Clavecin

Yes, but what's the sound quality like now, it used to be dire! DT

Did anyone else listen to yesterday's broadcast of choral evensong from St Thomas 5th Avenue? I thought that 'chorally' it was the best service they have broadcast for quite a while. I particularly liked the unhurried way they sang Psalm 73, it sounded exactly like the St Paul's choir 'house style' on the Hyperion series of Psalms which JS did in the 90's (I get a lot of pleasure from these CDs), St Thomas sang the same 2 chants actually. It's good to hear JS doing good things with his choir 'across the pond' as they say. If you missed it, you can catch it again on Sunday. DT

Another well known example is St Matthew's Northampton (looks like a J L Pearson church, but isn't). The Clarion ranks have reed pipes from bottom C to tenor G, then flue pipes at 4ft and 2ft pitch to the top. There is a good article by Paul Hale about this organ in OR, November 2006. DT

An unusual pedal rank which was an attempt to combine definition and weight of tone was the 32/16/8 Spitzflute rank in the 1967 Walker organ in the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King. These distinctive pipes are on display down to bottom D (I think!). As far as I am aware, this is the only conical pedal rank at this pitch in the UK, does anyone know of another? DT

Yes, according to the literature I have, there are 5 different levels which alter both the volume and tonal character, these are activated when other stops on the department are added: Principal 16, Mixture, Posaune, and each of Pedal Forte 32 or 16. DT

We have 2 Cathedral organ into which digital substitutes have been included to provide both 16ft and 32ft 'open wood' type tone: Southwell and Blackburn. At Southwell; Copeman-Hart provided the devices for Nicholson's new organ in 1995, and at Blackburn; the Walker Technical Co. from Pennsylvania for David Wood's rebuild in 2002. I haven't heard Southwell in the building so cannot comment, but am fairly familiar with Blackburn in both it's past and present formats. I heard John Scott's opening recital and David Briggs' recital following the rebuild, and also have a CD of French music played by DB. My impression of the digital basses was that they were overpowering and boomy, having far too much roll in the very reverberant acoustic, Also, they masked the 32ft reed. DB was consultant on this rebuild and included pedal mutations which form the harmonics of 32ft tone (something else which I remain unconvinced about!). However, I have heard the organ twice in the last few weeks, including a fair amount of full organ, and the overprominent basses were not evident. Everything seemed much better balanced, I suspect the digital devices may well have been toned-down recently. Next time I am up there I will try to speak with one of the resident team and get a proper demo of these stops. I have to say that I was very impressed with the way it all sounded. Digital basses are very common in the USA; the huge instrument in St Patrick's Cathedral 5th Avenue NYC has them, and they are increasingly appearing across Europe. But, of course, you can't beat the real thing. DT

Crescendo pedals were a fairly standard feature on larger (3 or 4 manual) Willis 111 consoles from the 1930's onwards. Although I can't recall which instruments they were actually on, I've come across 2 different 'safety devices' to help avoid bringing the crescendo on by accident. One device was a drawstop which had to be drawn before the pedal became active, the other was a bit more 'low-tech'; a hook and eye holding the pedal in the closed position, but easily released with the toe (I think the latter might have been on Hereford back in the 70s). p.s. are you sure about a crescendo pedal at Chester? DT

Christmas Greetings, We regularly go to Southwest Scotland and stay about 40 minutes drive away from Ayr, I wasn't aware of this instrument but will get intouch with the Town Hall authorities and give it a go, I wonder who's done the restoration. Dumfries, which we drive through on the way up is also about 40 minutes away from where we stay. There are 2 outstanding organs here which I sometimes play, neither is written up properly on NPOR so I will get full details next time I visit and write them up properly. - The Crichton Memorial Church has a 2 manual T. C. Lewis restored a few years ago by Harrisons who maintain it, about 22/3 stops. The church is part of the new University of Southwest Scotland complex, which was a Victorian hospital complex until recently. The church is fabulous; central tower, stone vaulting, transept, very good acoustics, and the organ is well placed. This organ doesn't get much use. - St. John's Episcopal has a 3 manual 1938 H&H which they (Harrisons) finished rebuilding only last week, I popped in as the final voicing was being done. 36 stops including a 6 stop 'Nave Great' which is the 1969 Positive rebuilt, and a new Pedal Trombone, otherwise the original 1938 stops. It looks like and excellent job, I was particularly impressed by how all the new console items match the originals. Opening recital by John Robinson, 7th Feb. The job was on Harrisons website but they seem to have deleted it now the work is finished. An organbuilder friend refers to Scotland as an 'Organ Graveyard' - not this region it would seem! DT

Dr Gordon Slater, Organist & Choirmaster Lincoln Cathedral, 1930 - 1966 'Old School' and a renowned character. By the late '50s the Minster organ had received nearly 60 years of daily use which had taken considerable toll on it's pneumatic action. To help impress upon the Dean and Chapter the need for a complete rebuild, Dr Slater employed one or two less than ethical tactics. - One of the Choir Organ pistons emitted a very loud 'hiss' if depressed half way, this was deployed during sermons, sometimes for the whole sermon if the Dean was preaching. - There was an old metal fire bucket in the organ loft, the sand had long since disappeared. Dr Slater used to position this at one end of the pedal board and kick it over whilst playing at some point during the service, often during a quiet verse of a psalm. Lincolnshire Education Department had it's offices in Lincoln and held an annual carol service in the Minster. The Music Advisor (who's name I can't recall) who was an 'FRCO' and a 'Miss' was begrudgingly allowed to play. On one occassion someone asked Dr Slater if 'Miss' was playing that day, the reply came 'Yes, but it's a bit cold in there, I hope she's got her Great Combinations on'. DT

Worcester car parking :angry: We drove down to the dedication and TT's opening recital. It took 2 hours from the Northwest, exactly as expected, then nearly another hour stuck in traffic to get into Worcester centre, negotiating the oneway system (which seems to lack any form of helpful signing) and finding a long stay car park (the air inside our car was blue). In otherwords, an absolute nightmare. There are a number of short stay car parks within the centre which will charge you about £1.00 per hour, we eventually found a long stay car park across the river from the Cathedral at the Cricket Ground, it cost £3.00 all day and was fine. It was only 5 or 6 minutes walk away. So if you are driving and unfamilar with Worcester, be warned and allow sufficient time! Christmas greetings and best wishes to all, David

Back in the '80s, Organists' Association visits to Liverpool Cathedral used to include descending to the blowing chamber and ascending into the 2 pipe chambers. I particularly remember that from the area behind the choir console (which used to be filled with pneumatic relays but now is a sort of office) you had to climb a long, quite steep staircase to enter the north pipechamber which contains the swell, choir, positive and a few pedal ranks. Ian Tracey warned us that it was quite 'hairy' coming back down - it was! I don't suppose Health and Safety would permit such things these days. Ian was always very generous with his time, and all visitors who wanted to play were allowed to. Looking forward to meeting people at Worcester in January. DT

And Chichester Cathedral 277... Truro may well be 247, it all depends which website you believe! I started putting this list together earlier in the year when I heard that St. Walburge's might be closing, and wanted to find out more about the building and it's architect. There's a lot of conflicting and incorrect information out there as to the actual heights of these buildings, in some cases on the churches' own websites. I've visited all these at some time or other, but I'm sure there'll be more 19th century spires which I'm not familiar with. Regards, David

St Michael's Coventry is of course the tallest mediaeval church spire. The late historian and mediaeval expert John Harvey regarded it as the finest tower/spire in the country. Regards David

Not quite! Salisbury Cathedral 404 Norwich Cathedral 315 St Walburge, Preston 309 St Michael, Coventry 295 St James, Louth 295 St Mary, Redcliffe 292 St Wulfram, Grantham 288 St Elphin, Warrington 281 Lichfield Cathedral 252 Truro Cathedral 250 Holy Trinity, Coventry 237 DT

I was about to mention St. Agnes myself, being based in the Northwest myself, I can recommend their website: lots of good photos. The organ case on it's gallery look very striking, I presume they were both designed by JLP. Looking at the details of the R&D organ on the NPOR it doesn't look like it was particularly distinguished but it's still a shame that it is now silent. We have 2 notable 19th century RC churches up here, both by Joseph Aloysius Hansom (whose claim to fame was the invention of the Hansom Cab). - The church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Manchester is very spacious and light, containing a large 3 manual Hill which received typical unsympathetic treatment mid-century which has been somewhat reversed in recent years by David Wells. - The other church is St. Walburge in Preston, which boasts the tallest church spire in the UK, at 309 feet third only to Salisbury and Norwich Cathedrals. The building is a most striking landmark whose future is sadly now in doubt. The last organ survey lists the Hill organ unplayable. DT

Another very fine J L Pearson church is All Saints, Hove (not that I have ever visited!). It contains the equally fine 1905 Hill organ, restored by Manders in 1987, it's famous casefronts was designed by J L's son Frank Loughborough Pearson in 1915. DT

St Augustine's is on my list of 'must visit' churches, Nigel's photo is the only one I've ever seen which actually shows the organ! On the subject of the 'Anglo-Catholic' tradition, a couple of weeks ago we visited William Butterfield's masterpiece: All Saints, Margaret Street. A century of incense burning has certainly taken it's toll on much of the ornate decorations which cover the interior with a great deal of cleaning/restoration needed. I was quite surprised by how small the church is, especially considering that the organ is very large indeed and divided either side of the chancel. We didn't get the chance to hear it; does anyone know what it actually sounds like? DT

My wife and I celebrated this afternoon by attending a performance of 'La Nativite' at Blackburn Cathedral, played by Richard Tanner DoM. Richard played very well and the organ sounded absolutely superb. DT

'Dead spots' are an annoying feature of pistons, an effect which can often happen whist improvising or accompanying. By this I mean the silent 'hiccup' which will occur in legato playing when you progress from piston 1 to 2 (or the reverse). In order to avoid this you must 'overlap' some or all of the quieter stops, therefore piston 2 would be Open Diap + Flute with or without the Echo Gamba. Ideally the Open Diap would be better on its own, but I always regard this sort of thing as an acceptable compromise. From pistons 2 to 6 there is always the perfect overlap so no 'dead spots' occur. DT

An organ by Harrison Deserves much comparison With the best of Willis To discern where the skill is

Maurice Ravel As musicians can tell Wrote harmony to discern Most difficult to learn

Thomas Trotter's recital on Thursday was most enjoyable, and as with all TT's performances, a model of artistry. As for the new stops, the Contra Posaune & Trumpet were used for the 'death theme' in 'Combat de la Mort', the Tuba for 'Joie et Clarte'. They all sounded pretty good to me, the Tuba in particular very loud, bright and even throughout (you get most of the 60 notes in this piece!). The 3 Tubas integrated well during various 'tutti' passages. My memory of the Dome ensemble was that the Cymbale was the dominant voice, this has now gone leaving (with the new reeds) a very well integrated sound. The Royal Trumpets were added at the climax of 'Combat' and also at the ends of Durufle's Toccata and the encore, Fugue sur le thème du Carillon des Heures de la Cathédrale de Soissons. Sat 6 rows back in the centre of the Dome, they certainly made a thrilling impact. I was surprised to read that the mobile console was donated the the son of the late Harry Gabb, sub-organist from 1946 to '74. Now that's some donation! The only negative note, the traffic noise did detract somewhat during much of the sublime quiet passages of 'Les Corps', which form a significant part of the whole. DT

Yes, sorry, I did mean Colin Edmondson. It was a long time ago. An organ I used to enjoy playing a lot during my student days, just outside Blackburn, was the 4 manual Willis at St James, Haslingden. John Bertalot once told me that he thought this was the finest church organ in the diocese. I don't know what condition it's in at present, but NPOR seems to indicate that David Wells has an on-going programme of running repairs. DT

The previous R&D organ was the one damaged in a fire. The Pendlebury was new in 1977, I remember going to Noel Rawsthorne's opening recital (Flor Peeters should have played but cancelled at the last minute). The Pendlebury was subsequently relocated, but I know not where! DT

Wigan Grammar School had a very nice brand new organ by Pendlebury in the mid '70s when I started my teaching career in the Wigan area. It replaced a 4 rank extension organ by R&D and sounded very well in the very reverberant main hall, Bill Morgan (FRCO) was music master at the time and also O&C at Bolton PC. The pipework was on a cantilevered platform on the rear wall with a mobile console, the voicing was quite uncompromising but suited the acoustic. I think spec was something like this: Great 8 4 2 sesq mix Swell 8 4 2 1 1/3 8 Ped 16(from gt) 8 4 16(from sw) The school went comprehensive (and also to the dogs!), closed, the organ was removed and the fine buildings are now Wigan & Leigh out-patients department. DT