David Coram

I did say it was BROADLY speaking! A very obvious example would be J C Bishop, who was almost obsessed with designing out Tierces and bringing in whiffly Clarabellas whose tone would mask the poor 3rds of equal temperament. The point I was driving at was a general trend at that time and in this country towards the ante-development of mixture and choruswork (starting with the dropping of the tierce) until we eventually reached a point where they were eliminated altogether, with exceptions obviously (including Willis, and the 'arrison 'armonics). I stand by this being a reasonable general assessment of what happened in the UK, whatever Pierre says...

Not really; a very crude way of making the point that our generation is not the only to have fads. The fad in the 1860's was to respond to the new-fangled equal temperament by ripping out tierces and supressing sounds regarded as "horrible, screaming and shrill". I love your organ, Colin; it's fantastically well built, and I bow down in awe and wonder at the integrity of the craftsmanship, but I think it's daft on the one hand to allow the music to become subservient to the rule-book with that mixture break (especially bearing in mind its buried position in a dead building) and on the other to be content with all the modern trappings of balanced swells, floating pan wind regulators and a Willis II pedal reed. Please don't take offence - I didn't name any names but just couldn't think of a better example of what I was getting at... I'm sure there are dozens...

That seems to sum it all up pretty perfectly. As well as performance questions - there is the question of future organbuilders needing to have historical models. What I really fail to understand is why new instruments are built with so many anachronistic features. To me, a good historical organ is one which addresses musical as well as historic questions. An example of a good one might be Jesus, Oxford - nice choruses, sensible mixtures, plenty of period features, but also newer developments, like a clever means of giving a trigger swell pedal the feel of a balanced one and being able to retain it in any position you want. You could call it Infinite Speed and Gradation. Much time was spent devising a new temperament that would allow the old music to sound great and newer music to sound good. You could also include Pembroke, Cambridge where such care was taken to make the wind sound like it wasn't coming out of an electric motor. The whole thing is alive. Yet both the instances I mention have more complete pedal departments (and compasses) than you would expect to find on instruments of that size - because the music has to come first and foremost. Examples that, to me, show muddled thinking include instances (on a NEW organ, not a restoration) where obviously flawed or undesirable aspects of a period are included on the basis of authenticity. They seem to be saying "these Victorians didn't understand mixtures; therefore we must make bad ones, to be authentic." But - the principle is not then extended as far as hand blowing and candles at the console. So why is it ok to extend purely dogmatic thinking as far as musical considerations, but to stop short of practical ones? Whose interests are we really serving then?

Well indeed. On the few occasions I've needed an encore, I usually choose something SHORT, like Peter Hurford Dialogue 1 or the Yon Humoresque or a transcription I did from a Hoffnung LP - Donald Swann's hilarious reworking of Haydn's Surprise Symphony - shortened somewhat.

As for K-E - there are loads of chorale preludes which are at least quite well known and lots of tone poem type pieces, some of which are quite good. As for Jongen - don't forget the Menuet-Scherzo, one of my current favs. Apart from Suite Gothique (from which most people only know one, or at most two), is there anything else of Boellman in existence? I'm tempted to add Niels Gade to the list.

I wonder if this isn't merely a question of perception. I have played countless new instruments by British builders. I can play several new instruments by UK firms (less than 15 years old) without going more than 40 miles from my door. I can't see a single import in the same radius - well, not that I can think of, anyway. I can see countless more very serious rebuilds involving application of real and hard-won skill and knowledge, not just an air compressor and tin of polish. I played a brand new Harrison in a local parish church only last week which was absolutely phenomenal in terms of construction quality and attention to detail - mitred seams on wind trunks, oak everywhere. I have a poster in my vestry showing new or reconstructed Walker instruments from the last 15 years or so - lots of them, and mostly big ones. There are new Drakes, Tickells, Nicholsons, Collins, Kenneth Jones, Bowers et al beyond counting to the point where most of these firms are booked up for years ahead and now turning work away. Willis are flourishing and making new instruments again. It does appear that larger and especially concert hall instruments are going elsewhere, but maybe that's because our own builders deliberately concentrate on smaller, more musical instruments and quality rebuilds, which can take up more time and effort than an entirely new instrument, and probably also require much more skill and knowledge than can be learnt on a production line. Instances where smaller instruments are going elsewhere are more unusual now than they were 10 years ago and, as sjf says, we can believe they are because the proposal happened to be the best one on the table. This is as it should be; our firms naturally have to set their focus on where most of the work is. A few can cherry pick the bits they want to do and be highly specialised. Our economy doesn't work in a way where we can set up organ factories with dozens of staff churning out new 4 manual jobs to order. If other people can - let them, because we'll either go bust trying or will end up less able to do the work we need to be really good at. In an industry like this you just can't respond to huge changes in size and output quickly enough; skills are learnt, not bought, and happily they seem also to be valued. We have learnt to downsize on a grand scale and this is why we are now widely regarded as one of the most efficient and stable economies in the world. (Elsewhere, certainly; perhaps not by our own dear newspapers. Reminds me of some New Labour protest songs heard on R4 a couple of weeks ago: Whadda we want? Sustainable growth! When do we want it? When fiscally prudent! - and my favourite - whadda we want? progressive reform! when do we wannit? in due course!) Furthermore, most of the instruments you mention are over 10 years old and I don't think there's any doubt that in the late 80's/early 90's things were probably skewed, owing in part to the perception from the preceding years that our builders couldn't create a reliable quality product, and also due to the emergence of celebrity consultants keen to be seen on the cutting edge of hip. The quality and design question marks hanging over some of these instruments - and the ensuing publicity - has been enough to give the perception we're being invaded. In truth, our own concert hall instruments haven't been much more successful (St David's Hall for example). Right now, it seems to me that the steady march of often very large Walker and Mander instruments (among others) across the globe - and the near universal acclaim with which they are being received - is enough for other nations to start questioning how level their own playing fields are (how many organs have we got from the USA??? Hexham, and...?), and if that happened any time soon it would be VERY serious indeed for the future of our firms.

ahhahhh... would you like your worms heated, or straight from the can?

Mine did the exact opposite - the back end started to stay down and bounce along the road in a most alarming fashion. Boy racers pay a fortune to get the same look. only good thing about the xantia was you could put 2 soundboards and a bourdon in the back, switch it on and up it would come to normal ride height. It also moved a large rockery from north devon to wiltshire in one go. A few months later the pump failed on the M5 at 95mph leaving me with no brakes, steering or suspension. Stuck to volvos ever since...

The Bournemouth Pavilion and countless other consoles have a great deal in common with Citroens. I used to enjoy going to the drive-through burger window in my Xantia with it raised up to max, and then dropping it down so I disappeared when they tried to hand me my change and food.

Not sure I was trying to! I was not making any comment about Jesus Coll. I just find it very surprising that there are still those who would have us close our borders and do business only within our islands, despite the massive disadvantages to all nations but particularly us, as one of the smallest with an industrial economy entirely dependent on European firms.

Sounds like a good policy. Leaving things alone does wonders. The instrument Nigel refers to is cone tuned, all in one case and pretty much at one level, in a stable building with more or less constant number of bodies and constant heating, central to the building, and all on the same wind, all of which must help a lot. I don't know whether it's relevant but the blower is directly next to the organ so it's getting ambient temperature wind rather than from a distance. (If it was on the other side of the organ, it would be smelling nicely of coffee from the refectory below - I wonder if "the smell of the music" could be the next big thing? Lavender bags in the reservoir?) In short, an ideal situation. Plus it's extremely well made. I thought flues went sharp by a lesser amount and reeds flat by a greater amount, not uniformly, as pcnd states?

Well, Winchester nick has one, a 1 manual Osmond, and according to NPOR several others do. Wormwood Scrubs has a whacking great 3m Compton.

Rack off, you filthy lags. I think it turns up on Channel 5 from time to time (remember channel 5?). A full DVD box set is available (try eBay) but I think you need a multi-region DVD player.

I doubt it... French lorry drivers, for a start.

He'd make an excellent Cymbelstern.

Perhaps they're going through the same process our own builders went through (and some still do), i.e. many years of making Spitzflotes and Prinzipals and Blockflojtdes and Scharffzimbels etc etc etc - abandoning our own, somewhat idiosyncratic notions of the time in favour of an international alternative. We should be flattered and grateful that other nations recognise the validity and importance of English organbuilding heritage - sometimes even more than we do? If we want to get THAT parochial, perhaps we should take objection to the fact that William Drake trained in Germany and holds German qualifications, and all his staff are from well outside the UK... yet I would not expect to hear a single voice stating that his organs are anything other than 100% English. Does the fact that "these bloody foreigners" made and assembled the bits on Devonshire turf qualify them as English organs?

The point about stylistic integrity of the continental builders is a good one which hadn't occurred to me. The point I think Jeremy is missing is this - if we stop importing organs, we in all likelihood stop exporting them. That means that 3/4 of the globe is closed to us. Not only that, trade relations (for tuning etc) between UK and overseas companies is not shared, and neither are experiences, practices, product development and so on and so forth. If our organbuilders are to spend a sensible amount on training and tooling to make the best possible product, then we just can't rely on internal orders. There isn't enough revenue in this small island alone. We are a tiny, tiny country. And, next time our economy hits the poop (which it will, no matter who's in charge), guess what? There's nothing to fall back on. Half the firms disappear, and the strongest survive by suspending whatever principles they have in order to survive. Before you know it we'll be back to the days of electrification and Positiving choir organs and getting away with it.

I wonder how many UK firms would give their apprentices, trainee pipemakers and tuning reps such regonition on their website. What stands out to me is the pride they have in their product.

This kind of talk is just silly. Don't forget a lot of English firms export like mad, and one or two seem to exist solely off the back of exports. The Global Economy is A Good Thing for this simple reason - somewhere in the world, there will be a customer who wants what we've got. There are two benefits: 1) Financial stability, leading to long-term investment in skills and tooling, whatever the momentary condition of our own economy. 2) Integrity and stability of craftsmanship - the choice can be made to run with a definite house style in terms of action, tonal features etc on the basis there will be a customer somewhere who wants it. No more will builders find themselves, in times of financial pressure, doing work they really don't want to put a name to, simply to keep the firm afloat. Without these two things, we are back to the 1970's - tonal ideals changing with the wind, craftsmanship and quality out of the window in order to be the cheapest quote on every job. People must choose a builder on the basis of that builder offering something they want to have, not because they're the cheapest price. Hence builders like Aubertin, Drake, our host and many others being able to have such a strong identity and thrive. By all means build a wall round your house and put out as many flags as you like! I fear you'll be left standing.

Clare, Catz (which I always liked, even before Flentrops got to it); I also quite enjoyed Emmanuel, Pembroke has its good points, Robinson has quite a passable Frobie; don't remember much about Caius, but I certainly didn't hate it; and the funny little Bishop thing at Christ's I really enjoyed playing. It made some very musical sounds. Then there's the new Swiss thing at Selwyn and the French one at Girton (or is it the other way round?) If you want quite a good practice organ and you're hard of hearing, go to Fitzwilliam. The university church organs are quite good, too. I'm not sure there's that much to argue between the two, really - Oxford has its share of ratbags, but seems to have a broader spectrum of taste (extremely conservative to extremely controversial) which may account for a perception that it's better off in general. But if you were playing works by, say, Buxtehude, Reger, Whitlock and Cocherau, I suspect you may find life easier in Cambridge, whereas Oxford would be the better place to specialise.

Then of course there was dear old Brasenose, with just a Regal on III before Richard Bower got to it. I think I would rather have a good 2 manual than waste all that money for extra keyboards and action just for a poxy Regal. Same goes for coupler manuals - I have yet to be convinced there is any benefit whatsoever in spending extra money for a keyboard that does nothing the others don't already. Surely spending the money on a simpler and cheaper system of ventils or sliding mechanisms would be of more musical use? One instrument with a tiny 3rd manual that I do see the point in is the Metzler at St Mary-the-Virgin, Oxford, which has a Cornet decompose on an Echo manual, and very aetherial it is too against the positive flutes. Also, Amesbury Abbey, with a fairly motley collection of gambas and flutes and no manual couplers doesn't appear to be much use until you realise that it makes excellent pedal upperwork (there is a choir to pedal), far better than the electric action stuff that's been bolted on afterwards. I often find myself using the Choir at Romsey as the source of pedal 8' stops though that has latterly been provided with choir manual coupling. I wonder if this use was intended by earlier builders? If Bill Drake can retain tracker action and still borrow manual flute pipes to make pedal stops (as I have seen him do in practice organs, sometimes even quinting the bottom 5 of a 16' to save space - where there is a GG manual compass, therefore no additional pipes are needed to have a 16'), then I'm sure this idea could be developed - a strong two manual scheme with a third manual, most of whose stops were taken from the pedal with the upper octaves continued and perhaps a mixture, cornet or small reed independently. On the assumption that when you're using fairly full pedal, you're more likely to be playing on the Gt, then you save money and space by doing this without adverse musical effect.

Curses. Foiled again.

Please deliver them to Southampton Docks on September 1st. I'll have a carnation in my top pocket and an extremely large van.

I can always tell how much our vicar likes the anthem by the manner of its announcement. The words "Stainer" and "Wesley" seem to be very hard to pronounce, Stainer with a degree of contempt, Wesley as a pronounced and elongated sigh of despair. We have occasionally had a visiting preacher who seems to have difficulty with composers - The Lord is King, by Boy-cie, for example. Maarrrr-leeeene!

Evening all Got to play Norwich for a week in a couple of week's time - choir tour. I'm told the organ can be a bit of a pig unless treated carefully, but unfortunately I don't have much time to get to know it - going straight in with Elgar Spirit on the first night. Anyone know this instrument well enough to pass on any tips about it - balance, when/if to use the "loud" great section, etc? All offers appreciated D