sotto
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Posts posted by sotto
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Perhaps a little off topic, but I attended evensong in Gloucester Cathedral yesterday evening. The least said about the (girls) choir the best (unbelievably bad) but the hauptwerk organ sounded absolutely fabulous. Obviously the unique Gloucester acoustic helps. What is the sample set?
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11 hours ago, Contrabombarde said:
That sounds rather lovely- how does one arrange such a thing?
Though having heard the organ many years ago I remember it for being mostly silent. How much of it works currently?
Most of it was working, it was very loud! I was encouraged to book an afternoon slot following on from one of Ian Tracey's lunchtime recitals so that I could hear the organ from the body of the hall too, overall a fantastic experience. There was a booking link on the St Georges hall website, I'm not sure if the link is still there, but you could always make an enquiry.
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My avatar photo was taken during a paid for organ experience at St George's Hall a couple of years ago. Absolutely fabulous experience, from memory I think I paid around £200. Liverpool Cathedral (anglican) offer an experience but it's considerably more expensive at £500.
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I found the program disappointing giving disproportionate amounts of time to things of comparatively little interest, such as the guy with his house organ.
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I think Organ is a sufficient description, this recent penchant for "Grand Organ" seems pretentious and unnecessary to me.
I can't see any details as yet on Nicholson's web site and the new Gloucester Cathedral website (as a professional website developer) both baffles and horrifies me! Bring back the old!
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I thought the Parry was ruined by the brass which completely drowned out the organ in the introduction and largely overwhelmed the choir throughout. My strong preference is for the organ entry to coincide with the choir at the start of each verse of the psalm rather than jump in early as on this occasion. I was once asked to do that accompanying a service in Lichfield Cathedral and found it almost impossible. Apart from that I would agree the singing was excellent as was the organ playing, it was good to be able to hear so much of the Walton at the end. It was also pleasing to hear music written during Her Majesty's reign with both Jackson and Weir pieces new to me. (Mind you Purcell's "Hallelujah" still comes over as a mighty fine hymn tune!)
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I came across this one yesterday. Superb playing & instrument IMHO:
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This thread has reminded me of the old Nave Organ in Worcester Cathedral, twin cases on mobile platforms and a detached console, also controlling some of the transept pedal and "solo" stops, on a separate platform. Back in the days when the cathedral had 2 functional pipe organs!
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Berlioz Te Deum anyone?
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There seems to be a fair degree of secrecy regarding the state of the Tickell organ. I read earlier, from a knowledgeable source on Facebook, that all mains electrics and all of the electrical transmission were having to be replaced, however it now looks as if that post has been deleted! It seems a fair assumption that the organ is currently unplayable.
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12 hours ago, Damian Beasley-Suffolk said:
I went to a recital at Worcester in about 1990 which included Franck's Piece Heroique. Having been played as would be expected on the organ in the choir, the "fanfare" bit close to the end rang out from the solo stops in the transept organ, followed by an entertaining and impressive alternatim between the two to the end. Very nice. Hope it can be done again some day.
The old transept "Solo" organ was, in truth, very much more a nave Great section comprising of a very warm and full bodied diapason chorus (8,4,2,mixture) and large trumpets at 16' & 8'. One visiting French recitalist in the late 1970s or early 80s played his whole recital using the "Solo" as the "Great". The favoured place to sit for recitals was in the crossing so the Quire and Transept sections could be properly appreciated together. For service work in the Quire the "Solo" division was next to useless, where a solo trumpet was needed this was provided by the Great Tromba, or its later Possaune replacement, and the "Great Reeds on Solo" transfer, the only soft reed available being the choir clarinet. There was a distinct and challenging delay in the sound of the transept solo stops reaching the player at the console in the quire.
The transept "Solo" organ, and a few of the transept pedal stops, were also playable from the 2 manual nave console when the mobile nave (H&H pipe) organ was located at the east end of the nave. -
On 10/08/2020 at 04:07, Damian Beasley-Suffolk said:
I was looking for, but could not find, the huge set of photos of the Tickell's installation which Adrian Lucas took. Really fascinating. It showed part of the action installation, looking very similar to the computer network installation of a small company, and using many of the same components. In particular, I was looking for console photos, as the Tickell is prepared for the planned Transept division. I think the plan was to move the current Transept case from the south to the north, and then provide a full 2-manual organ within it. With the rest of the technical part of the installation, actually hooking up the console would literally be "plug 'n play", although it's more sophisticated than midi.
That was the plan for the Quire and Transept organs. Here are a couple of console photos I took when my choir were covering weekend services in the cathedral in 2012:-
The transept divisions are fully prepared for, their stops occupying the innermost (nearest the keyboards) positions on each side. This leaves the stop jambs for the quire Swell and Great quite a distance from the player which is not particularly convenient for players of my small stature!
The midi connections were used to allow 32' sound to be provided from the Rodgers nave organ as a temporary measure pending availability of 32' pipework in the transept case. (The "old" quire organ utilized 3 32' ranks in the transept case - Open Wood, Violone and Trombone.)
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8 hours ago, Clarabella said:
I notice that the electronic nave organ was used at Worcester once again.
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Dare I speak the elephant in the room and say that I thought it one of the ugliest organs I've ever seen, certainly it would not grace any room. I also found it difficult to understand why the same rank of pipes, at the same pitch, should have different names on different manuals.
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Its now clearly stated on this forum's home page that it will close in 2 weeks time.
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7 hours ago, SlowOrg said:
This is the sound of the actual cathedral organ, as stated in the description under the video, and Nicholas Freestone is playing the 3-manual remote console (also seen here). The Viscount organ has a completely different look.
The Tickell quire organ has a four manual console in a loft in the south quire aisle, there is no three manual remote console. The organ Nicholas is playing in the video is the Rodgers digital organ in the nave.
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Obituary in today's Times: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/jane-parker-smith-obituary-qnjvh7fd3
You may be amused and/or annoyed by the reference to Allen organ in the Alexandra Palace!
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Whilst social distancing at home I've been watching the latest series of "Outlander" which includes scenes in what looked like a large, and rather fine, American church with a large organ split across matching cases on either side of the quire. With a little bit of research it transpires that these scenes were filmed in Thomas Coats Memorial (Baptist) Church in Paisley, Scotland and the organ is a largely unspoilt 1890 4-manual Hill.https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N12481
The church has recently ceased to be used as a place of public worship and is now a for hire venue for weddings, concerts etc.. I wonder if anyone knows what state the organ is currently in and what plans there may be for its future?
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19 hours ago, handsoff said:
I visited Pershore Abbey this morning. The work to accomodate the new organ in the North Transept is underway with scaffolding towers in place and several men making progress with the job. There is an update from Francesco Ruffati on display stating that the work within their factory is ahead of schedule with many of the metal pipes having already been produced. The wooden pipes are next to be tackled. There is an "adopt a pipe" scheme available for anyone wishing to help with the cost. Details should be available on the Friends' website or you can visit their office just around the corner in Broad Street.
The location of the organ is quite unusual being towards the West end of the transept but on having a good look around it really appears to be the only place available without some piece or other of beautiful stained glass being obscured, especially those at the West end. I'm not 100% sure but I think that the speakers for the current electronic instrument are on the same side as the new organ but in the galleries a bit further East. The console is currently on the South side which would currently give a decent sound to the organist so maybe the new one will be similarly placed.
I think you mean "Triforium", not "Transept"!
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Well really it would depend on the liturgical date/season, but for a generic service how about:
Prelude: Improvisation or Howells Siciliano for a High Ceremony
Introit: We wait for thy loving kindness - McKie
Responses: Rose
Psalm 91 (Bairstow in E flat)
Canticles: Howells St Paul
Anthem: For lo, I raise up - Stanford
Voluntary: Carillon-Sortie - Mulet
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I recently bought a CD recording entitled "The gate of heaven" by the choir of New College Oxford, given the quirkiness of the organ its pretty good, the choir are excellent but none of the tracks are accompanied by organ scholars.
I was aware that Kings, Cambridge have an assistant Director of Music although, given that Christopher Robinson stepped in to help out after Stephen Cleobury's unfortunate accident its very unclear what their responsibilities are, but for one of the major Oxford colleges to make a recording without allowing their organ scholar or scholars anywhere near the instrument I find shocking.
Having done a little research it appears that is is now common practice for the leading choral oxbridge colleges to have an assistant organist above the organ scholars. When and why did this become considered as necessary? Surely it undermines and devalues the position of the organ scholar.
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One reason that some organists and pianists are not good at watching conductors is that it does not form a natural part of their development and training. Piano is essentially a solitary instrument that you practice alone and unconducted. By contrast if you learn an orchestral instrument from quite an early stage you are likely to be in some form of ensemble if not a full blown orchestra where watching and following the conductor's beat is an essential skill and discipline. You can not get by with staring rigidly at your music and playing the right notes, you quickly learn to constantly switch your vision from the music on the stand to the conductor in much the same way that you flick your focus to and from the rear-view mirror when learning to drive.
For anyone wishing to gain more experience of accompanying a choir I would suggest contacting your local organists association asking them to notify their members of your availability. I would jump at the chance if a reasonably competent person willing to learn and improve made themself available in my local area.
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Britten - Rejoice in the Lamb
Britten - Hymn to St Peter
Bairstow - Blessed city, heavenly salem
Durufle - Requiem (challenging for choir & organist!)
Gloucester Cathedral
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I always thought that was where the West Positive was located