More dull strings

Nope, no leather here...! There certainly were English quint mixtures - take the Grove Organ at Tewkesbury, for example. Also the Lewis/Harrison at Ripon.

The positive at Liverpool is very good, though I must say that I would have loved to have heard the dulcianas. I think dulcianas can be very useful - for example there is a lovely organ I know in Kent that has 5 8' flues on the manuals, Open Diap and a Stopped on the Swell, and the same on the great plus (you guessed it...) a Dulciana. The latter is really useful as a soft stop that contrasts with the other material. It is really handy when playing with the choir (people not pipes!) too. With regard to my earlier post and the response from Mr.W - the idea that the addition of a mixture enables one to "play Bach nicely" on the Albert Hall Organ is, frankly, hilarious and demonstrates a mis-understanding of the organ as an instrument in general. Beneath this 'Bach Mixture' there still lurks a monster Willis/Harrison - no additional pipework will truly make it suitable for playing Bach (didn't we learn that lesson the hard way in the 60's and 70's?!). As it is was it played Bach perfectly well - but with a 19th century English accent (and, on this organ, how could one expect anything else?). It's all marvellous of course (these monster organs are glorious fun to play) - but no one has yet provided a coherent justification for the new stop... That it will 'make the organ suitable for the playing of Bach' is a bizarre claim that resulted in the destruction of many a romantic instrument 30 years ago. Ps. Please don't accuse me of being a 'conservationist' for decrying the new mixture...perhaps you mis-understand the term.