John Sayer
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Posts posted by John Sayer
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I believe there is a book listing all the charitable trusts and what they give grants for. I'm told thast this is a good place to start.
Malcolm
This BIOS site is comprehensive and helpful - Grants
JS
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The minutes of the HLF Committee that made this awared are here:
http://www.hlf.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/D158817...sFebruary28.pdf
Interesting to note that they also awarded GBP 297k to St Georges Southall
http://npor.rcm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?...ec_index=A00128
for the organ which went there from St Georges Botolph Lane.
And interesting reading they both make, too.
One wonders just what sort of professional advice the Committee was given over Cornhill when one reads, "The Committee noted that the Organ at Michael's was unique because it tells the story of three centuries of organ building in the UK". What are we supposed to make of that sort of vacuous statement? It appears also that the total cost of restoration will be £485k.
The restoration of the Abraham Jordan organ at St George's, Southall clearly has the backing of BIOS, who seem conspicuously silent on the Cornhill case (I wonder why?) The Committee notes that the restoration of the St George's organ "would involve the removal of all later additions seeing the organ returned to the original Abraham Jordan specification".
JS
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Am I alone in my surprise at the munificence of £349k HLF grant for the restoration of the organ at St Michael's, Cornhill?
The announcement makes much of the historic provenance of the instrument - see Cornhill.
However, one would not have expected an organ which has been through quite so many transformations to meet the strict criteria normally set by the HLF. I can think of other - dare I say - more distinguished instruments of worthier pedigree which have failed to secure much smaller grants.
Although the HLF lays great importance on educational outreach - and what is proposed at St Michael's is doubtless commendable - one cannot help thinking such a sum would have gone a long way towards a new organ of real quality (such as that at St Giles, Cripplegate) which would have met those aims - and maybe also the musical needs of the church - more effectively.
JS
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Thanks for these first hand experiences - it would take me much time and money to find them out....!
Having said that I see problems in reed transfers, I use them in this coupler variant here in St. Marien Rostock for exactly the same purpose!
The pedal reeds are problematic - the 8' quite bright and placed more prominent than the manuals (i. e. in the side wings right behind the facade), and the two 16'-reeds make problems, too - the one beeing from 1792 and not restored yet, just regularly tuned, having wooden resonators still lengthened for higher "Chorton"-pitch, giving quite an amount of rattle at some notes and with considerable irregularities throughout the stop. The other one, on another soundboard, beeing a Laukhuff reed from 1985 with half-length resonators and very noisy, though throughout balanced, representing a stop of typical neo-baroque qualitity - the German one, which usually is below Danish or Dutch builders.
But to play Bach and baroque, I do not use the Gt, but make several combinations of the three remaining manuals. The Gt becomes the source for the Gedal reeds - the Gt reeds are zinc pipes from 1911/1916 and/or 1938, medium in sclae and volume, much more moderate than any stop you would order today from one of the big German firms. (I have used them to mark the trumpets in Handel choruses when accompanying a 30-people volunteers choir or for playing the c.f., having only a single soprano as a descant!).
Those reeds coupled to Ped really make sense. One would wish to make them available independently, but the soundboards from 1792 would not allow such modifications....
I'd love to hear more about those traditional ways of registration on larger English instruments, like Paul has told me.
Two contemporary rebuilds of celebrated large organs - one German, one English - make for an interesting comparison of aesthetic ideals of the period :-
Sauer 1937 at the Marienkirche, Rostock (IVP/83) with Fritz Heitmann as consultant - Rostock
Arthur Harrison 1937 at Westminster Abbey (IVP/86) - the 'Coronation Organ' - Westminster Abbey
Having been fortunate enough to play both briefly - and the Abbey organ has admittedly been somewhat changed since - I find the difference in tonal concept fascinating. One wonders what the two men would have said to one another had they ever met.
JS
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You physically slide one manual to engage with the other and therefore couple the two. I have only encountered it once - on the Aubertin at St Louis en L'Ile in Paris and in order to couple I had to take both hands off the keys grab the ends of the keyboard in question and shove - the reverse of course to uncouple!
Alastair
The need for both hands is deliberate. Try 'shoving' whilst playing on many historic organs (eg Silbermann) and you risk doing damage to the action requiring the attention of the organbuilder. Waiting for a suitable break in the music to engage the coupler also makes artistic as well as mechanical sense.
My little house organ has double sliding couplers - i.e. Lower to Upper (with keys of the top manual sliding backwards to press down on raised lugs on the keys of the lower) and Upper to Lower (with the top manual sliding forwards and the keys being pulled down by hooks attached to the lower keys). Simple, yet ingenious. However, if a key is depressed during the coupling process, there is a risk that the hook will become jammed.
JS
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Hi
Sorry - that's definitely not the Chatham organ. I've very recently updated the NPOR surveys for the Buckingham Palace organ, and it's whole history can now be traced (but probably won't be publically on line now until the new server goes live in the new year.)
It would be good to have a record of the fate of the Chatham organ if anyone does discover its whereabouts.
Every Blessing
Tony
Quite so. Just for the record, my 3 penn'orth was merely in response to Pierre's request for information on 'any Green organ' exported to Germany.
JS
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Well, it seems *many people* in Germany do not know anything
about any Green organ imported there......And be sure they are the
kind of guys who would know !
Any more data available ?
Pierre
A Samuel Green organ which may possibly fit the description is this one - Green Organ? - the so-called Buckingham Palast Orgel, recently installed in the Deutschherrenkapelle in Saarbruecken.
Its nomadic wanderings over the years have taken it from Buck House to Holy Trinity, Kingsway to Latimer School, Hammersmith, thence to Germany [see NPOR N16499]
JS
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Almost as unique about this organ is the GG-compass for all three manuals AND pedals (so the 16 foots sound at 21 2/3). You either sit a few inches higher up the bench or risk playing the bass line a fourth out of pitch.
JS
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http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rphQRrNho5M&...feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bH9BtYNH1uc&...feature=channel
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JsAyzm1969E&...feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9b42PV6quCY&...feature=related
Stockholm reborn. I want that console in my living room.
Indeed, a splendid instrument reborn in what must be one of the most original and inspiring buildings of the 20th century. Completed in 1923 to the designs of Ragmar Ostberg in so-called 'national romantic' style, it is a remarkable mixture of Florentine, Moorish and Scandinavian influences. The Blue Hall in which the organ is sited is just one of several amazing interiors. Despite its vast size, the scale of the building is somehow humane and democratic. quite unlike the bombastic monstrosities created only a few years later in totalitarian Germany, Italy and Russia.
Congratulations to H&H on what is said to be the largest horeshoe design in the world.
JS
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I often play it on contrasting 8ft. and 4ft. flutes - without any strings. Equally effective could be to contrast two reasonably gentle Open Diapason ranks.
Purely as an aside, it's perhaps worth noting this piece works well on the piano, where the 'tenor thumb' can be used to bring out the chorale melody to good effect.
JS
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Fascinating. I hadn't thought of using glass tubes. Because it's so difficult to toughen shaped glass, it stays extremely vulnerable. A knock with a reed knife or a set of keys or the studs on someone's jeans and it's gone.
One of the main difficulties with working in glass is that you don't actually cut glass; you create a fault across it with a diamond wheel and then break it away. So, if you want to have any accuracy over voicing, the way to go is to create a four-sided bonded structure with one face shorter than the rest; offer up a wooden block to the bottom; then bond a flap of metal to the shortest face, which you can then shape with absolute accuracy.
What a fascinating subject this turns out to be; thank you all for your most interesting replies.
Perhaps the Kouaua will catch on in Europe, especially if re-christened Glasharmonika, Gläserne Pfeife, Flûte vitreuse harmonique or something equally fanciful.
JS
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The proposed specification has recently been published of the new IVP/84 concert organ to be built for Auckland Town Hall, NZ by Klais of Bonn. The instrument is to have electro-pneumatic action and will incorporate the original Norman & Beard 32-foot front of 1911 together with the handful of ranks which survived the disastrously radical neo-classical remodelling by George Croft & Son in 1970.
On paper at least, the stoplist is thoroughly English - not an Umlaut in sight - apart from two exotic ranks on the Solo division said to be based on traditional Maori instruments: a Paukaea 8 (wooden trumpet) and a Kouaua 8 (ocarina) with pipes made of glass.
Does anyone have any knowledge of glass pipes and how they are made and voiced? Presumably the mouth parts, for example, are different from their wood or metal counterparts. It must surely be more than a line of graduated milk bottles....
JS
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I have often wondered about this instrument, having seen it many times on my way from South Kensington underground station to the Royal Albert Hall. The Jamaican High Commission is on the corner of Prince Consort Road and Exhibition Road and you can see the instrument through the windows of the High Commission. I have no idea of its history or builder and would be interested if anybody knows about it.
John
Some notes I wrote for an Organ Club visit in 1992 may be of interest ......
The grand mansion at No 1 Lowther Gardens was built in 1877 for Col. W T Makins MP, Chairman of the Cadogan & Hans Place Estate in Chelsea. This may explain the choice of the red-brick 'Pont Street Dutch' style which contrasts with the Italianate cream stucco facades of the rest of Prince Consort Road, as it is now known. The architect was John James Stevenson.
A small organ was installed in the entrance hall of the new house in an oak case complementing the door-cases and wall panelling. The builder was August Gern, ex-foreman of Cavaillé-Coll, who set up business in West London after erecting one of his master's instruments at the Carmelite Church.
Alas, nothing remains of Gern's work except the console and case. The organ appears to have been neglected over the years and suffered at the hands of vandals during the conversion of the property before the High Commission took up residence in 1988. Parts of the instrument were stolen and others thrown down the lift shaft. Some of the case pipes were bent double.
It was a condition of the lease that the organ should be kept in playable condition. Peter Conacher & Co, finding the Gern material beyond redemption, offered to install a small, second-hand Willis organ at modest cost inside the case which underwent painstaking restoration. It has 2 manuals, with 3 straight ranks on the Positive (Salicional 8, Gemshorn 4, Principal 2) plus an extended Gedackt 16-8-4-3-2 on Great and Pedal.
I was asked, about ten years ago, to go along and play the Jamaican National Anthem at an Independence Day garden party. It was a memorable occasion, made the more enjoyable by generous helpings of rum punch, with me playing flat out to accompany the joyously soulful singing of the assembled guests.
JS
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Has anybody ever played Bach on a Joachim Wagner organ ?
Pierre
Yes, I had the good fortune to hear & play at Brandenburg Dom and Wusterhausen a few years ago - a bright, virile sound, with memorable clarity in contrapuntal music. Both instruments benefit from a generous acoustic. Both have a Cornett 3fach on the Hauptwerk whose tierce ranks add tremendous drive to the ensemble. The effect is so convincing that I'm sure these stops were meant to be used, if desired, in the principal chorus.
The overall aesthetic struck me as a fascinating 'halfway house' between the North and Central German schools of organ building.
JS
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I think that as far as Ripon and Ely are concerned, location of the ranks could well have a lot to do with their previously overwhelming effect; at Ripon the Great reeds are clearly visible in open space at the top of the case, similarly at Ely they are at the very front of the triforium. The Ripon ranks were revoiced in 1963, at Ely they were revoiced in 1975 (or possibly earlier) and replaced in 2001.
DT
I very much doubt whether the Great reeds at Ripon were in fact revoiced in 1963. I'd be prepared to bet they remain pretty much as Arthur Harrison left them in 1912-14 in the first stage of the rebuilding which was interrupted by WW1 and not completed until 1926.
On 10" wind, the sound of the 3 Trombas sails effortlessly to the west end of the nave They really come into their own in the accompaniment of large congregations - no nave division needed here. It would be fascinating to know what the original Lewis Trumpets 16-8-4 actually sounded like. One assumes the legendary Dr Moody considered them inadequate in some way - or maybe it was just a matter of current fashion.
JS
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I'd have started with the cathedrals - is there anyone in the UK more than 50 miles from one? Aren't cathedral musicians generally in touch with the best in their local area? Cathedrals themselves can run 'be a chorister' days when they want choirs - couldn't enough of them be persuaded to run 'be an organist' days? I doubt a single tourist would mind, if they knew what was going on. Then, those who can be convinced to stick with it can filter down through the higher-level organists and teachers in the diocese.
We have an annual Easter Bank Holiday 'Play the Organ Day' for youngsters here in Ripon, together with occasional ad hoc educational visits of similar ilk. The event is well advertised and there is usually a good turnout. Some children bring simple piano pieces to play and are able to sample the many different sonorities available. Others plonk little fingers on the Tuba or stand on the Bombardon. The noise can be excrutiating but the children obviously enjoy themselves and visitors, when they realise what it's all about, usually look on with amusement and encouragement. The mobile console helps enormously in this respect. A measure of decorum and sanity is then restored by the celebrity organ recital which follows. The whole event has a relaxed holiday atmosphere.
If it catches just one young person's imagination and persuades them to take it further, then the effort is obviously wortwhile.
JS
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Anyone else marking the 12th October with VW's music? Here at Kendal, my Assistant and I are playing appropriate voluntaries (Prelude in C minor, Rhosymedre, Hyfrydol, Howells' "Sarabande for the 12th day of any October" and Graham Steed's Prelude on "Down Ampney" approved by RVW himself) and we're having an all-VW Evensong, except for the Responses.
I believe that the Archbishop of Canterbury has suggested all churches sing a hymn by RVW next Sunday - a nice idea. Here at Ripon we happily included Sine Nomine in the broadcast Choral Evensong yesterday (repeated on Sunday) as well as Christopher Campling's St Wilfrid hymn for our own patronal festival.
JS
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For a domestic situation I agree for two manuals there must be two interesting and beguiling sounds - most certainly - or else divorce might ensue. But dear Pierre, in suggesting borrowings and extensions, will make the action a nightmare to adjust and keep light and utterly responsive, which moreover makes a simple organ so complicated. Also in a room what purpose is there in shutting beautiful sounds in a box? There is already (one might think) a door to the room. Furthermore (having evaluated cost, space and audibility in a house) the 16ft is of no use whatsoever except for spiders in which to lurk . A 4ft would be the first stop on the Pedal if funds allow and then you must have independent couplers etc. I was originally suggesting 'pure and simple' - both for cost and for practicality of space and work.
Best wishes,
Nigel
The choice of action seems to me every bit as important as choice of stops. My little instrument has suspended action to both manuals giving a light, highly responsive touch which is mercilessly unforgiving of sloppy technique - no bad thing you might say.
One possible drawback, however, is that it can be over-demanding and thus unrepresentative of the outside world, i.e. of the 'less refined' experience one has when playing other mechanical instruments, both historical and modern, let alone organs with other types of action. There are times when one might wish for something more robust, or even 'agricultural' as Francis Jackson once described it.
I know of one distinguished recitalist with a similar instrument who finds it advantageous to practise with manuals coupled (lower to upper for maximum tractive effort) in preparation for concerts etc.
JS
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I believe in terms of numbers of stops and pipes Passau the largest. It is usually counted as a single organ, but in reality it is several instruments, all controlled from one console. I think there are a few German organs that are like this. I may be getting confused with somewhere else, but I think Mainz Cathedral has a two-manual console, a couple of three-manual consoles and a six-manual one to control the lot. Definitely has a six-decker, anyway - there are pics on the net. But the number of manuals is not really a very reliable indicator of size. I've seen one or two four-deckers that were actually smaller than some three-deckers.
The Mainzer Dom is a huge romanesque building with two choirs, west and east. The organ is distributed in various places at each end, hundred of feet apart and with little of it immediately visible to the casual visitor. A couple of divisions, for example, are sited behind the choir stalls beyond the high altar at the west (sic) end.
Much of the the instrument, including the 6-manual Generalspieltisch, dates from the 1960s and is by Kemper of Lübeck, a builder not renowned for instruments of distinction. German organists sometimes use a wordplay on Kemper and Klempner (= plumber) in referring to organs by this firm.
The sound of the organ when I heard it last July was pretty diffuse and incoherent. I see there are now plans for an organ on the side wall of the nave, where it will fill a pretty obvious gap and presumably make congregational accompaniment much more satisfactory, as well as improving the enjoyment of recitals etc.
JS
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The Germans seem to be ready customers for 19c romantic English instruments rescued from redundant churches and chapels up and down the land. There are a couple of firms specialising in the import of what often seem to be undistinguished hymn machines. Nevertheless, their typically bold diapasons, generous flutes and keen strings seem to be a big hit over there.
The organ mentioned above - somewhat remodelled in translation from Putney to Bonn - has been dubbed "Die Queen am Rhein".
Our sister site Orgelforum is currently hosting a debate on the merits of these instruments and sees British influence as a welcome antidote to the so-called 'Clairon-Doppelflöte-Clone-Carousel', aka the German/French symphonic style.
One contributor wonders if this is just a passing fad. How many German organists, he says, are likely 'to include Whitlock, Hollins, Brewer, Stanford, Vaughan Williams, Fletcher, Harwood, Harris, Drakeford(?), West, Calkin (?), Rowley or Jackson' in their repertoire?
Perhaps the most interesting development to watch will be the new organ for the Mercatorhalle in Duisburg, where the Town Council, in its official tender specification, prescribes substantially British characteristics for the new instrument. (See the Achtung! Tuba! thread in Jan 2008 for more detail).
JS
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Exactly the question I asked. IMHO the Willis Tubas had immense individual character and fame being referred to as "Red hot coals". I hope they are returned to use in the future.
R
John Mander has given a perfectly honest and reasonable explanation of the reasons for replacement.
Why not wait to hear the new stops before passing judgment?
JS
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Well apparently there is at least one more which thankfully focuses almost entirely on Dupre at the console instead of wandering around the interior of St Sulpice.
I find it amazing that anyone can improvise a double fugue, let alone with what , to others, would be crippling arthritis in the fingers.
JS
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I took my kids to see Wicked at The Apollo in Victoria last week. Above the auditorium there is a very impressive facade of organ pipes, but on closer inspection, I noticed they had no mouths. I assume this is just a fake organ facade (NPOR doesn't bring anything up)?
This got me thinking; I wonder how many fake facades there are (including empty cases) dotted around. The only two that come to mind are:
1. Durham Cathedral - old case at the West End
2. St Mary's Warwick - one of the chancel cases is completely empty - I think..
Best wishes
Richard
St Mary the Virgin, Witney - electronic replacing 1874 Walker, with speakers behind dummy spotted front.
JS
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"...members of the congregation have complained they cannot hear themselves think."
(Quote from the linked page)
This is a splendid case of jesuitism !
Pierre
Or, in this case, Jensenism.
O that English (and Australian) worshippers would follow the example of German congregations in appreciating that the concluding voluntary - especially when carefully chosen to complement a particular liturgical theme or season (and announced in the pew sheet) - is part of the service itself and requires them to remain seated until the end.
All this is so much more satisfying, musically and spiritually. In most English churches on a Sunday morning the congregation, rather than sitting still for 5 minutes after the service, cannot wait to get to the tea and buns and to resume the all too wordly gossip which began (intrusively) before the service and was inconveniently interrupted by it.
Things are a little better at Evensong, however - by its very nature a more contemplative sort of service. Our pew sheet lists the final voluntary with the words "you are invited to stay and listen". You'd be surprised how many do...
JS
JS
Kings College Cambridge
in The Organ
Posted
Mention of Willocks prompts me to ask if anyone has read his recently issued biography - A Life in Music: Conversations with Sir David Willcocks and Friends by William Owen (OUP).
The conversation format, though obviously edited and polished, works well and gives a fascinating insight into musical practice and personalities of a bygone age. It is a highly readable and informative account of DW's remarkable achievements in a wide range of musical activity - player, conductor, composer, arranger, administrator to name but a few. The qualities of the man himself also come through in the sort of modest, unassuming way you would expect.
JS