stewartt

As Paul@Trinity Music so correctly observes, 'does it sound OK' is the only criterion. One reason for using stopped and opens together on old English organs is that the bass of the open is often speeded up by the addition of the stopped rank and I believe that this was the standard practice. It seems to work with a lot of Victorian organs also. I used to believe all that stuff about not wasting wind etc that one read in books but if you look at the piston settings on most Cathedral and large parish church organs you'll find both the open and stopped in there together and - frankly - most of the listeners aren't going to be worrying too much about it. Stewart Taylor

I share your feelings to some extent, but these screens do seem to encourage audiences. When we first arrived in Hereford the audiences at the recitals we attended at the Cathedral were quite thin. Since the video facility was installed the Nave has been well-filled whenever we have been there. The truth is (and we organists should never forget this) that most Engish audiences find organ music rather boring unless there is some sort of angle to attract their interest. You can always shut your eyes. Regards, Stewart Taylor

This, to my ears, is a magnificent instrument offering total sonic satisfaction - which is not to say that I don't love the typical Willis/H&H English cathedral organ -but somehow Bristol makes an awful lot of sense as an alternative. I am sure that Manders did a good job of what they were asked to do. The issue is that the whole idea of restoring pneumatic actions may be interesting to historians and specialists who don't have to pay for the work, but from every other point of view it is complete nonsense (as is the other nonsense of building large tracker action concert organs that are nearly always played from the alternative electric console). Nobody is going to hear the difference between a pneumatic and electro-pneumatic action and music is about what you hear, not the mechanics of how you make the sound. It might be interesting to preserve a few pneumatic action instruments as museum pieces (and they are certainly a different sort of playing experience) but to waste church money on pneumatic actions runs against common sense - a quality sometimes in rather short supply amongst organ 'experts'.

I feel somewhat guilty about slagging off this stop now having been ticked off by JPM but, honestly folks, I've played hundreds of English organs and the Dulcianas are nearly always a bitter disappointment - I'm sure when they're good they're useful, but I've never heard a good one. A much more useful stop I've encountered in a few modern organs is is a Viola, which makes a very useful bridge between the stopped and open diapasons - I suppose that's just a bigger Dulciana, is it? There are things that one can use Dulcianas for apart from accompanying the Swell oboe - sometimes the Dulciana can add a rather yummy quality to the Swell Celestes or make interesting combinations with the Great 4ft flute. That said, I'm still not convinced. On a small Great it amazes me that builders have in the past chosen a Dulciana rather than a 4ft flute, which is so much more useful.

Dear Pierre, Sorry, but in my experience over the years the Dulciana is the most useless stop ever invented. Its sole claim to any purpose is that it is often the only stop on which to accompany the Swell oboe. I really don't understand why it ever became as ubiquitous as it did. Miserable things - I really hate them! Stewart Taylor