ptindall
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Posts posted by ptindall
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"And how often does he accompany Stanford, Howells, Leighton..."
Not very often.
Didn't Stanford die in 1924, well advanced in years?
I remember Malcolm Archer, as a young man, bemoaning the fact that the former little nave organ at Worcester Cathedral had no Voix Celeste. However, he found a way to cope.
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1. Sheffield Cathedral seems to have no money: have they not been hoping for a new organ for at least ten years ?
2. The Parr Hall organ is pretty well preserved, apart from the action which was thrown out in the 1970s. Any transfer to a new place would surely have to re-instate the original action. Very expensive.
3. If the organ were to be restored properly in an English cathedral I can't imagine any current cathedral organist would put up with such a primitive device. No pistons, no sequencer, no surround-sound nave section.
Can't see it, somehow.
Or do we not mind being the laughing stock of the European organ-world?
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* Shortly (May 2009) to undergo a much-needed restoration. Don't worry, Pierre, it really will be a restoration, not a rebuild.
I think perhaps Pierre will in fact have to worry, since according the appeal leaflet the organ at St Stephen's 'needs' a detached console. That's not a restoration in my book.
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Rather like innate, I have a firm grip on Grade VIII and Diploma piano pieces, but little else, and I don't think things are getting easier! It is a commonplace among concert pianists that they can remember everything learnt before the age of thirty, but after that, forget it. Although they customarily play from memory, it is curious that they often get lost, even at the highest level, especially in Beethoven. I suppose this is because Herr B. constantly messes about with tiny melodic or rhythmic fragments, as does Monteverdi. Just try learning the inner parts of the Monteverdi Vespers for public performance - quite hard!
Paul
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I took part in a lot of these recordings (the Cantata Pilgrimage). The live recording process was really quite hairy. We were on the road continuously for a year, rehearsing and performing. DG were supposed to record the whole thing, but they pulled out at a late stage, and the Lottery refused to support the project (too elitist...), so money was very tight. One or two of the later weekends had to be reined in (Riga and Tallinn became Salisbury, for instance) It was decided to record everything live, and pre-patch on the afternoon of each concert, in the hope of eventually finding a buyer. Various attempts fell through, and so the own-label concept of SDG was the only way forward: one man and a dog, and very limited studio time. It has, however, sold very well, and I think must be counted a great success. The most astounding concert of all was the one that wasn't recorded: in Iona, on Bach's death day, 106, Kuhnau's 'Der Gerechte Komm um' arranged by Bach, 118 played outside with the wind whipping the music into the sea in the setting sun. Extraordinary.
A large continuo organ was made for the project by Robin Jennings, with a metal 4ft Principal and Silbermann-style case. It is a great instrument, and has been carted all over the world in the past six years.
Paul
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Foyles isn't as good as it was now they've done it up, its lost all its Dickensian charm...
Humph. Dickensian yes, charm no. The old Foyles was a chaotic, miserable nightmare. You couldn't ring them up - the phones were never answered. Everything was in the wrong place. The staff were treated appallingly - temporary staff (the majority) were sacked just before the limit for employment rights kicked in, and were placed in departments away from their area of expertise in case they stole stuff. And do you remember the arrangements for paying?The cashiers occupied little boxes like the alcohol booths in Utah hotel lobbies, because ordinary staff weren't allowed to handle money. To pay you had to queue up for a chit, queue up for a cashier, and queue up again for your purchase. The lift reached only certain floors. The shop is so infinitely better these days that it is unrecognisable.
In the quest for second-hand music, there is a shop called Archive in Bell Street, Marylebone (near Edgware Road tube) . It is the sort of establishment which the book-runners used to call a 'silverfish special', but it has a lot of stock. Austin Sherlaw-Johnson (on the internet) is good (and cheap).
Paul
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The case, at least from Mottram was sold to Feenstra a few years ago, and now graces the organ at De Krim, in Holland.
Bill Drake is still advertizing a 3 manual Bishop of 1847 which he has in storage: very conservative for the date.
There is a large organ by Henry Lincoln in storage (ex Holy Trinity, Newington). Try Martin Renshaw.
Also, the much altered Samuel Green organ from St Mary's Chatham is still supposed to be in storage somewhere, though no one seems to know where. Good Case (picture in Wickens).
Also, what about the Renn organ from St George, Hulme? This very important instrument is supposedly dispersed, but bits and pieces seem to turn up from time to time.
Thaxted? Lincoln 1822, 3 manuals, almost complete. The parish hate it and would love to throw it out. I don't think the DOC would approve, but these days, beggars can't be choosers... It is not, after all, in its original home.
Paul
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I have a church in my Diocesan care from around 1810. They are needing to send out a large C20th organ in their restoration and I would really love to see another of more fitting size and musicality put in its place. Any charming and cased organs needing a home? Would be really good to hear of any.
Thanks
NJA
P.S. Quite unable to spell today. Sorry!
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I am pleased to see the press announcements that Manders are to build a new organ for St Peter's Church in St Albans. What is to happen to the present case, supposed to be at least partly eighteenth-century? The new published design does not appear very much like what is there at the moment. It would also be interesting to know whether any old pipework survives in the old organ: I believe that the claim that it was an entirely new instrument by Bishop in the 1970s is less than accurate.
Paul Tindall
Sheffield Cathedral And The Cavaille-coll Orgue
in General discussion
Posted
Flentrop made (or ordered?) a new Barker lever for the C-C at the Concertgebouw, Haarlem, recently