DQB123

Aha... so the hostility to dear ol' CC is not universal even on this distinguished forum. Was it not dear Virgil who observed (of New York organ recitals) that as the fugue subjects came in one by one, so the audience members left two by two..... Methinks that as a musical instrument, the organ needs every friend it can get, and CC is a veritable apostle bringing GOOD NEWS that (like a good funeral) it needn't be dire and deadly. Only thing is, we don't seem to see much of Olrac these days here in the frozen wastelands of the north....

Curious.... since there is no mention of the work on the console on either the Harrison website or the Abbey's website, are we to assume (living in the frozen wastelands of the north) that the whole thing is merely a rumour??

Golly gee!!! What has Carlo been up to lately to deserve his name so taken in vain on this forum....???

Do we assume that the Abbey now has its console back in place? Haven't seen any reference to this on the H&H site.

I once played a note on the tuba stop on the four manual console in the east end. It took quite a while for the sound to arrive. Guess I can say I've played the organ at Westminster Cathedral!!!

A moment of idle speculation caused me to wonder what would have been the result had the Royal Albert Hall been built in the 1920s or 30s. I wonder if we would have had Willis, or would Midmer-Losh have been brought over from America....

Our OA was established in 1996 and quickly membership reached 100+. But now we are finding that whilst membership remains high, attendence at the meetings has declined to the extent that at the last two meetings attendence was eight and four respectively. At Committee I have mentioned that there is a tendency to advertise a meeting in the monthly newsletter [as being an evening in the company of] "a famous William Hill organ" or "an interesting Conachar organ". How many organs can be interesting and if they are interesting then why are they interesting? In the early days we visited a Norman & Beard organ in a large chapel. Before the meeting I researched some of the history of that firm and started the evening with a talk about their activities at the turn of the 20th century, together with a discussion of the character of the instrument that we were viewing, after which came an open console session followed by tea and biscuits. Our Association has its share of folks who dominate the console some with their Lefebure Wely books of trash, and others with their lengthy Franck Chorales. The basic ground rule was that we are not here to comment on people's playing abilities, and that if criticism should ever arise, that would be the time to close shop. We also had a strict "chucking out" policy -- the meeting was declared over by 9.30pm and people left promptly, in order that people such as keyholders would not be kept waiting around. It was good in the early days, but it seems that the group has run out of steam and now finds itself in terminal decline. Is it worth soldiering on? Or is there any shame in recognising that all groups have their day, after which comes closure.

I thought David Wells was looking after this organ.

That the job is being done in phases is most likely Hobson's choice! I don't think that organ comes high on the spending priority list of Liverpool City Council, and from what I gather, it has been very hard work to get any money to spend on it. I note with interest the choice of Nicholson. Are we to assume that its maintenance has passed into new hands? dqb

Having been the founder the organists association in the Chester and North East Wales area I have greatly enjoyed this thread, particularly with reference to the Chester organ which is certainly everything other posters to this site say it is. I gather that the incumbant organist would greatly like to see it rebuilt in the not too distant future. Having played it on a couple of occasions, it is pretty thrilling and the 32 reed positioned to the rear of the case is the musical equivalent of a pneumatic drill. All great fun nevertheless! Since the theme of this thread is The Worst Organ in the World, I was wondering whether or not to nominate the organ in Prestatyn Parish Church for the award of worst organ. On reading the message by Lee Blick, I take courage and nominate the organ by Leonard Reeves as being the worst organ I have ever encountered in my life! It was a fairly respectable moderate sized two manual by Abbott and Smith of Leeds which was greatly enlarged with a "new" three manual console, which is the most hideous thing you have ever seen. For a new console (I am sure a "rebuild" of a Compton console - though why on earth they had to interfere with the console at all, I will never know!) It has flat front keys for the positive manual which to my eye looks very odd on a modern console. Further it has a bunch of thumb pistons, all of which are un-marked as to what they are for. The whole thing looks dreadful. But consoles essentially are not what makes the noise, and just across the chancel is where a bonfire needs be lit - perhaps with the console as kindling. When the organ was enlarged to its present 40 stops, no increase was made to the wind trunk, so there is the most enormous wobble. This occurs on flutes and reeds alike across the organ. As a curious aside, the Vicar at the time that this organic abortion occurred was famous for his Guinness Record book attempts, and at the time of the opening recital, the church hall contained a swimming pool with the largest jelly ever made. To wander into the church hall was something of a surreal experience to see bunches of fridges with their doors open attempting to set the jelly. (The things we do for Jesus!) I guess that just as the jelly wobbled so doth the wind wobble in Prestatyn. The so-called positive organ is a selection of second hand pipework of all varieties and due to the wobbly wind is almost impossible to tune. The bellows have been screwed down to solve a windleak problem - and right now all the old pneumatic drawstop machines are bursting, and the sound boards knackered. Even the organ tuner who now maintains this hideous monstrosity says that there is nothing that can be done to improve it! Oh and in a spec of 40 voices there are but two reeds - a trumpet unit on the great and a cornopeon on the swell ... (vox humana, clarinet, oboe strings and celestes???? What are they????) Essentially the organ is in such a state that I can only see replacement as a reasonable possibility. With a diocesan quota of £65,000 to pay and a rapidly reducing congregation, it is certain that the next organ will not have pipes - if there is ever a next organ. Do you suppose that BIOS has a certificate for the world's worst heap of junk?

The following are available on Ebay: Ebay number 8373766316 The Electric Organ by Reginald Whitworth (third edition 1948): An historical introduction and a comprehensive description of modern usage of electricity in organ building. The book contains one hundred and thirty four figures and a large number of specifications of organs electrically operated ("including many of the most important organs now erected") Ebay Number 7383793557 The Harrison Story by Lawrence Elvin. This is, of course the history of the famous Durham firm of pipe organ builders (Harrison & Harrison of Durham). This book, a first edition, was, when printed in 1973 an edition limited to 1000 copies. Ebay Number 6591524255. Copy #420 of 1,000 of Bedos. "Buy it now" for $385.00. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...Y_BIN_Stores_IT Ebay Number 7383789511 The Edition De-luxe of Audsley's monumental The Art of Organ Building which was limited to 250 copies. These signed copies are printed on vellum. The two volumes are the size of the large old family Bibles - so they are heavy. They could be mailed, but I guess they would be very expensive to post. The condition of this set is fair - they may need some restoration. There are many excellent plates. The set in question are number 25/250 and they are signed by the great man himself.