David Drinkell

In the 60's Rushworth's marketed a two rank extension model they called the "Ardeton". There was also, I think, a "Polyphonic" model or series, which perhaps includes the instrument to which Colin refers. When done well, extension could produce a surprisingly versatile and satisfying instrument. Many spoke well of the Walker "Positif" and "Model" organs, the Compton Miniatura II was a very nice instrument to play. Williamson & Hyatt produced one or two very effective extension jobs in East Anglia in the sixties. The secrets were, I think, that the workmanship needed to be of the best and the voicing of highest quality (Cliff Hyatt was a gifted, Willis-trained voicer). A missing note can become several missing notes on an extension organ and poor finishing will be more apparent. But just because electric action and extension made it easy to throw some sort of instrument together (chests from a supplier, pipes from a scrapped cinema organ was the recipe for at least one firm I can think of), there is no reason to condemn the whole idea and practice.

They would need the improvisational skills of a Martin Baker, and there aren't many like that around.... Susan Landale has done pretty well. There was a Georges McMaster who practised as an organist in Paris many years ago. He wrote quite a lot of stuff in the French style, including a Toccata. He committed suicide, though, so perhaps it's not the best idea. My good Francophile friend, John Crothers exchanged life as a language teacher in Co. Antrim and organist at St. Martin's, Belfast for an apartment in Paris, teaching English (mostly to servicemen and diplomats) and playing at one of the Anglican churches. He's having a ball, but I don't think he'd class himself in the running for St-Eustache, etc! Then again, how many French organists could run the music at an English Cathedral? The notice board at e.g. Chartres says Lundi - Messe 1000 Mardi - Messe 1000 Mercredi - Messe 1000 etc. No daily Evensong there, I think.

We tend to forget that Thuringia is quite far south compared with Schnitger country and that Thuringian organs tended to have a good spread of 8' stops on the manuals. I know the 16' Horn at Malvern - a lovely stop and one which can be mixed into a lot of different registrations. "Rushworth's could really do it when they wanted to".

Isn't there a rather nice, kind of quirky prelude on Down Ampney by Richard Popplewell in the Hovingham Sketches, published by Banks? I find the Ley disappointing - his harmony is commonplace and takes the spice out of RVW.

I can second Clarion Doublette's remarks about the quint reed at Metropolitan UC, Toronto. It adds a certain colour to the tuba chorus, especially, indeed, in the Willan Passacaglia. I don't know the Bloor Street organ but I guess the effect would be much the same. Manual quints can be puzzling anyway, because there aren't many of them around. Canterbury lost theirs fairly early on when N&B replaced it with a Salicional and the one at Tenbury was, I think discarded as late as 1975. The extant example that comes to mind is St. Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork, where it adds a rather effective and interesting gravitas to the chorus. I am not, as forumites will perhaps know, a great Hill fan in a general way, but there are some very notable exceptions and Cork is one of them. Quintatons, speaking that harmonic prominently, were a popular double in the sixties and seventies, but as Colin remarks, the effect of a 'true' quint (inherent in the voicing) would be different from that of a tempered quint provided separately. Horns - proper imitative ones, not Cornopeans under an alias - are similarly rare, but genuine examples (smooth to an almost flute-like degree and fairly quiet) offer a lot of interesting possibilities in combination. The Cathedral of St. John-the-Unfinished, New York City (one of my all-time favourite organs) has such an example and the late-lamented Willis III at St. Jude's, Thornton Heath had another (I hope the Japanese appreciate it). It's possible that a Quint of this tone could be an unusual and useful member of a large instrument, although I doubt whether the 1908 Harrison example sounded like that. Johannesburg Town Hall, designed by Hollins and built by Rushworth had one, too. Hollins was no fool when it came to organ tone, so presumably he thought it would be useful. In the end, however, maybe they just had the money left over for something extra - like the Burmese Gong at Holy Rude, Stirling (sounds like a saucepan-lid - I used it once in Scheidt's variations on "Ei, du feiner Reiter").

Ultra-slushy - Der Frage und die Antwort by William Wolstenholme.

There always seems to be a lot of speculation and rumour flying about when this organ has work done to it (when Philip Ledger was there, someone suggested that it was to be replaced with a four-manual harpsichord). It would be surprising if anything drastic happened to the tonal scheme, especially as Stephen Cleobury must be coming up for retirement soon and a new broom installed! Regarding Leicester, this was often quoted as one of the less successful Harrison organs, but I gave a recital on it just before the last restoration and I liked it a lot. Harry Bramma, who was at Margaret Street when the organ was restored, was a great apologist for the 'Harmonics', remarking that he found the example at Worcester very useful when he was assistant there and that generally they are more handy than is acknowledged. I think I would go along with that. One has to be careful, but IMHO they are a good deal more musical than some old Hill tierce mixtures, some of which were shockers!

My gosh, yes! Fine piece! Peter, I remember gate-crashing you at Inverness Cathedral many years ago when I was at St. Magnus. You had a baby in a buggy next to you while you practised. Alas! that fine old Hill has gone and there's a big toaster there instead....

Speaking from experience, you can fake a very good C-C on an Arthur Harrison organ if you have Vox and Violes! As always, I claim no originality for "Mass of the Cocktail Hour" (I'm generally better at remembering silly things than originating them). I think I first saw it on here a while ago.

Regarding open pedal stops, bourdons only became popular after the Great Exhibition and open "Pedal Pipes" were the norm before that. As Sam Clutton pointed out, they were typically quite soft in tone but seemed to grow, depending on what was coupled to them. Around the turn of the century, Walkers' often provided a wood "diapason" and a bourdon, rather than the more typical bourdon and 16 and 8, examples being the triumvirate in Colchester: St. Botolph's, All Saints and St. Leonard-at-the-Hythe (of these three, St. Botolph's was rebuilt rather remarkably in 1966, All Saints moved across the town to St. Andrew's, Greenstead, where it lost the Pedal open due to lack of space - the pipes finally ended up at Bethesda Baptist Church, Ipswich, but St. Leonard's retains the "large boom" and "small boom"). All three also had stopped manual doubles - a divided one on the Great at St. Botolph's and one in the Swell at the other two. At St. Botolph's, in a scheme which was otherwise tracker on the manuals, the Great 8' flute and Trumpet were taken from the Pedal ranks and in 2008 the 16' "Double Diapason" has been reinstated (also from the Pedal Sub Bass). It is very effective - Colin Nicholson, the organist for over fifty years, says he wishes he had had it done years ago. Interesting remarks about St. Andrew, Halstead. I haven't played there since I was a teenager, i.e. before the last rebuild, when it acquired upperwork and a Pedal Trombone (previously the Great fifteenth was the only stop above 4' pitch and it had a 16' Quintaton in the Swell, added by Willis III in 1919). I remember it as a classy old job, despite the apparent lack of top, and an interesting contrast to the rather similarly stop-listed Binns at Holy Trinity at the other end of the town. I didn't know George Oldroyd had been organist there. Colin Nicholson, who taught me, was a pupil of his (and of Harold Darke and Herbert Howells). I must remember that next time we do the Mass of the Cocktail Hour.... I don't think Ely has lost the ability to keep a full cathedral going, but it has become a good deal more versatile and better-balanced.

Generalising a bit here, but a C-C organ is a big crescendo machine, played with the couplers on most of the time. The Recit plays less of a part in things than an English Full Swell, but the Positif is rather more important in the build-up. The big stuff, including doubles and sub-couplers, tends to be on the Grande. In his autobiography, Arthur Wills stated quite categorically the opinion that an organist should be able to fashion his instrument to suit his taste. I can't imagine how he thought that he was doing anything to recreate the old Hill sound. The reeds, of course, had been altered some time before the rebuild (and some mutations improvised from existing ranks on the Choir Organ) and lowering the pressure had made them extremely loud. I don't think either Arthur or Sam Clutton, the consultant, could be said to be particularly sympathetic to the 1908 Harrison, and both were very keen on French music of all periods. I once remarked to Paul Trepte that the Wills rebuild had made the organ frighteningly loud, and he said that there were times when one needed that amount of power to get the sound down into the nave. The 1908 organ would not have been designed with this particularly in mind. All the same, I reckon that Wills and Clutton (and Michael Howard before them) had tone in mind and the increased volume was a natural result of that, bearing in mind the scaling. There was a drawstop allowing one to transfer the Swell reeds to the Pedal, which at least gave a manageable amount of reed tone down there. I have heard the organ a few times since the last rebuild, but not played it. It certainly seems more generally useful, without losing excitement. Firm sub-unison tone is, I think, essential for a lot of French Romantic music - a fact that was often ignored from the sixties onwards - and a manual 32' could be a logical inclusion on a very big instrument. I was sorry when they ditched the one at Peterborough. I also feel, though, that open tone (as at Liverpool) makes a better blend than a bourdon (I feel the same about 16' flues - I've rarely met a 16' Bourdon that I really liked!).

The Norman & Beard organ of Colchester Moot Hall is in course of re-assembly after its restoration by Harrison & Harrison. There will be a number of events related to the organ, culminating in an opening Gala from May 21st, which includes a wide range of activities including (somewhat to my surprise) an Inaugural Recital by Yours Truly. There is a new website http://moothallorgan.co.uk which is well worth a look.

I have Herbert Byard's article, which is why I knew about the Euphonium. I was one of Byard's last students at Bristol University. He was too ill to lecture most of the time - the Prof, Raymond Warren gave most of the course - and passed away during my first year. I remember him as a nice old fellow with a quiet West Country accent, but he was a link with the past, having been an articled pupil of Sir Herbert Brewer at Gloucester and friends with the likes of Herbert Howells, RVW and Elgar.

Ah! I was guessing Cirencester because it's a Father Willis, but All SS Cheltenham was my next guess. Has it still got a Euphonium?

If the box was closed, the Schalmei might well be effective in putting an edge on the tone. I can do something similar here by coupling the Vox to the Tuba and shutting the Solo box.

I am now intrigued as to the identity of someone describing himself as Father Willis who has a church in Gloucestershire which offers a full mass setting with motet and choral evensong every week. If it where I think it is, the organ was just a three-manual when I knew it, but is so no longer - but I'm probably way off the mark and it doesn't matter anyway! Canada is somewhat bigger than Gloucestershire, but there are only four churches offering a fully choral eucharist and choral evensong every Sunday: Montreal Cathedral, Toronto Cathedral, St. Thomas's, Toronto (rich)....and us. We might be the only one of the four to use the Book of Common Prayer.

Yes, and it's not uncommon to have the Credo set to pseudo-plainsong, as in some of the Healey Willan missae brevae. Historically, the Credo in Viennese masses tended to be a matter of getting through the words as quickly as possible, even to the extent of having different voices sing different words at the same time. The Little Organ Mass is an example, and indeed the Gloria in that mass takes about thirty seconds to sing. I imagine that , while there may have been a lot going on at the altar during movements such as the Benedictus and the composer was thus able to spread himself, during the Credo brevity was of the essence. Schubert in G (if my memory serves me) omits the words 'et expecto resurrectionem' and "et vitam aeternam saeculi", although whether that was for brevity, because Schubert forgot or because he didn't believe any such thing, I have no idea. Our practice in St. John's is to sing the Creed to Merbecke but everything else to a setting. This is as much as anything a practical move: we can manage to learn and rehearse everything else, but the Credo would tip the scales in the wrong direction. I sometimes find myself wishing we did the Creed in Darke in F and Coll Reg, though...

I think the term 'Missa Brevis' strictly refers to a setting, including Credo, which is short. Don't some of the Viennese settings come into that category, including the Little Organ Mass?

'God be in my head' usually goes down well - either Rutter or Walford Davies.

Jackson in G is full of character. It is (or was) published separately from the rest of the Communion Service.

All the above. The Tuba blast in Darke in F is indeed very fine but that in Howells's Coll Reg is at least as good. Dvorak in D is worth a look. Too long for liturgical use (here, anyway) but lots of nice music in it.

It may have been a, possibly unconscious, herd thing. When I was at school, every morning there was Assembly with two hymns, accompanied by organ and full orchestra. The singing, as a rule, was not bad at all, but at one point the sixth form seemed to decide that having a good belt at a hymn was fun. Thus reinforced from the back of the hall, the whole thing bucked up quite noticeably and became rather impressive. The moral of this is - and this was a boys' school - if young people decide that singing is cool, the sky's the limit.

You're right, Tony, and every year I wonder about pushing for a change in policy so that we sing the Carol Service on the Sunday before Christmas, but each year I get pleasantly surprised at how many turn out on the Sunday after Christmas. It was the same this year - larger-than-last-year congregations all round over Christmas, including the Carol Service - so I guess I shan't rock the boat quite yet. One of my sopranos has a daughter who just celebrated her first birthday and was therefore qualified to be an Angel in the Christmas Pageant (and promoted to Cow next year, probably), but got tired of it and came and sat on the organ bench next to me instead (she only started walking three weeks ago). I've got a Groupie!

Hadstock used to have a very small Thomas Jones organ, whose principal interest was that the blower was controlled by a "drawstop" from a motor accessory shop labelled "Choke". One-time priest-in-charge John Sibson came from there to St. Leonard-at-the-Hythe, Colchester, where I was at the time, and he said that the original blower was an agricultural threshing motor situated in an outhouse in the church-yard, capable of blowing the entire instrument sky-high. The present Hill organ at Hadstock came from Gayton in Norfolk and was installed by Holmes & Swift, who also moved the Jones to the RC church at Halesworth, Suffolk, where it still is. I suppose that the practice of having the Carol Service after Christmas (or, more correctly, "during" Christmas) is a High Church tradition. We are, I suppose, moderately High - vestments but no bells or smells, Prayer Book at all principal services (Deo Gracias!) - but it would be interesting to know if the tradition is preserved in spikey strongholds. I sometimes think we should move with the times, but the present arrangement does give us a little more time to rehearse (we have an elaborate Advent Procession, which takes more rehearsal than Nine Lessons and Carols, and also a Candlemas Procession, so timing is important) and several people have said that they appreciate having the carol service after Christmas rather than in the hectic run-up to it.

I second that! Merry Christmas to all. Just in from service and enjoying the best gin and tonic of the year before sallying out for excessive lunch.... Still got the Carol Service to go - does anyone else still do theirs during Christmastide?