John Sayer

Most interesting. I think I'm right in saying the new organ has a largely vertical layout and optional electric assistance for the couplers. Is this device much used, or is the touch with, say, 3 coupled manuals, manageable without it? I hope to hear the organ in this beautifully re-constructed, awe-inspiring church later this year. JS

Very many thanks for the pointer to such a fascinating article: I hope other people interested in the differences between national organ styles will make a point of reading it. I'm quite sure there is some truth in the notion of a correlation between the harmonic spectrum of the spoken language and the characteristic sound of the indigenous organ. For example the graph of harmonics of spoken French is shown to peak around 1500Hz, thereby favouring a certain nasal quality of sound (though it's interesting to note that CC's mother was a Catalan speaker, which has a different tonal spectrum). Equally intriguing is the fact the the equivalent English graph is relatively flat, with no pronounced emphasis on particular freqency ranges. What inferences can we draw from that on our own typical organ sound? It takes a while to digest what Grenzing is saying, but the implications of his theory are absolutely fascinating. JS

The latest edition of Choir & Organ contains an article on the new Hellmuth Wolff organ for Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria, BC. The wind system is described as follows: The organ's wind is raised by a single low-speed blower located in the tower room. It feeds a primer bellows behind the main organ and branches out to feed five parallel-fold bellows places in the underpart and to either side of the organ beneath the choir risers. The character of the wind may be modified through the use of winkers..." Winkers? Could someone enlighten me please? It may be Canadian parlance for something we know by another name, but I'm intigued nonetheless. JS

Can anyone suggest a possible reason for the preponderance of Walker organs in Christian Science churches? Take London, for example - there were at one time, I think, 11 CS churches, the majority of which had Walker organs, many of them on a fairly heroic scale (e.g. First Church in Cadogan Place, Ninth Church in Marsham Street). Could it be that a member of the Walker family or management team belonged to this particular sect? Or perhaps wealthy benefactors, for whom money was no constraint, saw the firm as providing the musical equivalent of a Rools-Royce in the 20s & 30s? Or maybe the firm simply found a successful line in marketing? As CS numbers have dwindled, many of the churches have been sold off or reduced in size. One successful project, however, has been the recent re-modelling of the church in Richmond, Surrey, where the IIP 1930s Walker has been sypathetically reinstated, with very modest tonal additions (not on NPOR, apparently). JS

It's still around - now the annual IBO Journal called Organbuilding - see www.ibo.co.uk. Excellently produced, worthwhile reading. JS

Barcelona Organ You might be able to discover more by contacting the current head of the firm, Herr Walcker-Meyer, via http://www.gewalcker.de/ JS

A new - and, lets hope, stimulating - topic. Maybe a few questions will prompt lively debate. Where is British organ design heading in the first decade of the 21st century? Where are the bold new ideas and sense of adventure? Are not too many recent organs far too 'safe' and unenterprising in their design and tonal concept? Where are the organs today which break new ground in the way the GDB instrument at New College did 35 years ago? Or the Walker at Exeter College in the 90s? Take any new instrument with an average quota of around 20-25 stops and one could almost write out the specification in advance, so predictable is it likely to be. Why is it left to overseas builders like Aubertin in the unorthodox and quite splendid instrument at Kings College, Aberdeen to attempt something really musically exciting? Or Frobenius at the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh - 20 stops disposed in a novel manner that any English builder is unlikely to copy. Or St-Martin at Girton College - a remarkably imaginative and versatile small 4-manual organ? Who's to blame? Is it the builders? Or the small coterie of so-called consultants and organ advisers? Or is it the people who commission new instruments? Or the people who hold the purse strings? Any thoughts? JS JS

The style is beginning to look a little like Choir & Organ and the content somewhat diluted as well. The reviews, on the other hand, seem to be a rather more critical and less platitudinous. My one gripe about the first issue under the new editorship was the absolutely appalling translation of the article on the restored Silbermann in the Catholic Cathedral (Hofkirche) in Dresden - utter gobbledygook in places. To be fair, however, we should perhaps give the team a little while longer to settle in. JS

ps. I also agree about the "Sackbut", what a silly name. York Minster seems to have lived happily with its wooden Sackbut 32 since the 1820s. Preferable to have an honest English name than some horrible bastardisation like Contra Posaune. JS

As far as I know, there's no secret about the proposed stoplist which is publicised at the Cathedral in a display in the north transept and in an appeal leaflet. It seems to be a comprehensive 4-manual scheme with all the sorts of sounds you would expect from a cathedral instrument, and incorporating one or two HJ solo stops. Whilst on the same subject, although not a fan of 'electroniums' (as BIOS call them), I must say I found the new temporary Rogers instrument in the Choir at Worcester surprisingly effective, disconcertingly so, in fact. I can imagine many members of the congregation being deceived - only a hint of boom in the pedal above mf and slight mushiness of the Swell reeds gave it away. JS JS

I agree, Clark's disc is quite stunning: intelligent, musical playing and a quite magnificent recorded sound. St Wenzel, Naumburg must be surely be ultimate Bach organ, not least because JSB almost certainly had a hand in its design and inaugurated the instrument himself in five days of junketing and festivities in September 1746. The sound is a true Thuringian sound, rich and full - a far cry from the brittle North German organ so often favoured for Bach, and yet differentiated from the French-influenced work of Gottfried Silbermann who was also active in this part of Germany. The specification includes all of JSB's favoured stops - strings (Viola di Gamba, Fugara), Sexquialter, Fagott, varied families of flutes, rich principal choruses and wondrously fundamental wooden Posaunen 32 & 16. And not forgetting a gorgeous principal-scaled Unda Maris on the Oberwerk, which floats sensuously around the lofty building. Eule's painstaking and scholarly reconstruction is amazing. I had the privilege of playing this instrument earlier this year. A notice at the console asks players not to touch the (original) paper inserts in the stops handles as these "were once touched by JSB". An unforgettably moving experience. JS

My experience with these consoles are that manuals are to far 'in' the organ and the pedals are to far under your seat. Result: balancing between falling forward (you wánt to play the uppermost manual) and not being able to reach the uppermost manual (because you wánt to play the pedals). This is the downside of so many historic French, Dutch & German organs from the 17c onwards - what really matters is not so much the design of the pedal board itself as its 'north-south' placing, that is, how far the manuals overhang. On a 3-manual organ - take for example, the magnificently reconstructed Hildebrandt organ at Naumburg - with average-length arms and dutiful toes-only pedal techique, one finds extended playing on the top (Oberwerk) manual physically demanding on the stomach muscles. Keeping one's balance on a shiny leather bench only adds to the problem. Yet Johann Sebastian obviously coped with this ergonomic nightmare - but then he was made of sterner stuff... JS

I also prefer straight and slightly concave. Somehow my brain finds the equal spacing of the parallel keys easier to cope with than the varying geometry of the full R & C variety, however anatomically and ergonomically rational it may seem to be. I'm also happy with the completely flat, parallel board, with hooked sharps etc, as seen on many Dutch and German organs, especially if the keys themselves have a nice flat surface which provides a nice firm, confident point of contact for the toes (and just occasionally the heels), even if reaching the top and bottom notes may put a strain on the seams of one's pants. But then I've never aspired to play the likes of Dupré or Bossi etc. JS

Well said! A keen concert- and opera-goer myself, I'm about to move from London to Yorkshire, where I look forward to a wide variety of cultural events (opera, theatre, concerts, chamber music, organ recitals, art exhibitions etc) all within an hour or so's drive from home. It will include everything from world-class ensembles to honest local amateur groups - and all the more refreshing for that. Although I've lived in the capital for many years, I must confess to being irritated at the prevailing 'London-centric' view of cultural life in this country. Civilisation doesn't end at Watford Gap, you know! JS

I must confess I have given up trying to follow the whole sorry AP Organ saga. At the end of the day, it seems to me someone needs to ask the fundamental question, however harsh it may seem - why bother? The subsidiary questions/issues that come to mind are:- 1 The organ is sited in a building whose future is uncertain, which is awkward to get to and which resembles nothing more than a draughty tramshed; 2 The original situation of the organ can never be regained, the staging and apse having been lost; 3 The capital already has one large Willis organ, beautifully and expensively restored, yet which cannot command a commercially viable audience for more than 1 or 2 recitals a year; 4 Will the AP Organ Appeal ever achieve its goal of a complete resoration - for example, do we realistically expect the funds to become available for the reinstatement of the tin 32-foot front? 5 Even if it can be fully restored, what is its future? What & where is its audience? What & where is the artistic justification? How could it ever be more than an expensive white elephant? I'm sorry to say this all seems a lost cause to me. Perhaps somebody can persuade me (and those who share such views) otherwise. JS

Pity about the organ though - the 1972 rebuild was well-intentioned but somehow doesn't hang together: child of the time, I suppose. =========== That's a bit harsh John! The important thing is, the often large audiences love it, and I've certainly enjoyed some magnificent performances there. Thar's nowt wrong wi' town 'all organ. On thee bike Sayer! MM A bit harsh mebbie - I'll kep pedallin' ........ As a Leodensian myself, I've no wish to decry the splendid promotional work Simon Lindley has done for the organ over the years. However, I do think the City has finer instruments to offer - Armley, of course, and the marvellous untouched 3m Binns in the quite amazing church of St Aidan, Harehills, not to mention the little Walker in St Saviour's and its younger sister at Osmondthorpe, the big 'Arthur' of 1911 at St Chad's, Far Headingley and so on. It' might be interesting to speculate how we might approach the next rebuild of LTH, 30-odd years on. JS

Kurt Masur (Gewandhausorchester, Leipzig and other orchestras) apparently rates Leeds Town Hall very highly: apparently the diminutive orchestral canopy does make a difference and curtains round the balcony 'apse' must reduce the reverberation time. The Town Hall was shut for refurbishment a couple of years ago - I'm not sure whether any work was done on the acoustics. Pity about the organ though - the 1972 rebuild was well-intentioned but somehow doesn't hang together: child of the time, I suppose. JS

This is supposed to be a serious discussion forum, generously provided by Mander organs for all to use. That's not so say there shouldn't be occasional injections of wit and humour - heaven forbid organ enthusiasts should be thought to take themselves too seriously. However, in recent weeks, 1 or 2 inconsiderate individuals have found it necessary to engage in silly and often offensive exchanges of crude schoolboy innuendo. They may get some perverse satisfaction out if it, but the rest of us find it tiresome and unamusing. It's also a gross discourtesy to other users and, not least, to the hosts of this site. Without naming names, could I appeal to the offenders to grow up and desist, please! JS