Goldsmith

The remaining AH stuff on the Abbey organ is delightful, esp the solo, as you say. But there's more to it than just the Bombarde division. The Large Open was removed, and the Trombas revoiced as Posaunes. The re-modelled great chorus, together with other additions/changes, leave an instrument which is an unsatisfactory hybrid. But I still go to hear it lots; there are echoes of former greatness... You're spot on about the Cathedral, those Sylvestrinas are ravishing. Cheers, I'll look out for the new St Paul's disc.

Context is all. Yet more full-organ after a big noisy piece can be dispiriting. As ever, it's an area where organists could learn from musicians. Sorry, other musicians. Lieder singers generally judge this one pretty well. I'm not sure about a couple of well-known players, who often opt for twentieth-century American pieces of a rather whimsical nature. These can really ruin a carefully-wrought atmposphere... I think there's a broader issue here tho', about programming generally. Good programming seems a rarer skill than good technique.

Stunning. If you like that sort of thing. It's at the West End, and speaks boldly into the widest nave in the UK. An eminent author described it as 'the supreme colourist's instrument'. The 32' reed is apocalyptic. It's really worth hearing live; I don't recall a recording that does it justice. The late-lamented Summer Recital Series was the best in London: international performers, meaty programmes, even an interval. Lots of memorable occasions, including a great performance by one of this board's contributors, in his RCO performer-of-the-year year.

But in a sense that IS what happened! The 1933 Harrison re-build is the restrained British version...

Pedigree is always tricky isn't it? The RAH is essentially a Harrison instrument. As I understand it from the copious amounts written about the RAH organ following its restoration, AH added to the organ and left most of the FHW stuff tonally unaltered (a generalization, but basically the case). Our hosts have made a cracking job of resoring the AH instrument (plus later additions). The uniqueness of this organ comes not merely from its size but from the variety of soft colours, the 'orchestral' division etc. The huge warm 'orchestral' sound is also pretty unique, I'd say. But as others have said repeatedly, you do have to hear the instrument from the right place in the Hall. The arena or opposite stalls will not do. About St Paul's, I'd agree with an eminent contributor to this board, that the recital audience here hears the dome organ, a large echo division (chancel) and some west-end chamades. Very disappointing. This is an organ which only sounds intelligible as a whole in recordings. As a fellow-Londoner, which would you rate as our finest instrument? I'd go for the RAH (it's a childhood thing). Notre-Dame de France is pretty wonderful, and often overlooked. And if you like big acoustics... And for the most distressingly mutilated organ in London? Westminster Abbey. Very sad. (And how about St Margaret's next door...? )

I think you may have underestimated the turnout; the capacity, after all, is over 6,000... As in most large buildings, where you sit really makes a difference. I've found that you need to be in the organ's half of the RAH. From where I sat in the Circle (by far the best place IMHO), every single detail was audible. David Goode's programming really follows Sumner's (I think?) sound advice: building up to full sounds only towards the end of the recital, giving the ears a chance to appreciate lighter textures, and giving a real adrenalin burst at at the finish. And what a beautifully-judged encore. Who'd have thought it?

Are you suggesting any similarity in the degree of subtlety employed in CC's art?

All these value-judgements are very dispiriting. I much prefer Arthur Harrison to FHW and William Hill. As a Londoner, I get to hear the RAH organ in the flesh several times each year. From my point of view, I could describe SGH as 'tonally inferior', but I don't. And as for Hereford, I don't think the additions of the 1970s really did any favours to the character or 'pedigree' of that particular instrument. And how about Canterbury...?

Hey! Calm down, Alsa! David Goode's recital was exactly what one might have expected from this player: superb. The Russian items were beautifully played, but not inherently more interesting or illuminating than British repertoire of the same period... I used to work at the RFH, so I'm well aware of the pressures on such venues. I regret the way the organ is treated as a 'misunderstood elderly relative at a party' in the Proms programme. There are certainly no piano/violin recitals at the Proms, but the violin is heard in almost every concert. Get my point? I'd be willing to sacrifice the solo recital for some serious concerto/concertante rep besides Poulenc/Saint-Saens etc. How about a BBC commission or two? And why shouldn't we 'bang the drum' for the organ? Last year the Proms held a violin weekend, the RFH holds a yearly 'Rhthym Sticks' drumming festival etc. etc. If the public does not get the chance to hear the organ in the context of mainstream concerts, then how will anyone get the chance to fall in love with the instrument in the twenty-first century?

The RAH authorities are doing a fine job with the wonder in their charge. Mr Kenyon, planning supremo for the Proms, is another matter.

JF at the Abbey on Tuesday was fab. I think, more than anything else, simply because he chose to play music that really suited the instrument. The two previous recitals were very disappointing. The last particularly so, since it was recommended in The Times(?) as gig of the week. I suspect many organ-music virgins will never attend a recital again. At one point, I longed for a handful of wrong notes simply to wake me up. It's all very well to champion 'new' (!) music, but who in their right mind would end with the Gowers Toccata (without even an encore to raise the spirits?)! The brochure is excellent as ever, tho' sadly no console pic (but this year with spec). I'm looking forward to Hans Fagius next week.

Wormwood Scrubbs certainly does. The Compton speaks majestically from the West Gallery, detached console on the chapel floor, complete with 32' reed, and well-maintained (at least when I last played it, about five years ago).

Tony, Useful information, the NPOR is a great resource. About ten years ago I played for a wedding at St Saviour's RC Parish Church, in Lewisham High Street (London SE). The organ was a 3-manual instrument, all in good nick, bearing a Gray and Davison nameplate. I can find no trace of the Church (built c. 1909) on the database. I wonder if anyone else has had a more recent encounter with this instrument? Cheers, Matthew

The Puritan backlash... I'd be like a small boy in a sweetshop

No, I was being a bit provocative. Tho' my point was really about the amount of really world-class music in a small area, in such concentrated quantities! The Liverpool organ is a marvel, but I do feel it's been tinkered with of late. I reckon HWIII's best work is Westminster Cathedral, myself.

I loved it. And great to hear such a kaleidescopic tour of the instrument. Very well-planned programme: serious German first-half, then some real town-hall stuff, followed by something epic. The Schmidt was replaced by the Gershwin, noted on the RAH website a couple of months ago. A good move, I think. Without wishing to raise hackles, tho' there is much good music outside London, not many other places on the planet where I could hear a superlative Figaro (under Colin Davis) on Wed, Simon Preston on a leviathan Edwardian marvel on Fri, and the Palestrina mag primi toni (sung by the finest choir in the world?) at West Cath on Sunday. Just for starters... (Particularly as I'm one of those curious people who doesn't drive a car...)

All mentioned, plus: Role-Play Exercise. The candidate will outline an appropriate response to the following scenario: During the post eleven o'clock mass voluntary, an elderly and beligerent member of the clergy will emerge from the sacristy, thump the music-desk and shout loudly into the candidate's ear these or similar words: 'They're trying to say the bloody Angelus'. Use of the Tuba is not permitted.

Just wondered if anyone else heard Simon Preston at the RAH last night, and if so what they thought. Could anyone identify the encore? Cheers, Matthew

"Yorkshire Dales are almost an organ desert" Goodness, almost as much as London?

Erm, I don't think I have mis-understood its ethos at all. I simply don't like the sounds it produces. Intelligent and informed persons can disagree on such matters, ChCh being a good example. There are badly constructed and ill thought-out organs, but there is no 'bad' style. As a student I presided over a small, tonally unaltered Hope-Jones (now sadly gone). A very pleasing musical instrument; don't believe all you read about RHJ's work. History, after all, is usually written by the victors...

I absolutely agree about Wimborne: the first organ I ever played. Horrible. Put me off its type for life... The ChCh organ certainly seems to rouse the passions in those that hear it. I much prefer the Klais at Smith Square, but that building has an acoustic. I don't know Derby Cathedral but St Brides is great, Downside even better. (The old GTB recordings on the BBC Compton come over pretty well too.)

And how lovely to see that M. Aubertin finds space for the much-maligned Dulciana...

I heard the organ after the latest rebuild, with its new CC-type chamades, which are about as far away from the KCC tuba as you can get...

Well, to be honest I was using a bit of your old rhetorical hyperbole in criticizing English organs with chamades tacked-on away from the rest of the instrument, but I think I've done this to death now... I've only heard the NDdeP organ live once. I turned up in Paris a couple of years ago, and by chance Thomas Trotter was playing in a series entitled 'The English Organist', and we were treated to the Bairstow Sonata... I was used to various Cochereau/Latry recordings, so in the flesh the instrument amazed me; such an elegant and lucid sound. The Tocc Adag + Fugue in C came over brilliantly. RD was spot on.

Erm, wasn't Boely born in 1785...? Which means that he was playing Bach... from about fifty years after Bach's death? And I think you've illustrated the subjectivity point pretty well if you think the Willan is the only piece of romantic British organ music worth playing... (and I didn't even mention Parry, Stanford or the Elgar Sonata). I agree about Francis Jackson tho'. So that's two things. (Except that the Diversion isn't unique. How about the Langlais Dialogue sur les Mixtures?)