JWAnderson

This is interesting. I would be interested to know how you register this piece on the said organ. JA

Evening all, I have just returned from the church and was having a look at the Litanies with the thought of learning it. However, the sheet music indicates that it would need three manuals (G.O., Pos, Rec), but the organ I play regularly only has two and I cannot easily get access to a three-manual organ in town. So my question is, does the piece work on only two manuals or does it really need three? Cheers, JA

Happy Easter! I hope you have all hidden your easter eggs (preferably at the console, so you can find them during the services ) I just had a great Good Friday service. I turn up at the church at 10:20am ten minutes before the service is due to start, but notice as I pull into the car park there are no cars. So I go into the church and saw no sign of any service due to take place, so grab my music from the organ and go back to the car. A few minutes later I get a call from a nervous sounding minister asking where I am. I reply at the church. His reply: "Did anyone tell you its at the Presbyterian church?" JA

Have any others seen the videos of Yves Devernay performing at NdP. They are very interesting to watch, especially seeing his assistant running round the console since there was no combination action. JA

I have been thinking about this project a lot more lately and have some comments and answers to MM's reply. The original spec of the Gt was Open 8, Hohl Flt 8, Dulc 8, Oct 4, Harmonic 4. You are correct in that the original 8' Hohl Flute has disappeared, but only pipes 1-46; the top 12 pipes to top A were stoppered and used to extend the 16' Bourdon which was originally on the Swell organ. The current 2 2/3' and 2' ranks were added in 1971, but in the rebuild before that the 2' rank was an extension unit from which a Twelfth and Fifteenth stops were provided except that the tuning would have been incorrect on the 12th. The current 2 2/3' stop is placed in the space of the original Hohl Flute 8'. The Pedal Principal 16' is original with pipes 1-30 all being made of wood, something which B&F usually did(?), and pipes 31-42 were added in 1971 to create the Octave 8, the pipes for which came from a Norman & Beard Open Diapason No. 1. When I originally posted this topic I made a mistake with the composition of the mixture, not knowing that it was actually 19-22-26. Anyhow this was not an original stop and was added in the space where the Open Diapason 8' was. (I say space because I have also found out there are ventil chests instead of sliders ) You are again correct about the Swell being mostly original. The only additions/changes have been the Larigot 1 1/3' which was in the space of the original Bourdon 16', the Lieblich Flute 4' on a separate chest and the transposing of the Oboe, which is currently being re-transposed to 8', and also the removal of the Bourdon 16'. The Flautina 2' is an original stop, but is not harmonic. The Flautina 2' as it currently is sounds more fluety than a diapason, but can work well in the Diapason chorus. I think that I would leave it as it is and if a Mixture were to be installed in place of the Larigot, I would include a 15th in that. The Oboe has just about been completely returned to 8' pitch and is sounding excellent, although we have had to replace the top nine pipes which were removed in 1970s. The Oboe will be much more useful at 8', especially for accompaniment. Suprisingly the Swell is capable of a "big Swell effect" and is something that I have found very useful. I think that there would possibly be enough room to place a 3rank Mixture in the space occupied by the Larigot, however it may be more preferable to reinstate the Swell Bourdon in that space. I like the look of this, especially the idea of independant upperwork. However as I said above the Open Diapason 16 is all wood up to pipe 31 so this may or may not work. I had thought of the idea of adding an independant Principal 8' of metal which could be extended up to 4' at least. The 2' in my opinion is a bit of a waste and would be better changed as a Octave Flute 4' extended from the SubBass 16'. I think a Pedal Trombone would be a very good idea and there has been some thought towards installing a 16' & 8' unit with the Great. Sorry for bringing this topic up again, but it is something that has intrigued me over the last couple of weeks. JA

Can pipe organs to replace digital organs miraculously materialise as well? JA

I'm trying to learn the Mendelssohn Organ Sonata No.4 for a NZ Organist association playing competition in May. Oh and trying to re-learn the Franck Piece Heroique... Great fun! JA

Just thought I'd wish everyone on this board a happy new year and thank our hosts for allowing us use of this great resource. I look forward to reading more of the interesting, informative and sometimes humorous posts for another year. JA

A thought just occured: has everyone remembered to install their Tibia Santa Clausa? JA

Oh I do hope so! JA

Merry Christmas to everyone. Hope you all enjoy playing for your various services. I think I've got it easy again only having one service to play. JA

Yes, both this and the Maori Flute made of glass will be interesting to hear. As far as I know all of the pipes from the Maori Trumpet (Pukaea) all have individual carvings near the top of the resonator. Unfortunately its not "en chamade". JA

Readers may be interested in this: AKL Town Hall JA

Yes, we have an example of this in Timaru. The organ is a two manual made up from various different parts of redundant organs with the swell having Open Diap8, Vox angelica 8, Lieblich flute 4 and Hautboy 8. I am pretty sure that the vox is tuned on pitch. JA

In that case I assume there are emergency there is an emergency rope ladder?

So if the organ has a two-rank Celeste controlled by one stop knob, presumably the ranks are placed side by side? I guess this would be easier than having to add another stop action for the second rank, but then the problem of one rank pulling the other into tune would probably occur. JA

Anyone tempted by this? Notable features include: 32p stops on nearly every division (!?) Three 64p stops on the pedal (!!!?????) and for anyone who wants to be deafened in style the Last Trumpet 8p, on 200" pressure, will definately be the last trumpet you ever hear... JA

Well, I think I'd go for something like this: Great Organ Open Diapason 8 Hohl Flote 8 Viola 8 Principal 4 Mixture (12-15) Swell to Great 16-8-4 Choir to Great 16-8-4 Swell Organ Bordun 16 Violin Diapason 8 Rohr Flote 8 Gemshorn 4 Flageolet 2 Hautboy 8 Tremulant Octave Unison Off Sub Octave Choir Organ Lieblich Gedact 8 Echo Dulciana 8 Vox Angelica 8 (TC) Flute 4 Clarionet 8 Tremulant Octave Unison Off Sub Octave Swell to Choir Pedal Organ Bourdon 16 Echo Bass 16 (from Sw) Violoncello 8 Bassoon 16 Great to Pedal 8-4 Swell to Pedal 8-4 Choir to Pedal 8-4 I think most of this could be achieved using pneumatic action, but what does everyone think about the amount of couplers? I think that I may have over-coupled the organ a bit, but it could also add more flexibility? JA

More about the Norman & Beard here: http://www.ohta.org.au/confs/Sydney/STPATRICKSCath.html Interesting to see that Stephen Bicknell designed the new facade. JA

Please forgive my ignorance, but I assume by plenum you mean 8' to mixture? I tried this while I was practicing last night and adding the mixture seemed to work great in that building. JA

Two quotes from Virgil Fox: About a Schlicker 16p reed "It sounded like a rattle snake pissing down an eve's trough." and about a E. M. Skinner Tuba Mirabilis "Its like forcing an elephant through a mattress." JA

Thanks for the replies so far. Yes, sorry I did mean BuxWV137 with the pedal solo. I will be playing it on a two manual with the following: GT; 16 Bourdon, 8 Princ, 8 Stop Dia, 8 Dulc, 4 Oct, 4 Harm. Flt, 22/3 Naz, 2 Fifteenth, III Mixt SW; 8 Violin Dia, 8 Rohr Flt, 8 Salic, 8 Voix Cel, 4 Gems, 4 Lieb Flt, 2 Flautina, 11/3 Larigot, 16 Oboe, 8 Cornopean, trem PED; 32 Resultant (very effective), 16 Princ, 16 Sub Bass, 8 Oct, 8 Flute, 4 Fifteenth, 2 Octavin I realise that it would be difficult to suggest registrations on this organ without actually hearing it, but suggestions welcome. Cheers JA

Hi everyone, I am supposed to be playing this piece at a performance in 13 days, and very much to my great ability to keep track of time I haven't payed much attention to the due date so am trying to polish the piece up in a bit of a hurry. So has anyone got any tips about this piece, particularly about speed, phrasing and registration, that they could pass on? I will be very grateful if anyone has any tips. Cheers JA (I should've mentioned its the BuxWV 136)

I played an organ last night which has a straight/concave pedalboard and I have to say that it was one of the most comfortable pedalboards I've played. The only problem with the console was that the Swell pedal was just slightly too far to the right and a full organ toe piston right next to it. Oh and better not forget the crescendo pedal... great times. JA

Should've started on NPOR http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi...ec_index=S00041. Interesting specification, but no 8p flute on swell. I guess you could've just used the 16p up an octave though. JA