ajt

Apparently it used to be operated by a pedal to the right of the console, where you would expect to find a trigger swell. I got a rather severe telling off from the Dean for moving it during one of the evensong lessons, for a dare. It was all going well until it started to squeak on the way back down!

Ripon is a fantastic instrument - 'twas my first. The console position is good for visibility in both directions (nave and choir) and hearing the choir in the Choir, but, as you say, an absolute bugger for knowing what the balance is like, particularly if using Gt or Solo. The general rule of thumb is to use swell & choir with only light stuff on the great, and if you can just about hear the choir then the balance is probably ok. The 32' reed, whilst being an oblitatron in the choir stalls, was always a favourite of the boys - we used to relish its use, as it came out so rarely at evensong, being so dominant. Of course, the Choir itself is a nice tight box of stone and wood, which only magnifies the effect.

Ah, I misread the quote in your post - I assumed you were saying that the middle section not being brisk was the reason you weren't 100% happy with the Walcha recording. Re-reading shows that you meant the registration.

Speed doesn't bother me for the middle section. What I need to hear is the lines clearly articulated, i.e. pick out all the little tunes and phrase them properly like you would a trio.

I was thinking of St. Mary's, Southampton...

I can think of a big 3m willisIII that might benefit from rehousing...

Eh? For evensong, every single hymn is announced.

He's a genius, especially live - lots of life in his playing. David Coram and I took him to Romsey a few months ago - he just sat down, never having seen the organ before, and hand registered a stunning performance of the Bridge Adagio, from memory. Not the trickiest of pieces, but he was constantly changing the colours - really rather special.

Well, what you have to remember is that Stanford in A and G were both written for 3 choirs plus orchestra, AFAIK. I believe the organ parts came afterwards. Stanford in A is my favourite of the Stanfords, particularly the Nunc.

I keep offering mine as a nave organ I think it would do well!

I've not played it a huge amount, but Winchester has never "done it" for me...

http://www.holyrude.org/

I have never played an R&D instrument which I thought was musical or well made, let alone both. I know someone was singing the praises of Holy Trinity, Brompton as being a "good" R&D... Are there any others?

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As a nipper I used to play for a Catholic convent in Cornwall, but only when I was home from boarding school. Trouble was, it was an enclosed order, so you had the nuns behind a screen facing the side of the altar, and the congregation facing the altar. The priest never told the nuns that I was there, so there was a constant race to get the play over of the first hymn of every service started before the nuns started singing it up a 5th and 1/4 the speed...

I had to accompany Howell's Behold O God and Gloucester Service on the Collins in the Turner Sims concert hall. Yuck.

Naturally. Goes without saying. Only one though?

There's just something about the feel of certain instruments - the feel, for me, encompasses not just the mechanics of making the note sound, but the way in which the sound develops and reaches me and the sound quality itself. It's the gratification factor (or, as someone said to me earlier, "gratisfaction" - something pleasing for free) of playing - confluence of console, touch, acoustic and tone. More I think about it, the acoustic and voicing within the acoustic are probably more of a factor to me then anything else.

I like your subtle approach. Shows a great deal of restraint, tact, and diplomacy

Oh, I didn't go ALL the way back, just the beginning of the quiet section, and kept on full organ all the way through to the end. To be fair, I was so ****ed off that much of it sounded like Messiaen, or Stanford on speed.

I seem to recall mentioning somewhere on here about having to play Wachet Auf with the tune on the 32' oblitatron due to the church wardens and various others erecting a christmas tree and ladders etc underneath the organ loft during my voluntary. Today I got as far as the quiet section of the Stanford D minor postlude, when I heard loud shouting and clanging behind me. Guess what, they're taking the tree down this time. So I turn around and yell down to them "Could you keep the noise down, please?". No effect, except that they look at me. I was left with no alternative - stop, then start the page again on absolutely full organ. Octaves, suboctaves, Tuba + Oct, 32/16/8 Oblitatrons... Oh, and I threw a hymn book over the top of the organ loft at them. Then it got really drastic. I had to have WORDS with them. An actual conversation. Shocking.

"Ugh, electric, what are you, some kinda pervert?" the first time. The second time: "Only 15 quid love, it'll ease your troubles".

I'm afraid I'm the opposite - easily spooked. I did get a little freaked when practising a few months ago (that was the last time I practised!). Just me, big empty dark church, only light is the one in the organ loft and the spot just above it. As I'm playing, I see this sudden shadow cast, fleetingly, on top of the console. I assume it's a bird or such like. It happens again. I keep playing, building up to full organ... Bang, smack - a ****ing bat hits me in the side of the head. I can only assume that liberal use of the 32' oblitatron confused its radar...

I've been offered, ahem, "sexual favours" for money on several occasions when leaving the church. My usual response is that my organ is blown electrically. My church is well known as a haunt for prostitutes - I have stepped outside the vestry door and disturbed some of them at work. They don't particularly appreciate it.

Why not just e-mail Stephen and ask him? BBC e-mail addresses are fairly easy to work out - first.last@bbc.co.uk usually. In my experience, cathedrals/places of worship get taken off the list (pending review) if a) they produce a bad one, b ) if, when the BBC turn up, there are insufficient resources to produce an evensong (as happened at Ripon once - 8 boys off with gastric flu), c) they are inconsistent - e.g. you can't rely on them producing a good one. I'm sure there are lots of other reasons. Incidentally, as well as Stephen Shipley's credentials as former Precentor of Ely, his son was also head chorister at Lichfield.