bombarde32
-
Posts
371 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by bombarde32
-
-
Greetings to you all from CC Cathedral Oxford, which is where I shall be spending Christmas day until we can get away home to snowy Hampshire. I have got Boxing day off tho'!!
-
Greetings to you all from CC Cathedral Oxford, which is where I shall be spending Christmas day until we can get away home to snowy Hampshire. I have got Boxing day off tho'!!
-
The ongoing work on the Midmer Losh organ at Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City is being kept fairly well under wraps and the ACCHOS website advises that up-to-date news of the restoration is being restricted to ACCHOS members. Which is sad.
They're not likely to get much in the way of donations or enthusiasm adopting that attitude then are they?
-
Splitting hairs, but according to the Steinway website, they leave Hamburg at A=443 and New York at A=440. Can anyone hear the difference?
-
The picture of Ms Skeaping with strategically placed Play Button just added to the pleasure...
P
-
Peartree has just (this year) had some fairly significant action work undertaken.
Portsea just managed to stop the tower falling down (and I mean falling down, not just looking a bit scruffy); there are huge and pressing problems for the building.
It is positioned very high up, nearly in the eaves of an intensively centrally heated building; would a new pneumatic action obtained at great cost be able to cope in the long term, do you suppose, with pressures of heat and dryness - and be any more sustainable than doing the necessary work to the underactions?
"Finally, may I point out that there isn't really that much evidence to suggest the organ will be used more with other instruments in the future..."
How interesting.
Youth music at the church is incredibly active and there is no reason to suppose that involvement with other groups, whether symphony orchestras or worship bands, would not be on the cards at some point, and the resources of those groups are unlikely to include people who have access to oboes and clarinets at various pitches. It is a terrific venue with an acoustic to die for and a fantastic performance space. Taking deliberate steps to make the organ unuseable with brass and woodwind would surely be utterly retrograde, particularly bearing in mind the six-figure cost involved in doing the job properly - cutting every pipe down at the lip, restoring the original cutup, resoldering, adding more metal to the length, etc etc etc - which is surely the only way to go if doing the job at all.
I am not attempting to promulgate a situation where the haves have more than the have nots. I am simply observing that every other shop in the street is closed and empty, the churchyard and surrounding area are awash with people sleeping in doorways, and that talk of restoration has been mooted for 20 years at least.
Surely it is better for everyone (including the organ) to take a pragmatic approach and raise £10,000 to make it work well without further deviation from its origins (which will be far better preserved by leaving alone than by going for drastic work by the cheapest tender - see 'historic work' elsewhere), rather than £450,000 to make it last no longer with, in all likelihood, less usefulness to the parish, and less reliability.
Far from being unhelpful or dismissive, as you suggest, I am merely suggesting that the area, the parish, the organ, the musicians and the music may all be better served by adopting a policy of careful and economical preservation, rather than reconstruction on a massive scale.
I completely agree with you, David. Far better to make the thing playable and enjoyable to play and to listen to in it's current state than to 'restore' it back to a previous (probably doubtful) incarnation.
-
You could have said exactly the same of Peartree church, circa 1990. Thankfully, they took the plunge, HLF was prepared to put up the money and they've now got a solid little organ in a fully sustainable state that shouldn't need work on the action every 15-25 years. They're proud of their organ and they've attracted a number of good organists at the church, with a large and enthusiastic choir.
To be frank, Peartree was a compromise and rather a waste of money. It really bears little resemblance to it's original design. The main stumbling block with all of these 'restorations' is to decide at which point in an organ's life is chosen as the restore point, without compromising the the instrument's ability to play the liturgy effectively. I think that the Peartree 'restoration' failed wholesale in this regard.
David Coram is quite right - With Peartree, after the restoration, The action was so heavy that it was really difficult to play - and the action was appallingly variable due (according to the tuner's book) to the different pallet sizes, particularly on the Great. It was almost impossible to play anything fast with any finesse with the Sw/Gt coupler engaged, and the Widor 5th toccata was almost out of the question, and that is silly. It is interesting to note that the present organist has arranged for another organ builder (not the ones who did the rebuild) to considerably modify and 'lighten' the action. It is now certainly lighter than it was, although I don't think it can ever be called good!
The church may be proud of the organ, but the incumbent is indifferent to it and the liturgy, resulting in the choir leaving and are now singing with other churches in the Southampton area.
Inspite of your rose-tinted rememberances of Peartree, the reality is somewhat different!
-
Vox Angelicas are not always tuned as celestes, as on some organs they are tuned as on pitch ranks - often there is no other stop with which to 'Celeste' them.
-
You hold your views, and I'll hold mine! Then we'll all be fine. There is good and bad in every organisation, I'm sure you'll agree.
I didn't express any personal views, good or bad, my friend; merely facts.
-
what about the worst examples?
Romsey Abbey (without the Nave add-on)
-
David Coram said........."If you put ritual and correctness and proprietry over concerns of humanity, spirituality and community, then perhaps the Freemasons are for you".
I do hope that David is not indulging in a bit of Freemason bashing, although it rather looks as if he might.
I would like to point out that the Freemasons as an organisation sponsor financially at least one child in virtually EVERY single Cathedral choir in the land............
He might like to wind his neck in at this point.
-
I found the system at Portmouth cathedral (Anglican) very good when I played for the services the other Sunday. Having not played the organ before the day, I found the system most congenial ( and the instrument, too, for that matter) with a good range of pan/tilt and zoom. It didn't matter exactly where the choirmaster had positioned his stand, as I could 'navigate' easily to it. The monitor (which 'flips' down from above your head) is clear and neither too small or large. Easily the most sucessful permanent installation I have used.
-
I do really like that 'Willis' sound with the 17.19.22 mixture - although not so happy (as in some instances) when the WHOLE thing breaks back an entire octave at mid C - 10.12.15 which injects a rather 'challenging' 16' quotient into the chorus. When accurately tuned and with a good solid 8' open supporting it, I find it a most satisfying sound (Truro, St Mary's Southampton etc.)
-
I recall Sydney Watson at Christ Church ending a Bach fugue by pulling out the No 1 OD and simultaneously pushing in everything over 4ft. Whether this was just him, or a part of an older tradition, I cannot say.
Paul
No way could that ever happen now in that building!
-
I did a wedding a couple of weeks ago where the Bridal march (sic) was called BRIDLE march!
Unbelievable!
-
Although it may be an unusual choice for a funeral, for me this song recalls many happy childhood memories. At Sunday school in the early sixties, we used to sing Jesus wants me for a sunbeam a lot. It may not be not great music, but surely in the category of “hymns for very young people” it's up there with the greats like Daisies are our silver.
Mark, I really loved that hymn. It's the first one I really remember from Sunday School. Looking back, 40 odd years on, it really made me think about the beauty of nature and God in what was a most childlike way. Our music teacher was more interested in our elocution between 'are' and 'our', however!
-
I rather like the rugger connotation for Messaien's motet.
-
That was an excellent post, Colin!
-
I remember MD-ing a production of Little Shop of Horrors in a small theatre with abosolutely no room for the band. We eventually found a place for the keyboards, timps and trumpets in the bar which was good, come curtain down! It worked well though, and those musicians didn't have to dress up!
-
The Cathedral organ on which I was organist was solid state with a moveable console. It regularly used to act up playing wrong notes and it would select wrong stops also. Pulling the Swell 15th would regularly give the pedal trombone - but playable on the great! The organ has since been completely replaced.
-
I would be saddened to see Cynic disappear. Now, I have absolutely no idea what prompted his and Mr Mander's upset, but I have always found his posts a good deal more entertaining than some on here, frankly. He has an obvious wide and illuminating experience which I for one am interested to share.
I also see little difference from commenting upon the latest Ford Mondeo (for example) than the latest Kia or something on a car website - even a manufacturers one. If something (a pipe organ, a car, a washing machine, an electronic organ) is truly dreadful, British or otherwise, then surely it is often stimulating for others to discuss it - folks may have a different experience of said item, and by providing debate allows interesting and often noteworthy discussion.
.....or have I totally missed the point?
-
As a Trinity/GH and AB accompanist, it is often necessary to photocopy music for the facilitation of page turns, and I have never been pulled up on it.......
-
[Paragraph deleted by moderator]
Willis instruments with the infinite speed and frustration pedals have Morris Minor fuel gauges showing how open the shutters are. A little more refined than half a dozen lights, and a doddle to wire up with basic bits from a scrapyard or motor factors.
.....although the guages usually are wildly inaccurate and give little information as to exactly how far open the shutters actually are!
-
I have used a small B/W door entry camera (B&Q - about 20 quid) mounted on a microphone stand with an existing old computer monitor for this very job. Works a treat!
Kings Nine Lessons
in The Organ
Posted
I believe Michael Heighway (organ scholar at CCC Oxford) was playing for this gig - at least he got let off the four other services in the Cathedral that day (a rather grumpy Sub organist was heard to say earlier in the day...........)