AJJ

Aaaagh - major mess up - blame it on pressure of the season - thanks for pointing it out Graham! 'Good job we're doing neither this year or goodness knows what I might have played!! AJJ

The Willcocks arrangement of Good King Wenceslas is a classic - the 'Herod' verse is a real spine tingler every time - especially with a decent Full Swell (box shut) plus 32'. Likewise the Trumpet/Tuba under the first line of Sing Choirs of Angels in Hark the Herald. I also remember from my early youth the effect of the 8 + 2 (or 8 + 1-1/3 as we had just had one installed at our church) at the start of the Willcocks Sussex Carol arrangement - much immitated (quite a lot by Willcocks) but not bettered - I think anyway! CFC1 was a breath of fresh air when it arrived. AJJ

Fascinating - thanks. AJJ

Wow - what & where!! - any chance of a spec. please Pierre? AJJ

'Sounds about right! AJJ

'Didn't hear it but the only other version I know is by John Gardener - 'has a sort of 'um cha' backing and goes into parts for the chorus. AJJ

A problem arises however when someone in the congregation starts to sing a descant to for example O come all ye Faithful when the rest of us have decided not to use it. The resulting harmonic wrenching is toe curling and moreover there is nothing one can do bar shooting the offender. The trouble is that everyone knows (or think they know) many of the CFC 1 descants and it only takes one who feels like a bit of a solo to produce chaos. This happened to me last week at a carol 'do' where I was playing - suddenly we had both the extra 'O Comes' in the chorus of O come all ye Faithful followed by the then expected warblings to go with 'Sing Choirs of Angels! AJJ

Once when playing continuo for a Messiah some goon moved the harpsichord near to a radiator between rehearsal and performance - the tuning was so bad by then that 2 bars of the Overture was all they got. I went and sang bass! AJJ

Not totally ideal but with a little bit of experimentation with stop combinations it can sound ok - the whole thing sounds best with as few stops in use as is necessary - flat out it is rather nasty. Verse anthems work nicely, small scale repertoire etc. - hymns fair quite well too. The acoustic is lovely and the whole thing is unenclosed on the rood screen so it looks quite passable from the church - the console is a bit tacky being the old electronic recycled. AJJ

....which is why when one plays somewhere like here one needs to throw away any preconceived ideas as to what an instrument like this should sound like and go with ones ears. Mostly in this case the rather nice acoustic of the church and the screen position of the organ look after most of the sonic oddities of stop derivation. And (back on topic) most of the mutations work if used with care! AJJ

ALL THE VERY BEST FOR CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR http://downloads.raileurope.com/holidayCar...stmas_card.html AJJ

It was at about the speed I play it (my edition - Tallis to Wesley suggests crotchet = 100) - but I get accused of playing things faster than some - by my Rector at least. Now the fugue is a different matter! AJJ

Thanks for these - I've finally decided on French Noels before, some Baroque with the resident trumpet player followed by a seasonal improvisation or a new piece (if I finish it in time) to clear the church! AJJ

Possibly because whoever is in charge of the project would like their organ to look like a typical Willis cathedral organ (!!). Consequently a clever graphics person has superimposed some prime choices from the UK - a bit like tester pots of paint or carpet samples from Homebase etc. The age of the pipe rack is obviously not gone yet! AJJ

The case looks a bit 'flat pack' though! AJJ

Marvellous! AJJ

The drift of this seems to be going either 'repertoire' or 'anglican accompaniment' - as a diversion I tried this. As a very lazy accompanist - my regular Sunday hymns, psalms and reasonably simple setting/anthem could sound as if played on something like this - with pistons etc. But no one would ever build anything as eccentric for repertoire...... Manual I Unenclosed Open Diapason 8 Principal 4 Enclosed Bourdon 16 Small Open Diapason 8 Stopped Diapason 8 Gamba 8 Voix Celeste 8 Gemshorn 4 Flageolet 2 Mixture 2 III Bassoon 16 Oboe 8 Manual II Enclosed Claribel Flute 8 Dulciana 8 Harmonic Flute 4 Nazard 2-2/3 Clarinet 8 Trumpet 8 Tremulant PEDAL Open Wood 16 Sub Bass 16 Manual I to Pedal AJJ

And does anyone remember the horizontal Mander Tuba at Sheffield Cathedral? Now there was an interesting sound! AJJ

So what are they going to do with it I wonder - install in 'original' condition or use as the basis for something else? From past experience of similar (looking at least) vintage instruments they are best left alone and would probably do the job required very well without much alteration (maybe the Pedal reed though...). AJJ

And a modern interpretation near here has this: Stopped Diapason 8 Salicional 8 Unda Maris 8 Gemshorn 4 Traverse Flute 4 (Harmonic) Nazard 2-2/3 (Harmonic) Piccolo 2 (Harmonic) Tierce 1-5/5 Larigot 1-1/3 Cor Anglais 16 Trompette 8 Clarinet 8 Tremulant Tuba Mirabilis (Unenclosed) Some old pipework - some new but I think it works well (though some on here don't like the instrument) - especially when Manual 1 controls a quite 'up front' Positive division. AJJ

Nicely (and logically) put - my process of stoplist manipulation had wandered somewhat from the historically informed! AJJ PS Your description of the Solo sounds like one or two choirs I know too - especially the 'unblending' and 'upsetting' descriptions!

With a 16' Bourdon on the Solo to go with the 3-1/5 it would be more Solo or 'Resonance' perhaps. AJJ

I visited and thought it actually looked rather more compact than the main console. As expected - very fine workmanship - everything seemed very much where it should be etc. 'Nicely inclined 5th manual - 'can't remember whether the other console has this or not - the only time I played it was just after it was rebuilt in 1973/4. AJJ

I have come to the conclusion that in order to experience some relevance at this time of the year on has to swim against an increasingly powerful tide. My 'allocation' will be the Advent Carols, a couple of 'regular' Sunday mornings and the Nine Lessons and Carols. The former was simple and effective and the latter will be a traditional village affair, packed full and with the family there for support. A friend is putting on an informal evening of organ solos etc. and I will probably support her at that too. Getting to and from our nearest 'centre of church music excellence' (yesterday at least) was so horrendous - parking wise and for the sheer volume of people shopping that I will probably not attempt it again much as I would like to paricipate in one of their Christmas events which will undoubtedly be well organized and of a high standard - despite the competition from the German Market immediately outside. Sorry if this sounds miserable - it is not supposed to! AJJ

Try this: GREAT Bourdon 16 Principal 8 Open Flute 8 Salicional 8 Octave 4 Conical Flute 4 Tierce 3-1/5 Octave 2 Quint 1-1/3 Sesquialtera 2-2/3 II Mixture 1-1/3 IV Trumpet 8 Tremulant CHOIR (Enclosed) Stopped Flute 8 Principal 4 Chimney Flute 4 Nazard 2-2/3 Gemshorn 2 Octave 1 Mixture 1 III Clarinet 8 Tremulant SOLO (Enclosed) Harmonic Flute 8 Chimney Flute 8 Gamba 8 Celeste 8 Open Flute 4 Cornet (TC) 2-2/3 III Vox Humana 8 Trumpet 8 Clarion 4 Tremulant PEDAL Principal 16 Sub Bass 16 Octave 8 Stopped Flute 8 Octave 4 Mixture 2-2/3 IV Trombone 16 Usual Couplers plus Solo to Pedal 4 & Solo to Great 16 Voiced somewhere between late Clicquot and early Cavaille-Coll! AJJ