits: Dave Baxter, ex-paratrooper and intellectual mini-cab driver. When Hogget is asked to find the murderers of a millionaire's wife and the trail leads from New York to Paris to northern Italy, expense is no object but both he and his minder Dave will earn their fees the hard way.

Sometimes you could die

Hamish Hamilton

The unfortunately named Ernest Fluck is by all accounts a computer genius. He also has a reputation as being unpleasant, impossible to work with, a fanatical gambler and possibly a crook. Rather remarkably, he seems to be engaged to Irish socialite and racehorse owner Imogen Courtney-Lithgoe. He's also missing - and so is one of her racehorses. Then a potential witness disappears and a body turns up only to go missing almost immediately and the case develops into a search for a man, a woman, a horse and a corpse and private detective Ron Hogget has his work cut out. The search for answers takes Ron and his minder, former paratrooper and would-be philosopher Dave Baxter, on a dangerous journey to Ireland, to Spain and eventually Australia.

Dead Ernest

Genre Fiction

Hamish Hamilton Ltd.

KGB Kill

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Callan wants out - out of the Section, out of the whole dirty business - but his reputation as a ruthless, ice-cold professional killer precedes him. He seems the ideal man to rescue the daughter of a radical Greek politician from her kidnappers, or so say both his former employers in the Section and his long-time enemies in the KGB. With his only trustworthy ally, the timid and often pungent Lonely, Callan sets off for Crete knowing that failure or refusing to do the job could result in his own name on one of the Section's deadly Red Files.

Death and bright water

H.Hamilton

First published in 1975, Smear Job was the fourth novel to feature David Callan, the iconic secret agent created by James Mitchell. Callan's trade is killing - and though it's a profession he despises, he is supremely good at it. As Smear Job begins, Callan is attempting to 'go straight' in a legitimate (almost) security consultancy business with his pungent friend Lonely, but soon he is made an offer he can hardly afford to refuse. However, when the offer comes from the ruthless Hunter, head of The Section Callan used to work for, refusal might be better for the health. In a multi-layered plot the action moves swiftly and violently from Sicily to gangland London to California and back to Europe and the only thing that can be relied on is Callan's ability to be quickest on the draw when the chips are down.

Smear job: A Callan novel

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Books by MITCHELL, JAMES

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by MITCHELL, JAMES. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Pipe Organ: A Composer's Guide

The Pipe Organ: A Composer's Guide

The Scottish National Party: Transition to Power

The Scottish Question

Russian roulette

Sometimes you could die

Dead Ernest

KGB Kill

Death and bright water

Smear job: A Callan novel