David Drinkell

I've looked at the Thiman a few times but never been moved to learn it. I've played Porter-Brown - not too impressed - and Lang comes in useful as well as being easy. IMHO, the only piece which compares with the Cocker in terms of effect and general jollity is Hollins' 'A Trumpet Minuet'. I suppose that, strictly speaking, it's not meant for a Tuba, though. Trotted out the Cocker yesterday morning. It went down well, as always.... I shall be ordering the Heywood.

'Resurgam' seems to have gained a measure of popularity in recent years. I've never tried it, although I think I have it lurking somewhere. Looking on IMSLP, the Three Preludes on Psalm Tunes appear to be quite attractive. The first one is based on "Martyrs", a splendid tune little known to those who haven't lived with the Church of Scotland for a period. It has certain sharps in brackets ('for those who like their mode diluted'). The second one is on "London New", perversely in D flat. Like the Whitlock Scherzo, why complicate a piece thuswise (to say nothing of the Willan Passacaglia!)? The third is a toccata on the Old Hundredth. I will download them tonight and see how they sound.

I was interested to see the various comments about it not being "organ music". I don't find it any less idiomatic than a lot of stuff from that period. Re the mention of New College, Oxford - it never fails to amaze me how much sounds really good on it. Being really cynical, I suppose one could argue that the only thing it's suited to is baroque music played the way people thought it ought to go in the sixties. I suppose it just bears out the idea that a good organ is a good organ, and it is a fine conception, well carried-out.

I think it's established beyond all shadow of doubt that the Sonata was composed for the Hill organ in the transept. The belief that it was written for the Hope-Jones - stated in Clutton & Niland's "The British Organ" - failed to take account of the date.

Personally, I like the piece and keep meaning to learn it! I guess it's a matter of taste. I agree with you about the Britten though. I love most of the rest of his output, but I have a great deal of trouble getting the P&F to make sense.

I had this brought home to me by personal experience. When I was 14, Francis Jackson let me sit in the loft while he accompanied Evensong ("Me in G", he said) and let me play afterwards. I didn't find the Tuba particularly devastating (at this time, the organ was shrouded in plastic during major restoration work to the building and several registers, including the other tubas, were disconnected). Some twenty years later, I took Belfast Cathedral Choir to do a week's summer residency at York. On the Sunday, I played, from the Nave Console, after the Eucharist and the Tuba nearly blew me off the stool.

This was off-topic in the old thread, for which I apologise. As Tony pointed out, the effect of the big chords depends on the particular Tuba and, as also pointed out, it might be better to play them on a chorus of other reeds if the Tuba doesn't sound right. As forumites will probably gather, I was referring to the passage following. It's easier if the Tuba can be brought down to the bottom manual, but the page turn doesn't help, either! I also like the Whitlock Paean (and, very much, the Fanfare), but I have an affection for the Cocker (I think many of my generation played Francis Jackson's recording on "The King of Instruments" LP many times). It's very jolly and goes down well with the punters. I don't think any other Tuba Tune quite matches it.

Received notification today that Dunblane Cathedral is looking for an organist. Matthew Beetschen has put in a long and distinguished stint there.

It's treating them like Weapons of Mass Destruction that causes friction. Referring again to the St. Giles Rieger, a full congregation getting stuck into 'Ye gates, lift up your heads on high' needs a lot of organ to support them, but a soloist singing 'In the bleak Darke' needs something subtle. It's a trial when visiting organists forget the subtleties and overdo the bombast. I may be guilty of over-generalisation, but Americans seem to like a lot of noise, especially when it comes to hymn accompaniments, and they perhaps continue the Dutch tradition of trying to have a bigger and louder organ than the place down the road. They also like lots of soft soap too, though, so you might find several sets of celestes, lots of variety in the flutes and a good variety of colour reeds. You could spend a whole day at St. John the Divine, New York City, just exploring the soft work, and that's not a particularly huge instrument by their standards.

There's a difference between experiencing the whole range of an instrument and blasting the bejaysus out of it for extended periods. To get down the south quire aisle here, one has to pass through "the tunnel", a panelled passage with bits of organ above and on each side. I ask players to exercise discretion when there are visitors in the building, especially in that part of it. In extreme circumstances, I would go to the console and push a few pistons, but I haven't had to do it yet. If I were trying the Wimborne organ while the building was open, I would make sure there was no one in the immediate vicinity of the chamade before letting loose on it. It tends to be forgotten that large organs have a wealth of quiet registers and effects. As an example, I would cite the Rieger at St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh. It is a mightily powerful beast when unleashed, although there's no Tuba to misuse, but at the other end of the spectrum there are some fabulous quiet noises. One could spend a long time exploring these. I did, courtesy of the late Herrick Bunney (who some years earlier allowed me the same privilege on the old Willis). When I came downstairs, the custodian thanked me and said I was the first person to try the new organ who hadn't indulged in long periods of full organ. Now, I certainly did let it rip in various ways at various times, but I didn't indulge in prolonged Armageddon effects, and I did a lot of weaving about on the lovely flutes and strings. Moderation is the key, plus not attempting the Cocker unless one is sure of that awkward bit in the middle.

I notice that the NPOR entry for Bude Haven includes the line "Electro Mechanical action for sops and couplers". Opens a whole new window on choir-training, doesn't it?

Luckily for me, I've rarely had complaints about excessive volume - the cathedrals where I've been in charge of the music have been somewhat off the beaten track. There was one young local fellow at Belfast who, despite requests to the contrary, persistently indulged in volume levels which would have made Cochereau duck. The final solution with him was to turn off the blower at the mains.... A study in contrasts. At St. Paul's, one has to get permission, and a key, to use the west end reeds and risk the wrath of the souvenir stall staff. When I was at St. John the Divine, New York, with the Belfast choir, we had a whole Sunday afternoon free to roam about that amazing building, and the staff (who are based at the west end) said, 'We hope you're going to play the organ, and don't forget to try the State Trumpet!'. No criticism intended of St. Paul's, by the way, they have a terrific challenge keeping things civilised with the number of visitors passing through and it would be hopeless if the west end reeds were being used. Dorset, where pcnd lives, is a place with which I'm not very familiar, although I've been a devotee of 'Moonfleet' since I was a kid. I was down that way a few years ago (just before they put the Skrabl in at Lyme Regis) and made a point of visiting Wimborne Minster, but just as a passing visitor. Lovely church - I can understand why one might need a shut-off to stop the chamade reed parting the hair of unsuspecting tourists. It's only a little bit above head height as one walks under it (the Trompeta Real at Bristol University is sited - vertically - just behind a grille at the same level as the top row of stage seating, maybe six feet away from any occupants of said seats. I reckon it could cause heart failure to the unsuspecting). I hope to make time soon to visit that part of the country properly. Ask away about St. Anne's - I will do my best to answer any queries.

There was a picture and photo in Willis's house magazine 'The Rotunda' around the time that the organ was installed at Wallasey. Very glad to report that Harrisons' have commenced a complete restoration of the outstanding Norman & Beard organ in Colchester Moot Hall. There were two very well attended public sessions last week when William McVicker explained the nature of the work and the importance of the instrument, described by him as 'a hidden treasure'.

I remember tremendous kindness being shown to me as a young organist by people like Francis Jackson, Allan Wicks and Simon Lindley. I determined then that if I ever had the charge of a large and/or interesting instrument I would do my best to allow access to it. If the best in the business were prepared to take trouble, I felt I should do the same. Thus, with the Willis at Kirkwall, the Harrison at Belfast and the Casavant here at St. John's, the console is/was left open (an interesting object to look at, and sunlight is good for the ivories) and the vergers, guides, etc, let know that visitors are welcome to play. After all, the worst they can do is make an awful row. I also think that it's part of one's call as organist of a church to be in contact with other organists, for mutual encouragement and learning.

This is really sad news. May he rest in peace, and may his work be continued.

Kilkhampton Parish Church is well worth trying, although it may not be too close to you. One of Roger Yates's best. The Methodist Church has an intriguing Father Willis three manual chamber organ with seven speaking stops - multum in parvo. Sadly, the Nicholson/Yates at Newquay was destroyed in a fire some years ago.

Breathe sigh of relief! A list that I can play......

Hmmm - yes, the first rule is to make sure one knows the stuff. If one is actually practising it at the venue on the day, there's something amiss. In a famous venue, it's much better to prepare for a concert when the place is closed, although I guess this isn't always possible.

Speaking for my own experience as a young player (some time ago!), I was certainly inspired by the good players. I probably learned a thing or two from the bad ones too (e.g. when playing a Binns organ, make sure you know which octave couplers are on. They are often controlled by a line of draw-stops above the top manual, and some duffers would have them all out at an early stage and forget about them). Any intelligent student will spot the difference between a decent performance of something modest and a hopeless gallop through something beyond the player's ability. Over-use of the loud stuff can be tiresome, but I tend to be indulgent. Not everyone has trumpets also and shawms and it's only human to enjoy making a racket when the opportunity arises. It helps if there's not a whole lot of other folk in the church upon their lawful occasions, though. Gordon Reynolds (of blessed memory): " Whatever you've done with the job now you've got it, you were once the boy whose toes curled up in their shoes when the Full Swell came shining through the diapasons."

Wow!

I joined the Bristol Association as a student and, later, the Ulster Association. I learned a lot, met some good company and made many friends. It's not all organ-crawling. I remember some splendid talks, among them some from organ builders such as Dennis Thurlow and Kenneth Jones. The Ulster Association's Belfast Organ Day introduced a number of young people (and others) to the organ, facilitated open console sessions throughout the city and finished with a celebrity concert at the Ulster Hall. The event has been repeated on a regular basis and has done a good deal to bring the organ to a wider public. I can't see that anything but good can come of organ-crawling. We have to come to terms with the fact that no organ is the same as any other organ (Malcolm will probably know, in his neck of the woods, the HN&B organs at Hambledon and Waterlooville - identical on paper but so different in effect). I am so grateful that, as a young teenager, I got to know so many different styles of instrument and how they should (and shouldn't) be played. At that time (seventies), we young folk were beginning to question the accepted wisdom that North German was the thing and anything between Bach and Messiaen wasn't worth playing. Exposure to all sorts and conditions of instruments and players helped me tremendously. I get rather impatient sometimes with patronising comments that organists are more interested in the instrument than in the music played on it. While there may be a number of anoraks around with hobby-horses that seem to blind them to anything else (aliquot mutations, any tuning but equal temperament, shallot design, stop-key shapes,action types, etc), an interest in the instrument is not necessarily an impediment to musical interpretation of its repertoire - rather the reverse. On the other hand, I have come across those who, while being technically gifted, have lived their lives in such rarified atmospheres that a change of period, action or console leaves them gasping. Strange how they then blame the instrument.... Another thing - organ-crawling brings one into contact with some fabulous history. I was born in England's most historic town (Colchester was a city when London was a few huts in a swamp, where did we go wrong???!) and within easy driving distance of the finest collection of medieval parish churches in the world. An inspiration in its own way. (Change-ringing is a good way of getting round, too, but tends to involve more beer). I owe an enormous debt, too, to The Organ Club. I joined when I was thirteen, and was able to play a vast range of different instruments which would not otherwise have come my way. There were, among others, organs which seemed to point the way to a modern type of instrument, historically informed but not clinical imitations - St. John's Islington and St. Giles, Cripplegate spring to mind from those days. The older members were always very encouraging and it was instructive to me to hear and see others. I went to Paris with the Organ Club in the days when Cavaille-Coll was not too fashionable and local organs were being rebuilt in the style of Cliquot. I came back, having had a crash course in how to play Couperin, Grigny, Nivers, etc. At that time, few people seemed to have any idea about notes inegales, registration or the actual sound these composers had in mind (an FRCO, for example, who didn't know how to register a Cornet). I also heard Langlais at St. Clothilde, Fleury at St. Eustache, Grunenwald at St. Sulpice, etc, and the instruments at the Madeleine, Rouen, Chartres, etc. But the indelible memory was the sound of the instruments at Houdan, Andely, St. Gervais, etc, playing the repertoire appropriate to them. I was in South Germany with the Organ Club, too. Some of the modern instruments felt a bit suspect (the then new Walcker at Ulm, for example), and in retrospect I think I know why, but I also remember seeing tears in the eyes of hardened campaigners at the sound of Weingarten (let no one imagine that this is a stunt organ). I would encourage all student organists to join their local association and to take advantage of every opportunity it offers. They should also investigate the Organ Club's new initiative to encourage young organists.

pcnd - Aren't you forgetting Calne Parish Church?

For what it's worth, in the late seventies an ex-Walker man who had at one time been responsible for tuning Chichester told me that there wasn't much wrong with the old organ although it was antiquated and only really effective east of the crossing, and the only reason he could think of for the Allen being there was that a good deal of restoration of the fabric was due to take place and it was thought better to mothball the organ pending a thorough rebuild after the building work was done.

There's the Father Smith organ case at Durham, too. I wonder if the front pipes are original. I read somewhere that they were washed down with beer once a year to give the impression of having been varnished. I've had beer that tasted like varnish, but it wasn't brewed near Durham.... And the 'Dean Bargrave' chamber organ at Canterbury (is it actually in the Cathedral itself?).

I remember the Allen shortly after it was installed. The Organ Club went there and attended Evensong. I shall never forget how many pairs of eyes turned aloft at the electronic Tuba came on in the Gloria to the Nunc of Murrill in E. It was one of those "alterable voices" produced by inserting a sort of rich tea biscuit in a slot. I thought it sounded rather good, and certainly a lot better than most toasters (although I was impressed by a neo-classical Ahlborn temporarily installed in St. Peter's, Eaton Square, around the same time). In latter years, after the Mander rebuild, one of the music staff at Chichester told me that the Allen had the advantage that it could deliver a lot of varied organ tone in different parts of the building, so it was useful to have it when the need arose.