A Caskie

No, it won't be anything to do with the ventils, if indeed St Eustache has them: it may or may not; the specification suggests not. On Cavaillé-Coll organs, the ventils isolate the wind supply to the upperwork and reeds, but don't move any sliders. But, as above, I don't think St Eustache has ventils.

I have not visited St Eustache, but it is most unlikely that anything is pulling down the mechanical keys. More likely is that there are magnets pulling on the trackers at some stage, and thus all the mechanical action BEFORE that point falls slack, so the attached keys simply fall down as an incidental side-effect. This can be overcome, if desired, by fitting springs to the keys to keep them up, though this extra spring force then has to be allowed for elsewhere in the action.

It's the Finale / Grand Choeur from Book 10 of Guilmant's Pièces dans differents styles, Op. 40. Available on IMSLP at https://imslp.org/wiki/Pièces_dans_différents_styles_(Guilmant,_Alexandre).

I believe this is more common on the continent but it's certainly unusual here in the UK. If the piston capture system is by SSOS, it may have a 'Scope' function that allows the organ builder to define, quite literally, the scope of the piston i.e. which drawstops it affects. Ask your organ tuner and they should be able to advise whether the change is possible.

It might be helpful to clarify the pedal flue provision at Manchester Town Hall. From 1877 to 1893 there was no 32' flue tone at all. The 'real' Pédale stops were simply two 42-note ranks: a Contrebasse 16' extended to a Flûte basse 8', and a Bombarde 16' extended to a Trompette 8'. These were augmented by no less than three of the Grand Orgue stops being duplexed onto the Pédale as well: the GO Bourdon 16' was available on the Pédale as a Soubasse 16', the GO Bourdon 8' (wholly independent from the Bourdon 16') was available on the Pédale as a Bourdon Doux 8', and the GO Violoncelle 8' was available on the Pédale as a Violoncelle 8'. Thus the original Pédale division was Contrebasse 16' A (open metal and wood) Soubasse 16' (the GO Bourdon 16', stopped wood) Flûte basse 8' A (open metal and wood) Bourdon Doux 8' (the GO Bourdon 8', stopped wood) Violoncelle 8 8' (the GO Violoncelle 8', open metal) Bombarde 16' B (open metal) Trompette 8' B (open metal) In 1893, Cavaillé-Coll added a Solo division, but also added a third 42-note rank to the Pédale. This was of stopped wood construction and was available as a Soubasse 32' and Bourdon 16', giving Soubasse 32' C (stopped wood) Contrebasse 16' A (open metal and wood) Bourdon 16' C (stopped wood) Soubasse 16' (the GO Bourdon 16', stopped wood) Flûte basse 8' A (open metal and wood) Bourdon Doux 8' (the GO Bourdon 8', stopped wood) Violoncelle 8 8' (the GO Violoncelle 8', open metal) Bombarde 16' B (open metal) Trompette 8' B (open metal) In 1913, Lewis & Co. made some further alterations: - the GO Principal 16' was made available on the Pedal - the stoppers were removed from the Cavaillé-Coll 1893 Soubasse 32' / Bourdon 16' rank, turning it into a Great Bass 16' and Octave 8'. - to compensate for the loss of 32' flue tone, a resultant Soubasse 32' was created: from notes C1–B12 it played the Great Bass 16' at pitch with a quint from new dedicated stopped wood quint pipes, added by Lewis & Co., while from notes C13 upwards it simply played the Great Bass 16' -8ve. - the Bombarde 16' / Trompette 8' rank was revoiced on much higher pressure and extended downwards with 12 new pipes to form a Contra Bombarde 32' This gave: Sub Bass 32' C+D (C1–B12 played Great Bass at 16' with dedicated stopped wood quint; C13+ played Great Bass 16' -8ve) Great Bass 16' C (the 1893 Cavaillé-Coll Soubasse 32' with stoppers removed, so now open wood) Contre Bass 16' A (1877 CC, open wood and metal) Principal 16' (newly available from the Gt Principal 16', stopped wood and open metal bottom 5, remainder open metal) Bourdon 16' (the Gt Bourdon 16', stopped wood) Octave 8' C (the 1893 CC Bourdon 16' with stoppers removed, so now open wood) Flute Bass 8' A (1877 CC, open wood and metal) Bourdon 8' (the Gt Bourdon 8', stopped wood) Diapason 8' (the Gt Diapason II 8' which was the 1877 Violoncelle 8' revoiced, open metal) Contre Bombarde 32' B (1913 L&Co extension, open wood) Bombarde 16' B (1877 CC revoiced on higher pressure, open metal) Trompette 8' B (1877 CC revoiced on higher pressure, open metal) In 1970, Jardine & Co. added two top notes to each rank to extend the pedal compass to G32 rather than F30, but the Pedal spec remained otherwise as per Lewis & Co. of 1913. In the forthcoming project, the division is to be returned to its 1893 form. Clavecin is quite right to highlight the modest space in the organ. Within only a few months of the organ's opening in 1877, there were comments made in the press about the organ's many qualities being overshadowed by a perceived lack of bass tone. The 1893 additions by Cavaillé-Coll were much praised by Alexandre Guilmant and by Kendrick Pyne, the then city organist, for the extra foundation that they gave the instrument. Hope that this is of interest. Andrew Caskie Managing Director Nicholson & Co. Ltd

Lovely to read all this Colin! For anyone interested, the full spec of this organ, including mixture compositions, may be downloaded from http://www.nicholsonorgans.co.uk/pf/great-malvern-priory/.

I hope I can help clarify the recent history of this instrument. When the organ was built in 1936 (not 1937 as is stated on the RBC advert), the pipework was all made and voiced by Hermann Eule of Germany but everything else was made by Hill, Norman & Beard. The organ has mechanical action for the manuals, pedals and all couplers, but charge pneumatic slider actions and stop actions. It was a wedding gift to Lady Susi Jeans from her husband, the eminent physicist Sir James Jeans and was installed in their home (Cleveland Lodge) in Dorking. As is well-known, the Jeans' home eventually became home to the RSCM in 1996, and it was during this era that Harrison & Harrison undertook some restoration work in 1999. Our friends in Durham will be able to confirm the precise scope of work, but my recollection was that it was not a total restoration but a thorough cleaning, repairs to pipework, and releathering of all pneumatic actions. In 2006, Nicholson & Co. was commissioned by Birmingham Conservatoire to move the organ from Cleveland Lodge to the Birmingham Conservatoire building. As well as the relocation, completed that year, this work included provision of a new blower, provision of a platform and side facades to the instrument (it had been in a chamber in Cleveland Lodge), re-leathering of the main reservoir (not done in 1999), repairs to the soundboards (not restored in 1999 or 2006; just splits repaired). The keys were re-covered (not sure what they were originally, but by 2006 they had black wooden naturals and white plastic-capped sharps) in white cow bone for the naturals and ebony sharps. The organ remained in Birmingham Conservatoire for 11 years, until Nicholson & Co. was again commissioned to move the organ, this time to the Conservatoire's new home (now the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire). This was completed in 2017. The 2017 relocation work included a cleaning of all pipework and further repairs (but still not restoration) to the soundboards which had developed new splits. New leather buttons were fitted throughout the action. Some pictures can be found at http://www.nicholsonorgans.co.uk/pf/birmingham-conservatoire/ The leatherwork is all fine, none of it being older than 20. Anyone considering the organ should plan for the soundboards to be thoroughly restored, as they have had numerous partial repairs to splits, but otherwise the organ should quite happily be dismantled and re-erected without the need for other restoration work. My personal observation, which I think is shared by many, is that the organ is of greater historical significance than musical value; interesting but not altogether beautiful. It is voiced for a small room and would struggle to fill a large space. Some minor tonal changes appear to have been made at some stage in the organ's life e.g.. there is a Quinte [sic] 2 2/3 that is actually a Larigot. I hope our benevolent hosts won't mind me joking that we are getting quite good at moving it now, so if anyone is interested.... Andrew Caskie Managing Director, Nicholson & Co.

The website had sustained a mobile redirection hack - it was working fine for desktop browsers, but mobile and tablet browsers were being redirected. Perhaps someone hoping to inspire us to to leave the country! Hopefully fixed now. Andrew Caskie Nicholson & Co. Ltd

Two forthcoming performances of Messiaen - La Nativité du Seigneur, by Andrew Caskie (Palmerston Place Church, Edinburgh). Both with free admission and with readings. All welcome! Saturday 28 November, 7.30pm - Dunfermline Abbey (http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=C01096) Saturday 5 December, 7.30pm - Palmerston Place Church, Edinburgh (http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=D03129)

The St John's Keswick organ is indeed lovely, but it isn't a patch on the glorious 1906 II/18 H&H in Whitehaven URC, 30 miles away on the Cumbrian west coast. Not being in such a tourist spot it isn't so widely known, but it's the finest small Romantic organ I've ever played. Every stop on it is voiced to perfection, and playing it feels like driving a vintage Bentley. Specification was designed by both Lt Col Dixon and Alfred Hollins - see spec and pics at http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N03535.

St Bees ('Father' Willis) has what might best be described as pneumatic ratchet expression pedals for both Swell and Solo boxes. They are off to the RH side. Like a ratchet swell they are weighted to return to the top (closed) position, and one depresses the pedal to open the box. To get it to remain at any position other than closed, you have to remove your foot from the pedal very quickly: the idea is that a pneumatic 'ratchet' then 'catches' the pedal and holds it at that position. To release it, you depress v slightly and then control its inherent return upwards, just like with a mechanical ratchet. They, and the whole St Bees organ, are in a poor state of repair at present, so they sometimes fall a good bit closed before catching! Rothwell used the same devices: you can see a picture of these pedals on the NPOR survey for the organ formerly in Craigiebank Church, Dundee, at http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=E00085.

All three Infinite Speed and Gradation pedals have been restored and retained at the McEwan Hall, Edinburgh (1897 Hope-Jones; 1953 Willis; 1980 Rushworth & Dreaper; 2014 Forth Pipe Organs) during the major restoration of that instrument last year - http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=C01272. Prior to the restoration, the shutter positions were indicated by Smith fuel gauges (complete with E and F!) but these have been replaced by horizontal white LED strips.

There are two such organs around Edinburgh, one of which has the cancel feature Colin Pykett mentions. The Portobello instrument is at present available for rehoming - PM if interested. St James', Portobello (1934) - http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=C01253 Granton Parish Church (1936) - http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N11946 Both NPOR surveys have lots of photos.

Here’s a few Grace, Harvey – Three Psalm-Tune Postludes Harwood, Basil – Two Preludes on old English Psalm Tunes, Op. 52 Howells, Herbert – Psalm Preludes, two sets of three Kee, Cor - Inleidingen tot de Psalmen (contains 20 preludes) Leighton, Kenneth – Martyrs, Op. 73 (duet) Maxwell Davies, Peter – first of ‘Three Organ Voluntaries’ is titled Psalm 124 Milner, Arthur – Meditation on Psalm 21 Milner, Arthur – Two Meditations on Psalms Reubke, Julius – Sonata on Psalm 94 Sweelinck, Jan Pieterszoon – Psalms 116 and 140 Whitlock, Percy – Seven Sketches on Verses from the Psalms Wood, Charles – Sixteen Preludes on Melodies from the English and Scottish Psalters Wood, Charles – Three Preludes on Melodies from the Genevan Psalter

The chorus mixtures at Stirling were mucked around with in the 1970s and to my mind really spoil the ff choruses, sticking out like sore thumbs. But if you keep it quiet there's lots of good stuff to explore. The R&D in the Reid Memorial Church, Edinburgh (http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N11959) has not been tweaked and is therefore, to my mind, more enjoyable to play. It doesn't have the Burmese Gong that Stirling does, however! Anyone who wants to know more about the lovely organs in Edinburgh ought to buy the splendid 'Organs of Edinburgh' book published three years ago or so, which has lots of colour photos and four CDs of 22 different instruments around the city - see http://www.edinburghorganists.org/Pages/CDProject.aspx for more details including a complete track listing. The McEwan organ is currently in bits, being comprehensively rebuilt by Forth Pipe Organs (new soundboards, Swell chorus reeds, etc.). The NPOR entries for Edinburgh are unusually up-to-date and accurate so it's well worth a browse having searched for Edinburgh. There's lots of photographs too.