wolsey

Our humidifier is maintained by Philip Cutler who now runs Stewart Fothergill Engineers. Google the firm name for contact details.

Sadly, I think that the teaching/practice organ built and installed this spring in the concert hall of the new music school at King's College School, Wimbledon may well be the last instrument by the firm of Kenneth Tickell and Company Ltd.

Dr Jeremy Filsell to Saint Thomas, Fifth Avenue

The organist last night was Richard Pearce. I am assuming (but have yet to have it confirmed) that he is the BBCSO's organist in succession to Malcolm Hicks - himself the successor to my teacher, Alan Harverson. It is a shame that neither Richard nor the BBCSO's pianist (Elizabeth Burley) are mentioned in their personnel lists. Perhaps it's because their contractual arrangements are different to the those of orchestra's rank-and-file players.

It's somewhat sad to see that Simon Preston's 80th birthday last Saturday has passed us by with scarcely a comment. At least the Eloquence label has seen fit to mark it by reissuing (last November) all the solo organ recordings which he made for Argo. A good many here will remember his Reger recordings from Westminster Abbey; I, for one, am pleased to hear again his reading of the Hindemith Sonatas on the Walker organ at St John's, Islington. Mander should also be allowed to bask in his glory, as I value Simon Preston's 2006 recording of the then-recently restored organ of the Royal Albert Hall: Royal Albert Hall Organ Restored (Signum).

He's the Deputy.

Widor was 88 years old he recorded the Toccata at St Sulpice in April 1932, so this might account for the tempo. I make no apology for plugging John Near's edition which appears to be the most recent and authoritative. I took the plunge when discounts were offered; keep an eye out in case they are offered again in the future.

On which topic, here are details of what promises to be a fine recital in under a fortnight.

During my school's choir tour last October, we sang at the Austrian church (St Michael's Basilica, Mondsee) used for the filming of the wedding scene in The Sound of Music. The basilica's organist, Professor Gottfried Holzer-Graf, allowed me to play the splendid organ in the west gallery before our service and concert. Its sound bears no relation to that of the Morton organ heard in the film (mentioned by Colin in his post), whose pipework and mechanism were destroyed in a fire.

All Saints' Church, St Ives, Cambridgeshire. Rood screen and case by Comper

I've looked hard, but cannot see any reference by OrganistOnTheHill to the location of the organs he mentioned. For those who have not twigged his name, the organs mentioned are at Harrow School Chapel and St Mary's Church, Harrow on the Hill. The fact that I grew up in the same town is completely coincidental...

As a teenager, I remember being impressed by the sound of this instrument in the late 1970s when a student friend was assistant organist at the church. Sadly, it is long gone, and I am somewhat apprehensive about its fate.

https://www.rco.org.uk/events/London-study-day

That's about right. Here's an opening benchmark from St Paul's Cathedral's Information for Visiting Organists playing Evensong (where, of course, Stainer was): "[...] Since the focus of Choral Evensong is the choral music, the staff organists normally conclude weekday services with reflective voluntaries. It is, however, perfectly acceptable to play something which develops the style or compositional period of the choir's music. 2'30" is a safe minimum to cover the procession back to [...] the Dean's Aisle, while 4'30'-5' is the upper limit. Sunday and major festivals tend to be on bigger in scale..."

The American organ series Pipedreams has devoted this week's episode to him.

As someone who lives in SW London but two miles away from the Landmark Arts Centre (St Alban's as was), I have often wondered wistfully what sort of instrument resided in that magnificent space...

A tip passed on to me which I've always used: the bar/s at the very end before the 'Amen' is/are best played by having manual doubles (16') drawn and playing it on manuals.

Petition here.

Absolutely - John Butt. While we're talking about former King's organ scholars, Professor Hugh McLean CM (sic), died on 30 July.

I was taught by Alan Harverson in my gap year at the RAM before going to Cambridge, and sometimes had lessons at the Priory. Of course, he is not here to explain his reasonings, but as Maurice Forsyth-Grant says about the organ in his book Twenty-One Years of Organ-Building (Positif Press 1968): "In the meanwhile, however, Alan Harverson was very busy preparing the specification that he required. We have never, before or since, had such a full documentation for the specification of an organ. His main idea was to have a large two-manual specification but judiciously split over three playing manuals. [...] Not only were we given a stop-list but also the exact balance between the stops, and Alan Harverson gave numerous examples of the registrations he intended to use in the playing of the Dutch, North German and French repertoires, as well as in later and more modern music. No organist can ever have been so thorough in trying to get the organ exactly as he required. Because of his definite - and convincing - ideas in the matter, we were quite prepared to do the best for him, and [...] on the whole we did manage to fulfil his very exacting requirements."

Peter Holder succeeds Daniel Cook at Westminster Abbey.

It was published in 1931 by OUP, and Allegro Music handle their organ music archive service. A telephone call to them would be the first suggestion.

I'm not sure how you can manage to confuse the Chapel Royal, *Hampton Court* Palace (whose website you have linked) with that at St James's Palace. I remain Director of Music at Hampton Court, while Joseph McHardy becomes my counterpart at St James's Palace from September.

Daniel Cook succeeds Canon James Lancelot.

A-R editions are repeating a discount offer (this time 20%) on the authoritative John Near edition of Widor's organ symphonies. it is available until 31 March.