innate

I can see the attraction from an academic, didactic point of view of having a number of historical instruments at your fingertips, so to speak. But as soon as the sound is generated (or re-generated) electronically and heard via loudspeakers or headphones the essence of a pipe organ is lost.

I think the loudest noise I have ever heard was a Soprano Saxophone and Highland Pipes duet in the Aros Hall, Tobermory.

That all sounds quite possible, pcnd, and apologies if my previous post sounded a bit churlish. The Sheldonian was the first building designed by Wren—I wonder if it’s always had poor ventilation or whether the original design worked (for its time) and subsequent changes (installing heating, closing vents?) have caused the problems. I remember Paul Hale demonstrating the old organ to me in the mid 70s and, in a relatively empty building it sounded pretty in tune.

I think Degree Ceremonies have always occurred throughout the year at Oxford. Others more knowledgable than I can speak to how temperature affects the pitch of pipe organs, and we all know that hot air rises, but there is nothing particularly exceptional about the position of the organ in the Sheldonian that would make the pitch of a pipe organ there more unstable than many organs in buildings without climate control. If my suggestion of an English baroque instrument was adopted the pitch question might be less of an issue, as it would be pitched nominally at A415 for playing with period baroque orchestras who are, I think, slightly less insistent on an exact pitch standard.

Given their choice at the moment is an electric instrument in an apparently parlous state, they would be much better off with hiring a new digital instrument! 35 years ago I remember playing concerts as a member of the OUSO in the Sheldonian when the previous pipe instrument was still very much playable but when we played Elgar’s Cockayne with its impressive organ part we decamped to the Town Hall. There are many more prestigious symphony orchestra venues in the UK that deserve a proper modern concert hall pipe organ. The orchestras that play in the Sheldonian are either smaller or less noted. And with my proposal the Sheldonian could become a major centre for the performance of baroque music with a proper and properly-sized baroque organ.

If ever there was a venue in England appropriate to a truly historically informed grand organ with no need for concessions to service accompaniment or, dare I say it, playing with modern orchestras then the Sheldonian is it. Something that will play Purcell, Blow, Handel, Arne, Boyce, Stanley, Walond with integrity and panache. Add a pedal division. Lots of cornets and reed stops. Maybe a Schrider-style swelling box. Something Oxford University and its Music Faculty can be internationally famous for.

I never watch more than 2 minutes of it. I won't deny that there was a place for "fly on the wall" broadcasts of services for the benefit of the housebound, shift-workers etc. and this should have been extended, proportionate to their representation in the population, to all denominations and all faiths decades ago. But as soon as it became more about presenters, presentation, camera angles, and (no offence intended to anyone involved in doing it) the conducting of the "congregation", the programme lost its essential purpose.

Ahh, I see.

As if Sotheby’s would give such prominence to a lot with an estimate of £150. The proof-reading seems fine.

And then there’s this:

Thanks for the detailed response, Colin. I'm aware that there is a conjecture that one of the reasons mixtures and mutations almost disappeared from new organs at the start of the C20 was because of their perceived incompatibility with ET. And also that incompatibility between mixtures and *any* chromatic tuning will be less noticeable with traditional "flexible" winding. But in the last 50 years in the UK there has been a general tendency to have as many mixtures and mutations as there have ever been on British organs and a great reluctance to use any temperament other than ET. Taking into account Colin’s assertion that there is only a problem when mixtures (and mutations) include thirds and sevenths, do you suppose that we are just inured to the clashes? Our hosts are proud, for example, of their tierce mixture on the Pedal at St Ignatius, NYC; in a C major chord with a C in the pedal, that mixture will contain an alto or tenor E that is going to clash with any E at unison pitch played on the manuals.

I've been aware of this issue for years, and it should apply pretty much to any non-unison mixture rank or mutation when combined with chords in Equal Temperament. What I don’t understand is why the "naturally tuned" mutations and mixtures in organs clash with ET and the naturally occurring harmonics in, say, orchestral clarinets don’t cause such a problem. I know orchestras don't play in exact ET but it must be quite close. Also clarinets play chamber music with ET pianos. I appreciate that a skilled clarinettist may adjust the tuning of individual notes to "fit" the tuning of other instruments but they can’t, surely, adjust the tuning of the (prominent) partials sounding the 12th and 17th independently of the fundamental, can they?

Thank you, David, I was hoping someone would say that.

Surely it's pretty much a standard design for a large baroque-era console?

A young conductor, a protegé of Leonard Bernstein, was conducting Chichester Psalms in a concert and Bernstein came to the concert. Afterwards Bernstein said "It was ok, but all the tempos were wrong!" The conductor protested "But I took all the tempos from your recording, maestro." Bernstein asked him which recording and when told said "No, don't listen to that recording, listen to the other one!" I’m sure if we had recordings of JS Bach, Handel, Beethoven, Mahler from across their working lives there would be similar differences to those mentioned in the reports of Franck by PCND.

We use it, especially the Gloria. When we do it without the choir I tend to put it down a tone. It seems to be a very C of E via media; generally musical competent and interesting, not too "churchy" and nothing to frighten the horses.

Thank you for linking to that, Jon. A tremendous piece of improvisation, beautifully put into a film with some gorgeous shots inside the organ. More, please.

Now you tell me, firsttrees! And where will I find an elk at this time of night?

I wish I could help, David. I haven’t <frantic touching of all available wood> needed to call Sibelius customer service about a registration/upgrade/payment issue in a long while, but I think that’s your starting point if you're having trouble with your account. Best of luck.

I was taught that accents on capital letters were usually omitted. http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/SpecialCharacters/faq0004.html

Adding 2 + 2 and getting 7?

Concluding voluntary was the main Star Wars theme arranged for trumpet and Steinway B. Went down very well although I don't suppose everybody understood why.

What's wrong with the old English technique of washing the display pipes in beer every few years? Haven't got a reference handy but I'm sure I remember reading that in the "History of the Organs in XXXXX Cathedral" booklets I used to buy in my teens.

This discussion raises many interesting points. The HIP (did British people ever use that acronym?) questions of authentic pitch for eg the music of Bach (Kammerton & Chorton) are meaningless unless we factor in the time of day and year and the resultant likely temperature. And while orchestral string instruments would be going flat with rising temperatures at the same time as the organ's pitch was rising wouldn't the wind and brass instruments be rising along with the organ? And that's before we take into account the way the pitch of orchestral musicians is affected by their excitement and adrenaline levels. And how our perception of pitch is affected by timbre. I'm sure I've read that in the old days organists were adept at tuning the reed stops on the organs that they used (as they would be equally adept at tuning harpsichords and clavichords in their care). For this reason reeds were the most accessible pipes. But would the organists have been competent to tune the reeds at the top of the resonator as well as at the wire?

I hope that doesn't mean that some of the recitalists at this prestigious venue aren't getting paid a proper fee. I'd be very pleased to find my suspicions to be ill-founded but that sort of thing is happening more and more.