Clavecin

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item27cfa60b8c This looks interesting, could make a nice house organ if you've got the right room.

Thanks for this info. I went to 2 evensongs; DD conducted the boys and men with TP accompanying, and TP conducted the girls and men with DD accompanying (extremely well!)

Ever wondered who's got the regristration ORG4N on their car? It was advertised in yesterday's Telegraph, back page of the Motoring section. One of the companies that specialise in personal registrations was running a 'musical' theme, and this number will set you back a mere £34,995 However, V1OLA will set you back even more, £39,995 Anyone interested?

I've just returned from a few days in Norwich, can anyone tell me what the set-up here actually is? The Cathedral website lists David Dunnett as 'Acting Organist and Master of Music' and Tom Primrose as 'Acting Assistant Organist'. So, who is leaving (or already left), and what will Ashley Grote's role be. By the way, both the girl choristers and boy choristers sounded very good.

Yesterday's episode of 'Escape to the Country' (I quickly hasten to add that it is my wife who likes to watch this, not myself!) was set in the area around Wells and featured the presenter meeting Matthew Owens, getting a quick demo of the Cathedral organ from the console, then receiving an impromptu lesson on how to play the opening of Toccata in D minor!!!

Prelude Funebre is well worth investigating, and despite the title is not at all gloomy. I heard it played twice at recitals within a fairly short space of time. I got a copy in PDF form as a free download, I can't remember the web address, just google it adding the words 'free score' and you should find it.

And here they are!!! DT

The other one might well be in the USA; if I didn't read about it in OR then the article was probably in 'Choir & Organ' I'll try emailing a friend in the 'States DT

Whilst on a recent sightseeing holiday in Rome I was invited to go to visit this recently built organ by Formentelli (Verona based builder, works in French classical style, has restored many Classical intruments in France). Unfortunately, as it's about 70k out of Rome and a visit didn't fit in with our planned itinerary, I had to decline the offer but do intend to return. The organ is a realisation of Dom Bedos' design for an ideal organ as described in detail in his treatise 'Art du facteur d'orgue' 1765 and is similar to the monumantal organ in St Croix Bordeaux. There is quite a lot of info about this Formentalli on the internet including several youtube videos (of varying quality!). I'm fairly sure that I have read an article, possibly in OR, which described this organ and compared it to another organ recently built, also based on the Dom Bedos plan. The organist whom I met in Rome didn't know of this, so I said that I would try to find some information on it, but so far have not found anything on the internet. Does anyone know of such an instrument? Thanks, DT

Phillip Marshall was once the organist here, not sure when, sometime pre Lincoln/Ripon/Boston PC. Here are a few photos which just show a bit of ruinous organ material. All Soul's is a Grade 1 listed building and has recently had quite a bit of HLF money spent on it, the Churches Conservation Trust undertook the work. DT

I think he was called Joseph Cooper DT

Oh well, looks like I'll just have to continue doing it the long way! Thanks anyway. DT

I've been using a website called 'scorser.com' which offers you the option of downloading scores as either a midi file, pdf or sibelius file (via scorch). I've been using the pdf version then writing by hand (as it were) into sibelius, I got the impression that a scorch file would open directly into sibelius. DT

Following the recent good advice I received from board members to sort-out PDF creating problems, I thought I would ask for help again. I have been trying to download Sibelius Scorch free software recently, but have failed miserably. I either get an error message or the download begins then freezes the whole computer. I run Sibelius 3 and dowloading files using Scorch, dirctly into Sibelius, will same me several hours of transcribing. Anyone able to offer advice? DT

Neither! DT

Another firm recently to appear on the 'custom build' scene is Phoenix Organs (I am aware of number of board members who have Phoenix organs at home), I had some time on one of their large instalations last year and was very impressed indeed, but after a while it all starts to sound too perfect. A builder I know works with both Musicom and Phoenix systems, according to him the Phoenix is a less expensive system but does not offer anywhere near the same levels of adjustability of just about every parameter that Musicom does. CPs comment about Musicoms 'element of life' rings true in my experience, possibly due to their high levels of 'randomisation'. Musicom also supply whole-organ control systems for pipe organs; Worcester and St. Paul's run on these, I'll be surprised if Llandaff doesn't run on one also. DT

They aren't, the Townhall is a 60's/70's building, the Arts Centre is in the old University buildings about half a mile away. We sat at one of those tables last Thursday and ate lunch. DT

My wife and I have just returned from a 3 week walking tour of South Island and were in Christchurch at the beginning of the holiday and also last Thursday. We are stunned by what's happened and recognized many of the ruined places shown in the various TV video clips, a few of our group are still out there. We were told that the Catholic Basilica was damaged in the September earthquake and had been closed-off since then. I gather from Jenny's website that the Townhall Rieger has only just undergone a major injection of additional material; we had a walk around the outside of the building last week, but couldn't gain access. I wonder how it's fared? DT

Sad to report the death of Andrew Seivewright, formerly of Carlisle Cathedral. Here is a brief obituary

Once again, thanks for all the helpful advice. I've just installed PDF995 as Vox suggested and it works perfectly converting Sibelius to pdf, without any pop-ups (which I presume Norton is blocking). Regards, DT

Many thanks to all who have offered advice. I shall try the various options, I should have added that I am also still runnng XP, if that makes any difference. DT

Greetings all! I'm running Sibelius 3 which is quite old now, but does everything I want and the files are always compatible with previous or later versions; however, most people don't have Sibelius and I would like to be able to occasionally send scores converted to pdf documents. There's the option in Sibelius to save scores as 'graphics' but when I try this I get an error message saying that I don't have the correct Adobe software. I've got the free 'Adobe Reader' but need something which will create files in this format but don't really want to pay a lot for software to do something which I wouldn't get much use. I'm sure I've seen a thread on here before about this but can't find it at present. Does anyone know of a free bit of software to create pdf documents? Regards, DT

David, Very sorry that I didn't make it. I reluctantly came to the rescue of a fellow organist who needed someone to play for a wedding at the last minute. I tried driving down mid-afternoon but got totally snarled up in traffic so turned back. Glad to hear it went well. DT

Andrew (George's son) tells me that his father was still a very active part of the family business until a few weeks before his death. DT

He is also chairman of The Churches Conservation Trust, an excellent organisation which looks after many sadly redundant churches of historic/architectural interest, most of which still contain the organ. Cynic's old church 'St. Mary Shrewsbury' is one. DT Oops! didn't notice that John Sayer beat me to it.