headcase

Simon Preston's Alleluyas sounds impressive but is quite straightforward. H

The Carus edition puts a cautionary accidental in, so C# is deemed to be correct. The Critical Report says that 'Cautionary accidentals were tacitly supplemented'. H

This came across my screen earlier today, via orgue-l. I was very saddened to be telephoned by Flentrop this afternoon with the news that the excellent and amiable Cees van Oostenbrugge, their managing director, has suddenly died. -- Ian Bell London

The SKinners' School, Tunbridge Wells is a state grammar school for boys with a pipe organ, a two manual Bryceson & Morten tracker, now in desperate need of repair. This was a transplant from the nearby St John's Church, which replaced it with a larger Walker organ in the early 1900's. Bennett Memorial School, Tunbridge Wells, a state co-ed comprehensive, has a Walker Positive, still in fine fettle. Gravesend Grammar School for Girls had a II/P HN&B c1925. Damaged by fire in the early 1980's - it was salvaged and rebuilt and presumably is still there? H

Commonly, reeds will go as high as g 56 for an 8ft rank, with flue pipes thereafter, voiced brightly. I do know of one Clarion 4ft by Marcussen, which breaks back to 8ft pitch in the treble, instead oof just continuing up in flues, which struck me as quite a good idea. H

He did indeed conceive the scheme for Radley, though the case was designed by Herbert Norman. At the time (1979/80) the conception was excellent. The execution sadly less so. H

Readers may wish to note the recent passing of Justin Sillman. He was twice an employee of HN&B, as a tuner's assistant, before pursuing a career in social work, then later assisting Frank Fowler in the Hornsey office. Later, trading under his own name, he specialised in organ hire and provided a very small sprinkling of instruments, the largest being at Turville Parish Church (of Vicar of Dibley fame). A person of considerable intellect and good humour, he was certainly one of the organ world's more 'colourful' characters. Latterly he withdrew from the organ scene and pursued interests in local politics in East London. He died after battling cancer of the stomach and brain. H

The first psalm is a chant by W Bayley - set to Psalm 56 in the Parish Psalter - though whether that is what is being sung I know not ! No luck with the second psalm so far...sorry. H

Has anyone charged with educating the young and impressionable seen this short animated film promoting the organ ? www.danmagic.org Any thoughts on how this will be received ? Over to the armchair experts ! H

Can anyone tell me the church/organ used in the 1956 film Sailor Beware ! Whilst waiting for the bride to arrive, the organist is seen having a crafty fag at the (horseshoe) console, playing Jesu, Joy on a seemingly endless loop. I've looked at the Organs on Film website but it's not listed. Thanks curiously, H

My vicar (ex Kings Lynn) suggested to me that the organ builders 'live next door' to the church, which presumably means that they can lavish much care and attention to these ranks ! H

There's a website http://www.allfab.co.uk which suggests that they are still alive... H

Can't be of much help but two fairly substantial works are available in .pdf format here : https://urresearch.rochester.edu/handle/180...y=Middelschulte Beyond my humble abilities, though ! H

Apologies if this topic has appeared before... I listened to Sunday Half Hour yesterday and noticed appalling changes in volume (compression?), so that any increased loudness in the music resulted in the volume being momentarily attenuated. I have noticed this before, especially on ClassicFM, where, for example, the last chords of the Widor Toccata are horribly reduced in impact. In choral music, any soaring treble lines induce the same effect. As a keen audiophile, I find this really frustrating. Can anyone explain to me why this has to be so ? I tried listening via DAB and on FM but found the same result. H

Adrian, I'd just like to add my voice of thanks for your step by step accounts of the installation. It looks magnificent...and if it sounds as good as it looks... I've particularly enjoyed the artistry in your photography and the care you have taken to get shots so nicely aligned. The final set are really quite special. Do I take it that the Vox Humana has double-blocks in the French style (sometimes referred to as 'nut and ring') ? The long boots make it look as though it is. H

Inspirational LP's... Organ Germani playing Bach at Alkmaar Sanger playing Widor V at Clerkenwell Herrick at St Paul's (mentioned previously) Andre Isoir playing Vierne Bb min Toccata and Duruflé's P & F on ALAIN, Messiaen Transports de joie at St Sernin - just FANTASTIC! Orchestral Previn/RPO Vaughan Williams 'Wasps' overture Loris Tjkeknavorian/LSO Rimsky-Korsakov's Scherezade Choral Royal Music from St Pauls (still available from Guild on CD now, I think) Rose/Dearnley/Choir of St Paul's/Trumpeters of the Kneller Hall + timps Parry's I was glad - eye-watering ! All residing in the attic with my turntable. Maybe I should fetch my ladder... H

Cynic, My heart goes out to you... Set free pistons ? This sounds like a Solid State Logic Piston System with SCOPE facility. The idea behind scope pistons is that any piston can, in effect, be thought of as a General Piston. One can decide at the console which pistons should work which stops. To do this, there should be provided a button or switch marked SCOPE. So the method would proceed something like this : (For argument's sake, let's assume you wish to set Great Thumb Pistons) Press SCOPE button to switch it ON Draw ALL the GREAT speaking stops Press & hold SET button...press each Great thumb piston in turn Release SET button Press SCOPE button to switch it OFF Now the Great thumb pistons will only work the Great stops and combinations can be set in the usual way. (Now let's assume you wish the Great thumb pistons to act as General pistons) Press SCOPE to ON Draw every stop on the organ, including couplers Press & hold SET...press each Great piston in turn Release SET Press SCOPE to OFF Now the Great thumb pistons will be generals affecting all stops/couplers To find out the 'scope' of a piston Press SCOPE to ON press a thumb piston whichever stops come on are the ones within that piston's 'scope'. Press GEN CAN check the next piston to see what moves GEN CAN etc. Press SCOPE to OFF If only one stop is assigned (scoped) to one piston, it is usually interpreted as being a reversible. With SSL capture actions, it is possible to set the piston scope differently on each memory channel, so it is probably wisest to keep some channels with pistons that work in the conventional manner. Personally, where I have fitted SCOPE enabled systems, I have put the SCOPE button tucked away discreetly, so that the uninitiated cannot accidentally cause mayhem ! There is a way of copying the scope settings of one memory channel to another, but we'll save that for another day. I hope that's cleared that up. Sounds more complicated in writing than it is to execute. If you can't find the SCOPE button, you're stuffed ! H

... could you work into your script Kirk's immortal command "chamades on stun." ?

In case anyone has overlooked it, Simon Preston features in Radio 3's series of Artist Focus this week, 10.30-11pm. Perfect bedtime listening. H

This came across my screen today. The second annual Andrew Chamblin FRSA Memorial Concert will be given by the internationally renowned organist Simon Preston OBE HonFRCO at 7.30 pm in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford on Thursday 26th June. Mr Preston will play an hour-long programme of organ works by J.S. Bach, which will also feature in his Proms performance later in the year. Admission is free and everyone is welcome. There are no tickets required and no reserved seating. Please contact hacmemorial@yahoo.co.uk with any queries. H

I was interested to read in C&O magazine of our host's new organ for Cripplegate and to see Ian Bell's favourable comments on orgue-l. A lot of thought has been given to making the organ user-friendly for the partially-sighted/blind. However, I couldn't convince myself that stops which talk back to the player were necessary, particularly on an organ of this size. Surely one would draw a stop, listen to the sound and make a mental note of pitch and timbre ? In a small organ this would be perhaps five minutes work. I'll concede that distinguishing coupler functions might be more tricky. So - on a small instrument, is Sat-nav-voice necessary, or have I overlooked something obvious ? Would it be more useful on a larger instrument (say 25+ stops) ? Any views ? I might just add that I imply no criticism that this facility has been adopted - just interested to know if this is a direction worth pursuing. H

I have many old cassette recordings of organ music that have a good deal of sentimental value to me, so I was delighted to discover a useful bit of software that can be used to transfer them to CD. The software is available in a fully-working trial version (which gives 14 days unlimited use) at www.polderbits.com It is incredibly easy to use. I made a successful transfer within minutes of downloading the software. One needs to be able to connect a cassette recorder (or other device) line-out into the PC soundcard line-in socket. The recording is made first onto the computer hard-disk and can then be burnt onto CD, in a variety of formats including SACD. The website above has some good FAQ's and accurate, helpful tips about the connecting lead needed. Fantastic - I'm off to burn some more CD's ! H