Tony Newnham

Hi Perhaps we need to remember that electricity wasn't widely understood - nor available everywhere - until relatively recently*. Organ builders understood pneumatics, and they could make everything in house, whereas electric actions needed special parts which either had to be bought in - and in the early days there were no suppliers - or made, requiring tooling and a different set of skills. From what I've read, many builders until perhaps the 1950's only used electric action where long distances/difficult routes between console & pipework were involved, or where a significant amount of extension and/or duplexing was specified (small amount could be done with pneumatics - I've seen the remains of a pneumatically played Trumpet rank playable at 16, 8 & 4ft from the Swell and at 8 on the pedals. (The same organ had a tracker action Nave division the other side of the chancel arch from the main organ). Many customers didn't want to be guinea pigs for what was to them unknown technology, and early electric actions were often regarded as being fire risks. * My great-grandmother's house had no electricity in the 1960's - gas lighting downstairs, open fires, and a "Rediffusion" speaker for radio. Every Blessing Tony

Hi First Willis with EP action is said to be Canterbury Cathedral - http://npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N14643 - that was 1886. IIRC, Bevington used an electric action earlier than that. Every Blessing Tony

Hi From what I know as an editor, the return to Cambridge will only be temporary - but at present there's no indication of how long this "temporary" will be. I'm not sure why the arrangement for hosting at RCM has changed. Every Blessing Tony

Hi e-mail the NPOR office - I'm sure the question will get passed on to the software people. That said, I have managed to access NPOR on my very clunky "smart" phone - but the screen layout is not very good. Incidentally, the correct url is www.npor.org.uk The server is temporarily back in Cambridge, but will probably move again before too long (from what I hear), at which point the emma.cam bit will cease to work, Every Blessing Tony

Hi I guess the BIOS archive might have a set of "The Organ", etc, but I'm not sure. The main focus seems to be on primary sources, and there's the ever-present issue of space. The RCO library (also in Birmingham) does have a set of The Organ, and I think, Musical Opinion. Cambridge University Library have both, and I guess other significant university libraries would also have them - and there's always the British Library. You'd have to check about access to these though. The local library service should be able to help with the BL - although last time I enquired, Bradford Libraries wanted an extortionate fee, so I didn't bother. RCO library is basically RCO members only. I'm only just down the road if you want to have a go at my back numbers of "the Organ" |(and I have a scanner), but I've no complete index, so it could be a bit of a hunt! Every Blessing Tony

Hi MM - I must have the relevant back number of The Organ in my collection (I guess I'm about 80% of a complete set). I don't know Leslie - I've only been in Bradford for 10 years. Every Blessing Tony

Hi IIRC, the source for the Italian episode is a back number of "The Organ". Every Blessing Tony

Hi Sadly, all too common these days. Several organs round here languish out of use because there's no one to play them - and often no money to pay and organist and/or the churches have no tradition of paid musicians. At least 2 - maybe more - are now unplayable because the pneumatic actions have suffered as a result of dis-use. Very sad - but at leats they remain in situ and restorable (for now). Every Blessing Tony

Hi I'm waiting for an e-mail with info for NPOR, so all i can say at present is that it was removed by an organ building firm. Every Blessing Tony

Thanks John. No spare cash at present - not even that amount - at least not until I've paid for repairs to the car! Every Blessing Tony

shame - I have the Conway from years ago, but not Klotz. I read it - borrowed from a library - once or twice. Hope whoever gets the books enjoys them. Every Blessing Tony

Hi There should, all being well, be some pictures going up on NPOR within the next few weeks (i.e. when I get to it!) Every Blessing Tony

Hi If piano is an option, there's a Rondo by S. Wesley that I donwloaded from the web a while back - not too difficult - I've got it in mind for the carol service at our second church, where there's no organ. Every Blessing Tony

Hi There are higher quality mics available that just plug in to the smartphone's audio jack - see for example the Studiospares catalogue - go to http://www.studiospares.com/. One example is the MicW i436 - others are available, as are other suppliers. Every Blessing Tony

Hi As I said earlier, so one factor in controlling pipe speech is the voicing of the pipes. I have managed to alter the attack characteristics of pipes with a significant "chiff" - depressing the key slowly will modify or even remove the chiff - obviously, this only works in slow pieces! I think though that there are subtle variations on most good tracker organs with key touch - but maybe because they're subtle you tend to feel them rather than consciously hear them. Certainly, a good tracker does make it possible to control the exact timing of when the pallet opens - and I think makes phrasing easier. We're in danger of getting back to the old argument of tracker vs other actions, to which the only really correct answer is "it depends"! Every Blessing Tony

Logically, I would say that there is still some cotrol via mechanical couplers - I don't currently have acces to more than a 1m trascker organ to try it out though - and of course, a lot depends too on the pipe voicing as to the difference any attempts at articulation make to the sound. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Tracker action indicates a direct mechanical link between key and pallet. Certainly, if that's the case, apart from couplers (although to be fair, the vast majority of tracker organs have mechanical couplers) it would be regarded as tracker - perhaps with the addition of a note that coupling is electric. I'm not sure what type of coupling the Kingston organ has - NPOR just lists the action as Tracker, with electric stop actions. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Double is not necessary for a 16ft pedal stop. if it's on the manuals, then why not go for Dble Open Diap? Or use a smaller font for that stop. It's not as long as the once common Stopped Diapason & Clarabella! Every Blessing Tony

Hi Whilst Gwas Bach is correct - there is a problem in that, unless our source has the information, the NPOR won't list the composition of the mixture as it changes across the manual/pedal compass. It might make a worthwhile starting point though. Another possibility would be to send an inquiry to the British Organ Archive (see the NPOR/BIOS web sites) - they hold at least some of the Bevington records. Every Blessing Tony (NPOR Editor)

Hi I too only heard him live once - when he played a concert for us in the Bradford Organists' Association centenary year. I was privileged on that occasion to "meet & greet" him at the cathedral, and to be around whilst he rehearsed. The cathedral was packed for the concert. He will be sadly missed. A great loss to the organ world. Every Blessing Tony

Hi It might be - if it's (a) the right church, and ( the organ hasn't been altered since 1952. A search for "Peter Guernsey" came up with a few other Anglican churches along with some of other denominations. I'm sorry, but "so & so" Parish Church isn't always an adequate description if you need to locate exactly which building is meant in an area that you don't know. Every Blessing Tony Every Blessing Tony

Hi It would help to know which church in St Peter Port! NPOR lists several Anglican churches. Tony

Hi Probably because whoever sent the info in didn't think to tell us (or send pictures)!!! Tony

I've had issues with You Tube recordings, with copyright infringement claims for Bach etc. Just query the claim and the flag is normally removed - but remember that the works of a composer may well be public domain, copyright could still apply to the arranger, and possibly the editor of the score. Every Blessing Tony

Hi Please let NPOR know of the discrepancies - photographs of the stops, etc are useful as well. The organ's known history is on NPOR - although sorting out all the various "royal" organs is far from easy - they were mainly small instruments, and often moved between various palaces at sundry times! I've had to deal with NPOR updates for some of them! Every Blessing Tony