ajt

Haven't we been over this before, where many of us agreed to differ? Personally I think that many cathedral choirs today have a much more pleasant tone than the 50's/60's King's sound, which I always think is forced and almost damaging.

Ah just read NPOR - wind pressure dropped, and more of the casework pipes put into use in last rebuild. That might explain why I thought the OD's weren't RH but are now... I'm also assuming that dropping the pressure would help lighten the action a bit?

Have they definitely decided that the Wolverhampton OD I & II are Renatus Harris then? I seem to recall there was a certain amount of doubt. I used to play this organ a fair bit whilst at school up there - carol services and the like, and remember it as the heaviest action I've ever played...

I always wonder about this... Are bellows not the thing that the choirboys used to pump on behalf of the organist (no rude comments, please) to provide wind, and thus unlikely to be found in modern organs? Or are belllows the same as reservoirs? Or am I completely confused?

Try 50 years without any major work...

I have a friend who only has thumbs. The rest of his fingers stop at the first knuckle. Both hands. He's still a very good pianist...

A good friend of mine, and former "boss", was in the habit of going out to greet the bride and asking "Now, are you absolutely certain this is what you want to do right now?". I remember at least 3 occasions where the mic was left on, and I could see the groom's stress level rise many millibars. Fortunately he didn't do that to me on my wedding day. He did, however, ask Rosie if she was going to take me to be her wife, as well as trying to get most of the actual marriage bit in the wrong order, and crying most of the way through the rest of the service. All in all, we got off quite lightly.

The irony of the above question is that, although my instrument is one I would call "large" for a church instrument, both Liverpool and Westminster make it look tiny...

I'm not sure this is true - I'm trying to summon the courage to apply for lottery funding myself I sympathise - I'm in the same boat. New blower, humidifier, all leatherwork (wind and actions), all electrics need replacing, plus the whole thing needs a bloody good clean. Some of the console electrics are, apparently, Skinner from about 1935, all installed in 1956, untouched since. Unfortunately, the state of the organ reflects the state of the church, also built in 1956, and has been totally untouched and unloved since. It's not going without a fight though.

Apart from Liverpool and my place, what other large organs have still got ISG's? Westminster?

You can now the gauges work again... They literally are Morris Minor gauges, too - Smiths fuel gauges with a slightly different face plate, I believe. But yes, you don't intuitively know where the shutters are, but, of course, once you get used to an instrument, you can a) tell by the tone just "know". Perhaps David Wyld can explain how they work? I've never really understood the engineering side of it. Very long slow controlled crescendi are easy with it. A big bang is easy with it, but probably not as easy as with a balanced pedal. Open a bit - play - open a bit more - play, etc, is much easier with it than the balanced variety - just give it a quick kick when you get chance, and it'll open a bit at a time.

David, e-mail them to me, and I'll make them available for you...

No problem - you can also show them what it looks like: Cor Anglais - http://www.laudachoir.org/organ/gallery/large-23.html Orch Oboe and Corno - http://www.laudachoir.org/organ/gallery/large-25.html

Depends on the tremulant. I like a subtle tremulant - not too fast, not too deep - with my 8' harmonic flute ; sounds very natural. A very slow tremulant can have quite a good effect too...

Here's a recording of my Cor Anglais. Apologies for a) bangs and creaks (recorded at the console, player heavier than the stool would like) poor playing c) choice of piece - it was on the top of the pile for some reason http://rubbra.no-ip.org/solo_reeds.mp3 First is Cor Anglais, then Orchestral Oboe, then Corno di Bassetto, then Swell Hautboy. Big bang between Corno and Hautboy is the swell box shutting.

I'll try to do you a recording of mine (Willis III) over the next week . It's like a smoothed out, richer Orch. Oboe. Not as smooth as the Hautboy on the swell, but not far off.

Only *very* slightly, like a quarter tone. But yes, I can see that would be a problem, although I would assume that it'll be adjustable between the sharper and "normal" pitch.

This will be handy - when I worked in the cathedral school, I used to have to accompany school services, which we held in the Lady Chapel, on the chamber organ. I'm not sure why they want to have an installation in the nave, except, I suppose for accompanying concerts, as the distance to the main organ console is quite large. The acoustics aren't brilliant, no, but the organ is wonderful. Andrew Lumsden has a CD out that he recorded just after the most recent H&H rebuild - well worth listening to ; some "standard" repertoire (Crown Imperial, GTB Elegy, Elgar Sonata, Bridge), some less so - Jacob and the Angel. The Crown Imperial is a very good rendition - crisp and quick.

Forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is a free reed?

Because, for a lot of us, we have to worry about not waking up the offspring, or the neighbours, or suchlike, so headphones are very useful. Trouble I find is that I hate playing both my crap old electric organ and my digital piano, because they're not gratifying to play - they feel fake. So I don't, therefore I never get any practice in. The harpsichord's ok, but it needs a lot of time spending on getting it working properly, and, even then it has a "fake" feeling - cheap plastic keys...

Blimey, that is interesting. I don't think I would even have considered checking whether the "big" names were accredited before inviting them to come do work on my organ. But, I would have done before giving work to any of the lesser knowns. I would liken IBO creditation to the farce that is the CRB. Having a CRB clearance doesn't really mean much, but it does mean that if something goes wrong, then the employing body can point out that they've taken every reasonable precaution not to employ a known offender, and pass the buck to the authorities. Having made sure that a smaller firm with a less obvious reputation (i.e. that the PCC hasn't heard of) is IBO certified, should they prove to do a less than satisfactory job, the decision makers behind award the contract can rest safe in the knowledge that they've taken every reasonable precaution, as opposed to hiring someone on the strength of some work they say they've done.

Thanks for this Pierre - I enjoyed following the other links too, particularly the St. Sulpice...

I rarely use it. I did use it, however, in my audition for the job... By mistake. I was on swell strings, went to open the box rapidly, got the general cresc instead. Bang - 3 auditioners blown out of their seats (in front of the pipes)...

They tend to have quite a backlog, so I'd wait a couple of weeks. Tony Newnham may be of more help...

Sounds like St. Mary's, Soton right now...