ajt
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Posts posted by ajt
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If I may also be bold - as far as Steve B. is concerned, it is still probably better if he simply gives the URL for the relevant organ specification.
I have no opinion. I don't read organ specs from anyone.
Until I can find 2 organs built by 2 different companies to the same spec that sound the same, I don't find anything much meaningful in them.
I appreciate I'm in the minority here, but my view is that there's so much variation between the tonal qualities and blend of, for example, 2 different builders' open diapasons, that a spec is just a list of names to me.
Hence, I say - each to their own! If this kind of thing floats your boat, then good on you. It's just not for me, and far be it from me to ask anyone to stop doing it if someone derives pleasure or interest from it.
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Well, yes - but Wyverns do toast bread so nicely.
I would be most interested to see the instrument at some stage - if this were possible, please!
You'd be most welcome. My e-mail address should be in my Mander profile, drop me a line, and we can sort it out! Where are you based?
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To ajt - thank you for this. I will give it a try - just not tonight, since it is now 23h35. School tomorrow.
Huzzah!
No problem at all - glad to apply my day job skills to my preffered job, if you see what I mean!
There's a very helpful pop-up box - if you use the "Normal Mode" posting method, then, under the box on the left with all the smilies in, there is a "BB Code Help" link. This explains everything you can do with the bulletin board, including such delights as left, right, center justified, etc.
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If I may be so bold..........
I would suggest the Steve that he doesn't post long specifications of American organs: not because they are irrelevant or uninteresting, but because they are so very long and space-consuming. It would be far batter to re-direct us to URL's where such things can be read by those for whom such things are compulsive reading.
I think I might have found the cure for that - see the layout of organ specifications thread.
http://web16713.vs.netbenefit.co.uk/discus...p?showtopic=347
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Right, it's not perfect, but it might suit some.
You can insert a codebox in your text, which creates a scrolling text box within the post, so the overall post length looks short, but those that want to read the specs can go delve in.
The codebox is inserted by doing
some text
but putting the word CODEBOX in lower case.
Another feature of the codebox is that the formatting should come out exactly as written, so you could, if you were masochistic enough, use columns.
Here's an example, taken from one of SteveC's specs from another post...
GREAT DOUBLEGEIGEN16 OPENDIAPASON8 STOPPEDDIAPASON8 HARMONICCLARIBEL8 VIOLADAGAMBA8 SYLVESTRINA8 NAZARD5-1/3 PRINCIPAL4 HARMONICFLUTE4 FLUTECOUVERTE4 TIERCE3-1/5 TWELFTH2-2/3 FIFTEENTH2 FLAGEOLETHARMONIQUE2 SEVENTEENTH1-3/5 NINETEENTH1-1/3 TWENTY-FIRST1-1/7 TWENTY-SECOND1 CHORUSMIXTURE-V DOBLETRUMPET16 TRUMPET8 OCTAVETRUMPET4 SWELLTOGREAT CHOIRTOGREAT SWELL BOURDON16 OPENDIAPASON8 CHIMNEYFLUTE8 TRAVERSEFLUTE8 VIOLA8 VIOLACELESTE8 AEOLINE8 VOXANGELICA8 PRINCIPAL4 HARMONICSTOPPEDFLUTE4 NAZARD2-2/3 NIGHTHORN2 TIERCE1-3/5 FURNITURE-V CONTRAFAGOTTO16 HARMONICTRUMPET8 HAUTBOY8 VOXHUMANA8 HARMONICCLARION4 TREMOLANT CHOIR QUINTADENA16 VIOLINDIAPASON8 LIEBLICHGEDECKT8 MELODIA8 VIOLONCELLO8 GEMSHORN8 DULCIANA8 PRINCIPAL4 LIEBLICHFLUTE4 FIFTEENTH2 FLAUTINO2 LARIGOT1-1/3 FIFE1 SESQUIALTERA-II CIMBEL-III CRUMHORN16 TROMPETTE8 CLARINET8 CREMONA4 TREMOLANT SWELLTOCHOIR TRUMPETENCHAMADE8
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Well, I agree - I have tried. I have also tried 'cutting and pasting', or converting .xls into .rtf - none of this makes any difference. As far as I can see, this board has some default which justifies left every time.
(The avatars do not work, either.)
On my most recent specification, I did at least put the couplers in red - and italics.
If you can find a way around this problem, I would be pleased to hear it. I am also slightly bored with scrolling down three or four hundred stops....
This is a test of using the code tags:
This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box This should be a very long list in a scroll box
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Mmmm.... the Stanford is a nice piece, anyway!
And not too taxing for a first week out! Shame I had to to let the organ rest between the big chords at the end - leaky wind, and had no 8' tromba or gt mixture, (actually the tromba's not a huge loss), but, still nicer than playing it on a Wyvern!
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OK - you are welcome!
Mmmm.... I forgot that Willis also used trombi.
How about some nice Reger? Or some JSB - the B minor (BWV 544) - you could do it all on one manual (more boring, though).
Failing that, Mendelssohn 3rd - first movement. Or how about Widor - Finale to Sixth (or the Second) Symphonie - neither of these movements need any changes off registration - just tutti throughout.
Hope you find something that works OK.
Regards!
Stanford D minor Postlude in the end...
JSB's a challenge in there - sounds great at the console, but sounds a mess down the church.
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It sounds as if your new instrument is either a Harrison & Harrison, a Hill, Norman & Beard or a Rushworth & Dreaper - they have all been known to use pneumatics and families of trombi on the GO. It also sounds as if it is reasonably large.
I wish you all the best in your new post. I also hope that the stop action will soon be repaired.
Nope, Willis III. See the thread on St. Mary's, Southampton, in "General Discussion", or http://www.laudachoir.org/organ for more depressing details.
Basically, the only work that's been done on it since 1956 (bar a change of a Vox Humana for a Cimbel Mixture and a Clarabella for a Gedeckt by Willis III in about 1958), is the rebuild of the great and choir after a roof leak, but that was not a restoration, just a take it out, dry it and put it back, I believe.
The stop action I hope to get repaired ASAP, but the church has NO funds. None at all, and the general attitude is get the money elsewhere or mothball it. Any suggestions for fundraising greatly appreciated!
Thanks for the best wishes, though! I'm still trying to decide what to play in the morning!
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Incidentally, several times in my posts, I have mentioned that I can see little merit in mechanical action for large instruments. However, for the size of small instrument which I specified, mechanical action is not only entirely appropriate but is something which is constructed on a fairly regular basis by the firm which hosts this board.
And it's pretty nice to play a good one... I'd be a lot happier being custodian of a tracker than an electro-pneumatic (my last church but one was a Mander 3-manual tracker instrument - rebuild of a Gray & Davidson that had been turned EP in 1907 - JPM and his team did a great job turning it back into mechanical; bit heavy when coupled, but very nice).
My new organ (I haven't even started at the church yet - I start this Sunday!) has just lost the Great Tromba, Mixture and half the Contra Tromba due to pneumatics (burst leather in the stop machine) - much less likely to happen when you have just a few rods and slides to bring a stop on.
Nice to start my spell there with only 1.5 great reeds! (To be fair, I don't need them, the rest of the thing is so stupidly huge that it'll be a blessed relief for the congregation to have a few reeds missing)
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anybody who judges it from hearsay or a written spec and not from playing or hearing it shows their own bad taste and judgement
I'm sure you're right - I know very little about it.
But, surely anyone that designs an instrument that can't be maintained because it's so damn big needs their head examined?
My only concept of the size of the hall is from photos, where it does look huge - does the organ *need* to be that large? A serious question, I just have no idea what kind of scale this building is.
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Thank you!
They both look to be good instruments. However, I do like the sound of the 'French' description for St. George's.
I have tried N10819 - it looks to be quite reasonable.
I keep meaning to try out N17099, which has been moved to St. Winfrid's, Testwood, on the edge of Southampton - it's supposed to be rather nice.
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i entirely disagree
willis-3 cut the scrolls at the tops b4 sending out pipes for installation so
incompetent tuners could not ruin the regulation. ive had similar experience here. after painstaking professional regulating my tuner ruined it by fooling around with the scrolls. the pipes should be tuned at the wire. only exceptions r reed voicers who can achieve proper balance between top and bottom.
That was kind of my thinking too, but I'm not particularly knowledgable about nuts and bolts...
This is a Willis III we're talking about, and the tops are all there, I believe, but like I say, I don't know much...
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I've just had a discussion with our organ maintainer about me tuning the reeds, which I'm quite happy to do. But... he suggests that all the reeds (bar a couple) should be tuned at the tops, as was the Willis practice, apparently - as he's ex-Willis, he's the one to know if they did that or not!
Does anyone know why this practice might have come about, and what are the relative merits of tops vs spring tuning?
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Personally I don't see the point in revising St. Peter's organ. As others have said, the Catholic musical tradition is much changed since Vatican II, and, particularly in Italy, the organ is really only used to accompany the congregation, who tend to sing everything very slowly, in a random time signature and to their own tune, so the only real purpose for the organ is to give a starting note and to indicate that they ought to be singing now.
At least, that was my experience of about 10 years ago when I lived over there. I went to a few services in St. Peter's, and to be honest, my overall impression was that music was an irrelevance. The funniest/saddest thing I saw though, was people SMOKING in the "queue" for communion. Not that the word queuing has much relevance to what actually happens.
Does anyone know anything about the organ in the abbey at Montecassino? I played it once, but can't for the life of me remember who it was by...
re: Steve's comments - no criticism levelled at anyone here - it reminds me of the old Usenet "law":
1. If more than one English person is in a discussion, it will degenerate into Monty Python jokes
2. If more than one American is in a discussion, it will end up on gun control
3. If there are both English and Americans, it will end up discussing who saved who's butt in the war.
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I have been following the postings with interest,- I was a pupil of Cecil Williams in the early 1960's and also assistant organist for a while. He was responsible for me taking up music professionally so I have fond memories of my time there. I would love the opportunity to renew my acquaintance with the instrument. It would no doubt bring back memories, some of which I probably would prefer to forget,- blind 'full organ' pistons to name but one!
I seem to remember Cecil Williams saying that he was heavily influenced in his tonal design of the instrument by the organ in All Saint's, Portland Place. As a music student in London I certainly remember a very close resemblance in the specification, including the inclusion of the dulzian & waldhorn reeds on the swell!
The gt, Gedeckt & sw. Mixture were already in place by 1959 but I remember CDW commenting on the change. The choir was designed to include a 'solo' section, I believe funds would not run to a 4th manual.
Great to hear from someone who knows something about the history of this instrument!
What was your impression of it when you were playing it regularly? I'm particularly interested in the wind side of things - I've heard claims that the blower was never large enough to support full organ, but I find that hard to believe.
These days it's still a lovely comfortable console (I would hope that apart from wear and tear, it's no different from what it would have been in 1959), but remarkably unreliable, largely because of electrics, but increasingly because of wind too. (The swell chests are splitting, someone's punched holes in the pedal leatherwork to stop ciphers, and the concussions are all split, plus the blower is knackered, and the the trunking from it has crumbled)
I've just come back from a practice session, where the OD2, Tromba 8', Gt Mixture and Gemshorn were all "missing" (wind problems at the stop machine end), the Sw. Clarion comes on about 5 seconds after being drawn, the low pressure Sw stops have a D# and middle A missing, etc, etc. And then there's the electrics... Sw->Ch is permanently on on a couple of notes (very very very annoying!), Sw Oct -> Gt comes on randomly, and none of the pistons are adjustable any more (which is annoying for me as the new incumbent, because I don't particularly like having mixtures on early in the piston range, if you see what I mean) ...
If you'd like to come and renew your acquaintance, you'd be absolutely welcome any time! Where are you based?
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OK - but I am willing to bet that no-one has ever been asked to play EH No. 3 at a wedding....
For those without English Hymnals, the hymn in question is:
Behold the Bridegroom cometh in the middle of the night....
Actually, I have...
Friends of mine got married in April - they requested (at the last minute, as always) a medley of "unsuitable hymns" for the signing of the register. So we had EH 3, Through the night of doubt and sorrow, Fight the good Fight, etc.
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This could be from a belgian. Excellent!
An organist here told me a woman had choosed for her passage there
"Allumez le feu" (Put the fire) from Johnny Halliday as music.
Even more belgian...
Pierre
I've had Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash) and Smoke gets in your eyes at Cremations before now.
I've also had (several times), Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, which is normally fine, except one family requested that I sing it too. Singing the Life's a piece of shit line wasn't entirely comfortable for either me or the vicar!
I also once had a *videoed* cremation. I couldn't for the life of me understand why. Very odd.
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It reminds me of an almost identical organ in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Southampton. Made by Hall and Broadfield circa 1968. Vile thing.
The one in Portswood? Console down the front, pipework stuffed somewhere up above amidst the brickwork?
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Now there's a voice to die for. I might be interested in this too, but what sort of speed does he take the first movement of Wiederstehe doch der Sünde? I'm still looking for my ideal performance of this. Gardiner is too fast and mannered for my liking, but the old Thurston Dart/Helen Watts version is too slow and indulgent. What I want is something gentle, but flowing.
Right in the middle of the two, tempo wise. Sort of sit back and let it flow over you. Get it!
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Bach Cantatas, Volume 24, I believe. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...7157310-3724442
Actually, the whole set (they're not all out yet) are very very good. I have Vols 1, 8 & 14, 24. I can't find fault with any of them. Simply beautiful. The other one I recommend is the Andreas Scholl recording (Harmonia Mundi, I think) of the Bach Cantatas for Solo Alto.
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That's the one! If it's on CD, I'm a-getting it!
Bach Cantatas, Volume 24, I believe. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...7157310-3724442
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Did anyone else hear Cantata 146 this lunchtime with the organ obbligato in the Sinfonia (aka the first movement of the D minor harpsichord concerto) played on J. L. Krebs's old instrument in Altenburg castle? Wow! Nothing apologetic here: for once the solo organ was allowed to be the King of Instruments. What a sound! What a performance! I was completely gobsmacked.
If you missed it, it's no.63 on Radio 3's "Listen Again", about 50 minutes into the programme.
I have it on CD - bloomin' marvellous - assuming you mean the Gardiner recording?
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I took down once that might have been a contender. It was in St.NMary's Radstock, Soemrset. It had been installed by Rushworth and Dreaper in the 1970's with tubular-pneumatic action!!
Ah, the magic words... Rushworth & Dreaper. I don't think I've ever played an organ by them that I didn't despise. Not really really bad organs, just soulless, pointless things.
Is anyone able to contradict me and point me at a good example of their work?
Layout Of Organ Specifications
in General discussion
Posted
Nothing I can find for that, I'm afraid!