bombarde32

Maybe not a normal tierce at 1-3/5', but do you think that they might have meant a substitute for a gross tierce 3-1/5'?

My goodness, you are indeed right! Perhaps what I should have said was in order to realise Whitlock's music on smaller organs, my scores (previously owned by another organist) are littered with octave coupler requests, presumably in order to achieve the tonalities which Whitlock was after. I think that these pieces have to make the most regular use of octave couplers of any that I can think of.

Percy Whitlock - a prime example. The octave couplers are used and specified lavishly in his music.

I do agree, in part with you, Alastair, and I was at the opening recital given (I think) by Piet Kee. It's just that these days we are (maybe just I am) less tolerant of the excesses of the style of voicing which this particular instrument is endowed. Having played it on a few occasions over the last thirty years, (goodness, IS it really that long!) I find little to commend it, really!

......or wings to a trout!

Wooden string type pipes can also be very nice too. Gray and Davidson were rather good at these. They often tended to put in a 16' contra dulciana in pedal organs of a moderate size. They also borrowed the bottom octave as the bottom 12 notes of a swell double diapason - in essence, a bourdon. This was useful as it didn't fill the Swell box up with large 16' bourdon pipes. The change in tone quality was noticable in single notes, but in chorus, pretty undetectable.

Agreed, but sometimes starting transients can be SO tiring after the first 5 minutes or so! The most endearing quality of 'chiff' is that of a complete variance between different notes of the rank, and not a uniform 'noise'. The organ in the concert hall of the University of Southampon is a classic case of the 'noise' category, in my opinion!

Nor here! A most pointless exercise, I must say. When will companies realise that a website works for them 24/7. It is their 'shop window'. In my experience, lack of care and attention to a website is uaually lack of care and attention in their daily business generally!

Those are the wisest words I have heard for a very long time!!

Heroic Actions, I would say - the show must go on. Sod the organ! If it was in that state, it would be very unlikely that it mattered what you used to repair it!

I too have played at the English College, (having a friend in the seminary) and I also remember the tuning to be somewhat wayward, possibly due to the organs' close proximity to the ceiling in the chapel - God it's hot up there. The organ in the 'other' seminary, the Beda college is also a Tamborini, with a judicious amount of extension, I recall! You might look in at St Paul's without the walls - I played for an ordination there a couple of years ago. Strange instrument, and much much smaller than you would imagine for such a huge space. Reeds were unusable. An interesting experience!

Chris, if you have the time, take a trip into Winchester Cathedral, and there you will see a 32' Wooden Contra Bombarde, built (I think) by Hele. It has a huge 'rolling' sound, giving a most splendid effect, entirely appropriate to the huge building in which the organ is situated!

And that, I think, should be that: Please, chaps and chapesses, we only end up stirring and possibly reminding some of us (certainly myself) of arguments and things which we could well do with forgetting! Pretty please, with sugar and a cherry on top! END OF!

I'm glad that someone at least seems to have the same failings as myself! I don't understand it either! I thought that it was just me...

Good grief - that's quite astonishing! Thanks for that! Now we need to see a divided pneumatic organ with a run of tubes like that? All the rage in years gone by - there must be some left with long, long runs! Anyone?

If there is more reverberation, the standing wave problem would be reduced significantly, avoiding the 'one note bass' problem with the purer bass stops with which this organ has always been afflicted. I also believe there to be a 'repositioning' of some of the larger stops to accomodate the available space wich is now less than before...

You're absolutely right - I was racking my brains to remember the performer. Both the performance and the sound had a big impact on a nipper like me who had only ever heard the local 4 rank extension organ down the road!

Ok my five are (two with orchestra) 1. Symphonie Concertante by Joseph Jongen: Micheal Murray at the Ruffatti Organ in the Louise M Davies Symphoniy Hall, San Francisco USA Quite the most exciting organ and orchestra recording ever! 2. English Romantic Organ Music: Graham Barber at the Truro Cathedral. Wonderful music, expertly played on one of the finest organs in the country 3. Guilmant (symphonie No.2) & Widor (symphonie No.3) works for organ and orchestra: Ian Tracey and Jan Pascal Torteiler BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. A huge sound in a huge space - remarkable! 4. J.S. Bach as played by Michael Murray @ the Beckerath organ (1965) of St Andreas-Kriche, Hildesheim. Wonderfully disiplined Bach playing and a wonderful organ on which you can hear every single note - wherever it is in the chord! 5. An old recording of the organ in the Victoria Hall, Geneva - I have never heard a sound like it - before or since!

It was all going so well........

Apparently, according to the 'Telegraph', Sir Simon Rattle has stated yesterday, after taking part in a sound test in the new hall, put out a statement saying: "We've just had the first day here. It has actually been a real pleasure to play. It was always an honour to play here but it wasn't always a pleasure." Vladimir Ashkenazy, the Russian conductor and pianist, also endorsed the hall after a test. He said: "I think it is a better sound, I think the orchestra feel it is better. It is easier to play and everything sounds more attractive, more musical. There's more reverberation, too." I think that with a more resonant space, the organ will not sound anyway near the same as it used to. There is a hope that it will sound cleaner, brighter, but much less 'forced' than before. The bass stops will 'bloom' into the building more effectively, creating a better sense of power and granduer (not out and out volume) one hopes.

I disagree with this. You have absolutely no hope of establishing a forward situation if you are going to rallentando at the end of the playover. What speed will resume? Try this technique in a large building and you will fall on your sword.

Ha Ha, but seriously, it was an enormous full-toned large Walker stop - almost an organ on its own. Apparently the story (from one of the parishioners) is that this particular organ was originally going to be a three manual instrument but only the these stops were ever inserted. Even the console is 3m sized. Sadly, I think that the organ has gone. What a shame. It made a huge impression upon me as a teenager.

Enjoy your trip, and tell us about it afterwards!!

Let's hope that (in my opinion) it will sound more like an organ and less like a screaming collection of organ pipes voiced absolutely flat out. I remember the so-called Major Bass 16' on the pedal being the most ineffective and useless waste of space ever!

I thought that Norman was a total advocate of 'the pipe organ at all costs' brigade - well, not seemingly when his holiday in the Algarve is at stake, if what you say is true.