Paul Morley
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Posts posted by Paul Morley
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I'm not sure these kind of economic arguments really help - are you suggesting we don't embark on any new cultural projects until world poverty is eradicated?
Not at all. I'm merely recounting what I am given to understand was said at the time.
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If I recall correctly, the 80s scheme was abandoned becausethe Cathedral authorities were reluctant to spend a very large sum of money on a new organ, given the extent and seriousness of the social problems existing within the Manchester Diocese.
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(Rant alert)
But that more wedding couples showed this level of taste. Good (in the case of the output of SW, arguably great) rock, pop or blues is vastly preferable to the cheesy rubbish most of us get asked to churn out at weddings (or even on a Sunday) all too frequently.
I'm not just talking about 2nd rate folk music here. What about examples of western classical music that have become popular not because they're any good, but because they make no intellectual or emotional demands on the listener whatsoever? For me, the choice between playing anything by Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles and and, say 'Spring' from 'The four seasons' is a no-brainer.
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One of the schools at which I worked had a somewhat 'difficult' headteacher. On the day that I left, my last official duty was to conduct the choir and band at the end of term assembly. On the morning of said event, I received a memo from 'er indoors' (as the lady in question was generally referred to by staff and pupils alike) informing me that she wished to walk out of the hall to silence - this despite (or quite possibly because of) my having already told her that the band had been working very hard on some suitable exit music (I can, almost 20 years on, no longer remember what).
Five minute before the assembly started, I gathered the band members together to inform them that 'by special request', we would be playing a different exit piece from the one which we had been rehearsing.
At the end of the assembly, I waited until the platform party were on the steps, and therefore committed to proceeding, then brought the musicians in with the theme from 'The Muppet Show'.
I understand that for some years afterwards, staff at this establishment would grade minor victories won against senior management on the 'Morley's last assembly scale'.
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Edited blank - I'd better not get started
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...or well-endowed, as it were.
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Think what a large church or a public school chapel could do with such an organ!
Absolutely! Once you’ve replaced the tuba with a larigot, the No1 open with a terz-zimbel and the open wood with a rhorschalmei, you'd have a most versatile instrument.
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An impressive beast!
It was indeed. I played it a few times in the early 80s. The hall closed for worship in 1970 and was being used as a clearing-house for furniture and domestic equipment for distribution to those in need. One could gain entry by ringing the bell on the door to the back stars. One of the caretakers enjoyed hearing the organ played. At the time it was in surprisingly good mechanical order, although spectacularly out of tune. I believe that a consortium of enthusiasts were trying to find a new home for it and were carrying out some maintenance. I also remember that it was so loud (but most definitely magnificently rather than oppressively so) that I'm quite sure that if the 2000 Methodists that I mentioned in my last post had set themselves up on the opposite side of the street in the Free Trade Hall, then this organ could still have led their singing.
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The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester.
As is now common knowledge, when the massed Male Voice Choirs meet there for their annual bash, because the (once again, much-vaunted) Marcussen has proved inadequate to supply sufficient backing for their performances, even at full organ, they now hire a large electronic organ substitute (toaster to you) for the purpose.
The great irony here is that Manchester possess an organ (derelict but even now probably restorable) that was built to hold its own against 2,000 lusty Methodists.
http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=N02080
I'd be astonished if Wayne Marshall (no enemy of the Romantic instrument, it should be remembered) was unaware of its existence. Presumably, there was never any question of a brand-new concert hall being supplied with a second-hand symphonic organ.
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Don't 4m organs with three enclosed divisons usually heve the pedals placed left to right: Choir, Swell, Solo?
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"Forget it - someone had left the Tremulant on! Sorry!
R. A. Fisher"
It's comforting to know that even the most emmiment can have senior moments!
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I've seen 'Swell Suboctave coupler out of tune' in the tuning book on the console of an organ with seriously failing pneumatic action. Drawing the said stop frequently caused the Swell division to emit the most extraordinary sounds, so it's perhaps fair to say that the writer of the comment was trying to alert the the tuner to a serious fault, even if they failed to use appropriate technical vocabulary.
I once leafed through a tuner''s book that I found on an organ bench in a small village church to read an exchange of correspondence between the organ builder and the organist. The organist was protesting in the most strident manner that, despite repeated requests, the lowest octave of the Swell had not been repaired. Below this was the builder's very gracious explanation the fact that the Stopped Diapason Bass on the Great jamb operated on the bottom 8ve of of the Swell manual and that none of the stops on the Swell jamb were provided with pipes. I remember wondering if the orgabist had only recently begun to use the upper manual after possibly decades in post.
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The Choral nr. 2 in B minor makes mention of the Celeste I think (my score isn't here so I can't say for definite...)
Peters Ed:- Middle B major section: '...mettez Vox humaine et Tremblant'.
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York Minster has both Cornopean and Horn on the Swell, they appeared under these names in the 1960 Walker rebuild, but if you trace the history of the organ back though its various incarnations you will see two 8ft swell reeds with varying names going back to 1859/62.
DT
Chester and Norwich cathedral organs both contain a Sw horn and trumpet by Hill; as do the instruments in Birmingham TH and Belfast Ulster Hall. This provision would appear to have been fairly common practice in his largest instruments, usually coinciding with trumpets at 16 & 8 and posaunes at 8 & 4 on the Gt.
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Oh what the heck! (But I am reluctant to name names in public, so I won't. I am sure PM's are different though!)
Apparently, some alterations were made, without a faculty, by a "non-bona-fide" "organ builder". The consistory court ruled that the alterations should be reversed at the "builder's" expense. I also gather that the "fire damage" mentioned on the NPOR survey was as a result of an IRA bomb in a neighbouring building.....
The trouble with a ruling such as this is that making an incompetent person reverse the effects of their own incompetence could well have made things even worse - or do you mean that the 'non-bona-fide' chap was made to pay a reputable builder to make good?
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This is all very gossipy and childish...oh what the heck. please enlighten me also!
P
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Going off-topic Mike, although I have heard the Redland Park organ, I have never played it. WHat is the difference tonally between the swell Cornopean and Horn? I can't think of another organ with both, although I have known a Trumpet and a Horn - eg Norwich Cathedral. Do I assume the Cornopean to be more of a Trumpet? Also, how useful is duplexing the Horn on the Solo?
I'd hazard a guess that, on the organ that you mention, the nomenclature is to help the player work out the extension derivations. As far as straight Sw divisions are concerned, Hill generally called the loudest Sw reed on his small -> large organs 'Horn', I imagine to differentiate them on the console from the Trumpets found on the Gt. On his v.large instruments, a Horn and a Trumpet often appear.
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The next 'must have' will surely be heated benches.
JS
A Scandinavian builder may well develop these. After all, Volvos have been fitted with heated seats for about 30 years.
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Whilst still able to reply before removal...over and Out.
Nigel
Off topic; but may I add my sincere thanks to you, Nigel for your much-appreciated contributions to our discussions.
P.
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In the early 20C, Jardine produced hohlflotes that were triangular open wood from Ten.C. The example here (froM 1913):
http://npor.rcm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?...ec_index=N02254
is a very characterful stop. I would hazard a guess that a good many other similar ranks from this period and builder survive.
(N.B: this organ has undergone limited restoration in the last five years, and its future would seem to be secure. This has happened very much against the odds. The church tradition is charismatic and the organ has not been the primary vehicle for leading worship for over 20 years. Additionally there are many other demands made upon the modest resources of a congregation who do their utmost to serve a community in which there are quite desperate social problems.)
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My experience of Hohl Flutes has been almost exclusively bad. ARE there any nice ones anywhere?
William Hill's?
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The unholy racket caused when it has, is neither musical nor necessary and certainly is never required to be used in any form for French music, which is encased in my opinion - more often than not - in taste. If the sound of the keyboards (in a tutti) is louder than the pedal division, then the player needs to re-think.
Nigel, at the risk of showing up my poor taste and judgement, I once played Langlais' 'Incantation pour un Jour Saint' at the end of a cathedral Eucharist, coupling the tuba to the pedal for the final couple of bars. I think that this was musically justified.
Manchester Cathedral
in The Organ
Posted
I think that I would agree with Pierre regarding the Solo Organ - the mutations do seem a little out of place, together with the (tierce) Cymbel. Perhaps a more Romantic 8ft. flute would be useful. However, I would not advocate re-instating the Tuba Magna, although I am not sure why it was removed - was it too loud? I believe that it currently resided in the builders' workshops, in Durham - can anyone confirm or refute this, please?
The Tuba Magma was arranged horizontally on the screen and was removed when the console was re-sited.
I would contend that the 'brustwerk' stops on the Solo are actually quite useful. Just a thought; can one detect any stylistic influence when comparing the design of the Manchester Solo division (1957) and that of the remodelled Chester Solo division (1969)?