AJJ

I heard it pretty soon after the work was done and then only in the context of a smallish service so maybe you got a better picture of it more recently - I quite like Ely as it is now though. AJJ

A similar (if less ghastly) thing happened to me one Sunday morning - late night Saturday etc. and I went into simultaneous transpose mode for the playover of the first hymn. I completely disregarded the key signature and most accidentals till I reached verse one - it was all a bit atonal really. The playover gave no hint whatsoever as to what the congregation and choir were about to sing next. They were all very understanding however. (I did once hear Arthur Wills do a similar thing with a final hymn at Ely - the playover to the tune 'Orientis Partibus' was on some loud reed or other, pretty spicy and at the end of the hymn he launched straight into his even more spicy Carillon on the same theme.) AJJ

H & H have fairly recently done good jobs at places like Glasgow, Dublin and Ely rebalancing the excesses of 70s work - probably that's all Wells could do with (if anything) next time it is due for a 'tinker'. AJJ

One needs to take care - there are some cases where there are 4 manuals all of a rather skeletal nature or with just one or two stops on IV. I have even encountered a 3 manual with just a Trumpet on III. I wonder sometimes whether this is going too far although the only organ I have played with a coupler manual (Long Melford) worked well. Schoenstein, however have come up with an ingenious design for a teaching instrument at the Juilliard School in the US. 3 manuals, 6 voices and 6 ranks but with an 'all singing all dancing' console complete with 15 octave and unison couplers between manuals as well as octave/unison off etc., multiple pistons, crescendo and expression pedals, record/replay etc. At first it might seem a little far fetched but on the other hand if students are to be playing some of the larger machines in the US regularly then perhaps not so. Jack Bethards is certainly very skilled in his designs and their execution - this one ('early version of the stoplist below) I would like to try! GREAT Bdn 16(Ch.LGed), OD8, Claribel8(Sw), Salicional8 (Ch), Pr4, LGed4(Ch), Flugel Horn8 (Sw). SWELL Claribel8, Echo Gamba8, Bass Horn16(Ex), Flugel Horn8. CHOIR(Enc.) Salic.8, LGed8, LGed4(Ex), Salicet4(Ex), Nazard2-2/3(LGed), 15th2. PEDAL Bdn16, Salic8, Claribel8, LGed.8, 15th4, Claribel4, Horn16, Horn8, Horn4. AJJ

'Sounds as if we are in for a treat then! Here's another one - from a good Danish builder this time - again nothing looks too radical and if his Danish work is anything to go by again we are in for something interesting! (Nice 'villagey' case too). http://www.trinhall.cam.ac.uk/about/chapel....asp?ItemID=360 AJJ PS I wonder if any Brit. firms tendered for either of these?

'Spotted this - it looks quite fun and not too neo anything. The case is a bit IKEA though - isn't the current one rather odd too? Geigens, Lieblichs and even Dolces seem to be back in this season also! http://chapel.jesus.cam.ac.uk/choirs/organ/neworgan.html AJJ

Wells has many supporters and if one takes care it can work well liturgically in the choir of the cathedral both from the point of view of the singers and the player. But - I personally do not find it a very satisfying instrument - there is still a Romantic H & H lurking underneath that does not really sit happily with the 70s work (wasn't Clutton responsible? - now there's a topic for a thread!) and in the nave much is lost even a small distance west of the crossing. Something that the newer upperwork has not really done much to help. I went to a recital there some years back (not by one of the then resident crew who largely control it well) and it was a very unsatisfactory experience with the quiet sounds lost in the building, the louder effects (Tuba, Pedal reed etc.) shouting and opaque and nothing much in between. I once also had to sing from directly west of it for the enthronement of a new bishop (long service - big music - full house etc.) and the continuous full organ effects were very wearisome! AJJ

Bath Abbey too - hence the more recent transformation. AJJ

I seem to remember from somewhere ('not sure where though) that Harrisons are may be doing the work - they will 'do good' if their recent jobs are anything to go by. Certainly Mark Venning is knows his stuff and will not do anything he does not consider 'bona fide'. AJJ

It's one of the 'greats' even if you are not into music of the Couperin/De Grigny era. Pierre Bardon has been there for many years - it really is his baby. I've only ever heard it on CD but even there it sounds truly amazing. See: http://www.uquebec.ca/musique/orgues/france/smaximinp.html Scroll down a bit for info. in English Also this: http://www.lesamisdelabasilique.com/ Go to the English section then 'program' and scroll down a bit. AJJ

Yes but with all due respect to VH we would only have 'got it' if we had known of the gent in question in the first place. The Windsor connection was an interesting one though - I know someone who was also an organ scholar there - I believe he inherited Campbell's clavichord - he also talks of Campbell with great affection etc. AJJ

We found the same - probably round the same time as VH - I played before the service and for me the organ 'worked' well without much time on it to prepare - Langlais etc. The organist for the actual service kept off the triforium Great and mostly used whose ever settings the pistons were on then. The Tuba is vast and I seem to remember there being some very fine strings and orchestral reeds on the Solo. AJJ

'Reminds me of a recital by Geoffrey Tristram (usually worth hearing in those days and able to draw large audiences on the electronic then at Christchurch) at Bath Abbey that I attended in the late '70s - the pedal scale at the start of the Bach P & F in D did not (at all!) go where it should have gone - and it was the opening piece. I don't know about the recitalist but the audience had a collective trauma as to what he would do next. The funny thing is that i can't actually remember what he did do! AJJ

A friend of mine - ex Oxbridge organ scholar (with only just over one and a half score years behind him) always as a matter of course prints out the words to the psalms onto a sort of grid - in line with and under the sections of the chant. He frequently plays for visiting choirs at different cathedrals (I last 'turned' for him at Salisbury) and seems to find this method quite safe when faced with a new instrument, building etc. (Most of the time now, however he is 'in front' so to speak as he also happens to be a 'Rev'.) AJJ

''Francis Jackson and Philip Marshall were also cited as excellent practitioners.'' Marshall used to be amazing - watching/listening to him play for Psalms was an education in itself. It was all so effortless, appropriate and completely tasteful. Quite a lot of the stop work was done by hand too - he knew the Lincoln Willis so well that this seemed to be the natural thing to do. AJJ

Marston, Somerset. AJJ

There's one near me hopefully about to go into a west gallery from a chancel 'hole' - a good local builder and open minded incumbent make all the difference. 'Played there last week for a wedding and it will certainly be better than the current (temporary) electronic parked by the chancel steps. AJJ

Oops - wrong button! AJJ

I was there a while ago now and it was working quite well then. The organ builder Roger Taylor (ex Rushworth) of Burrington near Cheddar looks after it and knows it well. Paul Derrett has recorded it (he comes on here sometimes) and will mail CDs etc. To get to play I just gave them a ring - Chris Tambling the Director of Music at Downside School was also a great help the first time I visited while organising a BIOS day there AJJ

I seem to remember that it is published - but can't remember by whom - sorry! AJJ PS Personally - I can't stand it!!

You got in with this before me Tony - thanks for all the continuing work! AJJ

I vaguely think John Scott Whitely has recorded the Widor at YM for Priory AJJ

Thanks. AJJ

Chelmsford does have an organ scholar - Lizzie Hayward - see below and click on music. http://www.cathedral.chelmsford.anglican.org/blue1/home.htm AJJ

While on the Kynaston line - does anyone know if his 70s RAH recordings are available on CD - also his amazing performance of Danse Macabre on the Klais at Altenberg? AJJ