David Drinkell

Ah...these old tracker jobs.... Merry Christmas, all!

The D minor Toccata, for the most part, lends it self to that sort of thing, doesn't it? The opening bars could be demonstrated and copied easily, as could the spread chords. the rest is mostly easy formulae. Even the triplets near the end, which are perhaps the trickiest to master under normal circumstances, reduce down to the chord of G, B flat, C sharp and E. Finding other pieces which are equally simple in that way is more difficult. I have more than once coached beginners to play the first few pages and ending of the Widor Toccata because they didn't want to disappoint relations who were getting married.

I remember the Shrewsbury Binns well - a very fine beast which is not as well-known as it should be. Perhaps more impressive to play than to listen to in the church, owing to its rather lofty chamber (probably the highest Renatus Harris case front in existence!). The church is redundant but cared-for. At least the organ did not suffer the fate of that at St. Julian - the church is now a craft centre and the organ case is a shop-front. St. Alkmund's on the other hand, has the amazing little Arthur Harrison organ from the RSCM, installed with TLC by Trevor Tipple and looking much happier than it did when erected unrestored at Cleveland Lodge.

A Byfield or England-based scheme might have the punch which would be needed for the use to which the hall is put, but surely a Tuba would be more in keeping with the case than a Bassoon? On the other hand, comparing Oxford with Cambridge, I should imagine that the latter has more Olde Englishe inspired schemes, while Oxford has a more distinguished collection of Victoriana, like the Father Willises at the Town Hall and at Wadham. Neither has a Wurlitzer though....

The Sinfonia is on IMSLP, but is not public domain in Europe. It's much more discordant than the Theme and Variations. I'm surprised you should have trouble sourcing the latter. Did you try usedorganmusic.co.uk?

I've heard it said in several places that continental voicers were just itching to have a go at a big diapason or a proper tuba. From what I understand, no one judges the organ at Bath Abbey - Tuba and all - because it's foreign, but rather on how well it does the job of an English cathedral organ. It's nice that Henry Willis & Sons have been commissioned to supply new tubas for the monumental Steinmeyer at Trondhjem. Henry III wrote that he had been approached regarding the originals (which were destroyed while in store following the unfortunate sixties rebuild) but 'the traditions of my firm' made it impossible to supply pipes to someone else (although he did supply plans and voicing advice).

They'll soon be up to speed with the Church of Ireland, e.g. Cashel, Ossory, Lismore, Waterford, Ferns and Leighlin. A former bishop once remarked that one of the perks of his job was that he had six cathedrals. The downside was that he also had six deans.

I love Willcocks' Adeste Fideles. That opening with the Tuba in the tenor and then the box opening into "Glory to God".... Toe-curling! One that I think doesn't get as much use as it deserves is that to "It came upon the midnight clear". I think it's rather good but I don't get a chance to use it these days as a different tune is current in North America. I go along with it so that I can stand firm in insisting on "Forest Green" for "O little town of Bethlehem" instead of the dreadful "St. Louis". One has to be reasonable, although in Northern Ireland they used to say that the difference between a terrorist and an organist was that you could negotiate with a terrorist.

I still think the Willcocks descants to most of the standards are the best, although it seems fashionable in some circles to assert that others (often home-grown) are superior. I played for or conducted a few SofPs. They could be tiresome, the interviewees were sometimes distinctly odd and the producers (one in particular) had some funny ideas about hymns. I often felt that there was too much over-egging the pudding. I played for one St. Patrickstide SofP, where the music was recorded in Belfast Cathedral but the visuals were mostly in Down Cathedral. At least one item had brass dubbed in later in London. Shortly afterwards, I was at a Cathedral Organists' Association conference in Oxford and George Guest mentioned that he had heard the programme and what a fine instrument the Down organ was. I said, yes indeed (arguably the best organ in Ireland), but that wasn't it! They are both Harrisons, but very different from each other. An earlier SofP actually recorded at Down suffered from a real ignoramus of a sound engineer, who insisted on throttling down the organ so that it sounded like a glorified harmonium in the broadcast, although he didn't seem concerned about the brass quartet. The usual technique with this guy was to do as he said in the rehearsal and then let rip in the broadcast, but one couldn't do that in a recording... I also did one from the RC church in Portaferry, the rehearsals on an inadequate toaster in the gallery and the broadcast on a better one at the east end. In one hymn, I was in shot during the play-over with a jacket on and later in the same hymn without the jacket - different takes! As SL says, the money was useful, especially if a hymn was repeated, for example, on Thora Hird's programme. I did particularly well out of "To God be the glory" at St. Magnus Cathedral (so did my wife, as now is, although her solo verse didn't actually get shown in the original broadcast). The Daily Service was a nice little earner - half an hour's rehearsal and fifteen minutes live broadcast. Easy money unless the choir was inadequate. One such did Bairstow's "Though I speak with the tongues" as the anthem. I thought beforehand that it was a bit ambitious, and so it proved, especially as some members turned up late for the rehearsal and had not seen the piece before. The organ accompaniment in the broadcast was more of a rescue operation, but it seemed to please the Beeb. Most of the Daily Services recorded in Northern Ireland came from St. Martin's, Belfast, a small church near the shipyard with good acoustics and a superb Wells-Kennedy organ. St. Martin's was closed a few years ago - I hope the organ finds a good home. While I was home in September, I happened to hear a Daily Service "from Belfast" and was rather chuffed to be proved right when I guessed the venue - St. John's, Malone - and the organist.

I have such a Bombarde, but I've never tried playing it with organ. I can, however, play "Mattachins" (the tune Warlock uses for the last movement of 'Capriol') on the tenor crumhorn while accompanying myself with left hand and pedal, a feat that was, I believe, specifically condemned by the Spanish Inquisition in the sixteenth century. Brides at St. Magnus Cathedral used to like to be piped out, which was ok for the organist because it meant an early getaway (sometimes making up for said bride's extreme lateness caused by her renting the only Model T Ford on the island, a temperamental machine with tracker action, much given to breaking down). The custom was banned for a while after the piper (who happened to be the Minister's son) played out one happy couple with "Cock O' the North". I am by no means sure that the (German) composers of Highland Cathedral had St. Magnus in mind, but everyone in Orkney assumed they did (well, they would, wouldn't they?). I suppose Dunkeld would be a more suitable candidate. After all, Orkney is only part of Scotland because of an unpaid marriage dowry and is more Norse than Scottish (as shown in the enormous 'No' vote in the recent referendum. Deo gratias the rest of Scotland voted 'No' by a big enough margin, too), whereas Dunkeld is really in the Highlands.

I took it down from YouTube the first time I needed it. I once played for a wedding at Bangor Parish Church, Co. Down, when two pipers took part (pretty devastating - asked to provide 'backing', I found that I could use nearly all the very hefty big 3m Hunter and not drown them out! Beforehand, finding out what we were going to play, one of them said, '"Highland Cathedral" - you probably won't know that one.' I said, 'I not only know it, I used to be Organist there!' Not many people could have said that (I think there are four people living who are, or were, Organist at St. Magnus Cathedral).

The original Father Willis was rather neat and so was the Harrison rebuild - both delivered quite a lot within a small specification. The Willis III rebuild was odd, but some people, including Ralph Downes, spoke well of it. I should imagine that several of our present-day builders could deliver something equally imaginative and effective. I'm not sure that a scheme based largely on pre-Victorian English ideas would feel right in that case....

As far as the Anglican church is concerned, it seems that the parts which are attracting larger congregations are the Clap-Hands-Her-Comes-Charlie folk and the Cathedrals. As someone definitely in the latter camp, it seems to me that we could do a lot in promoting what we do. A lot of people claim to be 'spiritual' but are scared at the thought of going somewhere where they might have to 'do something'. The idea of being a full participant in an act of worship where a lot of the action is carefully carried out by those who have made careful preparation is appealing to many people and it's often the case that they just need pointing in the right direction. A lot of alternative and New Age spirituality is largely passive, and I can be a full participant in a flight from St. John's to Heathrow without actually having to pilot the aircraft....

Excellent! Belfast's loss is Newport's gain.

Ah - that would be it, I'm sure.

My wife says that Facebook has a post about Ely and St. Mary's, Edinburgh being vacant, but whether that means the respective maestro or the assistant is not clear.

I remember the St. Stephen's incident. The St. Michael-on-the-Mount organ looked promising - quite a large old Vowles two-manual with a IV rank Mixture on the Great - but it didn't really live up to the stop-list. Christ Church may well have been rich, but its bells were not widely admired (there are a lot of rings in Bristol, some of them very fine). There was a couplet going the rounds: The bells of heaven go ting-a-ling-a-ling, But Christ Church bells go Boink. I thought that was a bit unfair. I was organist at Henbury Church, which has a decent ring of eight and a satisfying two manual Daniel rebuild (very loud at close quarters). In the mid-seventies, it also had a respectable choir, which managed the Faure Requiem and the Byrd four-part Mass.

Wow! I never even guessed at that! Bristol was rather short-sighted in its closure policy. My landlady went to St.. George's, Brandon Hill, which was reasonably supported but its congregation was coveted by the Cathedral and it was closed while still a going concern. I was a bell-ringer (one reason why I never got to St. Thomas), so I knew the organs in churches with bells. Oddly, I never played either Christ Church or St. Stephen, but the University Ringers kept the bells going at St. Michael-on-the-Mount-Without and would also prowl around others like St. John-on-the-Wall and St. Philip and St. Jacob (where the local band of ringers continued to function after the church went completely clap-hands-here-comes-Charlie and got rid of the organ).

I should think it's quite likely that Handel played the St. Thomas organ, given the Harris Bristol connections and Handel's known visits there (local tradition says that he ran through 'Messiah' there before taking ship to Dublin). I was never in the church during my time as a student, although I remember the notice-board claimed that 'Choral Evensong' was sung every Sunday. What happened to it, and the organ?

When my Father died last year, the organist at the Crem in Colchester played the Prelude from Franck's Prelude, Fugue et Variation (very nicely, too). I had never thought about this for funerals, but it seemed just perfect and I have used it myself since then.

I definitely find that, if accompanied, mutation combinations can be used without a fundamental. 4, 2 2/3 and 1 3/5 is the most obvious, but one can get away without the 4'. In certain circumstances, particularly if the mutations are reasonably broad flutes, one can get away with using the nazard on its own as the solo, or even just the tierce. There is a whole bunch of solo combinations obtainable in this way that so many players don't consider.

:oMy God! The end of 'Litanies' was terrifying! I hid behind the sofa......

Although few large Casson organs were built and his magnum opus, at Omagh in Co. Tyrone, has been greatly altered, his ideas about mixtures were realised, through the influence of George Dixon, in the Harmonics stops which were common on Arthur Harrison Greats. I would not be surprised to find that his mixtures did not break until quite high in the compass, as was common with the more normal tierce mixtures of the time. Casson's influence, as far as large organs was concerned, was much more than his actual output. Relf Clark's article in the BIOS Journal, while interesting, had the disadvantage that the author, by his own admission, had virtually no experience of Casson's organs. While this has little to do with the question of mixtures, since so few Casson organs were of a size to contain them, I think that a little seeking-out would have improved the article by giving an impression of what the small instruments, of which there are hundreds dotted around the place, actually sounded like or what they were like to play. Relf Clark's home turf is relatively sparsely populated with Cassons (unlike mine - Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, where money was scarce) but there are several within a short drive.

Thank-you for this. I've just listened to and watched the Great G minor played at Groningen by Leo van Doeselaar. Fabulous organ, great performance, but when it comes to elaborate gestures, swaying about and jowl-shaking, he could take a lesson in demure deportment from Virgil Fox. Tierce de Picardy at the end of the Fantasia, I notice.... I look forward to more of this series and this player.

Handsoff's congregation is lucky. There are churches around where the organist would take just as long to register a 7 stop one-manual as he reckons he would to sort out NDP