Barry Oakley
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Posts posted by Barry Oakley
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Apologies if the semantics are not to your liking.
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Congratulations to Nicholson's, Malvern, who have been awarded the contract to rebuild the Gloucester Cathedral "Grand Organ."
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On 19/12/2021 at 08:13, Peter Allison said:
Especially for Barry Oakley... (and others of course)
I am almost ashamed to say that it's now June and it's the first time I've seen and heard this posting. Belatedly and with apologies, thank you Peter for your kind thoughts. I trust you had a happy Christmas.
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Such a sad piece of news and sad that such an outstanding musician should be smitten with dementia. I particularly remember his outstanding recital on the organ of Hull City Hall; it was so long ago I cannot remember the year. Shortly afterwards he made an LP recording of the organ. Indeed, RIP Simon.
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Enormous thanks, Stephen!
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I cannot let this topic pass by without reference to the still silent, magnificent 104-stop, 4-manual Forster & Andrews/John Compton organ in Hull Minster. It's awaiting the generosity of funds from charitable trusts that are still to become evident! Hull is a city without a cathedral but the Minster fulfils that function with its grandeur. It's just as important to the city as the cathedrals in Liverpool, Norwich, Bristol, York, Canterbury, Gloucester etc., etc., Please don't forget the city of Kingston upon Hull, to give it its proper title.
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Well said Peter and Colin! I say so with a dilemma, knowing that the large but now silent and glorious organ where I was once a chorister is in need of at least a £million to get it operating again. In 1938 it was rebuilt and enlarged for a figure of around £6K.
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I seem to detect more organ music now being played on Radio 3's weekdays Essential Classics.
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It must have been in the late 1980’s, around the time Sheffield Cathedral’s Mander pipe organ was decommissioned, and when the Copeman Hart electronic (since replaced by a Phoenix digital organ), was being installed. I visited the cathedral at the time Ernie Hart was sitting on the organ bench with a laptop computer and appeared to doing some regulating. I stood not far from the console and listened for quite some time. Whereupon I was surprised and aghast when in so many words EH told me to Pee-off. I’m not sure if it was the result of a hangover or he had complete disregard for public relations.
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As I am, as well as a great many others, it's sad to learn of the death of Dr Francis Jackson at the age of 104. I shall never forget the privilege of turning the music for him when he gave a recital on what is now the Hull Minster organ during the 1950's. No doubt York Minster will honour him with an unforgettable occasion.
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To the extent of being labelled a bore, the Forster & Andrews/John Compton organ in Hull Minster, now unplayable, lasted in excess of 80 years since the Compton rebuild of 1938. Hull has similarities with Coventry, both holding the title of UK City of Culture. Yet both are cities not noted for affluence. I argue in the case of Hull that it has become a neglected, forgotten city. Like Coventry, Hull’s cathedral-proportioned Minster also desperately needs circa £1 million to restore its fine four-manual organ of 104 speaking stops and almost 5,000 pipes. To all those controlling the purse strings of grant-making bodies, DON’T FORGET HULL MINSTER!!!!
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On 13/03/2019 at 19:48, S_L said:
No, I don't accept that at all!
The artists impression of what the hall might be like is nothing more than an artists impression. At the moment the whole concept of the Centre for Music is not even a possibility. The City of London has only agreed, in principle, to make the site available should the Museum of London fulfil its ambition to move. It may, very well, never happen!
Far too early to speculate whether the whole project will come to fruition!!
As for halls where the player is close to the audience - try Huddersfield & Hull City Hall (when the audience uses the choir seating on the stage - which happens frequently), Symphony Hall Birmingham - the attached console!
When Compton rebuilt and enlarged the original Forster & Andrews organ in Hull City Hall (1951), the former tubular pneumatic console was scrapped and a new Compton detached console built. In turn, when the organ was in the care of Rushworth & Dreaper, the detached console was adapted and made a fixture that now sits almost directly under the organ case. The former Compton console could be sited near to the front of the stage for recitals and so give better contact between recitalist and audience.
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21 hours ago, Rowland Wateridge said:
Weren’t sustainers a feature of HW III’s organs? - which is not to say other builders did not provide them. I can only speculate that the manual stop labels indicate that the higher pitch is the ‘unison’ throughout the manual compass, and the lower pitch indicates what is transferred to the pedal by means of the tirasses - but this is just a theory. How would people use the Grand-Orgue unison off, I wonder? We need Nigel Allcoat or one of our other French specialists to explain what is happening in this particular organ.
Compton certainly provided them on his larger instruments - Hull Minster.
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21 hours ago, S_L said:
I'm not sure what you mean, although I have some idea, and what you are referring to!
But if you are referring to the Mass setting I have written for the French church then I can assure you that it isn't 'twang and bang' in the slightest. The melodies are are in a sort of 'Plainsong' using, in some cases, some of the Messiaen modes of limited transposition, with an organ accompaniment based on chords with missing 3rds or with 7ths and 9ths - often in 'streams' - perhaps reminiscent of Debussy.
Tomorrow the music will be sung in a Cistercian Abbey by an Order of Enclosed Nuns, together with Nuns from a local Benedictine Abbey to celebrate St. Bernard of Clairvaux!
Definitely not 'twang and bang'!!
"Twang and Bang" is simply drum kit and over-amplified electric guitars.
Good to hear, Stephen, that your Mass setting does not use the above.
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Over a decade ago I was in Prague during the Christmas period. There was an organ recital I attended in one of the city's churches and it was packed with people. Yet the place was icy cold, breath was visible and the recitalist played in his overcoat and bobble hat. He was warmly applauded after every piece.
Is there much "twang and bang" used in French churches?
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On 16/08/2021 at 19:01, Adnosad said:
Just tuned in after a couple of decent sized brandies and must confess to being somewhat confused with some of the replies to this thread! Thought I was referring to organs , especially those of the " D " variety. Whatever effect people desire to obtain from their fiddles is their affair; nothing wrong with that.
Hey -ho ,never mind, will try again tomorrow; best thing methinks
My late friend and former City Organist at Hull, Peter Goodman, always said he would rather play a good digital organ than a poor pipe organ. And that was before the arrival of Hauptwerk and the Walker Technology digital organ that David Briggs and Ray Nagem have been playing at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York whilst the Aeolian Skinner pipe organ there is being restored.
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Of course, Ian Tracey has had a long relationship with Makin and could well be on some form of retainer with them. What better place than the cavernous environment of Liverpool Cathedral to hear an organ, pipeless or not. I wonder if the cathedral is deriving any income from the presence of so many toasters?
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12 hours ago, DariusB said:
I've seen the Bridlington one, but am none the wiser for that. As Nicholsons rebuilt it I daresay they know how it works so I will ask them - and tell you if I find out anything interesting.
I cannot resist also mentioning the 32ft Sub-Bass, a polyphone, in the presently sadly silent Forster & Andrews/John Compton organ of Hull Minster.
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For what it's worth, my view of Rudston is that too much has been crammed into the chamber (case). The result of whims?
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I’m not sure which of the BBC Compton organs it was, but my late friend Peter Goodman, former City Organist at Hull, was, as a boy, the youngest organist ever to have played one of them when he featured on Children’s’ Hour along with the legendary Uncle Mac.
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19 hours ago, S_L said:
Is it silent? I had the impression that some of it worked - I know there is an appeal!
Time flies so fast these days and I think it’s been silent for around three years, perhaps more. Although some running repairs were done to keep it playable – slider solenoids fitted, some bellows repaired, the Solo box engine re-leathered, the transmission system became highly unreliable and the inevitable resulted. I was horrified to learn that both cases were not sheeted during the laying of a complete new floor, adding further to the 80-plus years of accumulated dirt. And during this process I understand a major transmission cable was damaged. Internally it’s not a pretty sight. Meanwhile, a 3-manual Viscount toaster, previously used during the rebuild of Selby Abbey’s organ is acting as a substitute.
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11 hours ago, Martin Cooke said:
Well, I am no expert, but it's not long since David Wells did Guildford, and they have ongoing work, with some involvement of Henry Willis and Sons Ltd, at Liverpool Cathedral. Mander Organ Builders are doing Wimborne Minster and have recently completed St James, Sussex Gardens - a large 4-manual. Nicholsons have had some pretty large projects - St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle fairly recently, Llandaff not so long ago, and Manchester Town Hall, Radley College, the Bute Hall, St Mary's Portsea and two large London churches are all current and future projects. I suspect small firms are careful not to overreach themselves, always remembering that all this painstaking and specialised work on organs relies on very specific skills and experiences which are probably in quite short supply, but also these big jobs, surely, rely on a lot of workshop space being available and that must limit what some of the smaller firms can manage when it comes wholesale reconstruction. Am I right in thinking that some of the smaller firms tune and 'look after' some of our major instruments on a day to day basis but can't, perhaps, take on major rebuilds because they don't have the staff/space to manage them? Might they also get involved as sub contractors on some major jobs? It will be interesting to see what happens with Bristol. Leeds Town Hall details are to be announced on 19th July. Do we know who deals with running repairs etc at St Paul's Cathedral nowadays?
And I don’t want the organ world and trust fund managers to forget the magnificent Forster & Andrews/John Compton organ in cathedral-sized Hull Minster, reputed to be the UK’s largest parish church organ that has lain silent for far too long. It’s known what the cost will be from quotations received, but Hull, unlike many cathedral cities, is not a place where money is in abundance.
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Why am I unable to see this forum page in its normal format. Are others experiencing the same.
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16 hours ago, innate said:
You know that movement in the original orchestral L’Ascension that, for whatever reason, Messiaen decided not to rewrite for organ which meant we got Transports de Joie?
Here are those orchestral Trumpet and Cymbal alleluias on the organ in an astonishing performance of his own transcription:
To what destinations does this monstrosity fly?
Memorial Service for HM the Queen in St Paul’s Cathedral
in General discussion
Posted
I, too, was disappointed by what seemed like constant voice-over by the BBC. It happens also in BBC radio interviews where the interviewer deems him or herself more important by constantly interrupting their knowledgeable interviewee. But back to St Paul’s where I thought the boy choristers in particular, undoubtedly some of them newcomers, performed admirably. Cawood must take credit here, but oh I wish he would not conduct like a windmill. I was also looking forward to the organ voluntary, but alas the BBC was again a killjoy.