John Maslen

Haven't we all! John

As schoolboy I used to attend the 5:55 recitals at the RFH - not all, couldn't afford it. My memory is of a disappointing sound - too little echo in the hall, far too bright for the acoustic, reeds that sounded like a stone rattling around in a dustbin, and far too little variety in tonal side of things. A later aquaintance (a voicer) commented to me that Downes' flutes 'all sound the same to me', which from memory is fair comment for the RFH. This is a long time ago, I may be mistaken, but one thing boasted about on this instrument was the number and variety of mutation ranks. Well, they may have been there, but as I recall they sounded so similar that RD needn't have bothered. I never liked the sound much, except when Simon Preston played it - I was enjoying the music too much to notice what the organ sounded like! And Anton Heiler, perhaps with a greater understanding of German style choruses, made it sound quite pleasant as well. I have somewhere an old recording of Germani playing this Organ, and in his hands it sounded well, even quite mellow at times, so perhaps he and Herr Heiler knew something others don't. No disguising the Full Organ sound though! Regards to all John

I heard some of the broadcast while driving, and I must say the choir sounded excellent; very clear, confident and fresh. I wouldn't bother with the BBC recorded webcast though. I don't know if it's me or the software they insist on using, but every time I've tried it the sound quality is worse than an old portable cassette recorder with flat batteries! Regards to all John

The only thing which I do not like is the toggle touch on the draw-stops. Whilst I have been assured by one organ builder that this is impossible to avoid with solenoids, nevertheless, I am positive that the draw-stops did not have toggle touch when I first knew the instrument.[/font] Depends who makes the solenoids. When I was in HNB's console shop we were using solenoids moved without such an action. Later we used a different supplier (KA if memory serves), who put a toggle spring in the solenoid to give a positive on and off setting. A solenoid has no effect on this action uinless it has a current running through it, which of course it doesn't unless you have pressed a piston. So your memory is probably correct. Have the solenoids been changed? Regards John

Some years ago I used to practice at St. Gabriel's Cricklewood (3 manual Walker) which was (and presumably still is) electro pneumatic action and had imitation tracker touch. I found it quite uncomfortable, as the 'tracker' effect was too pronounced for my liking, and quite unlike any tracker action I had come across before. The keys were also, if I recall correctly, plastic covered, which didn't help. No doubt P&S and others like them can do better now - I hope so. Regards to all John

May I echo those who've asked Lee to re-consider? I don't always agree with you, but it's always worth reading what you have to say. Come back, we miss you. Regards John

We've all played this game, haven't we?! My ideas are as follows. It would have three manuals, two enclosed, plus pedals, of conventional arrangement, assuming there was sufficient space and funds available. I believe that a church instrument is there to accompany the service, so I would have a detached console placed where the organist could hear both Organ and congregation well - not always easy I know. Action therefore electro-pneumatic on slider soundboards, still the best way of doing things in my judgment. I would not wish to slavishly follow any school of Organ building, but would prefer the sort of thing the best of the Victorian and early 20th century builders were doing. It would have contrasting choruses on each manual, plus a range of attractive solo sounds. These might be single stops, or alternatively a combination of stops, maybe including mutations (depends on space and money), providing they weren't too loud. Some I have heard dominate the sound completely, which defeats the object to my way of thinking. I would ideally like a couple of gentle strings on each enclosed manual, but could live without, providing the softer stops sounded well with a tremulant. I would avoid extensions as far as possible, but space may dictate some on the Pedal, as usual. It would have a Pedal dept. that had more than just wooden stops, and a good trombone for the last line of noisey hymns, plus, of course, noisey voluntaries! I'm not much of a fan of 32 stops except in a really big building, and I'm never likely to have to advise or choose for one of those! I'd rather have no 32 at all than an acoustic bass, thank you. Above all, it would be voiced beautifully, with proper attention paid to blend of choruses both on a given manual, and also on coupled manuals. I would want as much variety as reasonable, and every stop to be the very best. Don't want much, do I?! Playing aids? Half a dozen pistons per manual, programmed by capture system, plus generals, plus thumb and toe pistons for the most important couplers, is all I can ever see myself needing, and a general cancel would be useful. Crescendo pedals and sequencers are not for me, I'm afraid. They seem to me to simply make the players life more complicated, and I don't think I'm clever enough to cope! I would hope that this would all finish up at around 35 - 40 speaking stops, plus the usual couplers, tremulants to Sw. and Ch. etc. The stoplist, though, I would want to discuss with the chosen builder, having listened to examples of his work, and make choices according to what I heard, and the building in question - I don't think a stoplist means much in isolation. Regards to all John

Two things attract me to a recital. Firstly, who is playing? I won't name names, but some recitalists are so good that it's worth risking a pogramme that I don't recognise simply because of the performer. Secondly, what is being played? If the entire programme is given over to a style or styles of music I like, or contains a great 'warhorse' that I like on an Organ I enjoy listening to ('Ad nos' at Westminster Abbey perhaps!) then need I say more? If there is a variety of styles and periods and the player is one I admire, or who has been recommended to me by somone I trust, again - say no more. But if the player is not known to me, and has chosen a programme of obscure 20th century music by composers I have never heard of, or ancient French music with all its fiddly trills and twiddles, with perhaps a bit of Bach thrown in to 'sugar the pill', then I am unlikely to attend. I realise this may not help, but that's how I do it! The same criteria applies to concert programmes also, not just Organ recitals. How often do I read a programme, shake my head and lament the waste of perfectly good Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart or (name a favourite or favourites) because the planners saw fit to allow Bartok or (name your own poison or poisons) to dominate. The proms are a case in point, but that's another topic. Regards, John.

Reading the correspondence on this topic, I am astonished to read that some of your members seem to think that Organs are placed in churches for reasons other than accompanying the liturgy. You may think in terms of balanced choruses, swell boxes, and all the rest, but I assure you, those who cough up vast amounts of cash to pay for our instruments don't even think twice about such things - they are paying for something to accompany the hymns, psalms & anthems of the church - don't ever forget it! Voluntaries and recitals are usually, to them, secondary considerations. Of course, swell boxes, choruses and the rest are the means by which we achieve what they want, but the fact remains - Organs are not there in churches for us to indulge our particular fancies; they are there to accompany the liturgy, and if any compromise has to be made (and in the real world there almost always is), the better accompaniment of the liturgy must be the priority. Regards John.

With regard to the question posed 'Do you wish to hear Bach played on an organ by Bogbrush and Scraper', I don't really care who built the instrument, or when, so long as the person playing it does so with fire in his/her belly, and produces a musical performance. I've heard Bach played on all sorts of Organs, sometimes well, sometimes badly, but there seems to me to be no automatic corelation between the style of Organ and the quality of the performance. My apologies to the correspondent whose post I seem to have copied verbatim, and appended my name to - I appear to have pushed the wrong key somewhere - sorry!

The days when any Tom Armstrong, Dick Popelwell or Harry Britten could record on almost any worthy organ, and sell recordings in a thriving domestic market, are long gone.....and THAT'S THE PROBLEM. MM PS: I forgot to include the URL for Organs&Organists on-line, which is:- http://www.organsandorganistsonline.com/ <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Interesting discussion. I learned to play on an instrument with a Choir 8' Dulciana, and found it useful as a soft accompaniment to the Swell Oboe, either alone or with the Leiblich Gedacht. It was also the custom for the Organist to play softly during the Communion, and for this he used the Dulciana with box closed - VERY soft! I would have prefered a Picollo though, as this Choir had nothing above 4'. With regard to the use of these things on the Great, I recall my Organ Tutor Book mentioned that a Dulciana was sometimes placed on the Great of a 2 manual organ 'for use with the flutes as a pseudo-choir organ'. I had such an arrangement on one instrument I played, and am totally unconvinced! One reply mentioned the Viola. I once worked for Walkers as a tuner's boy, and helped with some Organs built by Spurden Rutt. He often used a Viola, which was voiced as a keen and, to my ears, far too loud, string stop. He even extended it to 16, 8, 4 and 2 foot pitch sometimes - horrible!