Jump to content
Mander Organ Builders Forum

AJJ

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2,702

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by AJJ

    Organ Of St-john Baptist, Armitage

    in The Organ

    Posted

    According to the booklet in the following CD:

     

    Early english organ music

    Simon Preston/ Trevor Pinnock

     

    Archiv Produktion 415 675-2

    1986

     

    The organ at Armitage St-John the Baptist would be:

     

    "Built 1789-91 by Samuel Green for Lichfield Cathedral.

    The organ was brought in 1861 to the parish church of St-John the Baptist

    in Armitage in the Staffordshire countryside....

    ...This organ is the last, largest and best-preserved example of the classical style of english organ building that was continued by Samuel Green after his association with John Byfield.

    It is in fact the only completely restorable 18th century Cathedral-size organ left."

     

    What is its state today?

     

    Best wishes,

     

     

    Pierre

     

     

    Try this link - it may help.

     

    AJJ

     

     

    http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=A00285

    2 Manual 10 Stop Scheme

    in Nuts and bolts

    Posted

    A diversion perhaps but this is what Schoenstein has done with 12 voices/14 ranks - non mechanical action though:

     

    GREAT

    Bourdon 16 (Treble Claribel)

    Open Diapason 8

    Claribel Flute 8 (Bass Bourdon)

    Aeoline 8 (Enc)

    Vox Angelica 8 (Enc)

    Principal 4

    Lieblich Gedeckt 4 (Sw)

    Fifteenth 2

    Mixture 2 III (Sw)

    Contra Oboe 16 (Sw)

    Trumpet 8 (Enc)

    Great 4

    Sw to Gt 16, 8, 4

     

    SWELL

    Open Diapason 16 (Bass Sw OD)

    Open Diapason 8

    Stopped Diapason 8

    Aeoline 8 (Gt)

    Vox Angelica 8 (Gt)

    Lieblich gedeckt 4

    Nazard 2-2/3 (From Lieblich)

    Mixture 2 III

    Contra Oboe 16 (From 8')

    Trumpet 8 (Gt)

    Oboe 8

    Sw to Sw 16, 8, 4

    Tremulant

     

    PEDAL

    Resultant 32

    Open Diapason 16 (Sw)

    Bourdon 16 (Gt)

    Open Diapason 8 (Sw)

    Stopped Diapason 8 (Sw)

    Aeoline 8 (Gt)

    Fifteenth 4 (Gt OD)

    Flute 4 (Gt Claribel)

    Contra Oboe 16 (Sw)

    Trumpet 8 (Gt)

    Oboe 4 (Sw)

    G to P 8, Sw to P 8

     

    Quite cunning (note straight Diapasons on Gt, restrained duplexing of strings, unextended Trumpet etc.), larger than the ones we should be dealing with here but by all accounts it works in its context.

     

    AJJ

    2 Manual 10 Stop Scheme

    in Nuts and bolts

    Posted

    In a small building like this I wonder just how essential a Gt 2' is. Recently I was in a larger church than this that had an old organ with nothing on the Gt above 4' and the chorus sounded surprisingly adequate. So I wonder whether the following would work:

     

    Great

    Open Diapason 8

    Stopped Diapason 8

    Principal 4

    Sw to Gt

     

    Swell (voiced to complement the Gt, i.e. not too reticently)

    Gedeckt 8

    Salicional 8

    Open Flute (metal) 4

    Flageolet 2

    Mixture (15.19.22)

    Fagotto 8

    Tremulant

    Octave

    Unison Off

     

    Pedal

    Bourdon 16

    Gt to Ped

    Sw to Ped

    Sw 8ve to Ped

     

    I've seen something similar before but with a 4' Gemshorn on the Swell, a Swell Suboctave intead of Octave and perhaps more unusual a Great Octave -'can't remember where though!

     

    AJJ

    Durufle - Trois Danses

    in The Organ

    Posted

    [\/][uSIC][\/][AN,Dec 18 2005, 03:09 AM]

    Greetings Alastair,

     

    I was just curious if you were referring to the William Whitehead arr. of Danse lente (Trois Danses Op. 6) I absolutely love this arrangement which really shows of the fabulous reeds on the Oberthür organ at St. Etienne, Auxerre.

     

    ][\/][][\/][

     

     

    Thanks for this - I have just ordered the Whitehead CD from Chandos records

     

    AJJ

    Adding Digital Stops To Existing Instrument..

    in Nuts and bolts

    Posted

    This is interesting even without the novelty element - I remember somewhere an article by William McVicar about the scales of pipework at his instrument in Dulwich (Tickell - 3m but with much input from McVicar on scaling etc.) being designed to exploit these sort of effects resulting from the harmonies in the music being performed. So LH and P quints etc. gave a fullness to the sound - absent 32s etc. In the same way some of the small 2m Willis 1s sound much larger than they actually are and I suppose also some of the C-C choir organs. The article could have been in 'The Organbuilder' - this relationship between acoustics, scale of pipework and the actual music itself was fascinating.

    Nothing to do with electronics where this line of discussion should be - sorry!

     

    AJJ

    Quintadena

    in The Organ

    Posted

    The treble part of the 16' Swell Bourdon at Bath Abbey was apparently voiced to be used as as a Quintaton in the recent Klais work. With no such stop evident in the stoplist it had to be explained by Peter King the DOM where the characteristic sound was coming from!

     

    AJJ

    St. Mary's, Southampton, Willis Iii

    in The Organ

    Posted

    There was another of these enclosed 32' reeds on a similar-sized Willis 3 at St.Judes' Thornton Heath near Croydon. A very fine organ in a church with practically no acoustic at all.  It was very fine indeed - if you like that sort of thing, of course.

     

    By all accounts that organ (no longer in the church) was bought lock stock and barrel by a certain Mr.Carlo Curley.  It will be very interesting to see what he decides to do with it!

     

    I think it is in Japan - see photo on p18 of 'The Organbuider' Vol 19, 1999.

     

    AJJ

    St. Mary's, Southampton, Willis Iii

    in The Organ

    Posted

    The rackboards are drilled for something with wooden feet, you can feel underneath.  It's a really ugly stop, the Gedeckt.  Needs to go back, I think.  The swell pedals - hmm, they should probably stay, shouldn't they? - I am trying to think of a way of having a couple of opposing solenoids or pneumatic devices that can be turned off & a second circuit brought in to make it feel & work like a conventional pedal, but you can also power up the solenoids & they become self centering and work like Willis ones should.  Don't suppose there's many left like that, would be nice to preserve.  Fuel gauges a real period touch.

     

    Would be interested in a couple of other probable changes though - do you recall if there was ever a 4' Flute on the great?  Only Gemshorn and Principal now.  Odd.  Also Ch Trompette and Sw Dulzian don't "fit".  The Cimbel Mixture is definitely a replacement, it's the only cone tuned stop on the instrument and again fairly naff quality.  Breaks all over the place - feels like someone found loads of little pipes in a cupboard.  For some unknown reason the Gt Open Diap 1 is off the soundboard - not derived or extended anywhere - an afterthought?  There has clearly been a great deal of horsetrading in there but NPOR curiously silent about most of it.

     

    The Gemshorn is original I think - the Cimbel Mixture replaced something else (maybe a Vox Humana?) - there is an article way back in 'The Organ' which will tell more. The Dulzian and Trompette came in 1956. I remember the general ensemble as being hard and somewhat 'steely' in sound - something I've heard before with Willis III

     

    AJJ

    St. Mary's, Southampton, Willis Iii

    in The Organ

    Posted

    Never seen a Willis infinite speed/gradation swell before - quite liked that.  Only 2 or 3 alterations from original design that we could find. 

     

    The Great 8' flute is a replacement (for an original Claribel I think) - it used to have an amazing chiff quite unlike anything else on the organ. Those swell pedals I used to hate!

     

    AJJ

    P D Collins Organ At Turner Sims

    in General discussion

    Posted

    Whatever one thinks of the TS Collins I think it should be kept in mind that Prof. Peter Evans who was largely responsible for its presence was, to a vast number of students an inspirational figure. His reasons for getting the organ were to provide the University with the best they could aquire then. As an FRCO (and also a fine player!) he knew his stuff and was always quietly proud of what he achieved in having the organ installed and in what students then made of it. As has been noted above - some of us then found it a revelation. Looking at it now one can have other views but it is important to look at it's place not only as it is now but how it was then.

     

    AJJ

    St. Mary's, Southampton, Willis Iii

    in The Organ

    Posted

    I've heard interesting reports about the Bach Trios concert - a friend of mine was at it, and said it was an absolute blur, but he was sat halfway down the nave.

     

    It's a funny beast, isn't it - how do you remember about it? Was the wind ever good enough to support full organ - I can't imagine it would have been designed that way?

     

    These days, full organ, 'sag-free' = Gt OD's 1+2, 4',2', Mix + reeds, Sw. Reeds only, no octaves, and pedal reeds + minimal flues. If you're lucky, you can get away with coupling the choir tuba back up to the great. Still sounds good, but is a bugger to register as you can't re-programme any pistons, so you have to either hand add, or hand reduce.

     

    The Choir's interesting too, seems to have been designed to be a Choir + 5 Solo stops, totally enclosed, even the tuba.

     

    One had to be sensible setting up registrations - I don't remember that there was too much wind starvation but in the days before the Turner Sims the other alternative was St Michael's Basset so one made the best! Sitting at the console things were in a better perspective than down the nave though the 32' Tuba was more like a road drill than anything artistic. It worked well for practice, was fun to play on and with selective (even unorthodox) stop choices a surprisingly large ammount of the repertoire could at least sound reasonable.

     

    AJJ

    P D Collins Organ At Turner Sims

    in General discussion

    Posted

    The apocryphal story that I heard about the opening recital (was it Neary?) was that Peter Collins had to whip out a ladder half way through and go sort out some tuning and stuck notes...

     

    I used to play this organ quite a lot (I worked about 25 feet away from it!), and really didn't like it.

     

    It was Piet Kee and you are possibly right - I was there and vaguely remember something needing sorting. It was never a great instrument but for 'us students' it was miles better than we were used to.

     

    AJJ

    St. Mary's, Southampton, Willis Iii

    in The Organ

    Posted

    An versatile and impressive instrument for its time - I had lessons on it from Jeremy Blandford the DOM in the late 70s and fairly unlimited rehearsal time too. (Jeremy once played all the Bach Trio Sonatas in a recital apparently and the effect was much better than one might expect from the organ's vintage and disposition etc.) There were worries even then about money, amalgamating parishes, churches closing etc.

     

    AJJ

    Improvisations

    in The Organ

    Posted

    Also - if you want something else different from the Cochereau/Briggs style of improvisation try Gerre Hancock on his JAV CD from Washington National Cathedral (see another recent thread on this site relating to that instrument). His improvised symphony is stunning and just about uses everything the organ there has to offer - and all in the best possible taste too!

     

    AJJ

    P D Collins Organ At Turner Sims

    in General discussion

    Posted

    I was an undergraduate at Southampton when the Collins went in and I don't remember it having too many problems then. Peter Hurford came to perform along with Margaret Philips, Piet Kee etc. and under the regime then it was much used as a solo recital instrument and with orchestral and choral groups. It was a good instrument to learn on - reasonable tracker jobs were rarer then - certainly as one who had been used to electropneumatics up till then it did my technique some good and allowed access to sounds not possible at the local parish church.

     

    AJJ

    Organists' Review

    in General discussion

    Posted

    ''The style is beginning to look a little like Choir & Organ and the content somewhat diluted as well.'' (John Sayer)

     

    I don't mind C & O - it does what it aims to do well - as for OR, I'll give it some time but I agree about the Paul Hale style - he certainly knows to do things well what with his musicianship, a valuable depth of organ 'know how' and a sense of enthusiasm for the subject that all of us can identify with. I just hope the seemingly competent and well meaning new 'powers that be' focus on what works, what people seem to want and on not going where other journals already go. Above all not losing the impetus of the previously well constructed journal.

     

    AJJ

     

    PS The translation from the German of the Dresden article in the 1st 'new edition' was grim - some of the material in 'The Organ' has a similar or sometimes worse feel to it. A while ago a well known female French organist was actually referred to as being male for the duration of a review and chunks of text regularly go I know not where making nonsense of articles.

    Improvisations

    in The Organ

    Posted

    The John Riley series from Organists' Review a few years back is also very accessible and user friendly - he also produced a book + CD at about the same time which goes into rather more detail. I am not sure whether this is still available though.

     

    AJJ

×
×
  • Create New...