HarmonicsV

I think there's an error on the digital format of the FJ album - the same mis-labelling of the track in question occurs on Spotify. (But off hand I can't remember which piece this actually is!) The Impromptu is definitely the piece played by JSW in Sheffield City Hall.

On a related point, the famous AH/Col. Dixon organ at Whitehaven (1904), destroyed in 1971 by fire, boasted a four rank Harmonics on the great (17.19.21.22), but no reeds... Does this mean that the swell reeds and/or solo tubas were expected to be added to the Great, or is this a possible example of an 'exposed' mixture? (And is this where G. Donald Harrison got the idea?)

This monster has a Celestial Organ, but I guess much depends upon your definition of 'celestial', and on your idea of heaven! (A pedal Ophicleide? Yum!) The key characteristic seems to be remoteness from the main instrument - usually high up in a tower/dome etc, so that the sound descends from on high. http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/StBartholomewEpis.html

I'm afraid I don't belong to Facebook, so can't see this. Is there another way we can verify this dreadful tale? I'd recommend board members write to the Pastor, his ordinary & the Congregation for Divine Worship: Palazzo delle Congregazioni, 00193 Roma, Piazza Pio XII, 10. It might be worth quoting the following, from Sacrosanctum Concillium, the document of Vatican II dealing with liturgy & worship: 'The pipe organ is to be held in high esteem in the Latin Church, for it is the traditional musical instrument, the sound of which can add a wonderful splendor to the Church's ceremonies and powerfully lifts up men's minds to God and higher things.'

Thanks for this - reassuring, & good to have the view of someone who has played the instrument. R3 seems to have a knack of making so many instruments (& choirs too, for that matter) sound less attractive in broadcasts of Choral Evensong than in the flesh. Perhaps they're out of practice when it comes to recording organs...

I've never heard this instrument in the flesh, but thought it sounded glorious in David Titterington's recording of La Nativite (Hyperion), recorded around 1986. Listening to the odd broadcast, including this one, since then, would anyone else agree that the tonal scheme seems to have rather lost its integrity...?

Beautiful - who would you ask to build it...

Your post made me dig out some Flentrop records yesterday evening! And listening to Holy Name Chicago, Dunblane & Eton I find you're quite right. A really beautiful sound - definitely post-neo-Classical, and far removed from the screeching heard from other continental builders' machines in intimate English churches. I suppose the Flentrop flue sound is actually more-or-less what Ralph Downes was aiming for - but I'd say that's the only sense in which it's English, mixture compositions notwithstanding! The T&B will indeed be wonderful, but I quite agree that the Chapel (which I don't know either) seems too intimate for a 30-stop Flentrop. To be honest, what annoys most about this contract, is the underlying assumption (?) that a teaching instrument needs to be of a particular type, aesthetic and quality. Is it thought that English builders can't/didn't produce instruments of a high tonal & mechanical calibre? Do all recent installations prove that continental builders can/do? But perhaps it's down to funding - a new organ needs to be sufficiently different from the old one to justify the expense...?

Idly browsing, I found this on the website of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge: The College has recently commissioned a new chamber organ from Taylor & Boody (for arrival in 2011), which will be of an elaborate Renaissance/early Baroque design with 7 stops tuned to an historical temperament at A=415, while the main organ will soon be replaced by a 30-stop, three manual instrument by the Dutch firm Flentrop (c.2015). I don't know whether others had already heard about this commission - if so, apologies. I'm afraid I'm dismayed at the impending arrival of yet another Euro-organ, when so many characterful native instruments lie neglected in redundant buildings...

How about Bach & Buxtehude? The Komm Heiliger Geist settings are gorgeous, quite apart from the big Fantasia which kicks off the Eighteen. And the Messiaen Messe de la Pentecote is worth working up to... ;-) I'd second the vote for Palestrina's Dum Complerentur - Peter Maxwell Davies has one too, if you're so inclined...

They were in rather a hurry though, weren't they...?

Or Bach, of course... ;-)

Not strictly on topic, but the additions made to the 1969 Holtkamp in the Paul Recital Hall at the Julliard in 2002 are an interesting barometer of changing fashions: http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/Juil...ampPaulHall2002 What seems not to change though, is the capacity for eminent organists to mutilate the integrity of instruments in their care! (I haven't heard this organ though, and it may sound a whole lot better following its 'improvements', I suppose. But the console too!!!) Does anyone remember that fashion for tacking neo-barock positives onto romantic organs...?

'just seemed like the usual heavy Arthur Harrison instrument' I'm sure this is just the kind of support the fundraising team in Newcastle were hoping for from the 'organ world'... OK - I'm biased, but this is the largest unaltered Harrison concert organ in high Edwardian style extant - the RAH being a mixture of Willis, Harrison & Mander. Certainly one or two of the others you allude to are fine instruments (!), but I'm talking about real conviction of style and aesthetic integrity - I'd include the RFH in this category, but I notice you didn't mention London.

Fantastic news - fully restored this could be the nation's Great Concert Hall Organ...

Others will correct me, but I'm sure Ralph Downes mentions (in 'Baroque Tricks') that the Great Rohrflute (?) of this organ has all the presence in the Nave of the old Walker Tuba. I think the implication is that this is not a compliment to either instrument. Perhaps this instrument might be described as small but assertively voiced...?

Apologies if this is old news, but I stumbled upon this (while reading up on Marilyn Mason...): http://www.blockmrecords.org/bach/index.htm

Could we stick to organs? Quite a few readers of/occasional contributors to this board are Catholics, and some of us are even guilty of being Theologians. ;-) So when it comes to 'offensive'...

Not sure about that. Judged purely on recordings, Americans seem to be building some absolutely superlative instruments along what might be called post-neo-baroque lines: Fisk, Brombaugh, Taylor & Boody, Paul Fritts etc. etc. And then there are some pretty impressive post-romantic/orchestral instruments from the likes of Dobson, Schoenstein et al. I've just acquired the George Ritchie Bach set on Raven, all played on modern American organs: quite stunning. To my ears, they make the imported Euro-organs of the last twenty years sound very dreary...

Dupre: Souvenir (Sept Pieces) Tallis: Audivi Vocem de Caelo Responses: Leighton Psalm 37: Gauntlett, Stanford, Watson Hark, a Herald Voice is Calling (NO descant!) Magdalen College Service: Leighton Byrd: O Lord, Turn Thy Wrath Dupre: Le Monde dans L'attente du Sauveur The prevailing weather should be wet; the minister would not, apart from the intercessions, use any words not prescribed by the BCP. He should especially not begin "Good afternoon, and welcome to this blah blah blah..."

No, 'fraid not. The Carmelite Church, Our Lady of Mount Carmel & St Simon Stock, is in Kensington Church Street. John McCarthy directed the music here for forty years, with singers from his various 'Ambrosian' groups. Our Lady of Victories is in the High Street, and a separate parish church. Both churches were built in the 1950s to replace 19th century buildings destroyed in the blitz.